Color

Seventy Two

Mitch swung their hands together as they walked through the mall. "So it's a stress thing, right?"

"What..?"

"Smoking? It's like stress, I think... At least it starts that way."

"Yeah. Sure."

Mitch looked over at him, easily able to tell how grumpy he was. "Baby, you don't have to carry all the bags. I can carry one if you want."

"You already are." Scott mumbled, glancing at the bag in Mitch's other hand.

And like yeah he's right, but of course he'd given Mitch the smallest bag possible.

"Listen, Mitch..?" Scott began, on a new subject. "We can talk about the smoking thing sometime. But like... I don't want you to think that you've done anything wrong. It's not your fault, I promise. It's kind of my own fault, for having terrible coping methods."

"I just think you weren't ever taught  how to deal with things. I mean... Your dad only showed you that frustration is solved through violence, and your mom taught you that running away from pain is the only solution."

Scott glanced over at him. "Okay, that's a little too much but I get the point."

Mitch glanced over at a candy store in the middle of the mall. "Ooh."

Scott followed his eyes. "Let's go in."

Mitch was already walking in, pulling Scott's hand with him. "I love candy, Scottie."

"I know you do, baby."

*

Alex was busy doing homework when he heard Avi come marching down the hall.

Alex sat up a little and turned to face him, bracing himself for Avi's anger.

Avi stomped into the kitchen, and grabbed Alex's upper arm to pull him out of his seat. "Come here."

"Avi, I wish you wouldn't--"

"Shh." He snapped, pulling Alex along without thinking about it. 

"What are you--?"

"Shut up."

Alex finally pulled his arm out of Avi's grip. "Don't talk to me like that. What the Hell is going on?"

Avi turned to glare at him. "We need to get out of here. I'm so damn tired of hearing all the couples around here fucking all the time. Let's move out."

"Babe, don't be ridiculous. We fuck sometimes too; hate to break it to you. And people have to tolerate our bullshit just like we have to tolerate theirs."

"But they could at least warn us first. So we could get a running start."

"Sometimes it happens kinda abruptly, babe. Aren't you being a little dramatic..?"

"No, I'm not. I'm just over it. I'm bad with people skills, and I should've known I'd be bad at this, I shouldn't have ever agreed to living with--"

Alex stepped forward. "Woah, honey, what's going on? Something else happened, I can tell."

"Nothing happened, I'm just tired of other people."

"I know, babe. That's a normal part of your personality, so I sometimes ignore it. But I think you're just overwhelmed. But we can get out of here if you want? Can spend the day walking around or going on a road trip or..?"

Avi only shrugged, turning to walk away. 

Alex spoke quickly. "Oh, unless you meant like completely alone? Like.. I can leave if you want..."

"Don't be dumb."

"I'm not. I'm being genuine. If you need a day to yourself, I can ask everyone to clear out."

"No, it's fine. Just... What if I take you out? We can walk around the mall, or..."

"Whatever is gonna make you feel better, babe."

*

A few hours later, now that Avi and Alex had left, Mitch was sitting at the table doing homework. 

Kirstie had sent Kyle home at some point, and had come out in her towel to hang out with Mitch.

When Scott walked out to sit with them at the table, he immediately put a hand on Mitch's leg and bowed his head. 

Mitch only glanced at him briefly, but when he noticed all of Scott's nervous ticks-- His knee bouncing up and down under the table, biting his lip, etc-- He turned back. "Scottie..?"

Scott didn't look up. "I know that tone. I'm fine, babe."

"Then why are you--?"

"Wanna smoke."

Mitch reached over to hold onto Scott's hand, which was trembling as one of his signs of withdrawal. "Aw, honey... Can I get you something to snack on? Keep your mind busy?"

"No, I'm okay... Just gonna sit here if it's okay."

"Perfectly fine, honey. Let me know if I can get you anything..?"

Kirstie leaned over the table a little. "You've been doing so good, Scott. Just keep that in mind. You're making wonderful progress."

Scott glanced up at her for a quick second, and then looked down. "Any reason you're still not wearing clothes?"

Mitch squeezed his hand once, knowing he wasn't being snappy on purpose.

"Oh, Mitch had a math question so I just skipped on out here." Kirstie responded lightly.

Scott just shook his head, squeezing Mitch's hand right back. "Yeah okay."

Mitch leaned toward him to speak softly. "Honey, don't be grouchy... Are you sure I can't grab you anything?"

"No. Just-- Kirstie, please put a fucking shirt on." He grumbled.

Kirstie immediately pulled her towel up a little. "Oh, sorry." She stood quickly. "Sorry, I didn't know it was bothering anybody."

Mitch smacked Scott's upper arm. "Scott, what the Hell? Don't be rude."

Scott pulled himself away from Mitch a little. "I'm sorry, she's falling out of her fucking towel and it's kind of annoying? I'm trying not to disrespect one of my best friends and that makes me an asshole?"

"Yeah, it does. She's allowed to wear whatever she wants."

"But--"

Kirstie jumped in again. "Guys, don't argue. It's okay, I'll go change."

Scott held up a hand to both of them. "No-- Fuck. I'm sorry, I'm being a dick, I know that. I'm just being a little bitch about not being able to smoke."

**