hopeless.

hhhhh

The two boys stroll to their normal spot , hand in hand. They get a few weird looks, but they shrug it off.

"Josh, aren't you hot?" Tyler motions to Josh's black sweatshirt and jeans.

"No."

"You gotta be! It's like 90 degrees out."

"I'm cool."

"Cmon Joshie, I don't want you to get overheated. I know you have a tshirt underneath, so let me take the sweatshirt off."

"Tyler! I'm fine."

"No. You're gonna get heat stroke." Tyler states, not thinking about what he's saying. He reaches out to pull the hem of the sweatshirt off, and Josh protests, but fails.

"See? You're fine. Don't you feel better?"

"No." Josh holds his arms to his chest tightly.

Josh tries to grab the sweatshirt back from Tyler.

In doing so, his wrist, which is usually covered by a sweatshirt, shows.

Tyler notices and feels a wave of heat and fear come over him.

What are those parallel white lines going up his arm?

And why are there fresh, red ones?

For a moment Tyler doesn't know.

Why?

He's not sure. In his subconscious, he knows exactly what they are. These lines litter Tyler's skin as well. But Tyler refuses to believe that Josh has the same kinds of lines that Tyler does.

Josh knows Tyler has seen, and he is angry. Not a confrontational kind of angry, but an internal anger that he cannot explain. He wants to make those marks disappear, but he can't.

"Josh..." Tyler whimpers, "Josh, I'm sorry."

Josh just stares back into Tyler's eyes saying nothing. He abruptly stands up and begins to walk away.

"Josh, no!" Tyler jumps up and runs to the other boy. "No, Josh, please, don't leave. I'm sorry."

Josh has nothing to say. He looks down at his feet.

"I let you down."

"No," Tyler lifts the boys chin up with his index finger. "You didn't. How long have you been clean?"

"As of two days ago, 4 months..." Josh voice cracks and he falls into Tyler's arms, sobbing uncontrollably. "Ty, I'm so sorry. You told me to stay strong, you told me to stand up to the voice, but I couldn't. These lines are the only thing that makes him stop."

Tyler bites his lip to stop from crying, his eyebrows arched up. "W-what about when we are together?"

"That's the only exception."