That night at dinner, Justin watched Clay carefully as he pushed his food around on his plate. He did eat, but Justin didn't think it was enough.
"Cmon Clay, eat a little bit more," Justin whispered to the boy next to him. Clay turned his head to face Justin as his parents talked to each other. "Just a little bit," he continued, urging the boy to pick up his fork.
Clay sighed, but picked the utensil up. He looked at Justin, who gave an assuring nod, before stabbing at the food on his plate, and slowly bringing it up to his mouth. He took it, and hesitantly chewed it. He did it a few more times before deciding he had enough.
Justin gave him a big smile, and squeezed his thigh assuringly. "Good, you did good," he said, looking at the almost empty plate in front of Clay. Clay somewhat smiled at the praise, and let out a breath. Matt was looking at the two with a look of sanction, before glancing at Lainie, who was also grinning at the boys.
Mr. and Mrs. Jensen had been informed of Clay's condition upon him arriving home. Lainie had even made one of Clay's favorite meals to encourage him to eat more. He had gotten to eating just over a half of the small portions that were on his plate, but it was more than he had previously been eating.
Clay took a sip of his water, before excusing himself from the table. Justin thanked Clay's parents for dinner, before also excusing himself.
Upon arriving at the room, Clay was curled up into a ball on the bed, letting out small sniffles every now and then. Justin's eyes softened at him, and he walked over to him, kneeling down beside the bed.
"Hey, Clay, what's the matter?" he whispered softly, placing a soothing hand on his waist. He felt Clay's body jerk as he let out another sniffle.
"That wa-was a lot," he said. And Justin wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing. Probably both.
"I know. You did good. I'm so proud of you," he said, rubbing the boys side. Clay turned to face him with watery eyes, and red tear-stained cheeks.
"N-no. I didn't like that," Clay pouted, almost childishly. Justin's forehead creased as he frowned.
"Baby, I know. But you have to eat more. It's okay if you don't feel one hundred percent good about it, but you did good today," Justin soothed, placing a kiss on Clay's forehead. Clay wiped his eyes with his sweater sleeves, before sitting up.
"You're right. I did do good," he says assuringly, mostly to himself. He knew that even if he didn't want to, it was good to eat. Clay simply doesn't have an appetite most of the time. But even though there's that loss, he knew that he needed to eat.
"So good," Justin said, before pecking his lips.
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"A road trip?" Clay asked, as if it was the most absurd thing he had heard in ages.
"Yeah. For us. You know, since this is our last year and we have yet to have a normal fucking high school experience, I thought we could all go on a road trip," Sherri said, looking around at everyone.
"Where would we go?" Jess asked, making Sherri shrug her shoulders.
"I was hoping, if you say yes, that we could decide as a group. I just want us to have fun while we still can. See things we've never seen before, maybe meet some interesting people," she said, sounding straight out of a cliche independent film.
"And how would we be traveling?" Alex asked.
"We were thinking of renting a van or something. We do have a lot of people to accommodate if you all say yes," Zach chimes in. Him and Sherri came up with this idea together.
"And where would we be staying? I'm not sleeping in some cramped up van with you idiots," Ryan said, sounding gayer than ever.
"We wouldn't be too overjoyed if we had to sleep near you anyways," Alex playfully sneered. Ryan glared, but didn't say anything back.
"Well we would stay at hotels along the way," Sherri said, hoping everyone would finally agree.
"As long as me and Clay get our own room," Justin piped in, making Clay glare at him.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Clay asked, crossing his arms.
"I think you know exactly what that means," Ryan said, making everyone but Clay chuckle.
"Well I think it could be fun, I'm tired of being cooped up in the house all day," Alex says, rolling his eyes. Jessica agrees, adding an "honestly" onto the sentence. Ryan also agreed, leaving Clay and Justin to decide.
The two exchange looks, Justin's being one of pleading, and Clay's being stone. He finally broke, but not before rolling his eyes. "Fine," he stated, causing everyone to cheer.
"Okay, so where to?" Sherri asked. Everyone racked their brains to think of a location, before Jess got an idea.
"I've always wanted to go skiing, maybe in Colorado or something?" she says, letting everyone think about it, before they decided it was a good idea. It wasn't that long of a trip, but it wasn't a short one either.
They talked it over a bit more, and looked things up to figure out what they would need and travel routes, before booking a two night stay at a ski lodge in the Rocky Mountains.
"Okay everyone, so pack up your things, cause next week we are going to Colorado!" Sherri says, and surprisingly everyone got excited.
"Oh, and don't forget to inform your parents... heh," Zach said quirkily, making everyone laugh.
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(A/n)
Okay, my first thought is I never meant to make Clay's character so soft and sensitive, but I think I'm gonna keep it, because we never really got to see emotional Clay in 13rw
Second, THEY'RE GOING ON A ROADTRIP AHHH the reason I picked Colorado is because I've always wanted to go skiing, but never could, plus when I was younger, I was envious of them going snowboarding/skiing in the show Good Luck Charlie
I'm doing the best research I can to make this pretty accurate, since 13rw is said to take place in Crestmont, CA, it should be about a 19 hour trip to the state of Colorado alone
