Best Friend

Chapter 22 : Doctor's?

Chapter 22

The next day...

Nick POV

I let Jeff sleep in since he seemed to have more patience and self control when he wasn't exhausted.

I was currently downstairs for breakfast with mom.

"Nick."

"Yeah?"

"I got a call from the police station this morning."

"And?"

"Jeff's dad has been arrested."

"For how long?"

"We don't know yet. He still has to go to court and everything."

"Oh... Is Jeff going to need to testify?"

"Probably."

"Mom, I don't know if he's... brave enough to do that. His dad is the person he's scared of the most."

"We'll just have to remind him that his dad can't hurt him anymore. He can't get in trouble for telling the truth."

"Ok..."

We finished our breakfasts, and I helped clean up.

"I'm going to run some errands today. Are you going to be ok with Jeff?"

"Yeah. I think he did most of his freaking out last night. He should be fine."

"Ok. I'll see you later, honey."

"Bye, mom."

I went upstairs to wake Jeff.

But he was already awake.

I found him curled up in my bed, holding onto my pillow super tight, and he was crying.

"Jeff, come on. We talked about this. Everything's going to be ok."

"I had a bad dream," he said, sitting up.

He dropped the pillow, and reached for me. I hugged him tight.

"What was your dream about?"

"Um... So my dad escaped from jail, and he wanted to get revenge on me for telling on him. And... All I remember was running as fast as I could because he was trying to kill me, but he was faster, and he just kept getting closer and closer."

"That's not going to happen, Jeff. I promise. You're safe."

"What if they don't believe me? And then he doesn't go to jail, and then he hits me because I was bad?"

"Jeff, he's already in jail. They arrested him this morning."

"They did?"

"Yes. You're safe."

He sighed in relief, and went limp in my arms.

"Jeff, can we talk about something for a minute?"

"What?"

"It's just... I think you have... anxiety and depression. And... I think it would be good for you to go to the doctor and see if they can diagnose you."

"Why!?"

"Because then maybe they can prescribe you medication to help you."

"No!"

"Why not, though? Aren't you tired of feeling upset all the time and having panic attacks?"

"I don't want to go, Nick."

"Because you're scared, or because of something else?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

He pulled out of my arms, and laid down with his face buried into the bed. I sighed. Sometimes he's just impossible like this...

Later...

Jeff POV

Nick left me alone. And it's been hours. I thought he would've come to check on me.

I was getting really lonely, and I was just anxious and upset over everything with my dad. It made me want to cut, but I can't.

I slowly got out of Nick's bed, and went downstairs. I found Nick in the living room, watching tv.

"Nick?" I asked, quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Can I talk to you?"

"Yeah, come here."

Nick paused his movie, and I sat down beside him on the couch.

"Maybe there is something wrong with me..." I mumbled.

"Wait. What?"

"I just feel like I want to cut, and that's not normal!"

"I know. And I was thinking about that a little while ago. If you don't know about going to the doctor's-"

"I didn't want to go because I didn't want it to be real. But if it's real, then I want to fix it."

"I don't get it."

"If I go to the doctor's, and they say I have anxiety and depression, then it wins. But if I don't go, I don't have to believe it's real."

"Well... This is what I was thinking... I know a lot of your negative feelings are because of your dad. So what I was thinking, was we can wait to go to the doctor's, and see if being apart from your dad helps at all."

"So I might not have problems!?"

"Maybe. We'll just have to see. Do you want to do that?"

"Yes. I'm just scared though."

"Why?"

"Because I'm Jeff, and that's how I am!"

Nick put his arm around me, and pulled me closer to him.

"Well I'm Nick, and my job is to make you less scared, so let's watch a movie to distract you."

"Or we could have food."

Nick laughed.

"Or we could do that. My mom saved you some pancakes from breakfast earlier."

"Yay!"

Nick brought me to the kitchen and heated up the pancakes. He handed me the plate when they were done, and gave me syrup too. I started pouring it over my pancakes.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Jeff! Too much!"

"I like syrup though!"

"Your pancakes are drowning in it!"

"That's how I want it to be."

Nick rolled his eyes.

"You can be such a sugar freak sometimes."

"It tastes good!" I whined.

"Whatever makes you happy..."