Verified (BoyXBoy)

Chapter 11 - Just What I Needed

I watched them as they left the bathroom and put the phone back in my pocket. I kneeled down near Ed who was still in the same position as he was before. He didn’t move this entire time but I could hear him trying to breathe slightly. I put one hand on his shoulder and the other one on his leg to try and shake him.

“Hey”

I didn’t get any response out of him so I tried again.

“Mate, it’s okay they’re gone” I tried to comfort him but I have never really been in a situation to help someone else before so I think I sucked at this.

As the words left my mouth, Ed suddenly broke out into endless sobs. He leaped forward me and jumped into my laps crying his eyes out. He clutched my trousers as if his life depended on its fabric. I could tell that he was afraid, scared, embarrassed and uncomfortable.

He was afraid that I would judge him about this. About him holding me, about what happened, about how fragile he is.

He was scared that I would leave him. I could tell by his grudge on my pants. He was scared that they would come back, but I won’t let them.

He was embarrassed, embarrassed that I’m seeing him like this. Embarrassed that he let this happen to himself, that he brought this hatred upon him. He was embarrassed of who he is.

And he was clearly uncomfortable. He wasn’t used to this, he didn’t know how to react to these situations. He was uncomfortable of holding on to me like this, of what might happen after he wakes up from this position.

But I will never do anything like leave him or judge him or scare him away. I want to soothe him and comfort him and tell him that it will be over and that it won’t happen again. That I will be there for him and that I care about him. I want him to know that it’s okay to be who you are, to accept yourself.

He remained in the same position for what seemed like forever. I let him empty out all his cries. The door bell went off and I could hear faintly from a distance, indicating that lunchtime was over. I didn’t really care that I was going to lose the next class. I never really cared and now Ed needs me and I’m pretty sure that he is more important right now.

I noticed that his sobs stops and I could only hear him sniffing his nose and breathing heavily from all the crying.

“Ed…come on mate let’s go home and get you cleaned up” I said as I tried to move him off of me to encourage him to get moving.

But his face shot up instantly and I could see the fear in his red puffy eyes and they started to tear up again. His nose was bleeding heavily and there were several cuts on his eyebrows and on his forehead all stained with dried blood. Round was his right eye was green and purple and there was a huge bump under it, clearly that is going to be a black eye tomorrow…or even possibly later today. You could see fresh stained tears running down his cheek and chin. His bottom lip was swollen and also cut. It looked like someone was trying to pierce a lip ring in it but failed miserably.

 I was taken aback by his action and stood still completely in shock.

“NO!” he screamed. “No please don’t take me home please”. And suddenly his voice was broken again like a little boy who has just lost his favorite to and is afraid to tell his mum about it cause she will scream her lungs out.

I have never seen Ed like this. He was always so cheery and full of life and to see him like this is so heartbreaking.

“Ok, it’s okay. We will go to my place and we can stay there today okay?”

I grabbed his hands to help him up and without another word he stood up…well sorta cause his legs were too tired to carry the rest of his body. I grabbed my bag and his from the floor and threw them over my shoulder. Luckily his bag wasn’t too heavy for my body to carry an 18-year old teenager and two school bags for approximately 20 minutes by walk.