The Boy With the Bruise - benjey

13 - Fight or Flight?

Jorge could easily tell that Kaden was drunk.

Considering the fact that there were multiple beer bottles littered around the kitchen counter in a lazy and untidy fashion (which was extremely unlike Kaden) it wasn't that hard to miss. His voice was slurred and his eyes were shrouded in a way that was clear that he had too much to drink. When Kaden stood to walk towards Jorge, he stumbled and fell; but, instead of trying to get up, he relaxed his body on the floor and mumbled incoherent words.

Out of impulse, Jorge rushed to help him up; but, as soon as he touched Kaden, he was pushed away.

"I know you were with him," Kaden slurred, throwing his bottle to the floor as he shuffled to a sitting position, "I know you spent your mental health day with that boy you brought home yesterday."

Jorge's voice and fingers trembled as he tried to inch closer to his boyfriend. "He just gave me a ride, Kayden."

"Like fuckin' hell he did!" Kaden shouted angrily, stumbling to his feet and clasping his fists around the back of a chair to steady himself.

"I'm serious!" Jorge shouted back, no longer interested in helping the drunk boy that towered in front of him. "He offered to drive me to Gracie's, so I let him. I didn't want to distract you from your work, so I asked him to drive me home afterwards."

"Don't lie," Kaden hissed. "You know what fucking happens when you lie to me, Jorge."

Jorge's palms began to sweat as he tried to regain his composure. "All... all he did was give me a ride."

"So then why wasn't he at school, either?" Kaden hissed, whipping his head around to match the gaze of Jorge's terrified one.

His eyes went wide as he began to stutter. "H-how would I know?"

"You're lying to me," Kaden said lowly, almost incomprehensible.

"No, no! I'm not!" Jorge retorted, backing away as Kaden walked forward. He found himself being pressed to a wall, the stench of alcohol and hatred on Kaden's breath as he leaned on Jorge for support.

"What, am I not good enough for you? I... I brought you with me, to Canada. I could've left you in fucking Barcelona with your fucking homophobic-ass family, but I didn't. You wanna know why? Because I love you. I love you, I saved you, but you can't even look me in the eyes anymore. You can't even... you can't even say you love me too."

"Please, Kaden," Jorge whispered, pushing on his torso with all his might to get him away. Instead of backing off, Kaden's hands wrapped into Jorge's hair, roughly tugging it back and exposing his neck.

"If you can't tell me you love me, show me," Kaden slurred, tightening his hands in Jorge's brown locks and beginning to kiss his neck possessively. Jorge's heart sped up when he realized what Kaden meant, resorting to his last option and shoving him off with all his might. Kaden stumbled back, tripping drunkenly over his own feet and crashing to the floor.

With tears in his eyes, Jorge said, "you're drunk, Kay. Just... go to sleep, and we can talk in the morning." Before Kaden could protest, Jorge pushed off of the wall and speed-walked to the bathroom, slamming the door behind him and locking it.

Immediately, a mixture of panic bubbled in his chest as he fell to the floor.

You have to get out of this, the voice in his head screamed. Get out, get out, get out! You can't live with him anymore.

Jorge clutched his knees to his chest as he began to sob, the sound of his drunken boyfriend banging on the door behind him terrifying him to the point where he was too scared to move.

He had to get out of this apartment. He had to get away from Kaden.

"Come out here. Come out here, right now!" Kaden screamed, his fists pounding on the locked bathroom door as he tried to get in.

"Go away," Jorge sobbed as the pounding grew louder and the handle shook as Kaden tried to open it. "Go away, Kaden, just... go away!"

"Fuck you, Jorge!" Kaden shouted. With one last bang, he growled in anger. Then, his footsteps echoed down the hallway as he stomped into their bedroom, slamming the door and locking it behind him.

It took Jorge a moment to realize that he was having a panic attack. As tears streamed down his face, he weakly clung onto the sink to try and pull himself up, but gave up after several unsuccessful attempts and sheer exhaustion. Eventually, he laid his head back against the door, staring up at the ceiling as he sobbed loudly.

He could practically hear his mother calling him. C'mon, hijo. It's time to get up. He missed his mother. He missed her so much, it hurt. Why was she the one who had to kick him out? It would've hurt less if his dad had done it, but no. It had to be her. It's time to get up, mi hermoso hijo.

Her voice calmed him down to where he could breathe again, but caused a fresh set of tears to come flowing down at the painful feeling of missing his mother; of missing his family. He no longer felt like Kaden was family. The familiar buzz of his phone shocked him out of his thoughts.

With shaking hands, he pulled out his phone, staring at the single notification through his tears.

One new voicemail from: Banjo♡

He slowly clicked on the notification and shakily brought the phone up to his ear, closing his eyes as he listened to the message.

"Hey, Jey! It's Benji. I'm calling because, uh... I just wanted to tell you that I had a really good time today. We should do that again, yeah? Also, I was wondering if you needed a ride to school tomorrow? I can pick you up around 7:30 ish. It's totally up to you, though. I don't want to pressure you into hanging out with me again so soon, and... yeah. Man, I sound clingy. Sorry. It's just... whatever this is, whatever we are - it's confusing to me. In a good way, don't worry! God, I'll stop talking now. I'm embarrassing myself. Just... take care of yourself, and I'll see you tomorrow morning. Maybe. Ok, good night."

A smile tugged at the corners Jorge's lips through his tear-stained face as he listened to the older boy's stuttering and nervous voice on repeat, practically envisioning the vibrant blush appearing on Benji as he spoke.

Me:

Sounds good. I'll see you tomorrow morning♡
Night, Benji. 

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please, if you are struggling with addiction or
with domestic violence/abuse, please reach out.
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