back to you | boreo

viii.

chapter eight

on the wednesday afternoon, theo found himself sprawled out on boris' couch, watching some shitty sitcom. his head still hurt, and he kept on getting a fever during the night. turns out water doesn't cure everything.

the previous night, boris got so scared at the boy's state that he suggested going to the hospital – but theo refused. if he went, they would've had to contact his father. the sooner he went without seeing him, the better.

his brunette friend was currently upstairs – having an argument with kotku over the phone. she was apparently upset that boris was refusing to see her, even though it had only been three days. the girl even came banging on the door in the morning, but the two boys stayed hidden in the bedroom until she left.

theo kept on thinking about telling boris that his girlfriend was the one who almost ruined their friendship. but as he listened to her scream at him over speaker phone, he didn't think it would make a difference. their relationship was doomed anyway.

a sudden knock at the door makes the blonde spring up. surely it couldn't be kotku – she was still on the phone with boris.

a thought appears in theo's head, making panic rise in his chest. he hoped that his father wouldn't come looking for him, but it was a possibility.

boris emerges from his room, looking down the stairs before making eye contact with the other boy. he raises an eyebrow, as if to say – who the hell is that?

theo shrugs his shoulders, slowly standing up to walk over to the door. as he gets closer, his heartbeat rises.

"please not him. please don't be him." he whispers to himself, his fingers wrapping around the doorknob to pull the door open.

a quick sigh of relief escapes theo as his eyes land on abby, giving her a smile.

"theo! there you are!" she exclaims, throwing her arms around him. "i was so worried! you haven't been at school, and i thought – oh my god. what the fuck happened to you?"

when the girl pulls away, she notices theo's very badly bruised face. her eyebrows furrow as her lip starts to quiver. it looks like she's about to cry.

"hey, i'm okay. honestly. i just needed a few days off." he reassures her.

"yeah, no shit."

her eyes shift past the boy and lands on boris standing on the stairs, making her quirk an eyebrow. "so i'm guessing you guys made up?" she whispers.

theo glances over his shoulder to look at his best friend. he has his phone lazily placed in his hand – kotku's voice still audible even off speaker. he mouths all good? which makes the shorter boy give him a nod.

"we should go outside." he turns back to abby, stepping out the door to shut it behind him.

they sit down on the steps together, the air being slightly warmer compared to the past few weeks. theo adjusts his glasses as he takes a deep breath.

"so, you're probably wondering what happened."

he told her everything. from his plan of leaving, to when he showed up on boris' doorstep after being beaten up by his father. for a second, he swears he caught a tear drop down the girl's face.