Rainstorm

six

Rich doesn't know exactly who he expected it to be, but he definitely hadn't expected Jeremy Heere to be on the other side of the door.

He doesn't know what made him unlock the door, either. Something about the voice just seemed genuine. Like they meant no harm, they were telling the truth.

But now he regrets it. He bullied Jeremy for several years, physically and verbally. He told him about the squip, the thing that fucked up Jeremy's life. And as if their run-in this morning hadn't been awkward enough, now he can't even run away from this situation as he did before. Jeremy's standing in the way of his exit.

He's frozen. He doesn't know what to do, what to say. He hasn't had a real conversation in years, what's going to happen when he attempts it now?

Thankfully, Jeremy speaks first. "Can I come in?"

Rich blinks. There's a possible chance this could end well. Jeremy seems sincere. But there's also the chance that he's going to finally dish out the payback Rich deserves. Antisocial headphones, his best friend, did it. So why doesn't Jeremy do it too? Rich would say there's about a 50/50 percent chance of either thing happening. He doesn't know Jeremy well. So who knows what could happen?

Say something. He's looking at you weird, you have to speak.

"Ok." Rich mumbles. A new habit: speaking almost inaudibly, and finding ways to avoid words with the letter 's'. He doesn't want Jeremy to hear is lisp, as if he hasn't already from all their previous encounters without the squip. But if there is a chance he hasn't caught on, then he'll do what he can to hide it. It's just another rumor he doesn't want spread around the school.

Jeremy steps in, closing the door behind him and locking it. "Are you ok? I know you were crying...do you want to talk about it?"

Rich is taken aback. Why would anyone want to talk to him? Or listen to him? Or even look at him?

He opens his mouth but no sound comes out. Fuck, how does he speak again? What should he say? How does he do this without fucking things up worse than they already are?

"Y-you're serious?" He mumbles, fighting the urge to slap himself when he lisps.

Jeremy steps forward. There's a look on his face Rich doesn't recognize. He hates not being able to read people's faces in a beat. The squip could do that. The squip could do nearly everything.

Jeremy gently sets his hand on Rich's shoulder, and Rich flinches slightly. He mentally curses himself for it, hoping Jeremy didn't notice.

"Oh- sorry...I should've asked..." Jeremy backs away a few steps, taking his hand away. "But...yeah. I'm serious. I want to help you if I can...it seems like things have been difficult for you lately, with...um. The fire, and all that...and I'm just wondering if you're ok."

Rich doesn't know how to react. No one ever wondered if he was ok. Not his dad, after hitting him. Not his brother, after leaving him. Not Jake, when he clearly saw Rich flinching from the squip's powerful shocks. Not the squip, watching as he cried himself to sleep. So how does he respond? What is he supposed to say? The squip taught him to cover all his feelings and hide them...and right now, what the squip said to do is all he knows how to do.

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not."

Rich blinks. "B-but I said so...?"

Jeremy sighs.

Is it a good sigh? Or a bad one? Is he frustrated with Rich? Rich messed up somehow, any moment now Jeremy's gonna leave, he knows it-