Short Stories (BxB)

Learning to Trust (pt1) - Callum & James

Description: Callum has had a tough childhood. For four years his father did bad things to him and nobody knew. Not until his older sister came home early one day and saw it happening. She immediately called 911 and the police found evidence of the abuse and the father got put in jail. Ever since then, he's lived with just his mom, older sister, and younger sister. And he is now terrified of men. Any male either the same age as him or older than him, especially if they carry any resemblance to his father. He's only friends with girls and never thinks about anything sexual. If he does, he'll spiral into a panic from the memories when he was young. James has noticed Callum for a while now, and how he is always surrounded by girls and never talks to any guys. He's been curious especially since he's had a class with him and seen him flinch when any males get too close to him. Including the teacher. Whenever James tries to go up to talk to him, Callum always shrinks away from him too like he's scared of him. He's never had even a slight conversation with him. This makes James very curious and want to get close to Callum. He isn't dumb, he can tell he went through something to be scared by men so easily, but he wants to know what it is... and maybe help him get better. (Around 11,800 words for all three parts)

*This is a very long one-- my longest short story to date

James' POV

I was walking to my third-hour class. I looked across the hall and saw Callum, surrounded by the same group of girls he's around every day. He seems so comfortable around them, but as soon as a boy gets close to him he seems terrified and ridged. Even teachers. It's weird. He's a senior in high school and he's that fidgety. Something must have happened to him to make him that way... but what could it have been? I've been in school with Callum since like eighth grade when I moved here and he's always been like this. I haven't learned anything from anyone else besides the fact that he only lives with females... but that gives me no idea why he's scared of guys. He's more scared around other senior boys or teachers, less with like the freshmen. It's weird.

"Bro, you're staring. If he notices you he's gonna like run out of the school or some shit."

I rolled my eyes as all of my friends laughed at their 'funny joke'. No one besides me seems to care why Callum is the way he is. Actually, most guys in our grade call him a 'freak' or 'weird'. It makes me pissed.

"I just want to know more about him."

"Well, unless you can turn into a girl, you won't be able to get within six feet of him."

I sighed, "I'm aware of that. Maybe I can ask GG."

GG is one of Callum's friends that he always has at his side. She's in one of my classes without Callum so I could ask her then. She knows I'm not one of the people that make fun of him so maybe she'll help me.

"Eh, you can ask her but don't get your hopes up. If he is actually scared of guys, there's no way she'll let you near him."

I rolled my eyes again, "Unlike you guys, I'm not an asshole and I respect boundaries."

They shrugged at me as we walked into our classroom. And, speaking of the devil, GG walked in shortly after we did.

I went over to her, "Hey, GG, could I ask you something?"

She glanced at me as she got books out of her bag and shrugged, "Sure, what's up?"

"Is there any way I could... talk to Callum?"

She immediately stopped what she was doing and looked up at me with a blank face, "You want to talk to Callum? Why?"

"I don't know. I want to be friends with him. He never hangs out with any guys but you're his best friend so maybe you could help me?"