Unzip Me (boyxboy)

7 - A Crash Course of Hand Jobs and Confusion

I wasn’t sure where Cj had run off to, but he couldn’t have gotten far. Well, he was young so maybe his legs would carry him. Either way, I had to go look for him; he looked upset, and I’d feel guilty if I didn’t. I climbed into my truck and started the engine up, pulling away from the parking slot as I revved out of the lot and onto the road. From where the carnival was located, the only way there was by means of the highway, so that’s where he’d be walking along. I sighed, my mind running with millions of assumptions as to why he ran. Did he hurt himself somehow? Did the girl reject him? Was there a really ugly baby back at the carnival that potentially scarred him for life? These were all reasonable possibilities, but just speculations without any evidence; they were useless.

Relief seemed to wash over me and I sighed after about 10 minutes of lone highway driving before seeing him, walking along the side of it. He held his head down, his arms folded over his chest, facing outward toward the edge. I watched him and stopped a few yards away quietly. There was hardly anyone out since this wasn’t a very popular highway, and also considering that hardly anyone visited this town. Cj placed his hands on the railing and leaned forward, looking over into the darkness that was a watery grave, curiously. That curiosity soon turned to danger as he stepped up on the bottom rail, and onto on the top one as he swung his legs over, sitting there, uneasily, still staring the darkness down.

“Cj!” I yelled as I hopped out of the truck and ran towards him, grabbing his shoulders before he got startled and lost balance.

He gasped, staring at me like he had been broken from a trance, his cheeks stained with tears, his lips chapped from the cold. I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him back onto solid asphalt, spinning him around to face me.

“What the hell are you doing, kid?!”

He wouldn’t answer.

“You shouldn’t have done that. You could’ve fallen! Splash!”

I raised an eyebrow at him, “You weren’t planning on jumping, were you?”

“No,” he shook his head, although I felt that he was lying. I mean, who in their right mind would sit on the railing when they could easily fall over and die?

He then turned away from me as he headed down the street again, folding his arms over his chest with his head down.

“Cj,” I called, jogging after him, grabbing his hand.

“I’ll be okay. I just need to think about things for a while,” he assured, not looking directly at me. His voice was always so damn quiet…

I rolled my eyes, tugging on his arm, directing him back towards the car without much defiance, “No way, kid; you’re on suicide watch.”

Of course I was joking when I said that, but his absolute silence was leading me to believe that maybe he was looking to hurting himself. This meant I couldn’t leave him alone right now. I needed to find out what was wrong and what had upset him.

We climbed into the truck and I turned the key, glancing over at him. He was looking out the window with head leaned against it, his arm folded over his chest. He hadn’t taken the time to click his seat belt in either, which seemed out of place for him. I didn’t mention it.

“What happened back there, at the carnival? You were crying,” I began as we drove down the dark highway, passing a couple of cars.

He was silent for a moment, “I don’t know.”

I scoffed, “Cj. C’mon, you can tell me. I won’t laugh at you or whatever you think I’ll do.”

“It doesn’t matter”