💙You put me in a Love Despair🖤 (Music Freaks Fanfic)

Chapter 12: Reaching Out

Jake's POV:

Alright, my little brother still won't tell me anything. He wasn't annoying me like he used to every morning. He and I are absent from school- I guess you already know why Miles is absent. He told my mom that he wasn't feeling well. My mom told him to just go to school already, but he didn't listen; so mom just brushed it off.

I was absent because I had a headache. It doesn't have anything to do with "love from Sean" or anything, it's just there. But I still hate it. And I told my mom and she told me to stay home.

I also told Sean in my messages that I wasn't feeling good and he was worried that I had some kind of virus since the mall was a bit crowded. I told him not to worry and I definitely did not have a virus. It's really sweet how he kept messaging me, though. I love him so much...

A-Anyway, enough about that.

Every 4 hours I kept checking how Matt was doing. His door was slightly open; ajar almost. I peeked inside from the door in Matt's room. Luckily, it doesn't creak like mine.

I looked at him. He's just sitting there; headphones above his ear, his face was all red like he'd been crying for hours. There's also a tissue next to him. I looked more and saw Oreo laying right next to him on the bed; probably sleeping.

With hesitation, I knocked quietly on the door.

"Who is it?!" My brother yelled.

I sigh. Then, I opened the door and smiled lightly. "Can I come in?"

"Go away." Matt hissed at me and laid back down on his pillow, crossing his arms.

"Your door was open." I told him. "I'm not gonna bother you or anything. I just wanted to see if you were... I don't know... alright?"

Matt looked at me with disapproving eyes, but surprisingly, he sat up from his bed and rolled his eyes. "Okay, what do you want?"

I sighed with relief to myself. I closed the door, finally and sat on his bed.

It's...been a while since we've done this. I looked at him with curious eyes.

"I need to tell you something."

Matt looked at me with a sad expression. I almost felt bad for saying this to him, but he needs to know.

"Matt..." I sighed. "How did you end up in that alleyway?" I felt like I was being really direct with him.

My little brother looked away and put his arms around his legs. "Why do you care?"

"Because I'm just...confused." I told him. "Why would you go into an alleyway those bullies go to? Matt, don't tell me you went with the gangs from your eighth grade class-"

"I did, okay?!" Matt interrupted me. I saw tears fall from his eyes and his face turned bright red. He sniffed and breathed heavily; I almost didn't know what to do. I just stood there with my eyes widening. I had never seen my brother like this before. "I-I d-d-didn't want them to think that I- I..."

It looked like Matt couldn't control his sobbing. Without hesitation, I pulled him close to me, but he wasn't pulling me away or even accepting the embrace. I rubbed his back to try to make the crying go away. He continued what he was about to say before. "I- I like t-this boy in my English class."

'What?'

"I- I didn't want t-them to think I l-liked him s-so I..." Matt sniffed under his breath. "I joined them..."

I pulled him away from me. "Matt, why didn't you tell me about this?" I sighed.

"B-because m-mom and d-dad favors you over me...I didn't think you would care!" Matt crossed his arms, still getting over his sobs. I tilted my head, I was about to say why; but he answered for me. "T-they would always ask if you were okay. T-today I said I was sick and they didn't believe me, but you?" he scoffed. "You get away with everything. Even though I know it's a lie. I only stopped today because I know you 'do' have a headache."