Please Mind The Gap #1

18: Please mind the truth

18: Please mind the truth

--- tedthan at the park in the media section ---

They strode along the path in one small park nearby, the only sounds heard were the soft rustling of leaves, the whir of bicycle wheels, and their footsteps tapping on the pavement. They continued down the narrow path through the grass and trees. The golden glow of the lampposts led a bright trail through the peaceful park.

Teddy walked silently beside Nathan, not daring to talk until he did. She was frightened that she would upset him, which was a new feeling. Usually, she didn't care. But maybe after a week and five days in Australia with Nathan, things had changed. She now cared for someone besides herself and Aunt Tess. She felt protective, and worried for him. She thought Nathan's cheerful façade was unbreakable but he had gone through a lot.

Just like her. And she had to be there for him when that façade came crashing down.

It was scary to think that she would be leaving in half a week. Leaving the warm sunshine and rooftop nights, the jolly people and the carefree attitude. Leaving the brown haired boy for a long time, drowning in his problems.

"Let's sit here," he suggested, sitting on a park bench. Teddy, startled out of her reverie, settled beside him, nestling her head under his chin. "Teddy..."

"It's okay, Nathan," she said gently, wrapping an arm around him. "You could keep it. You don't have to tell anything to me if-"

"I want to," he interrupted her fiercely. "I have to, and if, by the end of the week, my parents decide to take off her life support, I'll have to live with it forever. I'll have to live with not telling you anything, pretending to be happy and okay until you go back to London and forget all about me."

Teddy froze and slowly looked up at him, leaving her place leaning against his shoulder to take a proper look at him. "Life suppport?" she whispered.

Nathan gave an angry exhale and ran his fingers through his hair roughly. "It's my fault. I got her into the whole thing. It's all my fault!"

"Nathan," she said, terrified. "Please... you don't have to..."

"It started two years ago. I was seventeen," he plowed on stubbornly, his breaths coming out short and hard. "She was only fourteen. I was carefree and stupid and selfish. I messed around with girls, I smoked cigarettes down with the shady boys in street corners, I drank almost every night, hungover every morning. I moaned about my life, I was an ungrateful idiot." He sighed. "You always call me an idiot, Teddy. You're right. I am an idiot."

Teddy was shocked into silence as Nathan continued feverishly.

"And then one day, one of the boys, Fox, offered all of us a packet of this white powder. We always knew he was the worst of the worst in the group. Always high, always drunk, acting weird, but he started to reveal his little secret to us."

Teddy hesitated, scared that he would confirm her thought. "Drugs."

"Yeah."

Teddy looked at him, at his messy dark hair and sad green eyes. He was always so nice, so cheerful, so polite. It was difficult to imagine him as the person he was before.

"He persuaded us to try some. And, being the dickheads we were, we went ahead and did.

"It was amazing. I loved it. This...this feeling of floating and leaving everything behind. It was pure ecstasy. I slowly fell into the addiction, begging Fox for more. And after a year and a half, she came along."

He took a breath, tilting his head up to look at the stars in the sky.

"Enalie was curious. She was totally innocent. And I ruined her." He laughed ruefully. "I coaxed her, daring her to try some. And she liked it too.

"But one day, I think it came to her senses that what we were doing was wrong. She stopped talking to me, stopped doing drugs. She was disgusted with me. She hated me."

The pain in his voice was too much for Teddy, but she didn't dare to interrupt.

"A month later, we were on the rooftop, alone. I teased her for being a coward. Enalie was crying because I slapped her. She stood up to go and I chased after her, drunk as hell. She reached the edge, and I..." He gasped. "I pushed her over, telling her to come back to the habit. And-"

The silence was deafening. He continued hoarsely, his head in his hands.

"She fell. I didn't mean to push her over the edge. I just did it to taunt her a little. But she fell. She was rushed to the hospital. To the ICU, and she wasn't dead. But she was incredibly injured, and she bumped her head somewhere in the process of falling. She's been in a coma for more than half a year. The doctors have been telling us to give up. And by the end of this week, I think my parents are going to agree with them.

"You ask me why I'm so nice, so caring. It's because of my sister. Because of Enalie. I changed after what happened. I was scared senseless by what had happened. I left Fox and the group and found Keith, Brent , and Andrew. They helped me change but it wasn't easy...

"You know, in the beach, when you almost drowned? Teddy, I was so scared. It was Enalie all over again. I thought you'd never wake up. I was so worried that you would die. You can make all the jokes about what happened, you can laugh it off, but it really scared me. I should have told you this but I did mouth-to-mouth with you-"

Teddy blinked. He did?

"And you know what? I didn't care. If I had to kiss you, if I had to take off my clothes to save you then I would.

"That's why I started volunteering. I felt that... I could make up for what I did by helping others. I couldn't help Enalie so I helped other people instead. I felt helpless, desperate. I want her back."

She didn't realize that he had started to cry; a sparkling tear slowly trickled down his cheek. He looked so sad, and now she felt horrible for being rude to him on the first day. He had been trying to help, trying to change for the better.

"Nathan," she let out. "Why didn't you say?" She wiped the tear with the pad of her thumb and took his face in her hands.

And she caught his lips in a kiss. Not hungry and desperate, but slow and meaningful. His lips were soft as she kissed him.

"I want you to know," she said clearly. "That even if you'll drift away, I'll be there for you. You're an amazing person, you've changed and I think that's all that matters."

"Mm," he murmured against her lips.

Teddy drew back. "Sometimes we just have to move on from the past and venture into the future. We'll figure this out. Don't worry."

----

And so it's all out :O

This isn't the last chapter, far from the last chapter. I'm planning to make a sequel, since I really enjoy writing this story:) No guarantees though.

I'm planning to make this at least 25 chapters or so, IDK.

But please please please

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More stuff to come in PMTG (POTATOES! wait what) very random of me. Sorry;)

Thanks for reading!

-K