Tempest (Royce/Winston)

034

Jacob's P.O.V.

"Where's Rayan?" I asked, frowning when I noticed he wasn't sitting at the cafeteria table. Elijah was by himself and he didn't look that happy to be here. Chresanto shrugged his shoulders and sat down beside me, we both looked at Elijah and he sighed.

"He's at home..."

"Why?"

"Yesterday his parents had another one of their big family dinners, and of course his aunt came over. It was obvious he didn't want to attend, but he had to because his parents are big on the whole everyone eats at the table thing, you know? It was... Okay, up until the moment his aunt asked to speak with him one on one after". Elijah shook his head, "Ray literally freaked out, he left the table and I followed after him because it clearly looked like he was going to break down".

"What happened after you guys left the table?" Chresanto questioned, he folded his arms on the table and stared Elijah down. Chres was glaring at him, but I don't think it was intentional, it was just him unconsciously showing how he truly felt about the situation.

"Ray had a full blown panic attack".

"I've had those before" I murmured, "they're fucking terrible, I used to experience them after waking up from a nightmare about my brother and not being able to process that nothing I'd just dreamed about was real. Was last night his first time having one?"

"No" Chresanto replied, "every once in a while he'll have one, but they usually only happen when they're provoked, like if someone's touching him too much or he's in crowded places for too long. I'm honestly surprised he didn't have one during prom, I know he's trying to come out of his comfort zone, but I was expecting him to leave early because he couldn't handle it".

Elijah nodded his head in agreement, "he's trying... I really wasn't going to show up today because I didn't want to leave him alone at home, but he didn't like the idea of me missing something in any of my classes". I noticed the way Elijah's shoulders had dropped down some, it looked like he was sulking.  "Sometimes it takes a day for him to get back into the swing of things after a really bad attack. He didn't look good when I left this morning and I didn't want to leave".

"Why not?" I asked.

"I just wanted to be there for him, you know? Ray likes to make sure others are okay first, he puts himself second. He's always been like that. He's always taking care of me when I get upset about my parents, I want to do the same for him when his aunt gives him a hard time".

"Oh".

"Take care of him like how?" Chresanto eyed him like he'd done something suspicious.

"Not like that, Chresanto. Our relationship is platonic, that's the only thing it's ever going to be".

"You just sound like you like him a lot, I was about to remind you that he's asexual".

"I know, it's not something I'd forget. I do like Ray a lot because he's done plenty for me. My parents aren't good parents, they barely show me any attention. Ray lets me basically live in his house, and I know I have his parents to thank for that too, but he was the one who offered for me to stay there. He listens to what I have to say too, he never zones out and acts like he doesn't care, I could be talking about the most stupidest thing in the whole wide world, but Rayan will listen and he will talk to me about it like it's actually important. He's protective too, he doesn't really like to fight, but I'm pretty sure he was going to if Pierce had actually touched me". Elijah took a deep breath and sighed, "he's my best friend, and I just want to be there for him like he's there for me".

"You can be" Chresanto stated bluntly, "you're just not tryi-" "God, please don't listen to any of the shit that comes out of his mouth" I interrupted, "he doesn't think before he speaks".