Johnny Boy {ON HOLD}

Chapter 8- Escape From The City

~Calliope~

Did he really just...? I'm sure the shock of the question is all over my face, but there is so much shock flooding my system that there's no way I'm hiding it. I barely know this dude, but he's offering to take me away from this city and give me a place to stay until I land on my own two feet. But why? Why is he making that offer? We don't really know each other. He doesn't know anything about my past and I don't know anything about his. If we were better friends this would make sense, but we aren't. But moving on from the why, do I want to take the offer? It's a chance to actually have a home again. A roof over my head and everything a human is supposed to have, and I can get there without hitchhiking or putting myself in danger or anything like that. It's tempting, it really is. 

"I...uh..."

"You're right, that was a stupid thing to ask. It's not like we know each other very well or anything like that."

"Tyler..." 

"I was just thinking... I don't really know what I was thinking, it just kinda came out. I'm sorry, I really put you on the spot, didn't I?"

"Tyler..."

"Just forget I said anything and we can move on like this never happened."

"Tyler, would you shut up and listen to me for a moment?" I finally get my words in, and he automatically does as he's told. "I'm super flattered that you are offering to share your home with me until I can get one on my own. Like, the offer is super tempting and the only question I have is why?" 

"I don't know. I know we haven't known each other long but I already think of you as a friend and I just want the best for my friends and I want to help my friends in any way I can, and I guess that this is my way of helping you. I don't wanna see you go back to the streets knowing that there's something I can do. I was so scared when I thought you had died. I don't wanna go back home and be scared that any day you could die out there and I would never know. That terrifies me to no end, Calliope. Does any of that make sense?" he explains. He wants to say something else, I can see it, but he won't say it, so I just assume that it's something personal. Something he doesn't really want me to know, so I'm just going to accept it. 

"Yeah. It does. And...okay."

"Okay?" 

"Okay, I'll come to Columbus. But I'll only stay with you until I can get my own place, okay?"

"Seriously?? That's so sick! I promise I'll be a good housemate!" he says, all excited, and I smile at how hyper he is. At least, he was hyper, until he turned serious. "Thank you for letting me help you. Some people are too proud to let others help them until it's too late."

"Anything is better than being out there. And being out there for seven years did a number on my pride. I've learned to accept help wherever I can find it," I respond. He comes a step closer and acts like he's going in for a hug, but then stops himself. Ah, awkwardness at its best. I shake my head and laugh a little bit before closing the distance and wrapping my arms around him in the hug he wanted to give me. For a moment, it's like he doesn't know how to react, like he doesn't know how to give a hug, but finally, after a few moments, he returns the hug. 

"You are still really cold."

"And you, my friend, are really warm." He broke away from the hug and took a few steps back, acting like he wanted to say something, but he couldn't find the words, and instead just opened and closed his mouth a few times. 

"Um, well...are you hungry?"

"Um, yeah? What kind of question is that? Do you know when the last time I had a proper meal was?"