The Boy With the Bruise - benjey

16 - Two Boys Kissing In the Rain

"Woah," Benji softly breathed, staring intently at Jorge's hair as he hopped in the passenger seat. "You changed your hair."

Jorge laughed as he pushed his backpack below his feet and shut the door. "Not shit, Sherlock. Now, what was so important that you insisted on picking me up this morning?"

"It's raining," Benji pointed out, staring up at the angry grey sky as the rain heavily poured down on the roof of his car, "and I know for a fact you don't have a ride back home, and I also know you're too shy to ask for one."

Jorge's eyebrows furrowed in realization, puffing up his cheeks in agitation as he leaned back in the cushioned seat. "So... you tricked me into getting a ride?"

"Yes," Benji chuckled. "Well, sort of. I just wanted to see you again."

Jorge's face heated up, and he found himself hiding behind his newly-blackened curls in embarrassment. They were long - he had to cut his hair, soon. Disregarding the thought, Jorge leaned over to Benji, softly grabbing his face and gently placing a kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you," he shyly whispered against his smooth skin. He pulled back as Benji became even more flustered, nodding his head and trying his best to concentrate on the road.

"Uh... out of curiosity, why'd you change your hair?" Benji asked, tapping the side of the wheel in the beat to the nostalgic song playing softly on the radio.

"Kaden and I got in a fight," Jorge breathed slowly, gauging Benji's reaction as he continued, "and the morning after, he tried to act like nothing happened. He complimented my hair, made me breakfast. It made me angry, and... and... I'm just so tired of it," Jorge admitted. And, it was so true. Jorge had gotten to the point where mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion had begun to affect his personality and appearance. His eyes were becoming duller by the day and his ribs were showing a little bit more because of his eating habits. Kaden's presence caused a constant stress that was leaving scars on Jorge internally, not just externally.

"But... he made you breakfast and complimented you. Why're you angry about that?" Benji asked, genuinely confused as he shifted in his seat to glance at the younger. 

Jorge took a deep breath, preparing himself for what he was about to say. "Promise me something."

Benji's eyebrows rose at the sudden seriousness in Jorge's tone. "Yeah, anything."

"Promise me you won't look at me differently, even if I tell you something that's really fucked up," Jorge breathed. Benji pursed his lips at the foul language but kept quiet about it.

"Ok..." he said uncertainly.

"Kaden's an alcoholic. He was getting better when we moved to Canada, but eventually, he fell back into it. He gets aggressive," Jorge said, quickly talking so Benji couldn't interrupt him, "and sometimes, he gets physical. He's hit me more than once. I've... I've lost track how many times. It started in Barcelona, but it ended when we got professional help in Canada. They said he was fine, but... lately it's gotten worse. I'm afraid that if I try to leave him, he'll try to make me stay, or... do something, because I wanted to leave."

"Jeyjey, what..." Benji started, his mind whirling as the new information seeped into his brain. "He abuses you?"

Jorge began to cry in relief and pain, ignoring Benji's words. "Fuck, that felt so good to admit."

Benji, on the other hand, was anything but relieved. He was angry. "He hits you, Jorge? Why didn't you say something sooner? Why didn't you go to someone? I mean, have you gone to someone? That's domestic abuse... Oh my god, you live with him. Shit! Has he ever made you do something you didn't want to do? Sexually?"

Jorge's eyes widened. "What? No. I've never... I've never been with someone like that before."

"Wait, what? You're a virgin?" Benji's eyes widened once again, his mind reeling with all sorts of information that Jorge had just flung at him.

"Yeah, but... that's irrelevant."

"You need to break up with him, Jorge."

"I can't."

"You have too! You need to get out of that, right now!"

"Benji, you don't understand. I can't! He'd find me, and he'd probably do a lot worse than kicking, shoving, punching, or slapping - I mean, he'd probably kill me!"

"You can stay with me, Jey. You could hide."

"Don't start this. He could find you. I'm not putting you in danger, too. It's not gonna happen."

"I don't care if-"

"No! Pull over, Benji."

"What?"

"You heard me. Pull. Over."

Reluctantly, Benji pulled into an empty parking lot, sloppily parking in the middle of the pouring rain. The smaller boy angrily grabbed his backpack, yanked the car door open, and promptly stomped out into the rain, heading in the direction of the sidewalk.

He wasn't going to have this conversation with Benji. He wasn't going to put him in danger. There was no way that Jorge was going to put Benji in that position.

Benji groaned from the interior of the car, quickly turning off the engine and grabbing his rain jacket. Instead of putting it on, he threw it on top of his head, scurrying after the exasperated boy as fast as he could. He stopped him and covered them both with the rain coat.

"I'm sorry," Benji said loudly, over the pouring rain. "I just... I don't want to see what happened to my mother happen to you, Jorge. It's... it's... horrible."

Tears were streaming down Jorge's face, but it was hard to tell since he was soaking wet from the rain. "I know. I know it's horrible. But you of all people should know first hand, because of your mother, how complicated this situation is."

Benji let go of the jacket, draping it over Jorge's small frame and cupping his cheeks gently. "Let me help you, Jorge. Please, let me help you."

"You can't."

Benji pulled Jorge's face closer, their foreheads resting against each other as they both breathed deeply. "I can't see what happened to her, happen to you too. Not again."

"I'll figure it out," Jorge whispered. "We'll figure it out, ok? Together."

"Together," Benji breathed.

Their lips crashed together, and in that moment, reality folded in on itself, and all that was left standing were two boys kissing in the rain, unknowingly falling deeper and closer to the emotion that we call love. 

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I was gonna wait to post this, but i wont be able
to post anything tomorrow, so this is me making
up for that... with a double update :)
as always, love you xx

thoughts on this chapter?