Safe

-1- A Friend

Hannah "Birdie" Morrison

Ty swings his arm around my shoulder and I look up at him, a crease in my forehead caused by confusion.

He brought me a breakfast sandwich.

While I'm not complaining because it's food, I'm also not sure what it means. He's never brought me food, at least not without me begging him to prior.

So as I bite into the egg and bacon English muffin I can't help but wonder what strings are attached to it. But my concerns are instantly dropped, my eyes finding Holt in the hallway.

"Hmm there's Holt." I mumble, crumbs falling from my mouth. "See ya later!"

I wave to Ty but my back is already to him as I dodge my way through the sea of students. I purposefully don't call out for him. It's his first day back and the last thing I want to do is trigger something.

Waiting until I'm just a few feet away I say as calmly as I possibly can while cramming the last bite of the breakfast sandwich in my mouth, "Hey Holt."

He still flinches, dark rimmed eyes meeting mine but the corner of his mouth tugs upward. He doesn't give me any verbal greeting which isn't unusual but he slows his pace so that we can walk side by side.

"I'm glad your back." I tell him.

It's been weird without him in school. I didn't realize all the time I spent with him until he wasn't there beside me.

"Me too."

"I know you guys have practice tonight but the boys and I are planning on going to the park tomorrow. It's supposed to be a fairly mild day. We could at least get a couple games in." Now that the weathers changed, it's becoming more challenging to go to the park. It's either freezing or raining, or both. "You coming?"

"I-I can't." He tells me, his voice dropping even quieter.

"Why not?" I'm not meaning to pry but curiosity gets the better of me.

Holt glances at me before he hangs his head lower and mumbles, "therapy".

I'm not sure if he feels ashamed of it. He shouldn't. I know plenty of people that have or are going to therapy. It's not a bad thing.

"Did you know my dad goes to therapy? Or well sometimes, he used to a lot when I was younger." I tell him.

"Really?"

I nod my head as we pass by Drew and his friends. He's got his arm around Jaelyn's shoulders but he waves at us as we pass.

"Yeah his dad used to beat him when he was a kid." I share this small piece of information about my dad with Holt. I'm not blind and I've heard my dad talking to Ava or my mom about it. I'm sure I don't know everything, but I know Holt's and my dad's experiences are as similar as they are awful. "Sometimes it's good to have someone to talk to you. You know, a sort of safe space."

He stares at me as we walk and I try not to notice it but I can feel my cheeks grow warm under his eyes.

I'm about to start up some random conversation about basketball to kill the nerves that are growing inside me but just as I open my mouth to do so Holt speaks.

"I'm going twice a week." He tells me. "I told Mrs. Lincoln everything. A-almost everything."

A sudden urge to hug Holt overtakes my body and before I can stop myself I'm wrapping my arms around him. He stiffens beneath me and I can faintly hear his racing heart where my ear rests by his collar bone.

It takes me a moment to recognize what I've done. I'm just so happy for him, so relieved. And the only way I know how to show it is to hug him.

But I quickly realize all that might happen now that I've thrown myself at him and pull myself away.  He's looking at me wide eyed and slightly terrified so I don't let go of his arm that I've somehow grabbed a hold of.

"Sorry, I'm just really glad you did." I say.

His eyes flick down to my hand on his arm before they're back up at mine and some of the fear has left his gaze but I still don't let go.

"She believed you didn't she?" I ask.

I'm a little horrified at myself but my words are already out there so I stand behind them, still clutching Holt's arm.

He looks back down at my hand telling it "yeah, she did." But this time as he looks back up at me he says, "I-I won't, I won't run."

My fingers release his arm, heat rushing to my cheeks as I rake my wild hair back. "I didn't think you would."

His face softens, some of the tension leaving it as the corner of his mouth quirks up in a smirk. "It's okay."

"I swear, I didn't think that." I tell him even though I'm definitely lying.

He starts to walk again and I fall in to step beside him. I'm not exactly sure what to say.

"Thanks." Holt says after we walk a few steps.

My eyebrows knit together. "For what?"

"I don't know if I would have told her without you saying she'd believe me." He confesses.

This small admission from him hits me hard. Not because it's some huge revelation from him but because I realize he must trust me. He trusted me enough to open up to someone.

And that's huge.

Because I don't think Holt trusts anyone.

I'm at a loss for words, a little scared but also extremely happy that I could help him. At least a little.

"I really needed a friend."

My heart swells in my chest, warmth radiating through it at his words.

I smile at up, a big toothy grin. "Well I'm glad it was me."

                            ————————

Thanks for the cover art Rensk3N !

Guess who's back?

Back again.

Shady's back.

Celebrate.

Alright, I'm not The Real Slim Shady, you got me, but I am back! Yay!

I've missed you, you beautiful people.

And just so you know how hard I've been working I have 15 completed chapters with ten more laid out! So we've got daily updates for days!

Happy Thanksgiving! Now everyone go eat twice your body weight in food and then complain about how tired and full you are like the rest of us Americans while watching football. Not gonna lie I'm definitely skipping the football but I'm probably gonna eat a lot of food. No blue jeans for this girl today. 😂