Comfy Closets

37|| Aftermaths and Accusations

Seconds after Leah’s best friend stormed off, a girl with fiery-red hair and two other boys pushed open the door to the nurse’s office. Their eyebrows were furrowed together when they came in, shooting glances down the hallway where the blonde just left. When they shifted their gazes to us, the groove between their brows deepened with utter confusion at the sight.

My jaw hung open as I was unable to comprehend what just happened? What did just happen?

My gaze drifted to Leah and I could imagine my expression was quite similar to hers at the moment. The dirty blonde locked her hazel eyes with me, and all I could see was the shock and dawning horror creeping onto her face.

“What… what was that all about?” Gia was the first one to ask.

My dry mouth went to answer, but I had to swallow a few times before I could. “Sara. She saw- she saw us… together.”

At first, the three of them were confused. But as their eyes started to flicker between me and my girlfriend, who currently stood only a few inches away as my hands still rested on her hips, I knew they got it.

“Oh…” was all Ashton was able to say.

My girlfriend pulled away, her hands going up to cover her eyes with frustration. “Shit. Shit, shit, shit…” When she let her hands fall, I could tell that she wanted to leave this room to chase after her friend. But with a glance towards me and my state, that urge seemed to disappear from her eyes.

Coming down from my state of shock, my brain started to do what it did best – overthink the shit out of things.

Now that Sara knew, what would she do? She just found out her friend wasn’t straight – oh god, was she going to tell anyone?! From what Leah mentioned before, I knew she comes from a very religious family, but how much will that affect her? She can’t out us – please, she can’t. I don’t want to feel like I’m losing control again – but I’m feeling it right now. What the fuck do we do?

As my breathing rate started to increase in pace, my mind whirled faster and faster as it thought of all the things that could go wrong – all the things that would go wrong.

Clutching the edge of the thin mattress in my hands, I shut my eyes tight as I tried to stop the thoughts from drowning me, but the darkness only aided in my inward spiral.

When I thought my heart couldn’t pound any faster than this, I felt warm, firm hands clutch my upper arms to steady my being.

“Lyssa, stop worrying– look at me. Look at me, babe.” Her loud, commanding voice cut through the fog that permeated my mind, making me fixate my gaze onto her soft, comforting eyes. “I know you’re overthinking this, so stop it. Everything will be okay. I’m going to step outside and call Sara to try and explain, but I’ll be right back.”

Her palm went to cup my left cheek for a moment, stroking her thumb against my skin with worry. Despite the reassurance of her words, I could see her own anxiety present itself in how her jaw clenched after every sentence and the way her lips pinched into a thin line. Still, she set her expression into one of comfort and with one final look, she let go and slipped past our friends who stood near the door.

Silence blanketed the space. Nobody knew what to say, and so I sat there, staring ahead at the window and the darkening sky outside. As the air grew awkward, I shifted uncomfortably in my seat while waiting for Leah to come back.

But in my periphery, I saw Zach make a move to sit on my right side, his hesitant arm going around to wrap around my shoulders.

“It’s going to be okay.”