The Polaroid's on the Wall

Chapter 34: See you then

TJ POV:

'Did you father do anything after we left?' Reed asked, gently caressing Lester's hair over a bruise he'd gained from my dad. Sorry, I meant the twat.

'No, he knows to shut up so I don't spill anything to mom...but you know I don't do that for his sake,' I explained, 'You ok Less?'

Lester raised a thumbs up but was still hazy from the encounter with solid wood to the head.

I became a little worried, 'Shooould we take him to a hospital or something?'

Reed rolled his eyes, 'Hospitals ask too many questions, besides, when I broke my leg from banging a girl in a tree house midway- did I go to the hospital? No. Should I have gone to the hospital?

'Yes-'

'No, why? Because I would have either had to tell them the embarrassing truth or come up with a lame story,'

'Ok, and can you walk normally on that leg now? Or is that why you limp slightly?'

Reed scratched his head, 'That's besides the point-'

'That's exactly the point!' I whispered aggressively.

'Shhhhgh!' Lester shushed us, 'Too loud! why are you shouting?'

I raised my eyebrows- pointing at my friend who was probably about to pass out at any given moment due to his clear concussion, 'Point proven,'

'How was criminal camp?' Reed changed the topic, cuddling Lester close to his chest so he could probably smell his shampoo...I wonder where it's from.

'Not too bad, thankfully some of them are in the same boat as me- they've done pretty low rate crime. There's a group that have actually...you know...probably murdered someone- but they aren't all like that though,' I explained, 'I wasn't actually hanging out with any of them yesterday though, I was screaming at the park,'

'I'm glad it's not as bad as you thought...maybe it'll be fun?' Reed suggested but then shook his head, 'Well, maybe fun's a strong word,'

'Mmm it's bearable,'

'So...you're coming to my end of year bash right?'

I sighed, running a nervous hand through my hair, 'I dunno Reed.....I'm not sure another party is a good idea for me,'

'You were having an off day- you didn't do anything that terrible!'

My eyes widened, 'I literally confessed to the entire room about...well you get it. That's so embarrassing I'm literally terrified to go back to school. Metcalf will already know and will force me into school counselling so I'll have that on top of Art Club and This criminal thing-'

'TJ?'

'What?'

'I love you,'

I froze, staring at him. My mind blank, '...what-'

'Aha! It worked!' He clapped his hands, 'You stopped panicking,'

I shook my head, 'You're crazy,'

'And the best best friend you've ever had!' He reminded me, 'But seriously, people probably took it with a pinch of salt because you were drunk- won't be broadcast. Not like the time I leaked my own nudes,'

I cringed, 'Yeah that was not a fun thing to open my phone to- to be honest,'

'Hey, don't body shame me!'

'I'm not I just didn't ask for it!'

'You're saying you wouldn't thruple with me and Less?'

'Why the hell would I?! And you mean quartle,'