Mend My Elastic Heart

Speechless: Season 2 - 35

"Ask him myself?" I asked the blonde surfer as the bell rung for us to gather our belongings and head out the doors.

She looked at me, slightly excited, slightly worried as she spoke, "yea well, it's not our place to tell, maybe he would be more open to talking to you about it? Y'know cause you two got that special connection going on..." she caught her breath and looked at Gwen and I.

"Special connection?" I questioned. The two teens looked at me and smiled uncomfortably. "I don't even know if he wants to see anyone after all that went down earlier." I thought about the way Alejandro grabbed onto his shirt collar as if Duncan was doll.

"Well, who's to say he doesn't need someone right now?" Gwen asked as she talked in a soft tone. She looked at Bridgette and I once more then waved goodbye to us.

"... She's my ride..." Bridgette added as she paced over to Gwen and left me standing alone by the lockers.

.........
"Goodnight Lucy!" I softly whispered into the blonde woman's room as she laid in bed comfortably."

"Night Court, ... hey don't forget to—"

"Turn off my fathers nebulizer, I know Lucy," I replied, cutting her off. "You know, three months ago I was the responsible one, making sure not even you lose your brain living with me."

"What am I? A rock?" She asked passively, "You need to learn how to compliment people without criticizing them, Courtney."

I rolled my eyes and replied back, "I was going to add... but I'm actually happy living with you gave us a closer bond." Lucy smiled at me and threw an air kiss in my direction, making me roll my eyes at how lame that was, "Yea you ruined that, goodnight," I said as I chuckled slightly.

I closed the door and headed towards my fathers bedroom now, which now that I thought about it, amazed me. Since I was eight, I had to experience half my life without two parents who though worked as if they had no child to worry about, were still physically present in my life and now here I am going to check up on my father who after those nine years, woke up from a coma that could have killed him.

"Courtney?" I heard as I entered the room. I looked at my father who too lied on his bed comfortably. "Can you turn that light off? I always forget to whenever I come in here," he continued, now acknowledging my presence.

"Of course father," I said as I came in. "Let me just make sure your breathing machine is plugged in and running." I quickly plugged in the machine and attached the oxygen mask onto one of the pumps.

"You know, when I get better I won't need your help with all of this and you'll finally be able to be a teenager and do whatever you want," he said mid attachment. I hesitated as I got up and looked at my dad before handing him the mask.

"Well, till then there's nothing I rather be doing than helping you get back on your feet," I said as I walked towards the door. He said I could finally be able to be a teenager as if I wasn't turning into an adult in a year. "Goodnight father," I said softly.

I turned the lights off and softly closed his bedroom door before walking towards my own room. "Loving him seems to be the problem nowadays," I whispered to myself. I quickly grabbed my shoes and a jacket to wear before opening my room door back up and pacing out of it.

I don't know why... but my heart ached when I'm not being bothered, so I left my house for a few hours to try and find the reason why my heart hurt.

......
Duncan's POV:

"He's still in his room?"

"What do you expect Luis, he does this every year,"

"The problem is every year we hope he'd heal."

I heard them conversing about me in the hallway by my bedroom door as if they thought I wouldn't be able to hear them. I hated it as much as they did, me being like this, but nothing has ever worked in my favor every year and the pain always outweighed whatever it was I felt every time, so, I started acknowledging the pain.

"Duncan..."

"Duncan..." I heard from outside. Assuming it was Geoff, I ignored the call completely and continued to lay in bed with my head dangling off my mattress as I stared at my black blank wall. "Come on Duncan, it's freezing!" I heard once more, this time with a change of pitch.

I slowly got up and went towards my window, to see who decided to bother me tonight. Then I saw her. The tan Latina with dark brown hair and black freckles aligned on her nose.

"Well are you going to say something or are you trying to be like me?" She softly shouted as she stood outside my house. I rolled my eyes, and smiled, but mainly, rolled my eyes then walked towards my closet door and grabbed the rope ladder I had laying around for when I was tired of being home.

I quickly threw it down and hooked the top piece to a hook I made in my closet, then waited.
....
"You know...I'm not even going to ask why you have a rope ladder in your room," she said as she dusted herself off. I watched as she looked around as if she's never been in a guys room before... hopefully.

"Why are you here?" I asked coldly. She looked at me then sat at the edge of my bed uncomfortably.

"I... I don't know." She said, making that sentence replay in my head.

"You came all the way to my house at 11PM to tell me you don't know?" I questioned, with a slight tone of anger in my voice.

"Well... If you're going to say it like that... I guess I just wanted to make sure you were ok after everything," she said softly, making it hard to hear.

"Why do you care if I'm ok or not?" I asked as I sat next to her. We looked at each other then quickly pulled away and I decided staring at the floor was better for now.

"Because you're not alone?" She said as she looked back up at me. Her sentence took me back to the night at Geoff's crazy party, and how we stood in a cemetery and talked about our crazy life and how fucked up it was. "I mean.. someone once told me, that even though everyone else is scared of them, it doesn't mean I have to be."

"Hey, I know everyone's supposed to be scared of me, but you don't have to."

"You're a real sweetheart Duncan Nelson."

We walked down the graveyard, towards the motorcycle she quickly grew to hate.

"Remember when I took you to the cemetery and introduced you to my best friend?" I asked as I stared into my palm.

"Yea.."

"Well... if I'm being honest, he's more than my best friend. He's my late brother." I said now holding onto the bracelet I was wearing. "He's Luis's twin, and our older brother."

I felt her hand grasp onto mine as I continued to hold the bracelet I was wearing. "He was a soldier... deployed overseas, fighting for everyone's life... except his own.

"Hey... it's ok, it's going to be ok Duncan." I heard as my body lied in her warm embrace.

That's the thing, everyone's been telling me 'it's going to be ok,' for a long time now, but nothing has ever been ok since he left me. Left me here and had the nerve to look exactly like my other brother who I have to see everyday, his smile, his voice, his black hair and dimples, everything about Luis is a copy of Mateo but it's not the real thing.

Who would have thought I could ever wrap my arms around someone and cry? Especially someone who I tried to hide my feeling from by going to other women for that physical comfort I could only get from her.

__________________________________
Happy Holidays, I was going to post this yesterday for Thanksgiving but I forgot 😂