The Way I Am (DreamNotFound)

10

TW's:
-Mentions (child) abuse
-Mentions aggression
-Mentions cuts

Clay's POV

George kept me calm the whole day and after our last class, George and I walked to their bike.

'Do you have a bike?'

'I walked today, because my knees are also full of cuts.'

I saw them looking down at my sweats and they kneeled down, lifting my sweats up till my knees. 'I think there might be glass in there still. My mum will take care of it, I can call her so she will pick us up?'

'No, that's not-.'

'I'm just going to call her, you can't walk like this and I want her to take care of you.'

They grabbed their phone and they started calling their mum.

'Hi mum, can you maybe pick me and a friend up? No, not Niki. Uh- Clay.' I heard them nervously laughing and giggling. They blushed slightly and sighed. 'Shut up, I'm just chilling with him for some reason. You have to take care of his wounds. Yeah, wait-.'

They looked at me and smiled.

'Can I tell her about what happened?'

'NO- I uh- I mean uh- is she going to tell anyone? I don't need help, please don't uh- do anything like that-.'

'She isn't going to tell anyone about anything.'

I nodded slowly. 'I trust you, please don't break my trust.'

'I'm not going to. Mum, he uh- someone hit him with a photo frame and his arms, hands and knees are full of cuts. I wanted to ask if you could maybe take care of his wounds? He didn't check if he had glass in them still. Okay, thanks mum. I love you too, see you in ten minutes.'

I smiled shyly, they were so cute speaking with their mum like this. We both sat down on a bench and George grabbed my hand. 'How are you feeling?'

'I'm sad.'

'Can you tell me what makes you sad?'

'My photo,' I whispered. 'I didn't have that many pictures with my family, because the whole house burnt and we lost everything.'

'I'm so sorry to hear that, do you have photos on your phone?'

'A few.'

'We are going to print those at my place for you, okay?'

'Really?'

'Yes,' George said, wrapping their arm around me. 'We will.'

'That means a lot to me.'

'Can you show me the pictures? I would love to see them.'

I nodded and went to my gallery with photos, I scrolled up, showing George all pictures I had.

'They looked like they would have been amazing,' George said, smiling.

'They are,' I nodded. 'They know my biggest secret and they always help me.'

'Does anyone else know your secret?'

I shook my head. 'I'm not ready to tell that.'

My biggest secret was that I was gay, only my parents knew. They were really supportive, I remember how they hugged me tightly when I told them I liked boys and they said they would always support me.

They were really supportive parents, they never even tried being negative about it. They didn't force anything on me, if I wanted to be together with a boy, that was totally fine for them. They always spoke about a boyfriend if the subject changed to that. That already meant a lot to me and I didn't really need anything else. They just accepted that I was gay and that I would be gay forever.

'Clay?' George whispered.

'Y-yes?'

'You're crying.'

'Oh, I'm sorry.'

'Don't say sorry, what's up?'

'I was just thinking of my parents, they love me a lot. I never had anyone really love me.'

'I bet your parents are- I'm sorry if I sound rude, but uh- do you want me to speak in the past tense or not?'

'No, I want you to speak about them like they are still here. I miss them a lot.'

'I will speak about them like you want me to. I wanted to say that I bet they are amazing.'

I nodded. 'They are. They still care about me, I'm sure they do.'

'I'm sure too, I'm sure they love you a lot. My mum is here, Clay.'

I nodded and I stood up. Their mum stepped out and looked at me, shaking my hand. 'I'm George's mum, but just call me Claire.'

'Hello, I'm uh- Clay. I just uh- before anything happens, I want to apologise. George probably told you how I bullied and hurt them a lot and I'm sorry for that. I just uh- don't dare being myself because I'm just really scared of being judged. I'm actually sorry, I-.'

'It's alright, Clay. You are always welcome at our place and I'm sure there's a reason behind it.'

I nodded slowly and I sat down in the car next to George. George's mum started the car and I tried not to look at George. I was sure their mum would notice I was in love with them if I was blushing and such.

We arrived at George's place around ten minutes later and their mum started looking at my wounds. She took care of them all and George was sitting next to me and they were smiling at me. I still didn't want to lock eyes with them once, I knew I would blush and reveal my crush on them.

After twenty minutes George's mum was done and George smiled at me. 'Do you want to see my room?'

I nodded slowly and I walked with George upstairs. We went into their room and they closed the door behind them. I looked at the wall and saw a big pride flag hanging on there. They had their desk filled with nail polish and just as their bag had a rainbow badge, their room was filled with rainbow stuff.

'Gay,' I giggled. I was afraid of making that joke, I didn't want to come across rude, but George giggled and nodded.

'I'm really gay,' they said, sitting down on their bed.

'I didn't want to sound rude,' I said, making sure I didn't hurt them.

'Oh, you can call me gay. It's a simple fact.'

I giggled. 'You're such an idiot.'

'Bet you like it,' George said.

I immediately blushed and hid my face. 'Shut up, idiot.'

1041 words