doncaster city lights II | YUNGBLUD

ten

The fact that Dom hadn't responded to her last message worried Julia a bit, but just a minute after the message she saw his name pop up on her phone screen as he was calling her. Apparently he did want to call.

"Hey," she said softly, waiting for him to say something back, but she just heard him sob through the phone, the sound faded away a little but still audible enough for Julia's heart to drop.

"It's alright Dom."

"I- I feel like a fucking ten-year-old," he cried and Julia shushed him hoping it would calm him down as it sometimes did. She couldn't believe he had lived like this for the past months and never asked anyone to help him.

"Take deep breaths with me."

Julia started breathing in and out slowly, waiting for Dom to do the same. He actually did, which she could hear by the way he tried to control his sobs to breathe in and out at the same time as she did.

She looked at the clock. It was 2.30 in the morning and she knew she should just make sure he went to sleep safely and then go to sleep herself as she had work the next day, but she knew she couldn't.

"Is it okay if I come over?"

She expected her question to make him feel relieved or at least calm down because he knew someone would be with him soon, but instead he started crying again.

"I feel so bad. You're way too nice I don't deserve-"

"You know how I feel about you putting yourself down Dom," Julia cut him off before he would go on about his mistakes for minutes. She heard him sigh and he let out another quiet sob and sniffed.

"Is it okay if I come over?" she asked him again, only for him to finally answer with "yeah".

Julia nodded and didn't hang up but let her phone on speaker while she laid it down on the bed and changed into her clothes. Dom didn't say anything for a while and she was too far away from the phone to hear if he was still crying. So it made her jump a little when suddenly he spoke up, just as she was nearly ready to go.

"You can't do this every night from now on, you know that."

Julia picked up the phone from the bed to answer him, but she didn't really know what to say. He was right: she couldn't do this every night but she also couldn't just do this only tonight and then never pay attention to him anymore.

"We'll see," she said, not even knowing herself what she meant by that. Dom didn't respond to it and she could hear him steadily breathing, which was good because it meant he wasn't crying anymore and he had his phone close to him in case anything would happen.

Julia quietly walked downstairs to grab her jacket and car keys and made sure she closed the door behind her as quietly as possible. Her parents barely ever woke up at night, though, but her sisters definitely did.

"Dom?" she spoke once she had gotten into her car and checked if he hadn't hung up already.

"Yeah," he responded, his raspy voice going up a little.

"I'm gonna drive now. Are you alright?"

"Drive safely, yeah?" was the only thing he responded, ignoring Julia's question if he was okay. She wanted to ask him again, but because she already knew the answer, she just decided to drive to his house as quickly as she could.

-

Julia: i'm here :) if you want you can come outside so i can drive us somewhere?

Julia: take your mind off things