Bent.

5. It Shouldn't be so Complicated

Author's Note: Happy Sunday. I have no idea where this story is going, lord help me.

5. It Shouldn't be so Complicated

He decided to let Greg down gently at a local restaurant downtown, somewhere around the one-month mark of their... time together. The restaurant was close to campus, and easy for Mitch to make a quick getaway if need-be.

If anyone was keeping score, Greg had managed to kiss Mitch exactly 6 times. He had tried to take it further, but Mitch was able to pull away each and every time.

How was it that kissing Greg felt so much more wrong than kissing Scott, when Scott didn't even exist?

"You look amazing. I can't get over the purple hair. It looks so fucking amazing, Mitch..." Greg was making heart eyes across the table and Mitch wanted to sprint for the door. The kid was sweet. A little gross sometimes, but he had a good heart. He couldn't deny that.

"Thanks." He shifted beneath Greg's gaze, right as the door opened and warm laughter filtered in. It was a beautiful laugh. It was a familiar one.

Scott walked by with a pretty girl with dark hair. He sauntered past without looking at Mitch, and he couldn't tell if it was intentional, or if he hadn't noticed him. Both of those options hurt, and Mitch knew that he didn't deserve for him to look his way, anyway.

"You okay? You sort of checked out for a minute, there-" Greg began.

"I just want to be friends."

Greg stared silently at him for a moment. Mitch could hear Scott laughing a few tables away. He clenched his fist, as though Scott was taunting him with his laugh.

"Did I... do something wrong?"

"No. No, you didn't. I just have a lot on my plate right now..."

Mitch watched as Greg's eyes narrowed. He didn't expect him to take it particularly well, but he looked like he was becoming angry. It didn't make sense.

"What? You mean with being a mental patient, and everything?"

"I... beg your pardon?"

"Oh, come on. Everyone knows where you went last semester. Everyone heard about you telling off your professor and making her cry, for God's sake. Everyone knows you sprinted out of there and passed out. Everyone knows you spent six weeks in an insane asylum, or whatever they're called nowadays. Everyone knows you're batshit crazy."

His voice was getting louder with each sentence, and Mitch wanted the floor to swallow him whole.

Not now. Don't do this now. Don't expose me here, in front of him. No. Please, no...

Greg stood abruptly, and onlookers turned towards the pair, curiosity evident on their faces. "I was giving you the benefit of the doubt. Why? Not because Kirstin said you were cool. No, not at all. Because you were fucking beautiful. But you aren't worth it. Clearly. You're too self-absorbed to appreciate what's right in front of you."

Mitch had been called self-absorbed all of his life. People took his introversion as feeling like he was too good for them, and Mitch had always thought this was comical. He didn't feel good enough for most things. He was so misunderstood, it was actually almost funny.

Almost.

Mitch could see Scott out of the corner of his eye, and he knew that he and the girl were both looking at them.

Please don't listen. Please just keep talking to the pretty girl. Please don't look over here anymore...

"You're acting a little dramatic for someone I wasn't even dating," Mitch growled so no one could hear.