Swing Life Away [Kellic]

Chapter Five

"So how are you?"

My question earned a strange look from Vic, who was sorting out his things in his backpack. He rolled up clean clothes and stuffed it into his black bag. He's been living with Copeland and me for a little over a week now. I've been thinking of making room in the cupboard for his things, but I didn't know if it was too soon for that just yet. On one hand, I haven't known him for very long. On the other hand, it has been made quite apparent that he wouldn't be up and leaving anytime soon.

"You haven't left this room since you came in, aren't you sick of being inside all day?" I asked, giving an elaboration to my first question.

He shrugged. "It's one of the quirks of being in hiding," he said. "You don't get to leave whenever you like."

"You could walk up and down the hallway," I suggested. "It should be safe there. Nobody's come up to look for you yet."

"Yet," he emphasised. "I'm fine, I'm serious," he insists. 

"Okay," I said, returning to my accounts book. I had to plan out the month's expenses and I've been putting it off for the past week. I've already paid rent and all the bills and put in the usual amount of savings into the bank. I still had a couple hundred dollars left for daily expenses and emergencies. We were tighter than usual without Katelynne's income. But we could still manage. We survived the few months when Katelynne was in confinement just fine. And there are savings are in the bank for a reason.

Sighing, I closed the notebook I used to record all my expenditure. I locked it in the tiny safe at the bottom of my cupboard where I kept my cash and then climbed onto my bed. It was almost midnight and Copeland had long been asleep. It was Saturday night so I didn't have to work in the morning. I wasn't sleepy either.

I had nothing to do. We didn't have a TV and books were a rare luxury. We had a handful of CDs and a radio player that we played from time to time. I know every song on every album by heart but I popped in a CD into the radio anyway, just to have some background noise. Then I returned to my bed and resumed my boredom.

"Hey, Vic," I spoke up, in need of a conversation.

"Yeah?" Came his response.

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

He chuckled softly. "My lifestyle wasn't exactly ideal for relationships," he replied, looking up at me from his spot on the floor. "Besides, I don't do girlfriends."

I blinked. "What? Oh," I realised, blushing slightly with embarrassment. "You're gay."

He nodded, confirming my conclusion. "My dad didn't like it," he said. "It kinda gave him more reasons to hate me."

"How did he find out?"

"I brought my first boyfriend back home after school one day and he caught us," he said. "He wasn't supposed to be home so early that day, but he was. And he basically laughed at us and chased the poor guy out. He broke up with me the next day at school. I understand where he was coming from, but it still hurt me a lot. I've never bothered with a relationship since."

I remained silent, unsure how to react. I watched his expression. He didn't seem too upset about it, aside from the hint of sadness in his eyes that, I realised, never really went away. He gave me a small smile, as if he was expecting me to say something. "I'm sure you'll be able to find love again," I told him. "Everybody deserves to be loved."

"I don't," he muttered to himself. "What about you?" He asked me. "Do you think you'll move on from Katelynne?"

I shrugged, stretching out on my bed. "I can get over her eventually," I said. "But I don't know if I can trust or love anyone that way anymore. I feel so betrayed, I don't think I'll ever recover from that."