Finding Mr. Perfect's Flaws (boyxboy) *Completed*

Finding Mr. Perfect's Flaws [Thirteen]

"Zachary, sorry I was late, I-" A voice suddenly shouted next to me. The trance was broken, and both of our heads whipped towards the door. Rich stood there, looking out of breath. He was staring at us in amazement, his glasses sliding down his nose. Collin dropped my hand and stepped back. I frowned and folded my arms over my chest. My hand was still tingling from Collin's touch.

Then Rich smirked.

"I see you were getting along just fine. I'll take over serving, go clean the tables please," Rich said, that smirk still on his face. He was giving me alone time with Collin. I stuck my tongue out at him and carefully moved around the counter. When I was out in the open, I looked around. Only two people were in the ice cream parlor, too self absorbed into each other to notice anything. I lightly slid off the apron, and put it on the coat rack next to the ice cream parlor door.

"Zachary, I wanted to tell you something. I was too scared to at school, but I wanted to now," Collin said in a low voice, looking over at the couple and Rich to see if they were eavesdropping. His tone had totally changed from a few seconds ago. They weren't. I thought back to school a few hours earlier. He had been acting very weird. We had to sit next to each other in history, and he just wasn't acting right. I knew now, he had something on his mind.

"What's up?" I asked, frowning. He looked nervous.

"Well... can we go outside?" He asked. I looked back. Rich had been eavesdropping. He nodded at me, but gave me the look. 'The look', meant, 'you better tell me later'. I nodded, and followed Collin outside. He lead me to his car, and opened the passenger seat for me. I frowned, but got in anyway. He got into the driver’s side, and we both sat in silence for a while.

"It's about..." He trailed off. Then he took something out of his shirt. It was his necklace. My eyes zeroed on it. The metal star gleamed at me. It wasn't a solid star, but one that looked like it had been drawn by a four year old. For the first time ever, he slowly slipped it off of his neck. He then adjusted it with his hands, making a big O out of the string. He then suddenly dropped it over my head. The weight of the star fell onto my chest. I stared down at it. It felt alive.

Collin then grabbed my left arm, and looked down at my scars. I didn't pull it away. He had already seen it at his house. The rude word was visible in the dim light of the car. We both stared at it for a long time.

"My mom gave me the necklace on my thirteenth birthday," He whispered, still looking down at my arm. My eyes flickered up to look at his face as his fingertips brushed against the word. He was staring at it intently. I knew this was important. He never mentioned his mom.

"She was mentally disturbed. She was far beyond gone. The...the doctors said that the only safe place for her was a mental ward. She was supposed to go the day after my birthday. But she never did. On my birthday, she came up to me. I was sitting on my kitchen table, celebrating my birthday by myself. My dad was at work. She...she gave me the necklace, and told me to never hold on. I never will know what she meant by that. Because the next thing she did... she went into my room, and hung herself in my closet. On my birthday."

I stared at him, speechless. A cold dread filled me. Guilt seemed to rip at my lungs, enabling me from breathing. What? Even my mom wouldn't have done that. His mom had to have been messed up in the head to hang themselves in their child's closet on their birthday.

"My father... he... he blamed me. I blame myself, too," Collin whispered. I could hear the sadness in his voice, threatening to spill out everywhere. He wasn't just that popular beyond belief, perfect football player. He was broken. I closed my eyes, taking it all in. That's why he had reacted so violently when he saw the word on my arm. That's why he wouldn't talk to me. I reminded him of his mom. So did that mean I was just another charity case?  

"Zachary... I want to show you something," Collin whispered. My eyes opened. Tears I didn't know I had been crying fell onto my cheeks with the action. Collin looked about on the verge as well.

He pulled up skate shorts, making my stomach flutter. He pulled up his shorts all the way up to show me his thigh. I heard a gasp. I knew it was from me. But what I saw totally shocked me, and totally terrified me. Scars. They littered his thigh, in a place that, if he never had sex, no one would see. The old scars stared up at me like bad reminders. Those were the last thing I would have ever suspected to be etched on him. In the shock, I didn't even look at his boxers. My eyes were on the rude markings.

"I've been cut free for about a year," He whispered. "My dad put me on happy pills in the nineth grade. That's how I got 'popular'. I was too happy, and too outgoing. Then he took me off. And I was stuck like this."

I closed my eyes again. It was all too much. Blindly, I started to take the necklace off. His hands slashed out and grabbed a hold of my wrists. I cried out, trying to free myself. But he pinned me against the door, refusing me from taking it off.

"Take it back," I sobbed. "It's your moms, I don't want it."

"I want you to have it. Just keep it," He whispered shakily, obviously on the edge. I continued to struggle anyway. This was his most prized possession. I was nothing; a nobody. Why would he give this to me?

"God damn it, Zachary!" He shouted. I froze at the raise of his voice. Every time I heard that voice, it always ended up with me getting hurt. "Just keep it!"

We both froze. He obviously hadn't meant to shout. He dropped his hands and pushed away from me. His eyes had so many different emotions swimming inside, they looked like a tornado. His hair looked like he had just rolled out of bed. He slowly reached for me again, his eyes looking saddened. I flinched, and shock registered on his face. Regret and guilt then washed up.

"Zachary, I'm..." He trailed off. Anger suddenly flared up. He looked ready to punch someone. "He used to hurt you, didn't he? That asshole hurt you?"

I didn't say anything. That was enough for him. He turned away from me, hiding his anger. I heard his deep, calming breaths. He obviously hated losing control. After a few minutes, he finally spoke.

"I'll never hurt you, Zachary. I promise."

"I know," I whispered back. He finally looked over at me again. He gave me a sad smile. Then he looked back down at the necklace around my neck. He reached out, and I let him. His arms wrapped around me, and he pulled me close. I closed my eyes, taking in his cologne. I wrapped my arms around him as well. I felt his heartbeat thudding against me, fast and furious. I felt his head against mine, resting as if he were asleep. I felt like I could stay there forever, the broken and the forgotten.

"I want you to keep it. Promise me, okay?"

"I promise."

And for the first time in my life, I realized that Collin wasn't from a different world.

He was in mine.

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Finding Mr. Perfect's Flaws (boyxboy) [Thirteen]