Touch Me

Judgement Day

I stood up from my bed, stumbling exhaustedly into the bathroom to prepare for the day. I flipped on the light switch, relieved to find that it was still working. In desperate need of a proper shower, I turned the knob on the shower for the water to come on, only to be greeted with an absolute absence of water

"Are you fucking serious..?"

From this point on, I have no running water. Great.
I rolled my eyes and got changed.

I wear the same outfit almost every day, so trying to find something wasn't all that difficult. Unfortunately, since I had no water, I couldn't shower, wash my face, wash my hands, brush my teeth, or anything of the sort. I'm a bit of a germaphobe, so this was the worst case scenario. Unable to wash up at all, I wasn't looking my best. I finished getting ready, aside from anything that included water, and walked out the door to be met by Kevin.

"Rough morning, ey?" He asked, looking at my messy and tired appearance

"You could say that" I chuckled falsely, starting to walk

"What happened?"

"My water got shut off."

"Wait, are you serious?" He stopped, grabbing onto my shoulder, pulling me to a stop

"Unfortunately."

"..Do you need somewhere to stay?"

"No. I'm alright. Thank you, though"

"Are you sure? You can shower and stuff at my place if you'd like.." He continued, beginning to fix my tie for me.

"I'm sure. Thank you. I can figure it out.. I-I really do appreciate it, though."

"... Is your power still on?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Will you please stay at my house if your power goes out?"

"Maybe.."

"..Can you promise me that you'll find somewhere else to stay when it does?"

"...yeah, okay."

"Good. Thank you."

We kept walking, slowly, Kevin, putting his arm around me tightly.

"You know, you can always just stay with me if you need to, right?"

"I know. I-I just don't want to do that. It's your house, and I don't want to ask you to let me live in your house. I can't do that, Kev. I've gotta just take care of myself. It means a lot that you would offer, but I can't just live in your house..."

"I don't mind, Connor. I don't want you to live in a house without electricity or water.. I'd love to have you."

"And I appreciate that, I really do! But, it's not your job to take care of me and my housing situation. I-I can't live in your house. I have to do this myself."

"Connor, I'm really worried about you, living like this.."

"Don't be! I'm alright. It'll be good for me to figure out how to take care of myself."

"Not like this! You're still only a kid, you shouldn't have to live in a house without water or power because your dad is irresponsible! You shouldn't have to deal with that!"

"I know. But it's just the way it is. I'm going to be fine. Don't worry about me."

"I'm not going to stop worrying about you. It's not a good situation for you to be in. I'm not going to suddenly not be anxious solely because you say you'll be okay!"

"I understand that, but I can't just move into your house!"

"Then please, for the love of god, find somewhere to stay!"

"Kev, there's nowhere I could stay if I tried!"

"My place!"

"I can't do that, Kevin!"

What started as slight worry had sparked an argument. He's just worried about me. It's understandable, for sure, but I can't just ask him to let me live in his house. I have to take care of myself.

"Connor, you can't live in a house that doesn't have heat in the winter! You can't live in a house where you can't use any water! You can't live in a house where the refrigerator doesn't work! You can't live in a house where the lights won't turn on!"

"Don't yell. You'll hurt your lung." I muttered, somewhat annoyed, walking away to end the conversation

He followed after me, as quickly as he could without tiring himself

"Wait, Connor... I-I'm sorry for getting upset.. I'm just worried about you. I shouldn't have yelled at you" He put his hand back on my shoulder, to bring me to a stop

I turned around

"...I understand why you're worried, but I promise I'll be alright. If I ever truly need any help, I promise I'll tell you... Alright?"

"Okay... Thank you. I'm sorry" He hugged me tightly

"It's okay. I'm sorry too. I love you."

"I love you too." He backed away from me, giving me a weak smile

"Alright, then let's get to school"

He nodded, as we started walking again

"But, seriously, Connor, if you need to take a shower or anything, you can do that at my house. You don't have to stay there if you don't want to, but you gotta at least take care of yourself, you know? Situations like this can be really bad for you, and if you get sad, you stop taking care of yourself. Eating, showering, all that stuff. You can do that at my place whenever you need, alright?"

"Alright... Thank you, Kev"

"Of course. I really do care about you, I worry.."

"I know you do. But I'll be fine. I promise"