Raphael /BoyxBoy/

||Twenty-Five||

We stood outside the store, neither of us indicating the will to walk any farther.

Raphael lit a cigarette and pressed it between his lips.

"How's the business?" I asked.

He exhaled a string of gray smoke. "All right. I'm thinking of taking a break."

"Why?"

He shrugged, then eyed me carefully. "Scarlet says your friend's in the hospital."

"Yeah," I looked up at one of the streetlights, then back at Raphael, his hair a glowing mess of fluorescent curls. "He's okay."

"And you?"

I shrugged. "Don't have a reason not to be."

Raphael stared at me for a second before blurting out, "I didn't think you'd be okay with seeing me."

I didn't think I would be okay with seeing you.

But instead my lips formed the words, "Who says I'm okay with seeing you?"

"Right." He glanced over his shoulder at the opposite street, then back at me. "You're still mad?"

"You're still jealous?"

"I don't know," he tilted his head to the side. "Did you really not fuck anyone?"

The sharp edge of a key dug into my palm. "Would it make a difference?"

"Did it make a difference when I said I did?"

I bit my tongue. "I don't care who you fuck. You don't belong to me."

He gave a frustrated, clipped laugh. "So that's it?"

"I don't know why you're acting this way. You fucked up. It wasn't my fault."

"Why didn't you turn me away? When I first came in?"

"Turn away a customer?"

He rolled his eyes, flicking his cigarette aside. "I should get going."

I gnawed at the side of my mouth. "What do you want?"

"I thought that was obvious."

I stared him down.

"This," he said. "Whatever. I don't fucking know."

"Stop by the hospital tomorrow. I'll text you."

--

Raphael was there before me, leaning against the wall outside Dan's room and fingering an unused cigarette.

"You can't smoke in here," I said, as I approached.

"I know."

He tucked the cigarette away, straightening up and looking at me expectedly.

I glanced towards the door.

Whatever happened to Dan was unclear. The doctors had no clue of how he received most of his wounds, even after an extensive amount of questioning. They suspected it was a conflict between gangs, a matter concerning drugs or money. They were hoping Dan would open up to me, but so far I only seemed to be getting in the way.

I briefly explained this to Raphael, without keeping up any amount of eye contact.

When a nurse stepped out of the room, I glanced at Raphael and allowed him to pass through first.

"Hey, Dan."

But Dan was more interested in Raphael's sudden appearance, and they lapsed into a comfortable conversation as I tried to question him on the latest updates.

"Jake, the doctors think I'm almost ready for discharge. Will you relax?"

I slumped against a chair. "Fine."

"Nice flowers," I heard Raphael say.

Dan brushed him off. "A nurse sent them."

I raised my eyebrows.

"It's not like that," he said. "I barely spoke a word to her, I swear."

"I don't believe you."

Dan glanced at Raphael. "Why are you friends with him?"

"I don't know." Raphael grinned at me. "Are we friends?"

I pretended to examine Dan's oxygen levels.

"He's in a bad mood," Raphael explained for me.

"I should get to class," I interjected before I could hear Dan's response. "I'll drop by later."

Raphael followed me out.

"The only reason I told you about Dan was so you could keep him company when I'm busy," I said.

"That's the only reason?" he asked.

I sighed. "Don't tell him."

"What?" he challenged.

"You know what."

He held my gaze for a while longer before he nodded. "I'll try to get him to talk."

I wished I could have believed him. In that fierce determination that insisted upon gripping his every word, but doubt still lingered where there should have been hope. I knew leaving Dan alone with Raphael for an hour or two surely couldn't make a difference. Not when I had tried since the day I rushed to his hospital room. But the doctors insisted that understanding what happened to Dan could help in the long run. Especially if it was unsafe for him anywhere else but in a monitored environment.

idkkkkk

but I'm craving Italian food

thanks for reading <33