The Hills (boyxboy)

Chapter 17

There's a big difference between going to bed and going to sleep. I spend the entire night tossing and turning. But I don't know what keeps me up. My mind isn't forming any coherent thoughts. Eventually I decide to get up and go downstairs for some milk. A strange sound coming from the bathroom makes me come to a halt.

I look at the door. There's no light peering out from underneath it. But the sound repeats itself. I'm quite sure it's a sob.

My hands rests on the door handle. When I hear a third sob I slowly open the door. There's a figure curled up on the ground between the toilet and the shower. It's my brother. He looks up as I close the door behind me. I sit down in front of him. He's crying. "Hey, what's going on?" I ask softly and frown. Terrence sniffles and buries his head against his knees. Without another word I reach out and tug him towards me so I can hug him. I wait for him to spit out his problems. It takes a while but he does.

"Remember the stupid party I went to yesterday?" he asks. I nod. "I did some... Stuff there. I was drunk. I didn't know they were recording. It..." he sobs and tightens his hold on me. His voice turns into a whisper. "They put it on pornhub."

His arms are almost squeezing the life out of me. His tears are leaving a big wet spot on my t-shirt. My brother is falling to pieces and despite holding onto him I can't put him back together. The lesson is too big for him. But I'm not sure Colton and I are enough to help him through this. This is beyond mere teenagers. He's a minor, doesn't that make this illegal? But I can't bring myself to even consider telling any kind of adult. They would just shun him. My hand moves up and down his back in an attempt to comfort him. I hold my brother all night.

The morning arrives eventually and we slowly get up. Terrence washes his face in an attempt to hide the traces of all the tears he's shed tonight. His eyes find mine in the mirror. "Thank you." he says. I press my lips together and squeeze his shoulder. There's nothing I can do. And that sucks. I try not to turn that sentence into a dirty joke because of the situation. I failed.

Colton, Terrence and I walk to school together. Terrence didn't want to take the bus. Pepper didn't show up. I hold Colton's hand as we watch Terrence walk ahead of us with his head down. I'm not sure of he knows what happened to my brother yet. He doesn't seem all too confused so I guess he does.

Once we arrive at school Colton lets go of my hand. I put both of my hands in the pockets of my hoodie. We all remain quiet as we walk to the entrance. We pass by a group of senior jocks. A few of them smirk upon seeing Terrence. One of them catcalls him. I can see a guy in the back blush and avert his gaze. Terrence balls his fists and shoves them in the pockets of his sweatpants. He didn't feel like changing out of them. With his jaw clenched he speeds up. Colton and I let him go. He probably needs to be alone for a bit.

One of the smirking seniors stops him and whispers something in his ear. I can see his lips brush against my brothers skin. I want to punch him, but I'm not strong enough. The seed of an idea plants itself in my head.

Terrence shoves past the guy. His face is contorted in disgust. The senior smirks again. Terrence finally reaches the entrance. The guy in the back who was blushing looks after him. The one who catcalled nudges him in the side. I don't like high school.