Impact

Chapter Five

Nate didn't sit with Wendy the following day at lunch. In fact, he ignored her completely when she signaled for him to join her. He took his yogurt and left the dining hall; going back to his room to forget the whole thing had ever happened. After everything he had done, Tommy's words had hurt him.

"....don't text me or anything, alright?...."

He ate alone, ignoring his phone as it blared to life with one notification after another. It had to be Wendy, no doubt. He tried to understand her position. He knew enough about her past to know she wasn't abused. Bullied like most kids were, but never abused. She had been raised by a strong, single woman. That could explain some things. But what she had done yesterday was over the line. And in her attempt to defend him, she had only alienated him.

Nate cuddled up into his blanket, grabbing his phone. Ignoring Wendy's messages, he reached out to Daniel. His roommate told him that he was going to be at his girlfriend's for the night.

Alone again. Perfect. Nate thought to himself. 

He lay down, silenced his phone and opened Netflix on his laptop. He was knee deep in an episode of Grey's Anatomy when a soft knock came from the door. He sighed heavily, figuring that he would answer and just ask Wendy for some time. He covered up with his blanket and opened the door. His eyes widened and he took a sharp breath before immediately closing it again.

"Nate....please...." Tommy said quietly from outside.

He used my name? Nate thought to himself.

"I just want to talk, can you open the door, please?" His voice was low enough for only Nate to hear. Nate moved to the door.

"Its fine, Tommy. I get it. You don't have to be here."

"Yes, I do. I have some stuff I gotta say to you." Tommy knocked again lightly. Nate opened the door enough to show his face.

God, those eyes. Tommy thought.

"About yesterday....first, I'm sorry that I came at you. I'm sorry for....for hurting you." He lifted a hand to Nate's now purple eye. He gently brushed under it with this thumb, almost tenderly.

Fire erupted through Nate's face. What the hell?

 "That's not who I am....or want to be, anyway." Tommy continued. "I--"

"Fine. Apology accepted." Nate closed the door.

Nate stood at the door waiting, but nothing came. He turned and opened the door to an empty hallway. He took a deep breath, defeated, and went back into his room.

Nate didn't remember falling asleep and missed his first alarm. Lazily, he got out of bed at the third alarm and made his way into the bathroom. He turned on the light and went for his toothbrush before stopping and looking in the mirror again. The eye was turning shades of color he hadn't seen before. When he brought a finger to it, pain resonated across his cheek and the bridge of his nose. He couldn't do it. He was going to miss class today, again.

Instead, he took a shower and thought about going to an emergency room. He could see just fine, however, and once he popped some ibuprofen, the swelling receded some and the pain was tolerable. He thought about texting Tommy....then did it. He asked several times how he was doing. No response. He asked if he could get Tommy anything. No response. He even tried finding Tommy on his lunch hour, but when their eyes met, Tommy seemed to avoid him on purpose.

Maybe I shouldn't have slammed the door in his face. 

He thought about getting with Wendy, who had also tried to search him out, but decided against it. She had no right to go after Tommy the way she did, even if it wasn't necessarily an unnatural way to react. The girl was always tough. She came from an Asian family where she was the youngest of 5 and all of her siblings were brothers. She was the runt of the litter that had to fight for her place in the nest, but she had managed to do it. There were no doubts about Wendy's ability to care for herself. Nate would forgive her, he already had. But, he wasn't ready to talk about it.