I looked at the tombstone that has Elliott's name on it. Why is Brian showing me this?
"So here it is," Brian said.
"Yeah." Tears started to come out of my eyes. I looked at the date when he died. "Today was the day he...?"
"Yeah, today was the day he died."
I turned to look at him. He's just looking at the grave. I expected tears to come out of his eyes, but they aren't. They're dry as hell.
"So why are you showing me this?" I asked.
"I don't know; I had a feeling that I wanted to show you this for some reason. Maybe it's because it'll help me to get over Elliott's death a little."
I wrapped my arms around his waist. "I'm glad you're showing me this."
"Me too." He wrapped one of his arms around my waist.
We both stood there, looking at the grave. I'm learning about Elliott a little, but there are some things that I wanted to know, like what he looked like or what he loves to do. I don't know why, but I'm curious about him all of a sudden.
Brian let go of me and opened up his backpack. I didn't even notice he brought it out. He pulls something out and gives it to me.
"What is this?" I asked.
"Look for it yourself."
I looked down to see that it's a picture of Brian with a boy with pale skin and brown hair. They're both sitting in front of a garden and they're smiling.
I looked up at Brian. "Is this Elliott?"
"Yeah." He looked up ahead.
"What was he like?"
"He was funny, the sweetest person you've ever met, would always cheer you up when you're down, and makes the best chocolate chip cookies." He wiped the tears that's coming down his face. "He always makes his sisters laugh and he..." He puts his hands over his face as he starts to cry.
I turned to him and wrapped my arms around him. I ran my hand through his hair as he continues to sob.
My heart is aching for him. I wanted to tell him everything's going to be okay, but that's not going to help. I don't know that for sure.
A few minutes had passed and Brian had stopped crying. He pulled away from me and wiped his tears again.
"Feel better?" I asked.
"Kind of."
I looked back at the grave. Losing someone is one of the worst things that can happen to you. It turns your world upside down and you don't know what to do without that person. You just wanted to scream at the world, asking God how he could do that to you.
"I'm going to see a therapist," Brian said.
"Huh?" I looked at him.
"I mean, I'm going to see a therapist on Saturday...and I want you to come with me."
"Why?"
"Because I needed some company."
"Okay. How long will you be seeing one for?"
"Who knows? Probably for a long time."
The wind started to blow the cold air and I shivered. Damn, I should've worn a coat instead of a jacket.
"Cold there?" he asked.
"Yeah."
He wraps his arm around my waist and walks me over to his pickup. "Let's go."
Both of us stayed silent on the ride home while the radio's playing country music. I looked over at Brian who's just looking ahead. I looked down at his hand that's just on the seat. I wanted to hold it, but I'm not sure if he wanted me to right now.
Brian looked over at me and grabbed my hand, clasping our fingers. I looked at him and smiled at him. He smiled back at me and looked back ahead.
When we got to my house, my mom gave us Hot Pockets for a snack. We went into the living room, eating the Hot Pockets while watching The Suite Life of Zack and Cody on Disney Plus. Brian has his arm around my waist the whole time. I leaned closer to him, resting my head on his shoulder.
About a quarter before six, Brian and I started to head out to the game. Mom gave me twenty bucks in case I get hungry. Brian and I both walked to the school, holding each other's hands.
We walked into the school and went straight to the gym to see there's ten minutes until the game starts. I see mine and Brian's friends sitting at the end of the bleachers. We went over to them and sat down by them.
"Hey, guys," Spencer said.
"Hey," Brian said.
"Where have you guys been?" Seth asked.
"Had to show Chris something," Brian said.
I saw Rachel and Layla doing warm-ups with the other JV girls. They looked over at us and waved. I smiled and waved back at them.
"Hey, guys."
I looked to see Gabriella with Ramona, Jarrod, Tanisha, and Wilbur. Brian pulls me closer to him.
"It's okay, Brian. We're good," I said. I looked at Gabriella. "We're good, right?"
"We'll see." She pointed at an empty spot next to me. "Can I sit here?"
"Sure."
"Thanks." She sits down next to me with Ramona sitting next to her and Jarrod, Tanisha, and Wilbur sitting behind them.
"I wanna say thank you for sticking up for me today," I said.
"It was nothing," she said.
"Oh." I put my head down.
"Oh, I didn't mean it like that, Chris. I mean, what Malcom did was a douchebag move, and it did pissed me off, and when I saw what he was going to hit you, I knew I had to do something, and the only thing I could even think of doing is hit him in the face."
"You punched him in the face?" Brian asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, it was awesome," Danielle said.
"Aww, I wish I could've been there to see that," Tristan whined.
"And do you think I'm cool?" I asked.
"Don't even go there," she said.
"Oh, sorry."
"It's fine. After that talk we had at Brian's party, I realized you're not that bad."
"And I'm sorry I called you a cold-hearted bitch," I said.
"It's fine. I know I can be one."
"So does this mean we're friends?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'm not sure about that."
"Hey, so, um..." I leaned over to her. "What did you catch Malcolm doing a couple of weeks ago?"
"I took a picture of him with a poster of a celebrity woman, " she said.
"So?" Then it hit me. "Ohhh."
"Yep." She took a bite of her hamburger. "I took a picture of him in case he tattles on me again."
"What did he catch you doing?"
"Smoking weed."
"Are you serious?"
"Dead serious. First and last time I did that."
Brian lifts me up and puts me on his lap. I smiled and leaned my head on his shoulder.
When the game started, Brian wrapped his arms around my waist and nuzzled his head on my neck. I smiled again and put my hand over his.
Layla was one of the starters and did a really good job at stealing the ball from the other team. She scored about fifteen points in the first half and twenty in the second half. Rachel didn't play much and only scored five points. We only won by seven points.
Brian put his hand under his shirt and starts to caress my stomach. I signed and leaned back against him. I like it when he touches me. It makes me feel good.
Rachel came over and sat down with us just as the varsity game's starting. During the whole game, I talked a little with Gabriella. Turns out she also likes to watch The Mandalorian and watch Disney movies, her favorite being Mulan.
The game got done, and everybody started to leave.
"Bye, Chris. See you tomorrow!" Gabriella said.
Brian takes my hand and walks me home with Seth behind us. When we got to my house, Seth got into Brian's pickup while Brian's walks me up the steps.
"So I guess I'll see you tomorrow," he said.
"Yeah."
We both stood there, awkwardly looking at each other. Brian then leaned over and kissed me. He put his hand on my cheek as he continued to kiss me. He pulls away and gives me a little smile.
"See you later," he whispered. He pressed a kiss on my forehead then went to his pickup.
I look after him as he drives out of my driveway and drives off. I'm thankful that he showed me Elliott's grave. It's nice to see he went all this way to try to get over his death.
The door opened and I looked to see Mom standing there.
"You gonna come in or are you just going to stand out here all night?" she asked.
"I'm coming." I followed her into the house and closed the door.
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