Carson spent the entire day hanging out at Josiah's place with his two best friends. The three of them didn't get up to that much, they usually kept things casual and that was plenty enough entertainment for their little group.
Ayden worked on a paper for one of her environmental science classes for most of the day. Josiah got lost in an old book Carson had seen him read countless times. All the while, Carson alternated between watching television and wasting time on his laptop.
Around three o’clock the three of them decided to get out of the apartment. Soaking up the sun and fresh, spring air, they all walked out of Josiah’s building that was located at the south corner of their university’s campus. Josiah and Ayden walked hand in hand, taking roads and cutting through grass to get to the Corner Store in the centre of the campus for lunch. Carson walked along with them, standing next to Josiah on the opposite side of where Ayden was.
It normally took about ten minutes to walk there, but the three of them were going slower than usual, wanting to soak in the beautiful day. They got lunch, walked around the campus aimlessly for a little while and then headed back to Josiah's place.
Later in the evening, Ayden was still hard at work on her paper, and Josiah was watching a cooking channel. Carson had been taking a short cat nap, and woke up when he almost fell off of the couch when he rolled over.
"Smooth," Josiah commented, smirking at his younger friend.
Carson rolled his eyes and stuck tongue out by a little. "Whatever."
The brunette looked around the room, and Josiah answered him before he even asked the question.
"Ayd's in the kitchen."
Carson sat up and looked past the back of the couch, and sure enough, she was sitting at the table. Her back was to the boys. Carson saw the large, noise-drowning headphones she was wearing that were actually Josiah's, and he assumed the blonde was in some sort of writing zone.
When the younger boy turned back around, he saw Josiah's attention was back on the television programme.Carson watched for a moment as the cook or chef or whatever threw around random ingredients and things that he had no idea about.
"What's he making?" the brunette asked, mildly curious.
"Chicken," the darker boy said. "With sun-dried tomato, egg plant, and basil."
Still not quite sure what his friend was saying, Carson said, "Ah, right." Carson checked the time on the cable box and saw that it was nearing six. Standing up, he yawned and stretched out his stiff muscles from sleep. "Well, I think I'm gonna head home for the night."
Josiah instantly lost his focus on the TV and turned his head to look at his friend. "Oh. Want me to walk you?"
The boy with indigo eyes pursed his lips and fixed his eyes on the other. "Joe."
The guy in question immediately went on the defensive. "Dude, chill. I'm not saying it because you need a bodyguard, I'm saying it because I figured offering my company was what a best friend should do. You know, to be nice and all."
"Yeah, yeah," Carson mumbled, shaking his head. He pulled his jacket on and tossed his backpack over his shoulders. "Thanks, but I'm good. Stay and keep Ayd company."
“Alright,” Josiah said. “You gonna say goodbye to her?”
Carson looked at his blonde friend. Josiah flicked his eyes from the younger boy to his girlfriend and then back again when Carson turned to him. The brunette shrugged and shook his head a little. “Nah, I’ll just let her work. You know how focused she gets.”
“Okay,” Josiah said. He gestured towards the door, “I’ll walk you out, at least.”
Carson nodded and walked to the front door. Josiah followed him and after they threw on their shoes, the pair walked out into the hall of the building. When the two guys reached the main door that led to outside of the building, they both stopped.
Carson faced the boy who was a few inches taller than him and gave him a small smile. "Thanks for being such a great friend, Joe."
Josiah broke out into a grin. "Awh, why you gotta turn me into mush, man?" The older guy pulled Carson into a brief hug, before pulling away again, oblivious to the fact that Carson wanted the opposite more than anything. Sage-green eyes clashed with indigo as they smiled at each other almost-awkwardly for a few moments. "You know I'm here for you. No matter what happens. Dare I even say it, but even if Ayd and I ever split, I'm still gonna be your bestie."
Carson laughed at the teasing and playful tone of his older friend. He smiled and rolled his eyes, playing into it, even though he knew Josiah really was being sincere. But sometimes acting like things were a joke made it easier to talk about. Carson and Josiah both knew this was one of those occasions, and it was perfectly okay with them.
"Like I said, man," Carson smirked. "Thanks."
“Yeah, yeah, get outta here!” Josiah said, trying to save the conversation from being too emotional or weird. He gently nudged at Carson’s shoulder and the younger boy laughed again, but turned the handle for the door and pushed it open slightly. “See you later, Car.”
Carson returned Josiah’s smile and nodded, before stepping out onto the sidewalk. “Bye.”
Josiah took over holding the door when the brunette began walking away. He stood there for just a few moments longer as he watched the twenty year old stick his hands in the pocket of his jacket and walk away. Josiah took a breath in, feeling relieved that Carson was in a better mood now than he had been the last couple of days. Shaking his head free of the second-hand stress, the darker boy quickly made his way back to his apartment to see if Ayden wanted to take a dinner break.
*
Carson walked away from his friend’s building, and took the shorter route of going through the grass behind peoples’ houses. He walked quickly, and then sped up even more when he decided that he wanted to try and go for a run before it got too late.
He made it back to his dorm building, and up to the fourth floor where he shared a two-bedroom suite with Ayden, by six-thirty. Most of the building was empty as he knew a lot of people were at parties--it was a Saturday night, plus the Greek life on campus had a heavy presence--but he did run into a few people he knew when he was walking through the hall on his floor.
Carson didn’t stay and talk as he knew he had about a half-hour or so left of daylight, so he just said his hellos and kept walking to his suite. The brunette flipped on the main light in the entry area and crossed over to his room, dropping his backpack on the floor randomly as he went.
It took him longer than he’d anticipated to change into his running clothes, grab his headphones, and get out of there, because he couldn’t find any of his running shirts. Once he was finally ready, Carson took the stairs on his way out of the dorm already listening to the music he was playing from his phone.
As soon as Carson stepped out of the building, he took off at a steady run, picking a random direction. The sun was already setting overhead as he went through the centre of campus, following the streets and the sidewalks in the shapes of squares and circles. He crossed the courtyards, passed a bunch of other dorms and students--none of whom he recognized.
Carson had already doubled back and found himself approaching his dorm again. He was breathing heavily, but he still wasn’t tired. It had grown dark a while ago, but the sporadic street lamps made up for the lack of sun in most places. Carson stopped into the store and bought a bottle of water that he downed half of right away.
He looked at his dorm, knew it was just going to be another night alone, and grimaced. Carson was happy for his friends and everything, but it sucked so much to be the odd one out. Running was one of his favourite ways to burn off his frustration, and until he’d stopped, it had all been gone. But now that he was just standing there, thinking too much about whether or not he would be stuck single until the end of time, he decided he didn’t want to go back up to his room just yet.
With his mind made up, he started to run again, this time much slower. He was trying to put off going home until he was ready to just take a shower and maybe watch a movie before falling asleep. He picked a set route this time, and figured by the time he completed the giant loop around the sports fields, he would be sufficiently exhausted.
It took him a minute to find the opening in the fence that led him out onto the soccer and lacrosse field, but one he did, he gradually started to slow down. Carson glared at the bottle of water in his hand. His side was starting to ache and he knew it was the combination of exercise and the way he had drank the water so quickly before that was the cause of his side stitch.
Carson was breathing heavily out of his mouth as he put pressure underneath his ribs to ease his pain. His walk had slowed down to his regular pace, and he decided he would just walk home; he had done enough running for one night.
Carson was just coming around the corner of the football practice fields when he glanced up and saw a couple figures jumping over the fence to get back onto the side of the street. The brunette hesitated, and stopped walking, unsure of who the people were. All he could make out was that they looked like football players, their silhouettes showed that they were at least as tall as Carson, if not taller, and they had bulky muscles.
The brunette wasn’t sure what did it, but as he watched carefully, holding his breath to stay quiet, one of the guys turned sharply to look right at Carson. He froze instantly and pulled his headphones out so he could hear. Carson glanced down at the ground and realized he must have been crunching too loudly over the gravel on the side of the road to catch the attention of the strangers.
“Is that Carson?” the boy in question swore he heard from one of the figures.
His heart started to race in fear. The two guys had hardly been twenty feet ahead of him when he had first seen them, and now they were walking closer towards him. There was something terrifying about the way in which they moved closer.
Carson started to take a step backwards, ready to start sprinting away, when he caught sight of the first guy’s face. The brunette’s chest stilled, skipping a few beats, before it started to explode with anxiety. Gabriel was staring right at him, and Carson felt like he couldn’t move, despite something in the back of his head screaming at him to run in the opposite direction.
“Hey, Carson,” Gabriel said. Carson wasn’t sure if he was sneering or not. The voice was reaching the brunette’s ears, sounding distorted and confusing.
“Hey,” Carson said, unsure. He tried to read Gabriel’s face as he walked even closer. His friend behind him, Carson barely recognized. “What are you guys doing here?”
“Playing some ball,” Gabriel said, tossing a football Carson hadn’t seen before into the air.
Carson winced as the sound of it smacking back into the older guy’s hand echoed in his ears. Carson took another step back, but it was unsteady and he wavered on his legs. The way Gabriel was speaking was clear to the brunette now. It was slightly slurred. There was no way he was completely sober. The other guy was right behind his friend, looking as menacing as ever as the two of them approached.
“What are you doing out here all alone?” Gabriel’s tone was bordering on taunting now.
Carson’s throat closed up in fear. “I-I went for a run,” he said in a strained voice. He tried not to look at anyone. “Uhm, well it was nice seeing you. I’m just gonna head home.”
Carson rushed the words out and turned on his heel. He needed to get out of there before something bad happened. He started off at a brisk walk and was almost relieved when he wasn’t yanked back by anyone. Gabriel had certainly almost been close enough to touch him.
Scared, and not hearing any noise of footsteps behind him, Carson instinctively turned to glance at where the three guys were. Just as he did so, he already knew it was a big mistake. The football that had been sailing through the air crashed right into the side of his head.
Immense amounts of pain shot through his ear and he stumbled, disoriented almost completely by blow. Carson tried to take a step forward and lost his footing. When he tried again, he lost his balance completely and tumbled to the ground. He felt a throbbing in his wrist when he tried to soften his fall.
Gabriel ran over to him, and Carson’s hand immediately flew up to his ear, trying to check the damage. He felt something wet, and started in terror as he realized it was blood. Carson’s ear was ringing loudly, and he barely heard anything before he saw Gabriel’s face swim into his vision.
The brunette was swaying slightly where he was holding himself up on all fours, and black spots were dancing at the edge of his eyes. He groaned in pain and Gabriel quickly grabbed him by the back of his t-shirt to pull him up to his feet. Carson immediately felt something akin to motion sickness and he thought for sure he was going to throw up. He swore he had never felt so dizzy in his life.
Carson stumbled and almost fell when Gabriel shoved him backwards, but instead of landing on the grass and dirt again, he was quickly caught by a pair of strong arms. He glanced up to see one of Gabriel’s friends holding onto him, keeping him upright.
“G-Gabe,” Carson mumbled, feeling his tongue thick in his mouth as he tried to talk. He was scared, but he had no idea how to get out of this. His arms were weak, but he still tried to struggle out of the boy’s hold. It didn’t work. “This isn’t funny.”
Gabriel sneered and moved close, getting in his ex-boyfriend’s face. “Who said it was? I’m not laughing.” Gabriel looked at his friend that was tightly holding onto Carson’s arms. “Are you laughing, Jeremiah?”
Despite the clear amusement in Jeremiah’s voice, he said, “No way, man.”
“Please,” Carson mumbled, not even sure if anything he was saying made sense. He was still dizzy from that hit by the football, he was sure he would pass out the second they let go of him. “I didn’t do anything, Gabe.”
This caught the older guy’s attention. His dark eyes seemed to burn angrily as he glared at Carson. “How can you fucking say that? You’ve been cheating on me with that stupid black kid!”
“H-hey,” Carson tried to say. He wanted to sound defensive, but he knew it came out weak. “Don’t even talk about him like that.”
Gabriel’s answer was a rough smack to the bad side of Carson’s face. The brunette groaned and slumped in Jeremiah’s arms. Carson squeezed his eyes shut, wishing he was anywhere but there. Jeremiah shook him pulled him up.
“Stand up, you idiot,” the guy holding him growled.
Carson was so scared of being hit again, that he did as he was told. It was almost impossible, but he managed to get his feet underneath him. That didn’t mean he could do it on his own, though, as he still had to lean heavily against Jeremiah to stay slightly upright.
"You gonna start telling me the truth?" Gabriel demanded, sounding furious. Carson tried not to recoil from the stench of beer on Gabriel's breath, but he couldn't. "You were fucking Josiah, weren't you?"
Gabriel was so loud, Carson's head began pounding. Through clenched teeth and closed eyes, he said, "I wasn't. I swear."
The answer, even though it was the truth, only seemed to make Gabriel even more upset. The older boy balled his hand into a fist and drove it into Carson's exposed gut. Carson choked and coughed as the air seemed to be stolen right out of his chest.
"Stop lying!"
Tears pricked at his eyes as he begged, "Please, Gabe. I-I--"
Jeremiah shook them both as he laughed at how pathetic Carson sounded. Carson sobbed, despite himself. He still thought he might throw up at any second. He had never felt so scared before. He hated feeling like he was weak, but what was he supposed to do right now? He practically had a bus pinning him in place, and an equally large boy standing in front of him, hitting him.
Carson’s legs felt like jello and his arms were beginning to go numb from the lack of blood circulation in them. Even half-drunk like they were, the two of them together were far stronger than Carson could handle. He wanted to cry out of frustration at letting himself get into this mess, but he didn’t want to feed either of the guys’ egos.
“You’re disgusting,” Gabriel snapped. Spit flew from his mouth and landed on the brunette’s face. Carson cringed but had no way of wiping himself off. “Just admit it.”
At that moment, Carson realized that no matter what he did, this wasn’t going to end well. He knew he couldn’t get out of Jeremiah’s iron-like grip, and even if he did, he wouldn’t make it two steps before he passed out. He swallowed the lump in his throat and made his decision. All he could do was try and lessen the punishment, and he knew that denying that he had been sleeping with Josiah wasn’t going to do so.
“Okay,” he croaked. He felt nauseated even having to lie about something like this. “I sl-slept with J-Josiah.”
Gabriel’s immediate reaction was to punch Carson again, right in the same spot as he’d hit his head twice before. The black spots came back this time and there were twice as many. He felt blood flow down his skin, and he sobbed again, unable to keep it at bay for any longer.
“I knew it,” Gabriel seethed, hissing right in the trembling boy’s face. Jeremiah was laughing again, and Carson cried as quietly as he could. Gabriel looked at his friend and said, “Drop him.”
In the blink of an eye, Jeremiah had retreated and Carson felt like he was free-falling for a moment before he crashed gracelessly to the hard ground. His back hit first, pain shooting between his shoulders, and then his head flung forward to only slam back down against the grass. He rolled his head to the side just in time for everything in his stomach to spew out of his mouth.
Gabriel and Jeremiah made sounds of disgust and disapproval while the blue-eyed boy wretched until there was nothing left. When he was basically left to dry-heaving, the guys standing above him each grabbed an ankle and started to drag him away from his pile of sick.
They dropped him once they were closer to the safety of the fence and even farther away from any light. Carson was moaning in pain as tears spilled down his face. He couldn’t even think properly he was hurting so much, and he just wanted it to be over.
Gabriel got right down to the ground, hovering over the smaller boy. He lightly smacked his cheek a few times. “Don’t fall asleep on me,” he warned. Carson opened his eyes and his heart clenched from fear when he looked at Gabriel’s face. There was absolutely nothing comforting in the expression he saw. The older boy looked insane with rage and jealousy.
Carson panicked when he felt fingers at the waistband of his track pants. His own, numb arms felt heavy as lead as he attempted to move them down to swat Gabriel away.
“Don’t,” he sobbed loudly, voice coming out in a hoarse screech. “Please, stop.”
“If you can have sex with that loser, Josiah, then you can have sex with us,” Gabriel hissed.
Carson’s heart plummeted into his stomach when the words reached his throbbing and ringing ears. He turned wide, bright blue eyes up to look at Jeremiah who had a sickening smile on his face. As Gabriel rolled him over and shoved his face into the dirt, Carson began screaming through his tears. He tried to struggle but Gabriel and Jeremiah put all their weight onto him, driving the air out of him and making it hard to breathe, let alone scream for help.
The second Gabriel ripped his clothes down, Carson tried to shut down. He didn’t want to feel and he didn’t want to think. Everything hurt and he just wanted everything to end. He didn’t ever want to remember how he was feeling as the two of them harassed him until they got bored.
The worst part of it all was that now matter how hard Carson tried, he felt every single thing they did to him, and somehow he wasn’t even capable of blacking out. He was stuck there, awake, and enduring it all as he cried until his eyes were swollen.