Three months later
It was May, almost the end of the school year and things were really good for Chandler. He started making the first move with Laura a lot more, things like grabbing her hand while they were at the movies and kissing her first.
Everyone was surprised, even Chandler himself. They'd been dating for 8 and a half months, and everything was going great. It was almost summer and everything would be perfect.
Right now, Chandler, Laura, Parker, Zay, Ava and Autumn were riding their bikes to the dock, because it was finally warm enough to go swimming and the school day was finally over.
Chandler and Ava didn't have bikes, but Zay gets a new one every Christmas from his rich Aunt and Uncle, so he had two fairly new ones they could have.
They all rode those bikes to school, and gotten permission to go down to the dock and everything was going as planned.
Until they got there and realized they didn't have any spare clothes. Autumn was the only one who actually wore a bathing suit under her clothes.
"Morons." She laughed.
"Hey, I'm smart too. I brought extra clothes in my bag." Ava laughed.
Chandler scratched the back of his head.
"Wait, you guys have your gym shorts?" Zay asked, pulling out his shorts.
"Oh, yeah. Duhhh." Parker said. Chandler had gym shorts too, but where was he supposed to change? Plus all he had on was a hoodie, because he's a genius and didn't wear a shirt under it today.
The one day.
"W-well Laura has nothing so we gotta go back anyway..." Chandler pointed out. He was uncomfortable and was hoping Laura would catch on.
She didn't.
"It's fine. I can swim in my sports bra and shorts, pretty much a bathing suit anyways. As long as everyone is comfortable with that?" She asked.
"Yeah we don't care." Parker shrugged.
"One problem...where are we supposed to change?" Zay pointed out and looked at Parker.
"Uhhhhhh, we can take turns going in the woods, kinda seems to be our only option." He said, laughing a little.
"Alright, cool. I'll go first." Zay said and walked to the woods til they couldn't see him anymore.
When Chandler looked back, Autumn and Ava were sitting on the dock, feeling the water with their feet and Laura no longer had on a shirt.
Chandler squeezed his eyes shut and looked away quickly. He felt like he just violated her privacy. He heard her laugh quietly.
"Chandler?" She called.
"Mhm?" He responded, still looking away. "Have you ever seen a girl wearing a bathing suit before?" Laura asked him.
"Y-yes." He answered, still not looking at her.
"A sports bra and shorts is literally the same thing. You're fine." She rolled her eyes playfully, Ava and Autumn were giggling quietly.
He finally looked at her and said, "This whole situation is weird." Shaking his head.
Laura laughed. "For you, maybe. For less awkward people not so much." She said.
"Hey I took my anxiety meds you can't even blame it on that." Chandler smiled.
He didn't even realize Zay was back and Parker was gone. "Alright you guys are taking forever I'm getting in." Laura said to Ava and Autumn and jumped into the lake.
Whenever she came back up shivering, she regretted not getting in slowly.
"How's it feel genius?" Ava called.
"C-cold but g-good!" She yelled excitedly.
Parker came running on the dock and jumped in himself, and when he came back up he yelled, "Don't be lame!" And now, everyone had to jump in or else they were 'lame'.
"Chandler, go change!" Laura yelled. Chandler didn't even realize he was supposed to be swimming too.
"O-oh yeah." He mumbled and went into the woods. He went pretty far, until he could barely hear his friends shouting and laughing anymore.
He, very quickly, changed from his jeans to shorts. He kept his shoes off, and his hoodie on.
When he walked back to the deck everyone was still horse-playing around and laughing in the water.
"You gonna swim in your hoodie?" Ava called when she noticed Chandler. Chandler just shook his head.
"I think I'll just sit on the dock...s-swimming's not really my thing anyway." Chandler answered.
"Bullshit. We didn't come all this way for you to sit on the dock and watch us have fun." Parker smiled and climbed onto the dock.
"You wanted to swim until now. What is it?" He asked.
"I don't have a shirt on under this." Chandler mumbled. Parker grinned and Zay started laughing.
"So? You're a guy, you don't have to wear a shirt." Zay said.
"Yeah, man no one's looking anyway, I promise." Parker laughed. But Chandler knew they would be looking.
He wasn't ashamed of his body, he was ashamed of the scars that littered it.
Chandler sighed. "I'm uncomfortable." He mumbled and quickly pulled off his hoodie, running and jumping into the lake before anyone could get a good look at his back or upper arms.
When he came back up he said, "T-that's c-cold." He said, shivering.
"I didn't think you would jump in." Zay laughed. Chandler just smiled. He knew he didn't have any other choice.
Two hours later
Chandler was having so much fun that he forgot about the scars on his body, so he and everyone else got out of the water and sat on the dock, letting the sun dry them off a little.
Laura was the first one to notice the angry red scars on Chandler's back.
"Chandler, your back!" She exclaimed, concern lacing her features. Then Chandler realized.
His breathing started to pick up as he tried to come up with some sort of excuse.
"I-it's okay it doesn't hurt." Is all he came up with. A tear streamed down Laura's face while everyone else just looked at him in shock.
"Laura please don't cry...I-it's okay. G-guys I'm fine I swear." Chandler promised shakily.
Laura wipes her eyes and wrapped her arms around Chandler. It felt like all the tension was released and Chandler let out a relieved sigh.
"I'm okay, baby." He whispered into her shoulder. Laura smiled and pulled away.
"I love you." She said, still smiling sadly. Chandler smiled back.
"I love you too." He said.
"Awweee!" Parker said in the background and Zay rolled his eyes.
"Way to ruin a moment dude." He sighed.
The next day
It was Saturday. Chandler woke up at 9am, he was up before anyone else. When he woke up, he realized he hadn't dreamt of anything negative. Not Keith, not his dad, not Ryan. Nothing.
He smiled to himself.
'Maybe things are really looking up now.' He thought. He decided to text Laura.
'Good morning beautiful.' He said. He knew she probably wouldn't reply because she usually sleeps in a little later.
Chandler then noticed that Zay had texted him only 12 minutes ago.
Zay: Dude! I got Mortal Kombat XL, Parker's on his way, you coming?
Chandler was confused at why they were hanging out so early.
Chandler: Sure man just gotta wait until Andy wakes up.
Later
The group had been hanging out at Zay's for a while and after they got bored of video games, they all decided to eat popsicles and sit on the back porch.
They were deep in conversation about whether or not things happen for a reason.
"I mean, clearly not." Parker said.
Ava grinned. "What makes you so sure?" She asked. Parker pondered this for a moment.
"Well okay, Zay when did your dad leave?" He asked.
"Straightforward but okay. When I was five." Zay answered.
"Why? Why did he wait five years and then leave? Doesn't make sense, you know?" Parker explained. "Well my dad left because he got hooked on drugs when I was five. And that happened because his best friend died. So, there are reasons for it." Zay argued.
"Okay, true. Alright, another example. Chandler when did your parents start being dicks?" Parker asked.
"Look man I'm just trying to eat my popsicle, don't bring me into your mess." Chandler sighed and Laura giggled.
"C'mon I'm trying to prove a point." Parker urged.
Chandler sighed. "When I was seven." He answered. "So they were cool before then?" Parker asked again.
"Yeah. Didn't even believe in spankings." Chandler answered.
"See what I mean? Why when he was seven? It's just random and there isn't any reason." Parker explained further.
"Sorry, Parker but you're wrong." Chandler mumbled.
"What? How?" Parker asked. Chandler sighed. He was about to share some information he never had to share before.
"Well...when I uh...when I was seven years old my mom was pregnant." Chandler started. Laura knew where this was headed.
"A-And the baby was a boy, my parents named him Gavin. Everything was perfectly fine u-until the day of delivery. G-Gavin died. My mom couldn't cope and my dad couldn't help her. So, my mom became hooked on cocaine and pain pills. My dad tried for months to get her to stop but he couldn't. He eventually turned to alcohol and that became their life." Chandler explained.
For a moment, everything was silent.
"I'm so sorry." Autumn broke the silence. Laura grabbed Chandler's hand.
"I-I know." She said to him. Chandler was confused.
"My parents were friends with yours in high school. Along with Andy. My mom told me your dad and Andy were best friends which makes sense." Laura started explaining.
"A-anyways, she said she followed your mom on Facebook. And for a while she saw these posts about her family and how happy everyone was and all the pictures of her little boy and then—then she announced she was pregnant. And that's the last thing my mom heard from her." She finished.
Chandler couldn't believe what she told him.
"H-how long have you known?" Chandler asked.
"For a few months now. I didn't wanna say anything because I didn't know if you wanted to talk about it." Laura answered.
"Chandler I can't believe you went through all that. I'm so sorry." Zay said.
Chandler smiled. "Guys please. People have had worse, stop looking at me like a kicked puppy. I get enough of that from Andy and Mr. Addams." He said, breaking the tension.
And so they talked about something else and finished their popsicles. And for the time being, everything was okay.
A/N: AH I'm sorry if that sucked, thanks for reading though!