| ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴛᴏɢᴇᴛʜᴇʀ - ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴇᴀᴛʟᴇs |
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Surprisingly, Reece managed to stick to his part of the deal, completing a total of two more sessions with Jackie, although never once participating in the group conversations. He'd shown up, and he thought that was more than enough.
Reece walked in the door, eyes darting around as they always did, taking in the people already sitting down. He'd shown up early, as if to prepare himself for the hour long torture session, that he wouldn't admit he secretly looked somewhat forward towards during the week.
He frowned involuntarily once again, eyes not catching sight of a familiar blondie for the third week in a row. The first week he was absent, Reece brushed it off, despite the fact he has said he was coming. But now it was three weeks in a row? That was a little odd, not that he cared at all. What difference did it make to him? None.
"Reece! You're still here, thank goodness, I was afraid you'd never come back." He creased his eyebrows as Jackie came running over to him, meeting half way as he strolled towards the circle of chairs.
"Yeah, well...I guess i don't mind coming now. Maybe for one more week?" Jackie scowled playfully at him, not once believing him as he played it off, pretending coming here wasn't a big deal to him. Maybe if he said it enough, he'd convince himself.
"Hmm. Sure, like you don't love it." He laughed as he moved to walk past her before her arm reached out, stopping him from getting too far. He frowned, confused.
"Do you know of George is coming back? He hasn't been here the past two weeks, I'm a little worried" his frown deepened even more, how would he know? It's not like they're besties or anything, they've barely talked.
"What? How would I know? I haven't seen him since last time he was here" her face morphed into one of confusion, mouth opening and closing again before she finally spoke up, head nodding.
"Oh. I just thought...you two seemed pretty close when you come, I just thought that-"
"Well we're not, so sorry, but I haven't a clue." And with that he grumpily walked away, plopping down on the plastic chair as if creaked. He sat down with tightly crossed arms, cold expression on his face. He didn't know why that assumption irritated him so much. Was it because he couldn't imagine being friends with George? Or was it the opposite, his mind was currently trying to tell him. Maybe the thought of being close to him lit a fire in his chest, filling it with warmth.
A body fell down into the chair beside him, and he almost got ready to push them right off, maybe not physically, until a familiar voice rang through his ears.
"Hi" Reecea eyes snapped over to George, who was now sitting, shoulders tense as he looked around him, eyeing the seat next to his with intensity.
"Oh, hi. I mean- hey, how are you?" His face morphs into confusion for a moment before he covered it up with a confident smile. Why couldn't he just say a normal, simple 'hello' instead of making a fool of himself as soon as George walks in.
"G-good. I'm...good" he nods at that, staring at George for a few seconds before frowning slightly. He was sitting on the chair, legs stuck together and arms crossed impossibly tight across his chest, eyes trailing to the floor as he chewed on his bottom lip.
"Did you get lost the last two weeks?" George's eyes snapped up as he let out a small laugh, while George just looked on slightly panicked, mind no doubt running around in circles trying to decipher Reece's crap talk.
"What?"
"You weren't here last week, I was only joking." George's face broke into relief then, a small smile reaching his lips as he laughed a little.
"Oh yeah, sorry I'm a little slow" he grinned then, leaning back in the seat in an attempt to make himself more comfortable. He failed, but hey, it was worth a try.
"It's okay. Are you alright though? I was- I thought you weren't coming back" he tried to play it off with a snicker but he gets the sense he failed miserably as George face falls a little, a tight lipped smile on his face.
"I'm ok, I was just-" he looked to the ground then, face scrunched with what looked like indecisiveness, as if he were doubting the next words that would come out of his mouth. " I wasn't feeling...great. Mentally I mean. I- sorry you don't want to know this, we all have our problems. That's why we're here, right?"
Reece felt the smile slip off his face, lips tugging downwards no matter how hard he tried to keep them up. George didn't want sympathy, he knew that. Whether it was from personal expression or not, he still knew that sympathy was a no go.
"Oh. That sucks. But hey, you came today, we both did. Look at us, both sitting here despite being...a little afraid to. You came here today, I'm proud of you, you should be too." He sent George a small, shy smile that was immediately returned, although George came with a side of tomato as his face lit up a light shade of pink, nose taking part and all.
"Thanks Reece, that means a lot. I'm proud of you too, I know this is cringe but...I'm really glad we are both here together. Everyone else seems to have everything under control, it's scary." He feels his heart swell. Someone is actually proud of him for coming here. Does that mean this is for the best? That he's sitting in here, taking back control of his mind, More importantly his life.
"Thanks" he doesn't trust his voice to speak anymore, words caught in his throat. His mind didn't know what else to say, he's never practiced this before. He wasn't familiar with the sense that someone was proud of him, what was he supposed to respond with? Should he say more?
His worrying quickly disintegrated as he looked at George, a shy smile on his face that quickly calmed his mind. He didn't need to say anymore, George knew.
The warmth in his eyes made Reece almost flinch back. They were so full of kindness, compassion and overall good intentions. He'd never seen that in someone's eyes, and although it shouldn't come as a surprise considering his lifestyle, it hits him hard as he feels a warm sensation fill through his body, tingles pricking his skin.
He averts his eyes elsewhere, focusing on the posters currently hanging by a pin on an abandoned board, no doubt featuring posters from years ago, not since updated.
He tried to focus on anything else but the thought still stuck to him like glue, not once leaving him.
What the hell was wrong with him?
—
He soon found himself walking outside the building, George right beside him as they stood there in comfortable silence, overlooking the crowded car work ahead of them.
"I'm exhausted after that, I could just lay down and go for a nap right now" he started out of the blue, eyes actually dropping slightly as he imagined getting home, and simply dropping onto the mattress.
"Well, maybe it's a good idea to get home first. You know, before you just drop down and go for a power nap" he felt himself laugh as George spoke, a smile playing on his lips as he no doubt imagined Reece sleeping in the middle of a hospital car park, like the idiot he was.
"Yeah, that would be a great idea. Or maybe, you could just let me sleep wherever I want" he fake scowled as he narrowed his eyes at George, struggling to keep it up as he seen George's face contour into laughter, cheeks puffed out widely as he tried to hold it.
"I'm not stopping you, go ahead. But don't come complaining to me when you're back hurts from so many people stepping over it" George grinned as he deepened his glare, eyes meeting George's blue ones.
"Oh I almost forgot." He had a cheeky smile on his face as he spoke " you never told me your favourite colour, it wasn't fair. We were playing twenty questions" he felt his eyebrows raise in confusion before they dropped, in sync with his shoulders as he recalled their conversation almost two whole weeks ago, the one he still holds in his memory, separated far from the ones that haunted him at night. This one was different, it was to calm him after the previous ones wrecked his sleeping pattern.
"I can tell you later. Maybe."
"When? Next week we wont see each other, therapy isn't on. How will-" he smirked as George got heated about how he wouldn't confess his deepest secret, his favourite colour.
"I'll text you. That's how." His eyes temporarily widen as the words come out of his own mouth, whereas George's stops moving completely.
He holds his breath for a few excruciating seconds, wondering if he'd said the wrong this. Of course George wouldn't want to talk to him, especially over text, in his free time. That was just-
"Ok. But you don't have my number?" George eyes met his, innocent confusion filling them like clouds, mind obviously lacking behind a little.
He laughed as George continued to stare at him, mind running but getting no where.
"You can give it to me? Only if you want! I don't know why I even- sorry" he stumbled over his words, mouth moving about ninety miles an hour.
"No no! I'll give it to you. Here's my phone, put your number in it, I'll text you" George handed him his phone with a smile, only sightly he distant hands reaching out to place them in his.
Reece brought his fingers gently down over the buttons, double checking it to ale sure he got it right, despite he fact he knew his number by heart anyway. But he didn't want to mess it up, how would George text him then?
He clicked out of the contacts as he went to hand the phone over, stopping short when he seen the background picture. His mind stopped working for a few minutes, desperately trying to work out what he was seeing.
There, behind all the apps, was a picture of George with a man draped around his shoulders, holding him close.
Blake. Why was Blake on the wallpaper of George phone?
~~
This is my favourite story I can't stop writing today my brain is on overload.
The amount of hours I have spent on Wattpad and google docs this whole week have been shocking, I got the notification today's and I am ashamed.
Thanks for reading! Was this chapter alright?