Everything Happens For A Reason

I rubbed my temples soothingly as I listened to what was going on outside of my room. My parents were fighting again. I looked over at my clock and sighed. It was three in the morning and my dad must have come home late from work. This kind of thing had been going on for about three months now. Well the coming home late thing, my parents have never actually been the happiest couple to walk the earth. I still have no clue why they stuck it out so long.

There was a bang against my door, and instantly my heart picked up its pace. I got the nerve to get out of bed and open the door. My mom was standing there beaten so horribly. Blood trickled from her mouth and nose. I had had enough of this. I wasn’t putting up with this anymore. I pushed by my mother and ran down the stairs.

I crept down the hallway to the kitchen, peering through the doorway that leads into the kitchen. My father was standing at the sink washing his hands and mumbling words to himself. I walked up behind him, clenching and unclenching my fists.

“Boy, you better go on back to bed.” He slurred.

“No, you don’t tell me what to do anymore.” I snapped.

“Excuse me? You better watch your fuckin’ mouth!” He said turning around to face me.

“You heard me clear as day. You’re not getting away with what you’ve done to my mother.” I said immediately bringing my fist to his face.

He brought his hand up to where I hit him, and I knew I had done the wrong thing. I could see the anger flickering in his eyes as he lunged himself at me. I fell back on the table, knocking over a vase. He clamped his hand on my neck, squeezing as hard as he could. I tried to pry his hand off, but let’s face it; he was ten times bigger than me.

I gasped for air as he began thrusting his other fist into my stomach. I could feel my lungs starting to shut down, and I was becoming light headed. I did the only thing I could, so I kicked my knee into his crotch. He hunched over on the floor, and I took that as a chance to kick him as hard as I could. He grabbed my foot before it ever made contact with his body.

“You’re not as smart as I thought.” He laughed sardonically.

“Fuck you!” I yelled in his face as he had finally stood up.

He was right, I wasn’t that smart. He punched me right in the nose, then once again in the jaw. I stood against the table, spitting blood out on the floor. My nose was definitely broken I decided as I tried to wipe the blood that was pouring from it and a surging pain throbbed throughout my whole head.

“Robert? What have you done to him?” My mother cried as she rushed to my side pulling my head back.

“He deserved it, just like you did. I don’t know what’s gotten into you guys lately. You pay the price for disrespect. Isn’t that right Dustin?” My father smirked at me.

“Rot in hell!” I shouted at him.

“Dustin that’s enough! Go upstairs now. This isn’t your fight, it’s ours.” She said sternly.

I narrowed my eyes at her, and then at him. “No, I’m not staying here. I’m leaving,” I shrugged my mother off of me, and stormed past her.

“Dustin? Where are you going?” She called after me.

“As far away from you idiots as possible,” I said under my breath as I grabbed my phone and jacket.

There was only one place I knew I could go no matter what. I opened the front door taking in the brisk early morning air. My torso ached with each breath I took, and I had to breathe through my mouth seeing as how blood had already cake inside my nose making it hard to breathe.

I took out my cell phone and searched through my contacts. I scrolled down to the B’s. Blake’s name was highlighted and I debated whether or not to call him. Blake was my best friend. I hadn’t talked to him since the ninth grade when he came out and said he was in love with me. I was fine with it at first, I even had feelings for him too, but our lives changed in high school and we stopped hanging out. I’m not going to lie, I still had a thing for him, but I covered it up with girls and it upset Blake a lot.

I clicked on his name and put the phone to my ear. It rang about three times before he picked up.

“Hello?” He said groggily.

“Blake its Dustin,” I informed him.

“I realize this, I do have caller I D. What do you want?” He asked a little bit of an attitude lacing his voice.

“Can I come over?” I asked biting on my lip.

“It’s three in the morning Dustin.”

“I know, something happened and I have nowhere else to go.” I sighed in defeat.

“Don’t you have a girlfriend you can be with?” He was making this hard on me.

“Blake please, you’re the only one that knows what I go through at home. I just got my ass kicked.” I said nearly in tears.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Are you alright?” He asked suddenly more concerned.

“I just need somewhere to stay for the night.” I said.

“Okay, come on over.” He said urgently.

“Thank you. I’ll be there in five minutes.” I said as I picked up my pace.

“See you in a few,” He said and the line went dead.

I walked up his drive way, and went around to the back of his house. Before I could knock, the door swung open and Blake was standing there shirtless. He ushered me inside and I followed him downstairs to his room. I remember when he begged his parents to let him move his room to the basement. He spent the whole weekend doing chores just to convince his parents, I even helped him.

I stood in the middle of his room as he sat down on the edge of his bed. An awkward silence filled the room until finally he looked up at me.

“Whoa, I didn’t see the blood when you came in.” He said rushing into the other room. I heard water running and he came back with a wet rag. “Here, let me clean you off.”

He pulled me over to his bed, and I just sat there, letting him dab the blood away. Something about him doing this made me feel very vulnerable and helpless, but then again, it felt good.

Blake cleared his throat, “So uh- what happened?” He asked.

“I was standing up for my mother, but apparently she was fine with him beating her” I said.

“That’s messed up, I’m sorry.” He said and I could tell he was sincere about it. “Well you’re all cleaned up.”

“Thank you.” I said smiling feebly.

“No problem, so since we’re up and I’m not going to be able to go back to sleep, how have you been?” He asked obviously trying to take my mind off of tonight.

“Well, you know how my home life is, so there’s no need to go there. Other than that, okay I guess.” I said tracing the square boxes on my pajama pants.

“Why just okay? You look pretty happy from afar.” He said looking over at me intently.

“I’m not. I’m not as happy as I used to be, I pretty much fake every emotion at school.” I said honestly.

“What keeps you from being happy?” He questioned.

“I never thought about it until now, but I think it’s because we’re not friends anymore.” I sighed.

“I’m sorry I have feelings for you. I just had to tell you that night. If I knew we were going to stop being friends I would have kept it a secret like I had been doing.” He said placing his hand on mine.

I stared at his hand, and I wished I hadn’t runaway from him. “Yeah, but the thing is I had feelings for you too, but I didn’t want to dwell on them.”

“So you don’t have feelings for me anymore?” He asked.

“Yes, I do.” I said bringing my gaze up towards him.

“But what about all the girls?”

“Cover ups,” I smiled.

“This is great!” He said squeezing my hand.

I laughed at his enthusiasm.

“I’m sorry you had to get fucked up in order for me to hear this, but I’m glad you did.” He said unsure of how to word that.

“Everything happens for a reason I guess.” I smiled.

I was right, everything does happen for a reason. Even though it took what I went through tonight I got to be back in Blake’s life and maybe that’s all I’ve ever really wanted, more than my parents divorcing. They weren’t my life, Blake was. The only thing they did was make life even worse than it was without him.

“I want to try something,” He said leaning closer to me.

I looked at him through my eyelashes, and bit my lip. “What is it?”

“Just don’t move.” He whispered and leaned in even closer than before.

I could feel his breath hitting my face, and I licked my lips anticipating his next move. He pressed his lips onto mine and his hands found there way to the back of my neck. I kissed him back, holding onto his forearms. He parted his mouth slipped his tongue into my mouth and slowly, oh god, so slowly our tongues danced with each other.

He pulled away, a little winded, and smiled. “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for this?”

“Too long,” I smiled and crashed my lips onto his, pushing him back on the bed. I pulled away this time and looked into his eyes. “Blake, I love you, and I’m not afraid to admit anymore.”

“I love you too Dustin.” He said and I pressed my lips against his once more.