Stay With Me

OLIS POV:

While Josh was in the bathroom I heard a buzzing sound from my pocket. I sighed, knowing it probably was dad before I picked it up and looked at the screen. 1 new message. Fuck, he was probably mad as hell. I opened it and as soon as I read it confusion made its way to me and turned my facial expression into a frown.

I warned you

And what the fuck is that supposed to mean. I scrolled up to see if he had texted me something before that I hadn’t seen. He had… and it had been answered. I can’t recall ever not having my phone in my pocket or answering these texts. The only one who possibly could’ve taken my phone and answered these texts was Josh but he wouldn’t do that… right?

It couldn’t have been Josh, he would never intrude my privacy like that but still it couldn’t have been anyone else but him.

I was still staring at the screen of my phone when Josh came into the room and slumped down next to me.

“You okay?” he asked, noticing how my eyes were glued to the screen. He moved closer and peeked over my shoulder, reading the text.

“Who’s that from?” he asked but I could tell he already knew.

“Don’t act stupid Josh” I said, not looking at him.

“What do you mean?” he asked. I looked over at him. He was looking at me innocently while biting his lip.

“Did you go through my texts?” I asked, looking down at the phone in my hands again.

“No” he said.

Liar.

“I think I should go” I whispered and stood up. I could hear the bed squeaking as Josh stood up as well and walked after me as I made my way out the door of his room.

“No, wait! Where are you going?” he asked and grabbed my arm in an attempt to turn me around but I just shook his head off and continued walking.

“I’m going home” I said even though I actually wasn’t. I couldn’t stay here though since he probably hated me already.

“You can’t go home” He said, his voice louder this time.

“Why not?” I asked, finally turning to him. His eyes were wide and held something I couldn’t quite place.

“Because your dad doesn’t seem like a nice person and I don’t want you to get hurt” he said.

“Why do you care?” I said quietly because I honestly had no idea. I wasn’t even sure why he started talking to me in the first place.

“Oli. You’re like family to me. Why wouldn’t I care?” He said, trying to look me in the eyes but I looked away.

“Please stay” he said before he took my hands in his and pulled me away from the top of the stairs where I was standing.

I didn’t say anything; I just let him lead me back to his room.

“Is it true what he said?” Josh asked as he closed the door behind us.

“What?” I asked in confusion as I sat back down on Josh’s bed again.

“Did he kill your mom?”

I raised an eyebrow at how forward he was but didn’t say anything. I let my eyes wander down to my hands again as I he sat down next to me on the bed.

“Oliver?”

His voice was shaking as if he was scared. I didn’t wanna lie to him but I couldn’t tell him. Still I felt as if he deserved to know. He had been here for me and let me stay at his house and sleep in his bed. He had done so much for me and he didn’t even know why I was here.

He said my name again and I opened my mouth to say something but quickly closed it again.

The memories of the murder flooded back into my mind. I had tried so hard to shut it out and just forget about it and Josh had been a great distraction but now I just couldn’t push it away. It was all coming back to me. All I could see was the bloody mess I left behind when I ran.

I hadn’t realized I was crying until Josh had put his arms around me and pulled me into him.

“It’s gonna be okay” he whispered as he rubbed my back. I couldn’t hold it in anymore and was sobbing freely into Josh’s chest as he tried his best to calm me down.

I ended up telling him everything that night. I told him about the beating, rapes, the verbal abuse, my past suicide attemps, about my mom and how the bullying in school only made everything worse. I told him about my self-harm and self-hatred. It felt good to finally let everything out after letting it build up inside for so long. Josh just sat there and rubbed my back as I sobbed and talked, sometimes he would plant soft kisses at the top of my head. I didn’t question our relationship anymore. It felt nice having someone both physically and mentally close.

There were some minutes of silence, except from my sniffing, until he realized that I was done speaking.

“I’m so sorry” he said “you didn’t deserve to go through all of that”

When I looked up at his face I could see a couple of tears making their way down his face.

I quickly wiped them away and looked into his sad eyes and smiled sadly at him.

His eyes flicked down to my lips then up to meet mine again. He leaned closer and the second after his lips were on mine.