We Are an Example of Why Not to Fall in Love

Josh’s point of view:

Before school had ended today, all of Rachelle’s friends have approached me at least once and asked me about Oli, disgusted as ever. Every single one of them were ignored. The whole situation has put me in a salty mood. I mean, I may not love Oli romantically, but I do love him dearly as a friend, and hearing people speak his name in such a way multiple times pisses me off.

I step into my house and lock the door behind me, marching upstairs, meeting Elissa at the top.

“You alright?” she asks me when she notices my scowl.

“Rachelle had her friends ask me about Oli all day,” I grumble, causing her to scowl as well.

“Want me to handle her for you? I’ll make sure she stops,” she offers, and I shake my head.

“No, I’ll do it myself. Thanks though,” I tell her as I walk past her and into my room. The second I step in there, my phone alerts me of a text. I quickly pull my phone out of my pocket as I drop my bag by the door.

It’s a number I don’t recognize.

Unknown: Do you know what’s wrong with Oli? He won’t tell me.

Who… Actually, I might know… And what’s wrong with Oli?

me: Who is this? Tom?

Unknown: Yeah. Do you know?

I immediately put his name with his contact for later use.

me: No. Is he okay??

Tom: I don’t think he is… He came home with this look on his face and locked himself in his room. I’ve been begging him to let me in but he won’t. I figured you might know.

me: It might have something to do with Rachelle and her friends…

Tom: Rachelle Karsen?

me: Yeah

Tom: Has she been texting him shit?

me: He only told me about her doing it once. Idk, but her friends kept approaching me today asking about him and stuff. They sounded so disgusted.

Tom: Oh

me: Yeah. Want me to come over and try to get him out?

Tom: Please.

me: Okay, I’ll be over soon.

With that, I’m leaving the house once again, heading towards Sykes’s house. When I finally get there, I ring the bell, and the door is answered by Tom. He lets me in and leads me to Oli’s door.

“Thanks for coming over,” he says in a hushed tone as we stop at Oli’s door.

“No problem.”

I knock at Oli’s door. “Babe, can you let us in?”

I hear shuffling, followed by the sound of a door unlocking before the door opens, revealing Oliver Scott Sykes staring down at his feet. Tom quickly reaches for one of his arms, turning it over and pulling the sleeve up, and I watch as my heart breaks. He didn’t have anything new, but there were old scars littered on his wrist. Tom does the same to his other, and we see nothing new.

“I didn’t do anything, I swear,” Oli speaks quietly.

“Okay. I was just making sure. And can you tell us what’s wrong?” Tom then asks him.

“I just got a lot of shit today,” Oli answers.

“From who?”

“I don’t know, just a bunch of girls calling me names and shit. And they… yeah.”

“And they…?” I speak up.

“And they kept t-telling me that you didn’t r-really love me,” his voice starts shaking, as if he’s gonna cry.

“I’ll be in my room if you guys need me,” Tom says before walking away, leaving me to help Oli.

“Oli, we talked about this yesterday, didn’t we?” I ask softly as I gently move him so I could walk in, closing the door behind me. I lead him to his bed, having him sit on it with me.

“Yeah…”

“Then you do know that I love you, right?”

He doesn’t say anything, which actually breaks my heart again. Like I said before, I do love him, just as a friend. But he can’t know that just yet.

“What makes you think that I don’t love you?”

“It’s awkward to bring it up,” he mutters quietly.

“It’s okay. Just tell me. I wanna help you.”

“We’ve been dating for a while, but you… you still haven’t… kissed me yet.”

“Would you like me to right now?”

I see him blush and nod sheepishly. I chuckle at his cuteness before leaning in, him doing the same, but just as our lips touch, the door swing open, causing us to jump apart on reflex and look to the intruder.

“O-oh, I’m sorry, but Oli, your father wants you to come to the store with him, so Josh, I’m afraid I have to send you home, unless you wanna hang with Tom?” Oli’s mom ask.

“I’ll see if Tom wants to hang,” I answer with a kind smile. She smiles back before disappearing again, so I turn to Oli as he gets up. I get up too.

“Well, um, bye, Josh,” he says in disappointment.

“Bye,” I reply, and before he can move, I lean down and give him a quick peck on the lips. He blushes like crazy. “Love you.”

He smiles, finally believing.

“Love you too.”