Page 59 of This is Me

“Finally,” Blaire said, ending the call with me and shoving her phone in her pocket. “Jesus, you look worse than usual.”

“Thanks,” I muttered, gesturing her inside and closing the door. “Come up to my room. No talking until we’re there.”

Blaire nodded and placed her index finger to her lips in an exaggerated way. I didn’t want my parents to hear about what had happened. I may have been thinking about posting the video and telling everyone who I was, but I wanted to do that on my terms.

Dragging myself up the steps with Blaire behind me, we soon got to the upstairs hall and made it to my room. Closing the door behind us, I walked over to my computer chair again and sat down while Blaire sat on the edge of my bed, watching me intently.

“Are you going to tell me what they told you? I don’t really want to overshare,” I said, looking back at Blaire, spinning my chair back and forth.

“Okay, okay. You went to Leroy’s. You spoke—”

“I don’t need a shot-for-shot.”

“Right, right.” Blaire laughed and rubbed the back of her head. “So, you were in Leroy’s room doing stuff.”

Doing stuff? What the hell did that mean? I hoped Leroy hadn’t exaggerated. We didn’t even do anything!

“And then Leroy’s dad barged in,” Blaire continued, all while my face heated up. “And there was a whole bunch of yelling, and he told you several times to stay away from Leroy.”

“Yeah, not gonna lie, that is one scary man. Is Leroy okay?” I asked and stopped spinning in my chair.

While Leroy had been on my mind for the entire night, I hadn’t really stopped to think if he was alright. Yes, it was horribly selfish for me not to even consider how he was feeling after everything that had happened, but there was a lot on my mind. Though, thinking about it now, my heart sank.

“He’s… Andy didn’t say too much about him. I just know Leroy is at his place now.”

Blaire relaxed on my bed, and leant back, keeping herself propped up on her elbows and letting her eyes drift toward the ceiling.

“You haven’t spoken to him?” I asked, continuing to watch her.

“No. Honestly, I thought you already would have.”

“I didn’t want to make things worse.” I groaned, leaning back in my chair, my eyes following Blaire’s gaze to the ceiling. “What if he didn’t want to speak to me again and it was a huge mistake? I could have made things a thousand times worse if I called.”

“Oh, Pete. It wasn’t a mistake. His father is just…” Blaire trailed off, and I looked back down at her.

After a moment, Blaire pushed herself up and stood up from my bed, walking over to me.

“You’re not going to hug me, are you?” I asked, squinting at Blaire.

I had no idea why I asked that or why I did so in such a defensive way. I could use a hug. And a nap. Or a light coma.

“Well, I was just going to rest my hand on your shoulder and tell you it’s going to be okay. But since you’re being a slut about it, I guess I’ll just stand here like a tool,” Blaire said, sighing, though eventual resting her hand on my shoulder.

“Thank you, Blaire,” I said quietly, and I felt Blaire’s grip tighten on my shoulder.

“Do you want me to stay for the weekend?” she asked, and I nodded instantly.

Friendly company was exactly what I needed, considering things between Leroy may have gotten a whole lot more complicated.

“Can we not talk about what happened, though? I think I need to focus on other things for now.”

“Of course, Pete. Just know, everything will be fine.” I looked up at Blaire and saw her smiling down at me, and I smiled back.

Pushing myself up from the chair, I walked over to my bed and threw myself on top of it, Blaire hot on my heels.

“I know I’m not the person you want to be spooning right now, but do you want to snuggle?” Blaire asked, falling beside me.

“You really had to go there, didn’t you?” I shook my head, though still rolled over and wrapped my arms around Blaire.