After a series of back and forth messages, I agree to go on a 'night time stroll' with him. The sense of urgency in his messages forcing me up the stairs into my bedroom.

I scan myself up and down in the mirror, pulling my denim jacket over my shoulder and dusting it off. My eyes glaze over my outfit before looking at the clock: . I'm usually half way through a Netflix series by now. What the actual fuck is happening?

My phone buzzes on my desk, stealing my attention away from my vanity. I glance over in the mirror one last time before picking up my phone.

Hey. I'm here.

Fuck. How is this even happening.

I scan myself one more time, douse myself in deodorant, and make my way down the staircase. I pause before the front door - letting my hand rest on the handle. I twist it slowly and the door swings open, revealing Casey perched on my front door step: his green eyes still shining through the darkness, tainted by a gloss of red - he's been crying. He wipes away all evidence of sadness and plasters a smile on his face, radiating his familiar glow.

"Uh, hey..." He starts, his breath silhouetting as fog in the night time air.

"Um hey...so um what do you want to do...at...10:30 pm at night?" I ask as I close the door shut behind me. I'd expect Harvey to be going out this time of night, not me - unless it's a midnight trip to Mc Donald's; but other then that, probably not.

"Um well i have two tickets to IT 2...I was supposed to go with my girlfrie...Yep um I have 2 tickets...you wanna go? It starts at midnight. You don't have to go. You don't have to go to the movies, you don't have to go with me. In fact you don't have to go! You don't even have to go any-" I grab his hand, pausing his sputtering mid-sentence, the same urgency from his texts present in his fidgety manner - his calm, cool, collected demeanour shaken slightly.

"Relax loser. I'll come." I reply jokingly. He slowly traces his fingers over mine as our fingers intertwine; our eyes locking together. We walk silently, footsteps in sync, fingers locked.

"I'm sorry - I - I - I just...um..." He stutters, starting and finishing an incoherent sentence before we drift back into a comfortable silence. The moonlight illuminates his face, a purple bruise laying above his sharp, defined cheek bone. He restarts and stops his attempt at another sentence as silence falls upon us. The only sound being our footsteps against the pavement. His eyes drift off into the distance, his body here but his mind evaporates somewhere else.

Minutes pass by as we make our way towards town.

"No offence. But why did you message me? I mean I'd assume you'd rather hang out with one of your mates...or even your...um...girlfriend." I ask while breaking the silence; my fingers slipping out of the hold at the mention of the last part of the sentence, his eyes drawing downwards to his now lonely hand - he retracts it back to his side.

"Annabelle cheated on me...and it was with Alex - he's on the football team. Yep. So that's fun. Super fun night." The silence falls heavier then before, the once comfortable vibe replaced with an awkward tension - my gulp shattering the silence. "And like the other day when we had that lowkey deep chat in your bedroom, I don't know, it just made sense. I don't even know why I told you - like the only other person who knows about my brother's suicide is Annabelle. I don't know why I trust you. I barely know you. But I do. Isn't that strange? You know my darkest secret and I only know your name. Fuck. Crazy. Fuck. I just - everyone else betrayed me and they all laugh about it and the only one who I knew wouldn't laugh was you and-" I grab his arm, pausing his stuttering again - a desperation in his eyes.

Without thinking I pull him into me, my arms enwrapping around his muscular shoulders and clasping around his neck. I feel him tense before he exhales, relaxing into my arms and placing his head on my shoulder. "Why does everybody want to leave me? Why does no one want to stay with me?" He cries into my shoulder, his body quivering as I feel him start weeping onto me. I won't leave you I think silently to myself, letting my arms absorb away all his heart ache.

He sniffles, pulling away slightly to wipe his eyes. "Well fuck. Now you think I'm an emotional sissy." He laughs to himself, once again plastering his grin over his sobs, while simultaneously placing his hands into his pockets. I scan over him, his eyes avoiding my gaze, giving me time to observe his face. The purple bruise on his cheek complemented by another developing one on his right temple.

"What the fuck happened to your face? It's usually so pret- um I mean so...not bruised." Smooth one Danté, smooth.

"Well if you caught it amongst my rambles, Alex happened to my face...end of story." He says with a harsh tone at the end. "Sorry didn't mean to snap. I know you'd rather be at home studying or whatever."

"Nah don't worry. I hate studying. I wouldn't study even if my life depended on it. I'm planning on passing school with the most minimal amount of effort possible." He chuckles at my response as small talk takes over our walk into town.

10 minutes later and we reach the town square, the majority of shops closed except the theatre and a few scattered fast food joints. We decide to go into Burger Fuel and grab a bite before our movie.

"Heya can I please get an American Muscle Double burger. What do you want Danté?" He asks as I look over the menu - the expensive menu at that.

"You don't have to pay for me. I've got myself."

"Bro - I dragged you out of your house in the middle of the night to have a cry and watch a clown. Don't worry. I gotchu. Whaddaya want?" His eyes connect with mine as he lifts his right eyebrow, forcing me into ordering.

The hour flies by as we fill it with small talk + a 30 dollar burger combo. Conversations about nothing following us as we get our tickets, order popcorn and make our way to our seats.

"By the way," Casey whispers as the theatre descends into darkness, "I hope you aren't scared of horror movies. If you are just let me know." I'm not scared of horrors, they're actually my favourite genre of movie.

"Um yeah - I'm shit scared of horrors to be honest. And I hate clowns." I reply back in a whisper. I look down trying to hide my grin.

"Don't worry - I'll protect you" He says as he wraps his arm around my shoulder, pulling me in tightly with his muscular arm - his grasp similar to the first night we shared a bed. The movie starts and I feign multiple scares to shift closer to Casey, eventually leaning against his shoulder with his arm wrapped tightly around me. His familiar scent of deodorant distracting me from the zombie hands reaching out of the metal door - nothing can scare me as long as I'm with him.

The movie finishes and we make our way out of the cinema, his arm still around my shoulder as I fake a post-movie fearful demeanour. As we make our way into the main lobby, a late night cleaner looks at us. He retracts his arm back and he places it in his pocket.

"Hey Danté I have to tell you something outside." He says as we walk out the doors, his voice sending shutters into my chest. He pauses. "Um I just want to thank you for being such a great friend. I never thought I'd meet and make a friend as quickly and easily as I have with you. So I just want you to know bro, you are easily already one of my closest mates already lol." My illusion shatters, as the fairytale night hits its speed bump and the cupid bows start to fall away. He just friend-zoned me. Well...bro-zoned.

Of course we're just friends. He literally told me that the only reason he even messaged me was because I was at the end of the list of everyone else. He notices my face change as my comforting happiness fades into a cold dullness. "Hey you are alright?" He flashes his grin at me, his green orbs shining with their natural charm.

"Um yeah. I've gotta go. I'm tired. That's all." I look down, avoiding his gaze as clouds of disappointment flood my eyes.

"Oh algoods. I'll walk you home then."

"No. I've gotta go. Bye." I hear him protest slightly as I blur into the crowd and speed off. The noise of the post-movie crowd fading away as I walk further and further away from the town centre. I'm such an idiot.

The paced shuffling of my feet matches my hitched breathing as I storm through the leaves, on route to my house. I reach my front door as my phone vibrates in my pocket.

Hey bro. Just wanna thank you for a gr8 night and 4 being there 4 me. Luv ya loads, catch u at school mayb lol.

I enter my house and slide slowly down my front door - my heart and mind alike blazing at the power of a billion fires.

A/N

This chapter was kind of inspired by my real life and how people can sometimes use you emotionally - unintentionally of course. But they discard some of their emotion/pain/sadness onto you and you're unsure where to put it - well I put it into this chapter. It's hard to always be the listener and take people's sadness away - for me it is personally...Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! :)

- YOP