By morning, I woke up early, starting to get myself ready before Elliot came by to pick me up and make sure that I put my phone on charge remembering that I was on the phone when I fell asleep. I made sure that I took another pill only because I did have a stuffy nose when I was getting dressed and I was hoping that I would be better by the end of the day. Once I got Elliot’s text I started making my way outside and when he parked he stepped out of the car to meet up with me. I was about to say something when he reached out to hug me holding me in his arms. It felt warm like how it felt from last night and I wrapped my arms around him hugging him back.“Morning,” I said.“Morning… Seems like you're looking better,” he said as he checks me out. “You looked really pale yesterday.”“I’m sorry,” I said, glancing down.“You were sick so don’t apologize,” he said as he led me t

I looked down at the ground knowing that they are a different type of people then the ones I used to hang out with and they don’t seem reckless as the type of friends Chris hangs out with.“How about Luis?” Karen said as she nudged at Jennifer. “You would love that.”“Oh, no, I doubt he would come…” Jennifer said as she blushed.“Luis? That guy from the volleyball team too?” Brian asked. “He seems a bit weird.”“You hardly even know him,” Fernando tells Jennifer.“Luis is a really nice person. You just need to get to know him better.” I cut in. “He taught me to play volleyball and he really didn’t have to do that.”“See, if Michael says he’s a good person then you guys better give him a chance,” Jennifer said and glanced over giving me a soft smile.We continued walking as they changed the conversation a

We were quiet for a while as we continued to watch the game and it ended a lot faster compared to Luis’s match. Elliot’s varsity team won the game and Luis had to leave to regroup with his teams to help clean the court. I watched him leave as I sat there quietly wondering if I should go outside to wait for him or just stand near the front door of the gym until they tell me I can’t be here anymore. I was about to get up when I saw Elliot’s brother walking over towards me and I slowly moved to sit down feeling shy if he was coming to introduce himself. He wouldn’t come towards me without Elliot, right?“Hi,” I heard from beside me and I glanced overseeing Jason.“Oh, Jason, right? Elliot’s brother?” I said as I stood up quickly reaching a hand out to shake.He smiled softly, shaking hands, “Yes, and I’m assuming your Michael?” he asks me.“Yeah…” I said, awkward

I’m still taken by surprise because he’s never been passionate like this before and there’s nothing wrong with it, but I’m still feeling cautious with every movement he makes. He moved closer to me, slowly laying back down, and I raised one of my hands to cup along the side of his jaw as he continued to kiss me. At the moment it felt so nice to be able to wake up and have someone besides me, even in an empty home, that now it was more comforting. I saw him move over me and I felt his hands brushing along my neck to my shoulder and for a second I couldn’t see his face like it was becoming a blur.My mind suddenly went to wanting this to stop as I suddenly had a hard time breathing and I saw this dark shadow over me giving me this terrifying feeling in the pit of my stomach. I'm trying not to remember and confuse myself from the past to the present, but it was so hard to ignore when I could recall the memories like it just happened yesterday. Ellio

“Michael!”I paused hearing my name and I can feel my hand gripping on the end of Elliot's shirt afraid to turn around.“I hear you're visiting your dad again.” He said, hearing him walking over to me. “You should have told me and visited. When are you coming back again?”I kept myself looking away and hearing him say that was making me tremble, “Who told you that?” I asked, curiously.“My friends spotted you when you were out with your dad. Everyone remembers you,” he said in a tone that I couldn’t distinguish.Elliot wrapped an arm around me to pull me closer to him. “I’m sorry, but we have somewhere to be,” Elliot said, pulling me to walk with him.Chris looked from Elliot to me, “I’ll see you next time.”We walked quickly away from the pier and once I saw that we were off the boardwalk I felt myself starting to hyperventilate. I f