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“I want out of here,” Carson grumbled.

Josiah chuckled and lightly ruffled the brunette’s hair. Carson recoiled and gave his friend a dirty look. It soon faded and he sighed instead, smiling tiredly at the older boy.

The last day felt like it had gone on for a week. Carson stayed in bed for most of it, not sleeping much, but just trying not to lose his mind with worry and boredom. He was actually insanely grateful that he had Josiah there with him to help make it easier.

Carson loved his parents and everything, but they were smothering him. He completely understood why, but that didn’t make it any more bearable. The only time he felt a bit of relief was when they went to get dinner, leaving just the boys in the hospital room.

Josiah returned Carson’s phone shortly after his parents had gotten back from lunch yesterday, but the younger boy didn’t want anything to do with it. The screen was cracked all over. He wondered how he had even managed to get the call to Ayden out. When he thought about that, Carson had pushed the phone off of the bed until it smashed to the floor which resulted in it breaking for good.

Josiah had watched the whole scene carefully and with worry, but he didn’t do anything about it. He knew exactly what Carson was going through. He figured that if he only had to break an already damaged cell phone to get his frustrations out, then so be it. Josiah wasn’t going to stop him.

The only time Josiah was really concerned with Carson’s behaviour was when a police officer came back the night before to update Carson on his case. Josiah had felt bad for how awkward Carson looked. The older boy knew he wanted to discuss the matter with the officer alone, but asking his parents to leave would have only made things more difficult.

So Josiah watched his friend squirm as they sat through a twenty minute conversation with the cop. Most of the talking had been done by Carson’s parents who were still very angry and upset about what had happened to their son.

Josiah did his best to help comfort his friend, but he quickly realized that holding his hand and giving him smiles weren’t doing a thing. And after the officer left, Josiah watched the brunette sort of retreat into himself and stay quiet for a long time.

This made Josiah nervous, but fortunately, after Carson got to eat semi-tasty hospital food for dinner, he was almost back to being whatever kind of normal they had established over the last couple days. It wasn’t much, but it was something. And Josiah was going to take it.

Carson had been glad to hear that Gabriel and Jeremiah had both been found and arrested, but having the discussion with his parents in the room had been too much for him. He hated that they were being affected so much by his one, stupid mistake of continuing his run. He should have just sucked it up and gone back to his dorm alone. It would have saved everyone a whole lot of trouble.

“Dude, just chill,” Josiah said, chuckling. Carson narrowed his eyes at him. “Your last nurse said you can leave in a couple hours.”

There was a knock on the door, and then Carson’s mother, Faith, walked in. Just as she did so, her husband, Eric, woke from his sleep on the little pullout chair across the room. Faith smiled at her son, but Carson couldn’t see past the sadness in her eyes.

“Hey, mom,” Carson said as cheerily as he could.

Faith nodded and went over to kiss her son on the forehead. The woman hadn’t been able to go a second without thinking about how cruel the world was for letting this happen to her baby. Carson was her only child, and after this, she was scared of ever letting him out of her sight again.

“Hi, baby,” Faith said in a motherly tone. “How are you feeling?”

Carson sighed under his breath and exchanged a minuscule look with Josiah, who just shrugged unhelpfully.

“I’m alright,” Carson answered. “I’m just sick of sitting here. I’m fine; they don’t need to keep me here any longer.”

Faith gave her son an argumentative look, but Eric spoke up first. “Don’t worry, Carson. It’s just for another hour or so.” The older man paused to yawn and then said, “You could turn the TV back on.”

Carson scowled deeply. “I’m done with that thing. It’s just fucking news and they keep talking about us.”

Faith gasped and stared at her son. “Language, young man!”

Josiah spoke up quickly to try and defuse the anger. “They don’t know our names, though. It’s okay.”

Carson gritted his teeth together and glared at his mom. He completely disregarded that his friend had spoken. “After all of this, the thing you choose to focus on is whether or not I’m swearing?”

Faith started to tear up and Eric threw an arm around her. Josiah touched Carson’s arm softly, but the brunette didn’t react.

“Carson Matthew,” Eric said firmly. He was watching his son in disbelief. “You need to calm down.”

Carson glared at his father now. “People need to quit telling me what to do. I’m not a child and I sure as hell am not innocent anymore either!”

Faith sobbed and headed for the door. Eric sighed and shook his head at his son. “We’ll give you some space and be back later.”

Carson’s eyes softened a little as he watched his dad leave the room. The door clicked shut and then it was only Josiah and him again. Carson crossed his arms--causing Josiah to let go of him--and looked away from his friend. He was seething, irritated, and upset.

Josiah was slightly shocked by what had just happened, but he tried his best to calm Carson down.

“They’re just trying to help, you know?” Josiah said quietly.

“Well they’re doing a shitty job at it,” Carson mumbled.

Josiah blew out a small breath and glanced at his friend. The brunette was frowning and staring at the wall. “They’re not trying to upset you, Car. They're just being your parents.”

Carson snapped his head around to stare right into those sage-green eyes. He spoke slowly and clearly. “I get it. They hate what happened, but treating me like a baby isn’t helping. It just makes me feel worse. I’m gonna have to live with this until I die. I have to live with knowing that I’m the reason Ayden’s in the hospital.”

Josiah felt speechless. His jaw dropped slightly. “It’s not your fault.”

Carson held up a hand. “Just stop, Joe.”

The black-haired boy quickly grabbed the younger boys hand tightly in his. “No. I won’t stop, because it’s not your fault,” he stressed. “Don’t ever blame yourself for what happened to Ayden. It was all an accident. You wanna blame someone, then blame that dickhead Gabriel and his creeper friend. But don’t you dare blame yourself.”

Carson bit his lip. “You don’t even understand, Joe. If I never made him so mad, if--if I never dated him at all...If I just fucking went home when I was going to...”

Josiah twined his fingers with Carson and placed other hand around both of theirs. “Carson, listen to me carefully. You didn’t deserve what they did to you. Nobody ever deserves something like that. And calling Ayden was the right thing to do. You needed help and we found you. Ayden’s gonna be fine. You just need to hang in there.” Josiah looked his friend straight in the eyes and said, "And you need to stop playing the 'what if' game. Got it?" 

Carson nibbled on his lip some more and nodded. He wasn’t sure he believed what Josiah said, but he was going to try. “And snapping at my mom isn’t going to help, right?”

Josiah smirked a little. “Right. She’s just scared. You’re her baby still. Parents spend their lives hoping something like this never happens to their kids. She’s devastated, you know?”

Carson sighed. “Yeah, I get that. But this isn’t about her, it’s about me.” He paused and lowered his voice to barely above a whisper. “She wasn’t the one raped, I was. I just want space. I want to be as normal as I can. I don’t want to be treated like a victim, Joe.”

Josiah closed his eyes for a few moments and just breathed. Listening to how desperate Carson sounded made him upset. Josiah pushed away his inhibitions and sat on the edge of the bed. He carefully pulled Carson into his arms and hugged him as tight as he could without hurting the younger boy.

“I know, man. I know. You’re handling everything so well. I’d be a wreck if it were me,” Josiah said honestly. “You’re amazing, and I’m so proud to have you as a best friend.”

Carson closed his eyes and rested his face against Josiah’s shoulder. Just being in such an embrace seemed to make him feel ten times better. Carson thought he could literally feel how much Josiah cared about him as they held onto each other. What gave the blue-eyed boy relief he hadn’t experienced since moment he woke up, somehow still alive, was the knowledge that Josiah was there for him even if it wasn’t exactly the way Carson really wanted.

While the boys hugged, not saying anything, but somehow still communicating everything they needed to, there was a loud knock on the door. Josiah pulled back slowly much to Carson’s reluctance, and they both looked to see who was walking into the room.

Carson’s latest nurse, a tall and skinny black-haired woman in her thirties named Theresa, gave the boys a bright grin. “You two are so sweet,” she chirped. “Friendships like yours are what people always dream of.”

Josiah stiffly rubbed at the back of his neck and Carson coughed just as awkwardly. The black-haired boy spoke up first, slipping back into his chair next to the bed. “Uh, thanks. I guess...”

“Oh, sweetie,” the nurse said, studying the darker boy. “You look like you’ve been through a tornado or two. Have you been sleeping? You look like you need a shower; your poor hair.”

Josiah’s light brown skin darkened noticeably and Carson covered his snicker with another cough. Josiah shot him a look, and then turned back to Theresa, “Uhm, I’m alright, thanks.”

“Yeah, right,” Carson scoffed. “I haven’t seen you sleep once. Not even for five seconds.”

Josiah pursed his lips and gave Carson another look. If he were being honest, he was feeling like dirt. He actually hadn’t slept more than a couple hours since he had woken up from his fainting spell. And those little naps had always been while Carson was sleeping. Josiah wanted to make sure he was doing everything he could for his friend. Not to mention, he needed to be awake to hear from Ayden’s parents.

“I’m fine, man,” Josiah insisted. To Theresa he said, “Thanks for your concern, though.”

Theresa frowned. “Well I hope you’re eating right. You know, making yourself sick isn’t going to help your friends any.”

Josiah clenched his jaw. He wanted to snap at her, but he didn’t. He knew she wasn’t trying to be mean about it, but either way Josiah wasn’t appreciating it.

“Yeah, I know,” he said tightly. “I have been eating. Carson’s parents bring me stuff.”

Theresa raised an eyebrow and Josiah frowned. She turned to Carson, who said, “As far as I know, he hasn’t left the room once.”

Defensively, the sage-eyed boy said, “Well you’ve got a bathroom in here! And your parents bring me food. I don’t see why we even need to discuss this.”

Josiah felt embarrassment that he couldn’t explain seep into his skin. Carson only smirked. He thought Josiah looked even cuter and more attractive when he acted like this. A pouting Josiah was practically the sexiest thing he had ever seen.

Theresa laughed lightly while Josiah busied himself by pretending his phone was the most interesting thing in the world. The nurse looked over to Carson and the two of them exchanged smiles. Carson had already decided that Theresa was his favourite nurse, and this little incident just reinforced it.

“Anyway, boys,” Theresa said happily. “I’ve got good new for you.”

Josiah snapped his head back up, easily forgetting his previous bashfulness. “What is it?”

Theresa grinned as she looked between the two of them. The expectant looks on both of their faces made the nurse’s heart turn to mush. “You get to leave!”

Carson’s jaw dropped and he gaped at the nurse. “Are you serious? You better not be lying!”

Theresa laughed and moved closer to the boy in the hospital bed. She reached for his arm and he held it out to her. She smoothly and quickly removed the IV needle from his right arm.

“I’m not lying,” Theresa said. She cleaned up the back of his hand and put a bandage over the spot where the needle had been. “But there’s rules you have to follow. You still have to avoid reading, doing homework, participating in sports, bright lights, and loud noises. We need to make sure your concussion doesn’t get worse or come back.”

Carson nodded, just grateful he finally got to leave. “Yeah, got it. At least I don’t have to go to school for a while.”

Theresa smiled as she picked up a few things. “Just take care of yourself. If you start feeling dizzy, confused, or sick make sure to see a doctor. There’s also a possibility you could have trouble talking clearly or walking normally.” Theresa turned back to look right at Josiah who was intently listening to everything she said. “And you make sure to keep an eye on him. Don’t let him do anything that could jeopardize his health, okay?”

Josiah nodded his head enthusiastically. “Yeah, of course. So we can really leave? Are you sure he’s fine? I don’t want his to leave if he’s not completely better yet.”

Theresa tilted her head to the side as she locked her eyes on Josiah’s anxious face. “He’s doing great, Josiah. His doctors approved everything, and he’s perfectly okay to leave the hospital.”

“Well, alright,” Josiah said slowly. He looked at Carson who was watching him carefully. “Okay. I’ll keep a close eye on him.”

Theresa nodded in approval. “Alright, then. I’ll let you get dressed and you guys can gather all of your things. I’ll be back in about ten minutes with your papers and then I’ll walk you down to the discharge desk and you can be on your way.”

“Thank you,” the boys said before the woman left the room.

“I can’t wait to see Ayd,” Carson blurted. He started to get out of bed and Josiah rushed to put an arm around him to help him out. “When was the last time you heard from Walt and Keri?”

Josiah glanced at the clock on the wall. It was after eleven in the morning. “Keri called me about two hours ago saying Ayd was still in surgery. She should be back in her room by now.”

Carson nodded as he tore off his hospital gown, leaving him in just his boxers. “I’m glad to get this stupid thing off.” He pointed at his sweatpants his parents brought for him that were sitting on the window sill. “Hand me those, will you, man?”

Josiah reached for them and quickly passed them over. He looked away, out of the window so he could give Carson some privacy. He knew Carson wasn’t showing any signs of trauma from his attack, but he still didn’t want to overstep boundaries and set him off. No matter what Carson said, Josiah knew that the brunette had been affected by the assault. He was just too strong and stubborn to let it get to him.

When he was finally dressed in normal clothes once again, Carson said, “It’s cool, Joe.” Josiah looked back and saw Carson smiling slightly at him. “You know I don’t mind.”

Josiah gave him a skeptical look. “No, I know that you say you don’t mind. I don’t know that actually don’t.”

Carson rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Normal, remember? Treat me like normal.”

The dark-haired boy sighed. “Right. Sorry. Anyway, you all set?”

“As set as I’ll ever be,” Carson said. “I s’pose I should apologize to my mom before we leave so it’s not an awkward drive, huh?”

Josiah only shrugged. Carson groaned, but said. “Call my dad and tell them to come back.”

Josiah smiled and said, “You got it.”

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