𝙲𝙰𝙺𝙴 (𝙰 𝙵𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝙱𝚡𝙱 𝙽𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚕) 🍰

㉚ 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙵𝙸𝚁𝚂𝚃 𝙵𝙸𝙶𝙷𝚃

~~~

Charlie

The day after he moved into Becca's house, Sky returned to school. Again, he seemed more cheery than I'd expect him to be. I've always known him to be the fragile, emotional feline that needed repairing and just a little company. I was terrified that he'd come out of this more broken than ever... but he hasn't changed.

Honestly, it looks as though he's gotten better.

But, that still doesn't mean things are okay.

I know, deep down, he's hurting.

I wish I could heal him, but I don't want to break him even more.

His first few days back were as normal as they could be, except for the fact that Sky now stood out more than ever. In Graphic Design, Sky still sat next to me, but people were beginning to stare. Some would turn over their shoulder, some would whisper to others, some would look back and frown. Sometimes, the pity of bystanders is more painful than the harassment. I'm sure Sky could agree. Although he doesn't seem to notice, I know that he's aware of those lurking eyes. He always has been.

He's more fidgety now. Since he lost his sketchpad (and other certain coping mechanisms), his ADHD has gotten the better of him. He's always getting distracted by little things, which is slowing down his conceptual process in school and lowering his GPA little by little. He's also been tired more than usual. I don't think he's been getting enough sleep.

Either that, or he's tired of trying too hard to look like he's okay.

I know he's trying his best not to break.

I wish I could help, but I know that even if I tried, I'd likely be the cause of him breaking.

We only speak to each other occasionally, during our class together and during lunch. And, even then, it feels translucent. All we do is exchange 'Hi's and 'How are you?'s, then we remain quiet for the rest of the period.

Sky comes back to work today. I don't know why I'm always so nervous when I have to interact with him. He's already adjusted back to the regular schedule, maybe I should too. I'm mostly scared I'm going to slip up and do something idiotic. I try my best to make him feel comfortable, but it always ends with me overreacting.

It's 3:00. He walks into Amber's. He speaks to Henri Amber and his wife, they place their paws on his shoulder, apologize, and hand him his apron. Sky glances at me. He joins me behind the counter. We exchange our 'Hi's and 'How are you?'s, until we remain quiet once again. The atmosphere becomes stiff as we stand there in solitude. Thankfully, a customer shows up. Sky takes their order and hands the slip of paper to me. Our paws touch slightly. I get to work preparing the order. He takes the order from my hands and gives it to the customer. Another customer comes in. We repeat. This continues for the time being.

I've noticed that he doesn't draw the little doodles on the cups anymore.

It's now almost the end of our shift. The cafe is empty.

"Hey, Charlie?" Sky calls for me as I wipe down the last of the tables.

"What's up?" I respond.

"Can you help me with these boxes? They need to be moved to the back." He asks, struggling to pick one of them up.

He was always clumsy like that.

"Sure." I chuckled, joining him and grabbing a box.

We tug the boxes through the employees only door and towards the storage area. They're honestly not that heavy, just pretty big. We go back outside to get a few more. We repeat. This continues until all the boxes are moved.