Anthony watched as his friend rushed down to the center of the bowl to play nurse, wincing slightly as the lanky boy began to worry and fuss, making a show of producing wipes from his bag and going the extra mile by even picking out the gravel from his torn-up knees. This was the kind of person Lochlan was– even though he could level with Anthony and was always there as a friend, a partner in crime, he had this sort of maternal air about him, and even if he didn’t always witness it, there were situations (such as this one) that made Anthony feel as if his friend was a better parent to him than his actual parents. It was strange because they were the same age, and it was slightly awkward for Anthony, as he wasn’t accustomed to being fussed over by anyone.
Still, a big part of him secretly liked the attention and so he allowed it, gritting his teeth as the disinfectant sting his wounds.
Slow on the uptake, Anthony regarded his friend with a quizzical expression. His brows drawn tightly and his mouth lopsided and agape, his lip ring catching what was left of the afternoon sun. It was true, he had forgotten, but the thing he had forgotten was not what Lochlan assumed it had been. The problem was, he hadn’t the means to text his friend, and he’d forgotten to notify Lochlan of the situation.
“Sorry,” he said. This time, he looked away and pursed his soft lips, pausing as if whatever else he had to say was difficult. “I haven’t paid my phone bill, so…”
The boy gestured with his hand, not having the courage to elaborate any further. He’d tried to find Lochlan after class to tell him, but had been swept away to the detention room before he could meet with him.
Anthony was sure that the reason he and Lochlan were able to bond so well was because they had a mutual understanding. They both had issues with the father figures in their lives, and although neither of them really spoke that often about it, or said anything specific, they were both intuitive and experienced enough to fill in whatever blanks needed to be filled. Anthony didn’t know the severity of Lochlan’s household situation. He’d never seen his friend with marks, or anything of the sort, but sometimes he seemed more exhausted than any kid his age should have been, sometimes he rushed home without any real explanation, as if he had no time for Anthony at all. He found it all pretty mysterious, and therefore dreaded that it was worse than getting a bloody nose over dinner. At least when Anthony got hit (or worse), he had some sort of a tangible reminder of what he was working towards.
Holding his hands out in defense, Anthony cracked a smile. “Sorry about the cat thing,” he chuckled, not seeming to be very sorry at all.
Lochlan’s change in expression made him shrug. “Oh. Uh. I just… Zoned out a bit. Maybe I’m tired.” There was no way in hell Anthony could even begin to tell Lochlan what the hell was happening to him. The shit he saw, the stuff he heard. It was like a horror movie come true, and while in theory Anthony might have loved the idea, this… really wasn’t ideal. It was getting worse, too. Sometimes, the chatter in his head would go on for hours at a time and Anthony had to force himself to tune it out and stay grounded.
As good as a friend Lochlan was… Anthony really didn’t want to make him think he was crazy. He couldn’t lose what little good he had.
The mumbled apology about forgetting to text Lochlan about the detention was almost missed, but the teenager noticed how strained Tony’s words were and decided to leave it alone, “That’s okay, buddy. I’ll forgive you this time.” There was the hint of a light threat to his words, but the soft grin on his face indicated that there was no viciousness behind it. He understood, after all. They both understood when to stop pursuing for an explanation, because it was a silent nod in the direction of what was going on behind the scenes in their lives -- and sometimes it didn’t need words. They had a major case of cryptophasia going on that teachers had begun giving up on even trying to understand the two. Except, sometimes, Lochlan got lost in translation with his best friend; it was as though he was missing out on something, or not quite catching on, but he wasn’t the only one losing concentration some days. Lochlan had seen Tony come into school with plenty of evidential marks - busted lip, black eye - of his home-life, but it was different to all that. Lochlan was used to seeing that. It was a separate kind of situation going on with the other boy, and Lochlan was the forever worrier, but he held back for Tony’s sake; he didn’t want to get on his nerves, because he knew how bothersome he got sometimes. He wanted to make sure that his best friend was okay, but he knew that space was needed every now and again.
--He just couldn’t help but feel like Tony was losing trust in him.
“Yeah, whatever-” Lochlan responded, releasing a huff at the apology over the cat stories; how could one woman be so obsessed over cats? “-I told her that you wanted to hear about them as well, any way. That you adore cats, and would love to hear how she dresses them up sometimes.” A blatant lie, but Lochlan wanted some revenge, and if that meant panicking Tony a bit then he was all for it. Now that he thought about it, however, the teenager was seriously considering seeing her again just to put the plan in place. Put some truth behind the words, and see the look on Tony’s face when they next have her for lessons and she keeps him behind for some cat chat. It was tempting, but Lochlan would probably forget by tomorrow; he could be mean when he wanted to, but he wasn’t feeling it this week. He just wanted to get through the week without a hitch. Besides, it looked as though it was happening again with Tony; he was hiding something, and Lochlan tried not to show the concern on his face too much. Nor the small amount of despondency that he felt, knowing that Tony couldn’t even confide in him like he usually did.
Narrowing his eyes slightly, the teenager offered an expression of disbelief towards the other, “Hm.” It was a simple noise, but it contained some uncertainty, “Sure.” Sometimes it was difficult to tell with Lochlan whether he was actually fine with something, or whether it was a step over the line, because the stoic expression didn’t particularly give anything away. There was silence for a moment as the teenager picked up his school bag and slung it back over his shoulder, before standing up and directing his attention to the top of the bowl. “So -- are you too tired to come back to mine and play video games then?” A gradual smirk replaced his unreadable expression, because Lochlan really couldn’t stay mad for long. It wasn’t in his nature, and he felt somewhat guilty for getting frustrated over Tony’s secretive behaviour. He didn’t have to know all the details, but he didn’t want to feel so isolated that he couldn’t even begin to guess what was going on in Tony’s mind; it made him worry even more. “I mean, I’ll even go easy on you if you’re tired, so you can’t miss out on that opportunity. You definitely need it with the amount of times you lose.”
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