Being Wrong | ?

Part 17

Travis had acted like this was some kind of a big deal, but after a few questions about when they got together and how it had happened the others quickly lost interest and went back to their own private discussions. Throughout the rest of lunch break whenever somebody new would wander by it briefly became exciting news again, but it never lasted long. Charlie wasn't sure why anyone would even care, but he supposed it was normal to be interested in what your friends were up to.

When the bell rang, Travis walked Charlie to his next class and gave him a quick hug before hurrying off to his own.

"What the hell," a boy gathering his books nearby murmured to his friend as Travis walked away, his tone clearly disgusted.

That, Charlie realised, was what Travis had been worried about, but he found it didn't really bother him. His own father, someone he wasn't entirely sure he didn't still love, had called him a faggot and threatened him with a knife. The boy standing in front of him was about fourteen, and the greatest rebellion he dared was leaving his shirt untucked. Charlie was neither afraid nor offended. At most, he was mildly curious. This kid probably didn't even know Travis, and his only connection to Charlie was sharing a single class. What was his reason for caring what two strangers got up to?

Charlie was also staring, which seemed to have made the boy uncomfortable. He shot Charlie a wary glance and headed into the classroom without further comment.

#

That afternoon, Travis waited with Charlie for his grandma to come and pick him up. She was normally already there waiting for him, and when she hadn't been this time Travis had insisted on staying with him until she arrived. Not that it took much persuasion. Charlie enjoyed Travis' company, and he was a bit concerned that his grandma had deviated from routine.

He knew it was an overreaction to immediately start worrying about things like car accidents and heart attacks, but it was always possible. Sometimes people got hurt or they died and it could just happen at any time with no warning and there was nothing you could do.

Not five minutes later, though, she arrived, and Charlie climbed into her car as soon as she pulled up. It was only after he had settled into the passenger seat and done his seatbelt up that he realised that he had forgotten to so much as say goodbye to Travis.

Luckily his grandma called out to Travis through the window and offered him a lift home.

"I'm sorry I'm late," she told both of them as Travis did up his seatbelt in the seat behind Charlie. "I went to get Charlie a phone, but it's so much more complicated than I realised. They make you fill out all these forms. They tried to talk me into getting some ridiculously expensive thing, but the one I bought does everything you need it to so I'm not sure what I was supposed to be shelling out hundreds of dollars for. Some kind of scam, I'm sure."

Travis let out a quiet laugh. "Yeah, my brother got me the cheapest one the store had. It in this bag?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes," Charlie's grandma said as she started the car. "Now, Charlie, you have unlimited free texts and several hundred dollars worth of free calls each month as part of your plan, but that doesn't include overseas calls, okay?"

Charlie couldn't figure out why he'd be calling someone overseas, or really anyone besides Travis and perhaps his grandparents, so he didn't bother commenting on that. "What are texts?"

"Come by later and I'll give you a lesson in how to use mobile phones," Travis offered.

"Yes, that's very helpful Travis, thank you," Charlie's grandma said. "The people in that shop tried to show me, but I swear I've forgotten it all already. I don't see what we need phones to do all these fancy things for. Isn't making calls enough?"

It was only once Charlie was home in his room, changed into his pyjamas and hoodie already and with his confusing new device in front of him, that he realised today had been the best day he'd had at school so far. Sure there had been stress and anxiety, but there had also been cuddles with Travis. He felt tired, but he didn't feel like he was facing down some terrible abyss he might be shoved into by the slightest misstep. It was a relief to know that was possible, that not every school day had to be such a terrible drain. Maybe some day he'd even get used to it.

Later that night, he went over to Travis' house and sat on his lap while he showed Charlie how to send texts and make calls. It was actually pretty easy. He then showed Charlie where the games were, and Charlie settled in to play a game of Snake. After the third time he lost he thought to offer Travis a turn, but Travis just planted a kiss on Charlie's cheek and said he was fine watching. By the time Charlie finally gave up and turned his attention to studying, he still sucked at it.

#

For the rest of the school week, Charlie sat with Travis at lunch times and spent evenings cuddling over at his house. For someone who was as much of a social oddity as Charlie, Travis was surprised just how comfortably he slipped into the role of boyfriend. They didn't do anything more than cuddling and exchanging the occasional chaste kiss, but Charlie never seemed anything but perfectly at ease with the whole thing. Travis had kind of been waiting for him to have some kind of freak out about the whole gay thing, but perhaps to a guy who was perfectly happy having flowery purple curtains in his room being gay just wasn't something to make a big deal over.

Most of the time Charlie was extremely affectionate, as demanding of attention as Artemis was, but Travis soon learnt to recognise when Charlie didn't want to be touched. Not that he ever went as far as pushing Travis away, but the stiffness of his posture and his lack of reciprocation made his feelings clear enough.

As far as Travis could tell, being stressed or upset made Charlie less likely to want to be touched. In times when other people might have found comfort in a hug, Charlie seemed to want the world to stay well away. Perhaps that made sense, though. He had been abused, so perhaps he was simply more prone to feeling vulnerable and distrustful when he was unhappy.

Overall, though, he seemed to be doing a lot better. He was still pretty firmly attached to Travis' side during lunch breaks, but he'd started to look a lot less panicky when other people tried to talk to him and was becoming better at responding even if he did still trip over his words a lot. He was never going to be a socially normal guy, but Travis was hoping to find out what kind of person was hidden beneath the layers of anxiety Charlie had built up.