I should leave. Give them the space they need.
The cup overfills and water spills all over my hand, making me jerk back.
Swiping the errant tears from my cheek on my shoulder, I sniffle back the utter loneliness pressing down on me and tip the cup. Wipe down the side and my hand, and shuffle back to Hatley’s bedroom.
There’s a trashcan perched next to his sweaty head, towels laying around. The scent in the room is acrid, a residual aroma from his purging that required Tristen to shove his fingers down his throat in order to start. But once it did? It seemed like it’d never end.
“Hey,” Tristen whispers and reaches over his best friend for the water. “Thank you.”
He chugs half, then sets the rest on the crate turned nightstand next to Hatley’s head.
“You’re welcome,” I whisper back and shift on my feet. “I’m gonna …”
“Stay.”
My sight snap to his when his thick voice cracks, his deep brown eyes wide and tired. Begging and screaming at the same time.
Exhausted.
Lonely.
It jolts me.
“Stay?”
He nods, one single dip of his chin.
“Please.”
I don’t know why I’m stepping forward when I should walk the other way.
Or why, when Tristen lifts his blanket, I climb in beside him, my back against the wall, the heat of his arm burning into my knee.
We’re not even touching, and yet it feels like we are.
He settles on his back, his entire side plastered to the back of Hatley, who’s so close to the edge of the bed, I worry he’ll fall out.
“This is a terrible idea. The bed’s too small.”
“He always sleeps like that when he’s not snuggling.”
My brows pinch. “His head is practically hanging off the mattress.”
Tristen nods. “Normal.”
“That does not seem normal.”
His shrug shifts the blanket, and his arm brushes my knee.
It prickles, like a limb fallen asleep coming back to life, and my breath stalls.
“Sorry,” he murmurs and rolls to his side facing me, his arm coming up to prop beneath his head. There are tattoos there, catching my attention. “Do you always hate being touched?”
I blink and inhale, startled by the sudden subject.
“No,” I answer honestly. “But mostly.”
He nods, his hair rustling.
