Page 70 of Small Sacrifices

He proceeds to ignore the messages and just pretends to take notes by hand for the last twenty minutes before he leaves. Mr. Wright eyes him suspiciously as he walks by—but he'd have to look over Reid's shoulder to realize he's just doodling. Reid tries his very best to not look at him directly. He can't imagine that ending well.

When the clock hits five, Reid makes a deliberate effort to stay seated for an extra five minutes, packing up his things slowly to avoid the appearance of fleeing. There's a twinge of guilt in the back of his mind for ignoring Everett's request to meet up. Butif he has to handle one more emotionally taxing thing today, he might just lose it.

Except things don't go his way. As Reid walks into the parking lot, he spots Everett leaning against his car. And before Reid can react, Everett's already raising his hand to wave. No hiding now.

Reid's teeth make an uncomfortable grinding sound when he clenches his jaw. Still, he keeps walking. Maybe he can just ignore Everett and get into his car. So far, Everett has been very respectful of boundaries. Except for that text last night, of course. But if Reid just says no clearly enough, he'll probably leave.

Now, the problem with that, Reid discovers as soon as he's getting close enough to his car to see Everett's face, is saying no to Everett. How are his eyes this big? He looks like a sad puppy, all shiny brown eyes and furrow between his brows.

"Hi," Everett says. The little hand wave that follows should not be as endearing as it is.

"Hi." Hoping to look stern, Reid crosses his arms.

"Can we just talk really quick?"

Reid sighs. "My day was really shitty. I want to go home."

The furrow deepens. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to apologize."

His expression is... dangerous. It makes Reid want to reach out and touch him. Which is very inconvenient because they agreed they would be friends. And friends don't touch each other in the way Reid wants to touch Everett. They also don't feel all fluttery when their friends just look at them. At least as far as Reid knows.

"Go ahead." He feels like a bit of an asshole, but he needs to get away from here if he wants to stay within the boundaries they agreed on.

He feels like even more of an asshole when Everett's face falls. But he laces his fingers together to avoid reaching out, and Everett rallies quickly.

"Right." White teeth flash as Everett bites his lip. "I'm sorry that I texted you that last night. That was inappropriate. It won't happen again. I'm just... sorry."

There probably is a way that Reid is supposed to feel about this—but he just feels numb. Yes, it was inappropriate. It violated the boundaries they agreed on—maybe. Probably. Reid isn't too sure. But hearing Everett say that does not make it better.

"Oh," he says.

Everett winces. "I was a bit drunk. That's not an excuse, but I just... yeah. I won't do it again."

"On a Thursday?" Reid can't help but ask. This is the second time Everett has said that, and it doesn't sound good. People who are well don't just randomly get drunk on a Thursday, do they?

"Yeah." There's a grimace on Everett's face. He's leaning against Reid's car now, hands stuffed into his pockets. "I'm just having a tough time."

Oh. That almost hurts to hear. "And drinking helped?"

"Obviously not." Everett laughs self-deprecatingly. "But you know how it is. Sometimes you just need to distract yourself."

He looks down to pick at his cuticles, which makes his hair fall into his face. Even in the muted glow of the streetlights, it looks glossy and soft. Reid does not reach out to touch it.

Instead, he sighs. "I know."

Everett looks up again, a spark in his eyes. "Do you, now? And what areyoudistracting yourself from?"

"Marisol." It's out of his mouth before he can even think about it. Shit. He can't talk about Marisol, that's not good.

With narrowed eyes, Everett tilts his head. "Marisol? Why?"

"I can't talk about it," Reid says. That only makes it worse.

"Why?"

Great, now his hands are sweaty. This has everything to do with the fact that he now has to lie or find a believable excuse and absolutely nothing with the fact that Everett has pushed off from his car and stepped closer to him. Same as Reid doesn't even notice the intense look on his face. Nope.

"She doesn't want me to." At least he thinks so. It's her story to tell. He'd only get her in more trouble.

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