Scott's P.O.V.

None of this made any sense.

How could Mitch just close himself off completely like this?

I could understand him not telling me something. After all, things had been really tense between us lately. But Kirstie? This just wasn't like him. None of this was.

I sighed as I sat back down on the couch. Avi flopped down in the armchair next to the couch, taking a sip of his water. Kirstie joined him in the armchair, sitting comfortably in his lap.

They were honestly the cutest couple I knew. Always acting all sappy and coupley. They could never seem to keep their hands off of each other. But something was different with them right now. They seemed really tense. Now that I thought about it, something had been wrong the second Kirstie had walked out of Mitch's bedroom.

"You all right Kirst?" I asked, furrowing my brows.

Avi tried to meet her eyes, but she ignored him, staring at Mitch's bedroom door.

"Yeah. Totally fine," she mumbled, biting her lip.

That was her major giveaway. She always bit her lip when she was trying to hide something.

"You sure?"

"Scott if there was something wrong don't you think I'd tell you?" She was suddenly staring at me with her piercing brown eyes, clearly annoyed.

"Yeah I guess. I just thought-"

"You thought what?" She snapped, getting up from Avi's lap. "You thought I was hiding something from you? You thought I was lying? Well, news flash! You thought wrong!"

She stormed out the front door, quickly followed by Avi, who shot me an apologetic look on his way out.

As the front door slammed shut, I couldn't hear anything but the water running in Mitch's bathroom for his shower. A sudden realization hit me like a slap in the face.

He wasn't singing.

It almost brought tears to my eyes. I sat down, afraid that if I stayed standing that I would collapse. I wonder when he had stopped singing in the shower. It was especially painful to think that he had stopped long ago and I just hadn't noticed.

The water suddenly shut off, signaling that Mitch had finished his shower. I didn't really expect him to come out of his room anyway, so it didn't matter that he had finished.

I opened the bag of Cheetos next to me an began to crunch on them. Even though I was extremely worried about Mitch, and the way Kirstie had just suddenly just snapped set me on edge, I couldn't help but snack. It was in my nature. Honestly, I didn't know how I stayed so in shape with the amount of junk food I ate.

Mitch's door creaked open slowly, snapping me out of my thoughts. With wide eyes, I looked up to see Mitch creeping out of his bedroom.

"Mitch?"

He jumped a little at the sound of his name. I guessed that he hadn't realized I was in here.

"Scott! Jeez you scared me!"

Oddly enough, Mitch had regained some of his energy. It was a great change, but it was still...off. Not like him. It was almost as if he was trying too hard to act normal.

"Are you...alright?" I asked, slowly walking towards him.

He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Of course I'm all right Scooter. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know. It's just, you've been acting really different lately. It's kind of freaking me out."

I raised my hand to his forehead, then stopped when he flinched at my touch. My eyes widened.

"Scott... I-"

"You don't have to be afraid of me Mitch. I'm not going to hurt you."

He looked down at the ground. "I know that Scott," he said softly.

"Then what are you so afraid of?"

He ran his hand through his wet dark hair.

"You wouldn't understand."

He walked away from me into the kitchen. I followed him, suddenly angry.

"You know what Mitch? I'm so tired of hearing that! I might understand if you just tell me!"

He spun around, his tiny body rigid with fear. I hadn't realized that I was yelling at him. He pressed himself against the fridge, trying to make himself smaller. Seeing him so afraid made my anger dissipate.

I backed away slowly, my hands in the air.

"I said I'd never hurt you, Mitch. I meant it."

He swallowed, his eyes still wide.

I sighed and walked to my bedroom, leaving Mitch alone in the kitchen. He obviously wanted to be away from me, so I decided to let him have his space.

I sat down on my bed dejectedly. I couldn't believe that I had made Mitch feel threatened by me. I never thought I would scare him like that. Even though I knew that he was probably a little touchy because of his exhaustion and whatever was bothering him, I still felt like a terrible person.

Mitch suddenly poked his head into my room.

"Scotty? Can I come in?"

I shrugged, still looking down. "If you want to."

He slowly shut the door behind him and walked shyly over towards me, sitting gently on the bed next to me.

An uncomfortable silence enveloped us, neither one of us saying anything to the other.

"I'm not...afraid of you Scott."

My confused blue eyes met his apologetic brown ones.

"Then what are you afraid of? Because it seems like lately all you're doing is covering up the fact that you're afraid."

He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again, a sad expression occupying his perfect features.

"You see? That's the problem Mitch. You won't just tell me what's going on. It really hurts."

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to hurt you, it's just..."

I grabbed his hands. "Just what Mitch?"

He stared into my eyes, and in that moment, it was like I couldn't see anything but him. He was so beautiful, so perfect. It was sad that his natural beauty was marred with bruises and scrapes.

"It's just, I don't want it to happen to me."

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"You don't want what to happen to you?"

"What happened to Rebeca."

I dropped his hands, looking away.

"Oh," I whispered sadly.

We all knew that what happened to Rebeca was something awful.

"Why are you worried about ending up like her?"

He sighed, looking down.

"I don't know. Just weird dreams. They're all about...that."

"With Troye?"

He nodded.

"Well is anything going on between you? Involving that?"

He shook his head furiously. "No! Not at all! It's just the dreams that are bothering me, that's all."

"Well you're not going to end up like Mitch. You love Troye right?"

He nodded slowly.

"And he loves you. And he would never hurt you, because he...really loves you."

I struggled a little on the last words, because I didn't truly believe them. But I had to say them, for Mitch's sake.

"And Rebeca didn't tell anyone. That's why she ended up d- the way she did."

He was still silent next to me. Probably thinking about her. I didn't blame him. I thought about her a lot. It was hard not to, considering she was one of our best friends.

"I'm sorry I've been so...touchy lately. I know I've made it hard for you, and I'm really glad to have you for a friend," Mitch said, wrapping me up in his little arms.

I hugged him back. I was glad to know that nothing bad was happening between him and Troye, but at the same time, his words sent a twinge of jealousness through my mind.

I'm glad to have you for a friend.

He had meant them to thank me, but they just made me long for the things that I didn't have.

Kissing him when he got up in the morning.

Cuddling with him him on rainy days.

Holding his hand when he was afraid.

All the things that Troye could do because Mitch was in love with him instead of me.

I knew it wasn't right to think like this. But it was so hard not to, with him clinging to me right now.

"I'm glad that you're okay Mitch," I whispered in his ear. "I'm happy for you and Troye."