RP LOG with tweedjocks | Student and Teacher Issues
[Simultaneous to THIS]
After dropping Tom off at his home after not only shit, but probably the whole colon, hit the fan at his office, Liam was at a loss of what he should do. In fact, at first, he merely just drove around the corner from Tom's house into a small back alley, got out of the car and vomited forcefully into the gutter just from the stress and fear of knowing that he might have just ruined everything for Tom. He regained his composure, leaning against his car to catch his breath, once again trying to contact Jess. He tried calling her, texting her, even leaving her messages on Facebook and asking the secretary at Tom's firm to leave messages for her if she returned to the office. Then he briefly spoke to Lauren online via his iPhone, sitting in his car as the rain started to beat down. He wasn't sure he ever felt more alone in his life. He was scared to face anyone in his family. What if he tried to tell them what happened and they didn't believe him, just because of the reputation he had? He wasn't sure he could handle seeing disappointment in their eyes, and his stomach as a huge clenched ball of anxiety all of a sudden that he felt like he couldn't shake. No one but Ethan knew he and Tom had been together. It hadn't been a relationship, it just been... convenient fun, before Jess even started working for Tom. It had been sex for about three months when they had the opportunity together. That was about it. As sa result of that, they became close, formed a bond, but there was never a hint of romantic relationship. They were too alike, it never would have worked and neither of them wanted it. Liam just had no idea how everything had suddenly just all gone down the shitter because of it. He didn't regret his time with Tom, and in fact, Tom had helped him understand himself more, to cope with the heavy life plate full he had dished himself up. Now this? He was more than happy Tom found his true love, and it was devastating him to think he could have damaged that in some way.
He couldn't explain what had him stopping by the library at the university. It was somewhere dry and somewhere hardly anyone was on a wet and miserable day like that day. Especially the history section. Hanging out at the library was questionable enough as it was for students who weren't study-obsessive, but hanging out in the history section was a whole new level of lame. All the more reason for it to be an ideal place for Liam to be, to hide from the world and try to figure out what the fuck he should do next. He was still in his scrubs, no chance having come to change out of them, and his longish blond hair that was usually immaculately styled was pulled back into a small ponytail at the nape of his neck, it being just long enough for him to be able to get it back and off his face if he needed to. He sat in the cubicle in the corner by a large, ornate window, elbow resting on the windowsill as he stared blankly out at the rainy, sodden university court yard. There was a pile of random books in front of him that he had blindly grabbed in passing as he made his way up the aisle towards the desks. It was a guise. He obviously had no intentions of cracking any of them open, but he also had no desire to get torn a new one by a menopausal middle-aged librarian with creepy glasses and bad dress sense, either. He just felt on edge and sick, kind of like he wanted to throw up again, but it couldn't quite eventuate. It was supposed to be summer, but he was freezing, a slight shiver sweeping through his body. It was a perfect match to his mood.
Joseph was trawling through the History section of the university library and about ready to smash someone's head in. He hated when he had that niggle in his gut that told him a student was plagiarising, but his brain wasn't quite grasping onto which book he'd read it in before. That was the trouble about being so well read. Everything just tended to become a big ball of words in your head. It was possible that was what had happened with this kid too, but Joe didn't believe it. No student of his could accidentally spew out this much spot on knowledge regarding Henry VIII. Not at their young age.
He rounded the stacks and paused as he saw Liam sitting at one of the window tables. He sucked in a breath and glanced around to see how busy the library was before approaching the blond. Liam had been on his mind lately, but Joe hadn't tried to do anything about it. He honestly hadn't expected it to go anywhere. He'd been fine with the one night thing. It was just that Liam was really, really hot. Hotter than he had any right to be.
And Joe was just a horny 'old' man. He approached Liam quietly, and cleared his throat before edging around to stand across from the medical student. "Liam?" His expression changed as he saw the young man's expression and he hesitated before sitting down and leaning forward. "You okay, Liam?"
Liam didn't register initially that anyone was even talking to him. His brain clicked to it, but he didn't react immediately. He did soon turn his head, though, his blue eyes drawing in the form of Joseph now sitting across from him, and inevitably images of their night together flooded back into his mind. Liam had very few regrets in life, Joseph was definitely not one of them. The older professor was hot, and Liam heard a rumour he was gay, and then seduced him in a locked classroom one day just for the hell of it. One thing led to another, and all that. The sex was hot, too, leading Liam to decide that between Joseph and Tom, he really must have a thing for older, experienced men. He just wasn't sure what his family would think about that, not considering the fact Lauren was trying to passively aggressively suggest Liam might have a relationship with the college professor. His eyes briefly took in the surroundings, seeing that the weather really did mean no one was around, and then gave his head a small shake. "No..." he finally replied in a mumble, but did keep Joe's gaze. "I'm not. And if I look at it, I'm more fucked than I realised. Bad day and bad appearance. Fuck me."
Joe's eyebrows drew together and he reached out to brush his fingers against the back of Liam's hand. He was trying to work out if he should actually be here talking to Liam about something personal, but at the end of the day he was still a man and not just a professor. Even then he had an interest in Liam as far as the wellbeing of a student at the university went. Especially if it was academics related. "Do you want to talk about it? You don't have to, but I might be able to help. Or you could at least get it off your chest."
Liam sighed heavily, his eyes falling closed as he shifted in his chair to lean forward. His upper arm was resting against the edge of the desk so he could nurse his hand around his stomach. Stress had never bothered him before, but now he just felt like crap. It was the last thing he needed after the intense morning in a busy hospital. He might be on the doctor side of his studies, but he was still a student, still learning. The little embroidered University of London emblem on his scrubs shirt indicated that. Right now, he just felt like he was floundering in an open ocean with no life preserverer and it fucking sucked. Unlike what he wasn't doing to Tom at Hunt & Associates. He rested his other elbow on the desk and then pressed the heel of his palm against his forehead. "I got into some trouble this afternoon. Only, it was innocent. It just didn't look that way. Now everything is up the shit, and a serious relationship might be about to get ruined because of it..." He couldn't meet Joe's eyes now, feeling ashamed even if he didn't, in essence, do a thing wrong. He'd just wanted to help. "And to top it all off, I just feel sick."
Joe fought to keep his eyebrows going up and he moved his hand up to cover his mouth. A serious relationship? Did that mean his serious relationship? Someone else's? He looked over Liam's face quietly for a moment as he tried to see if he could figure out some pearl of wisdom to part to Liam, something to make him feel better. Mostly his own stomach just started to churn at the mere idea of such a predicament. He let go of his grip on the folder he'd been carrying, and sighed. "Christ, I'm sorry. I know that's hardly what you want to hear, and neither's the fact that I don't envy you, but just... Christ. So is it... your relationship that's about to get ruined? The sickness is unavoidable I'm afraid. When matters of the heart - even if its not your heart - are involved, it's easy for emotions to become heightened."
It still didn't stop Liam from pressing the backs of his fingers to his cheeks and forehead, feeling for a fever. It would be so much easier to explain if he was ill. He shook his head. "No... no, it's not mine. My brother-in-law's best friend. He was someone in my past, just a fling. But he's a good friend now, or at least, he was. I doubt we'll still be able to maintain that now." He fought off an urge to start crying, maintaining his tough exterior and not wanting to seem like a complete emo school kid whining to his teacher. He covered his face with his hands and swore, the expletives muffled with his palms. "I was with him, alone, in his office, and my sister walked in. She thought I was blowing him. The only thing he, he just got engaged."
Joseph shifted in his seat and folded his hands together on the desk. He glanced down at his hands before he looked up at Liam again. "If it was completely innocent though, why would you lose the friendship? You were both there, so I think you'd both know if there was blowing or not. The only difficulty is with his partner, and apparently your sister. I'm assuming the partner does know about it? Is going to find out? If it's a secret... it'll backfire. That much I do know. It sucks right now, but it'll suck about five thousand times worse if you're forced to keep it locked down tight only to have it bite you on the arse." He licked his lips and tried not to think about biting Liam's arse right then. Maybe he needed therapy. He shouldn't be thinking about Liam like that in the middle of their chat. "Have you spoken to your sister?"
"The only person that knew anything was my brother-in-law. None of my family knew, his partner certainly didn't. At least, he didn't before. Could well do now. His brother was sort of a witness to my sister running out. It's just all one big mess. It's worse than a mess. Because of who he is, and how I am, people are just going to... jump to conclusions. Can't say I fucking blame him, either. If he was single, I probably would have been in there blowing him," Liam said with a small, wry snort. His voice was wavering a little, and it cracked on the last two words. The anxiety was just building inside him, he couldn't see a sound way out of any of it. In fact, he was more than worried he might have a bunch of angry Scottish brothers hunting him down to kill him painfully. "No, she's ignoring me. I don't know where she is."
"I'm not going to lie, this is a very difficult situation and perhaps you would have really been in there blowing him if he were single, but he's not, and you weren't. You haven't done anything wrong. It's amazing how quickly things can burn out of control when one small thing gets misconstrued. You need to keep persisting with your sister. You have a right to clear the record, and to tell her the truth." Joe reached out across the table again to take his hand briefly. "I'm sorry this has happened to you, Liam. I really am. Your friend will understand though. He knows neither of you did wrong. It'll get cleared up. Eventually. Regardless of how you are, I have a feeling you would never cross that line with anyone involved in a relationship."
Liam shook his head and gave a small dismissive wave of his hand. "It doesn't matter. It's what lines people believe I would cross that seem to be the ones that count. My own sister. If even she doesn't think I'm innocent, I'm fucking screwed. And I really don't need any of this shit right now. I've just started my placement, in Surgical, of all places. I can't fuck this up, if I do, no second chances. I have to be back at work in," he looked at his watch, "four hours and all I feel like doing it throwing up all over the place. Again. I'm sure he will understand. But understanding isn't going to save his relationship, is it? Why does it always seem like whenever you're trying not to fuck up, you manage to do it the worst ever? I was trying to help him. He's been in hospital recently and he said he still had pain. I was just trying to make sure nothing bad was going on. That's all I was doing." The tears came before he had any chance to halt them, and he quickly put his hands over his face again to try and stop them, or hide from Joe. Whatever came first.
Joe couldn't help it when he glanced around to once again check if there was anyone about to witness him comfort Liam. He was very much conscious of that line he had promised himself he would never cross, but they'd crossed the moment Liam had seduced him in that classroom. This was just an extension, or perhaps it was the part they should have started with. They were working their way backwards and the familiarity that kicked off a relationship was coming now instead of before the sex. He rubbed his fingertips against his stubbled chin and got up to move his chair next to Liam so he could slip his arms around the slender medical student. "Let it out, Liam," he whispered. "Just let it go. You didn't do anything wrong, you're not a bad person. You're really not. You've actually got your head screwed on better than a lot of young lads your age. You've just been royally fucked by a bad situation. It can be fixed, though. It can... It's okay, love."
Liam didn't want to cry anymore over this, but it just hurt so much. At the end of the day, he was still only twenty-two. He didn't have a huge amount of life experience behind him, even if he did have a lot of sexual experience. Some days, he still felt like a scared kid, and this was one of them. He wanted his family, but he was scared to go near them. He hated being judged at the best of times, but by his own sibling, it hurt so much more. He took his hands away and glanced at Joe out from under the stray strands of blond hair that had fallen into his face. His eyes were teary and red and he shook his head, keeping his voice and head lowered. "Don't... okay? You gotta stop or you're gonna lose your job, and I could not fucking handle getting you hurt too. Not you, on top of everything else," he said hoarsely.
Joe pulled back more out of shock, than because he actually thought Liam was right. He just stared at the young man for a long moment as he took in Liam's features and the tears rolling down his cheeks. Joe couldn't help it if his heart broke for the lad. "Me? I'm not... I'm nothing special. You don't need to worry about me. I realise I'm treading some dangerous ground here, but I just can't leave you like this."
"No dangerous ground is worth throwing your career away for," Liam insisted firmly, trying to wipe his cheeks with his palms, but more tears just spilled over. At least he wasn't sobbing and making a complete fool of himself in a public place like the library. "You know what CCTV is like. You can't fart without the security guys knowing about it. That one in your classroom was busted. I'm fine... I'll... be fine, I guess. I don't know. I never wanted to hurt anyone. I still don't," he said pointedly, his eyes piercing Joe intently.
Joe slumped back in the seat and sighed. "I remember the days when CCTV didn't exist in universities. Life was simpler then. Or seemed like it." After a moment he got up again and slotted the chair back behind the opposite side of the desk. He braced his hands on it, and leaned against it as he held Liam's gaze. "You could come around later if you need to. No CCTV there, I promise. Just think about it, yeah?"
"I have to work." Liam didn't know what sort of answer that was, but it was all he could focus on. If he let his mind stop for too long, it would all come back in an avalanche and he really didn't think he had the strength to deal with it. For the first time in his life, he didn't feel like he could go to his brothers or sisters when he was hurting. He had spoken to Lauren, and she was fine, but it was before she probably got the information off Jess. All he wanted to do was curl up in a ball at the bottom of his bed and hide forever. If only his bed wasn't at his parents' place. He hugged his arms around himself, shivering a little. The only person that seemed to care about wanting to help him was one person he could hurt painfully... maybe even more so than Tom.
Word Count | 3,180
After dropping Tom off at his home after not only shit, but probably the whole colon, hit the fan at his office, Liam was at a loss of what he should do. In fact, at first, he merely just drove around the corner from Tom's house into a small back alley, got out of the car and vomited forcefully into the gutter just from the stress and fear of knowing that he might have just ruined everything for Tom. He regained his composure, leaning against his car to catch his breath, once again trying to contact Jess. He tried calling her, texting her, even leaving her messages on Facebook and asking the secretary at Tom's firm to leave messages for her if she returned to the office. Then he briefly spoke to Lauren online via his iPhone, sitting in his car as the rain started to beat down. He wasn't sure he ever felt more alone in his life. He was scared to face anyone in his family. What if he tried to tell them what happened and they didn't believe him, just because of the reputation he had? He wasn't sure he could handle seeing disappointment in their eyes, and his stomach as a huge clenched ball of anxiety all of a sudden that he felt like he couldn't shake. No one but Ethan knew he and Tom had been together. It hadn't been a relationship, it just been... convenient fun, before Jess even started working for Tom. It had been sex for about three months when they had the opportunity together. That was about it. As sa result of that, they became close, formed a bond, but there was never a hint of romantic relationship. They were too alike, it never would have worked and neither of them wanted it. Liam just had no idea how everything had suddenly just all gone down the shitter because of it. He didn't regret his time with Tom, and in fact, Tom had helped him understand himself more, to cope with the heavy life plate full he had dished himself up. Now this? He was more than happy Tom found his true love, and it was devastating him to think he could have damaged that in some way.
He couldn't explain what had him stopping by the library at the university. It was somewhere dry and somewhere hardly anyone was on a wet and miserable day like that day. Especially the history section. Hanging out at the library was questionable enough as it was for students who weren't study-obsessive, but hanging out in the history section was a whole new level of lame. All the more reason for it to be an ideal place for Liam to be, to hide from the world and try to figure out what the fuck he should do next. He was still in his scrubs, no chance having come to change out of them, and his longish blond hair that was usually immaculately styled was pulled back into a small ponytail at the nape of his neck, it being just long enough for him to be able to get it back and off his face if he needed to. He sat in the cubicle in the corner by a large, ornate window, elbow resting on the windowsill as he stared blankly out at the rainy, sodden university court yard. There was a pile of random books in front of him that he had blindly grabbed in passing as he made his way up the aisle towards the desks. It was a guise. He obviously had no intentions of cracking any of them open, but he also had no desire to get torn a new one by a menopausal middle-aged librarian with creepy glasses and bad dress sense, either. He just felt on edge and sick, kind of like he wanted to throw up again, but it couldn't quite eventuate. It was supposed to be summer, but he was freezing, a slight shiver sweeping through his body. It was a perfect match to his mood.
Joseph was trawling through the History section of the university library and about ready to smash someone's head in. He hated when he had that niggle in his gut that told him a student was plagiarising, but his brain wasn't quite grasping onto which book he'd read it in before. That was the trouble about being so well read. Everything just tended to become a big ball of words in your head. It was possible that was what had happened with this kid too, but Joe didn't believe it. No student of his could accidentally spew out this much spot on knowledge regarding Henry VIII. Not at their young age.
He rounded the stacks and paused as he saw Liam sitting at one of the window tables. He sucked in a breath and glanced around to see how busy the library was before approaching the blond. Liam had been on his mind lately, but Joe hadn't tried to do anything about it. He honestly hadn't expected it to go anywhere. He'd been fine with the one night thing. It was just that Liam was really, really hot. Hotter than he had any right to be.
And Joe was just a horny 'old' man. He approached Liam quietly, and cleared his throat before edging around to stand across from the medical student. "Liam?" His expression changed as he saw the young man's expression and he hesitated before sitting down and leaning forward. "You okay, Liam?"
Liam didn't register initially that anyone was even talking to him. His brain clicked to it, but he didn't react immediately. He did soon turn his head, though, his blue eyes drawing in the form of Joseph now sitting across from him, and inevitably images of their night together flooded back into his mind. Liam had very few regrets in life, Joseph was definitely not one of them. The older professor was hot, and Liam heard a rumour he was gay, and then seduced him in a locked classroom one day just for the hell of it. One thing led to another, and all that. The sex was hot, too, leading Liam to decide that between Joseph and Tom, he really must have a thing for older, experienced men. He just wasn't sure what his family would think about that, not considering the fact Lauren was trying to passively aggressively suggest Liam might have a relationship with the college professor. His eyes briefly took in the surroundings, seeing that the weather really did mean no one was around, and then gave his head a small shake. "No..." he finally replied in a mumble, but did keep Joe's gaze. "I'm not. And if I look at it, I'm more fucked than I realised. Bad day and bad appearance. Fuck me."
Joe's eyebrows drew together and he reached out to brush his fingers against the back of Liam's hand. He was trying to work out if he should actually be here talking to Liam about something personal, but at the end of the day he was still a man and not just a professor. Even then he had an interest in Liam as far as the wellbeing of a student at the university went. Especially if it was academics related. "Do you want to talk about it? You don't have to, but I might be able to help. Or you could at least get it off your chest."
Liam sighed heavily, his eyes falling closed as he shifted in his chair to lean forward. His upper arm was resting against the edge of the desk so he could nurse his hand around his stomach. Stress had never bothered him before, but now he just felt like crap. It was the last thing he needed after the intense morning in a busy hospital. He might be on the doctor side of his studies, but he was still a student, still learning. The little embroidered University of London emblem on his scrubs shirt indicated that. Right now, he just felt like he was floundering in an open ocean with no life preserverer and it fucking sucked. Unlike what he wasn't doing to Tom at Hunt & Associates. He rested his other elbow on the desk and then pressed the heel of his palm against his forehead. "I got into some trouble this afternoon. Only, it was innocent. It just didn't look that way. Now everything is up the shit, and a serious relationship might be about to get ruined because of it..." He couldn't meet Joe's eyes now, feeling ashamed even if he didn't, in essence, do a thing wrong. He'd just wanted to help. "And to top it all off, I just feel sick."
Joe fought to keep his eyebrows going up and he moved his hand up to cover his mouth. A serious relationship? Did that mean his serious relationship? Someone else's? He looked over Liam's face quietly for a moment as he tried to see if he could figure out some pearl of wisdom to part to Liam, something to make him feel better. Mostly his own stomach just started to churn at the mere idea of such a predicament. He let go of his grip on the folder he'd been carrying, and sighed. "Christ, I'm sorry. I know that's hardly what you want to hear, and neither's the fact that I don't envy you, but just... Christ. So is it... your relationship that's about to get ruined? The sickness is unavoidable I'm afraid. When matters of the heart - even if its not your heart - are involved, it's easy for emotions to become heightened."
It still didn't stop Liam from pressing the backs of his fingers to his cheeks and forehead, feeling for a fever. It would be so much easier to explain if he was ill. He shook his head. "No... no, it's not mine. My brother-in-law's best friend. He was someone in my past, just a fling. But he's a good friend now, or at least, he was. I doubt we'll still be able to maintain that now." He fought off an urge to start crying, maintaining his tough exterior and not wanting to seem like a complete emo school kid whining to his teacher. He covered his face with his hands and swore, the expletives muffled with his palms. "I was with him, alone, in his office, and my sister walked in. She thought I was blowing him. The only thing he, he just got engaged."
Joseph shifted in his seat and folded his hands together on the desk. He glanced down at his hands before he looked up at Liam again. "If it was completely innocent though, why would you lose the friendship? You were both there, so I think you'd both know if there was blowing or not. The only difficulty is with his partner, and apparently your sister. I'm assuming the partner does know about it? Is going to find out? If it's a secret... it'll backfire. That much I do know. It sucks right now, but it'll suck about five thousand times worse if you're forced to keep it locked down tight only to have it bite you on the arse." He licked his lips and tried not to think about biting Liam's arse right then. Maybe he needed therapy. He shouldn't be thinking about Liam like that in the middle of their chat. "Have you spoken to your sister?"
"The only person that knew anything was my brother-in-law. None of my family knew, his partner certainly didn't. At least, he didn't before. Could well do now. His brother was sort of a witness to my sister running out. It's just all one big mess. It's worse than a mess. Because of who he is, and how I am, people are just going to... jump to conclusions. Can't say I fucking blame him, either. If he was single, I probably would have been in there blowing him," Liam said with a small, wry snort. His voice was wavering a little, and it cracked on the last two words. The anxiety was just building inside him, he couldn't see a sound way out of any of it. In fact, he was more than worried he might have a bunch of angry Scottish brothers hunting him down to kill him painfully. "No, she's ignoring me. I don't know where she is."
"I'm not going to lie, this is a very difficult situation and perhaps you would have really been in there blowing him if he were single, but he's not, and you weren't. You haven't done anything wrong. It's amazing how quickly things can burn out of control when one small thing gets misconstrued. You need to keep persisting with your sister. You have a right to clear the record, and to tell her the truth." Joe reached out across the table again to take his hand briefly. "I'm sorry this has happened to you, Liam. I really am. Your friend will understand though. He knows neither of you did wrong. It'll get cleared up. Eventually. Regardless of how you are, I have a feeling you would never cross that line with anyone involved in a relationship."
Liam shook his head and gave a small dismissive wave of his hand. "It doesn't matter. It's what lines people believe I would cross that seem to be the ones that count. My own sister. If even she doesn't think I'm innocent, I'm fucking screwed. And I really don't need any of this shit right now. I've just started my placement, in Surgical, of all places. I can't fuck this up, if I do, no second chances. I have to be back at work in," he looked at his watch, "four hours and all I feel like doing it throwing up all over the place. Again. I'm sure he will understand. But understanding isn't going to save his relationship, is it? Why does it always seem like whenever you're trying not to fuck up, you manage to do it the worst ever? I was trying to help him. He's been in hospital recently and he said he still had pain. I was just trying to make sure nothing bad was going on. That's all I was doing." The tears came before he had any chance to halt them, and he quickly put his hands over his face again to try and stop them, or hide from Joe. Whatever came first.
Joe couldn't help it when he glanced around to once again check if there was anyone about to witness him comfort Liam. He was very much conscious of that line he had promised himself he would never cross, but they'd crossed the moment Liam had seduced him in that classroom. This was just an extension, or perhaps it was the part they should have started with. They were working their way backwards and the familiarity that kicked off a relationship was coming now instead of before the sex. He rubbed his fingertips against his stubbled chin and got up to move his chair next to Liam so he could slip his arms around the slender medical student. "Let it out, Liam," he whispered. "Just let it go. You didn't do anything wrong, you're not a bad person. You're really not. You've actually got your head screwed on better than a lot of young lads your age. You've just been royally fucked by a bad situation. It can be fixed, though. It can... It's okay, love."
Liam didn't want to cry anymore over this, but it just hurt so much. At the end of the day, he was still only twenty-two. He didn't have a huge amount of life experience behind him, even if he did have a lot of sexual experience. Some days, he still felt like a scared kid, and this was one of them. He wanted his family, but he was scared to go near them. He hated being judged at the best of times, but by his own sibling, it hurt so much more. He took his hands away and glanced at Joe out from under the stray strands of blond hair that had fallen into his face. His eyes were teary and red and he shook his head, keeping his voice and head lowered. "Don't... okay? You gotta stop or you're gonna lose your job, and I could not fucking handle getting you hurt too. Not you, on top of everything else," he said hoarsely.
Joe pulled back more out of shock, than because he actually thought Liam was right. He just stared at the young man for a long moment as he took in Liam's features and the tears rolling down his cheeks. Joe couldn't help it if his heart broke for the lad. "Me? I'm not... I'm nothing special. You don't need to worry about me. I realise I'm treading some dangerous ground here, but I just can't leave you like this."
"No dangerous ground is worth throwing your career away for," Liam insisted firmly, trying to wipe his cheeks with his palms, but more tears just spilled over. At least he wasn't sobbing and making a complete fool of himself in a public place like the library. "You know what CCTV is like. You can't fart without the security guys knowing about it. That one in your classroom was busted. I'm fine... I'll... be fine, I guess. I don't know. I never wanted to hurt anyone. I still don't," he said pointedly, his eyes piercing Joe intently.
Joe slumped back in the seat and sighed. "I remember the days when CCTV didn't exist in universities. Life was simpler then. Or seemed like it." After a moment he got up again and slotted the chair back behind the opposite side of the desk. He braced his hands on it, and leaned against it as he held Liam's gaze. "You could come around later if you need to. No CCTV there, I promise. Just think about it, yeah?"
"I have to work." Liam didn't know what sort of answer that was, but it was all he could focus on. If he let his mind stop for too long, it would all come back in an avalanche and he really didn't think he had the strength to deal with it. For the first time in his life, he didn't feel like he could go to his brothers or sisters when he was hurting. He had spoken to Lauren, and she was fine, but it was before she probably got the information off Jess. All he wanted to do was curl up in a ball at the bottom of his bed and hide forever. If only his bed wasn't at his parents' place. He hugged his arms around himself, shivering a little. The only person that seemed to care about wanting to help him was one person he could hurt painfully... maybe even more so than Tom.
Word Count | 3,180