Monday

Milan had struggled to be outside after school, once local news stations found out where he went to school. A few reporters had stalked him while he waited for the bus—to such an extent he eventually called his father, who then picked him and Jake up—and followed him back home. They wanted answers, and they demanded for them to be answered that very day.

All Milan could wonder was why it was so important to them. Wasn’t there actual news to report on? Then again, he knew they were reporters who solely focused on the sports category, and apparently it was big news Ben Welsh was daring him to compete.

Part of it felt hilarious, most of it ridiculous.

He had managed to shake them off by the time he made it to physical therapy to strengthen his body, though he was glad he was only required to head over once every two weeks. In the beginning, physical therapy had basically been his life. That, or rest. And he hated everything about it, but it was necessary.

But privacy was a rare thing now that he was back out in public, and it didn’t surprise him he couldn’t wait for his mother to pick him up in peace after his therapy had ended early.

As soon as he heard footsteps come closer, he looked up to see if someone was approaching him, expecting another reporter. It was, however, Lennox, who looked a lot less energetic than he did in school. Milan respected him for keeping his distance, sitting down on a brick wall, rather than sitting on the same bench.

The guy looked sad while reading something on his phone, and when he looked up and noticed Milan staring at him, his face flushed, his eyes widened, and he tried to make himself as small as possible.

It wasn’t giving him a good feeling, mostly because he seemed on the brink of tears.

“Are you okay?” Milan asked, pulling his hood off his head to offer himself a better view. “You look distressed.”

Lennox shrugged in reply, locked his phone screen and sighed before he asked; “do you want an honest answer?”

“I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t.”

“I’m not really okay, no.”

Milan bit his lip, nodded in understanding, and wondered if he should ask what was bothering him. It wasn’t any of his business, really. He didn’t know the guy. But then again, Lennox had been up in his business as well, and he looked like he could use someone who would listen.

“What’s wrong?” he eventually asked, getting up from his seat to join Lennox on the brick wall. “What happened?”

Lennox shrugged again, and forced a smile on his face. “It’s okay, you don’t have to pretend you care. Nobody does so, yeah. It’s okay.”

Milan frowned, and shook his head, sitting down. “Now, that didn’t sound like it would be okay to leave. You were all cheerful and energetic in school. What changed?”

Lennox bit his lip and sighed deeply, before he whispered his answer, sounding rather hoarse. “My parents won’t let me see my brother and he was supposed to come over this weekend in secret but now my parents found out and he’s not coming and I haven’t seen him in months and it just sucks.”

“Oh,” Milan lamely replied. He had no idea what it would feel like to not be allowed to see his brothers. In fact, three out of four would not be missed by him. “Can I ask why you’re not allowed to see him?”

“Cause I’m gay.”

Milan sat up straight, taken aback by the reply. Here he was, envying people he knew who came out proudly. Here Lennox was, not seeing his brother because he came out.

“I’m gonna be honest here, I have no idea what to reply because I feel like nothing would be good, or helpful.”

Lennox looked up and offered him a weak smile. “It’s nice to have someone in person, other than my grandparents, to talk to. That’s helping.”

“Don’t you have friends to talk to?”

“I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m not popular. I don’t have friends, I transferred to this school over summer and I haven’t made any friends. So the answer is no, I’m not likeable.”

Milan again bit his lip, feeling slightly awkward. Maybe he shouldn’t have meddled into the guys life. He clearly didn’t have any answers. Well, maybe one.

“Wanna go to McDonalds?”

“What?” Lennox sputtered in reply.

“Yeah, let’s get a McFlurry.” Milan got up from his seat, grabbing his phone to call his mother. “My treat.”

“You don’t have to do that. I know you don’t like me either. That much was clear after class today,” Lennox said, shaking his head. “Don’t bother.”

“After class?”

“Yeah, you really don’t pay attention around you, do you? Everyone is making fun of me because you practically ran away from me.”

Milan frowned down at the guy, his phone still in hand. “Wait, you think I left in a hurry because I dislike you? Dude, I ran because you kept asking questions about a topic that gives me crippling anxiety on the spot and I didn’t feel like crying in front of everyone if you asked me one more thing. I don’t dislike you, because I don’t know you.”

“Really?”

Somehow, that  seemed to cheer the guy up, and Milan felt himself relax slightly.

“Really, now, what about that McFlurry?”

Lennox chuckled, and nodded in reply. “I’ll have to call my Nana to tell her I’ll be home later though.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna call my mom as well.” Milan nodded, and dialed the number before it was too late, and she was already in the car to pick him up. He simply told her he ran into a friend and she agreed to pick him up later once he called; but before dinner.

They walked to the nearest McDonalds to buy ice cream, and decided on eating it on the side of the lake on a bench, even though it was freezing outside and ice cream really didn’t make sense.

All they did for about an hour, was talk about fun stuff. Lennox’ home situation was off limits, and so was Milan’s accident and skiing. But they did share a lot of fun stories about their childhood, and Milan allowed Lennox to ask him more about the adventures he had with Jake and sometimes other friends, and mostly how they got their ideas.

Without Lennox noticing—he was trying out the ice to see if he could stand on the lake—Milan took a quick selfie, with Lennox in the background, and uploaded it to his Instagram, with the simple reminder to people to be kind to each other, you never knew what others were going through, thanking Lennox for his company that afternoon.

And really, Lennox probably thought Milan had done it to cheer him up, not knowing he had distracted Milan in the process.