The leaves on the trees had turned from green to orange and red. It was mid-October, and Autumn had finally proper shown itself. Oliver rode home on his skateboard holding a piece of tissue on his arm, cursing a little. 

He and Zack had skated home from the mall and said goodbye to each other, before going their separate ways, when a car suddenly drove out of its driveway and didn’t see Oliver, forcing him to make a sharp turn and crash into a bush. 

He had gotten some minor cuts on his right arm, but the one on the back of his left arm, had started to bleed pretty badly. The lady fumbled out of her car, apologizing franticly, and looked at Oliver in panicked, when she saw the blood. She offered to drive Oliver to the hospital, but he brushed her off and asked, if she had any tissues instead. The woman looked in her car and found some, which she handed it to Oliver while she kept apologizing. Oliver told her to forget it and decided to drive off, grateful that his skateboard didn’t break.

When he entered through the front door, he could hear Jake talk to someone, then Casper replying. Oliver sighed annoyed, since the last thing he wanted to see were Casper. They hadn’t spoke since that day, and it wasn’t like he were actively trying to avoid him, but he maybe have done it subconsciously. He closed the door behind him, before he went up to his room to fish out his first aid kit. But when he looked inside it, he could see it was almost empty and it only had some minor stuff he didn’t need, and he then went downstairs where he knew the other first aid kit were supposed to be, but he couldn’t find it.

“What you looking for?” Jake asked when he walked out of the living room and looked at Oliver.

“The first aid kit,” he replied, still holding a tissue on the cut. 

Jake sighed and crossed his arm. “What have you done now?” he asked almost apathetic, since it wasn’t the first time Oliver had come home with cuts and bruises. 

“I didn’t do anything, but a crazy bitch decided to try and hit me with her car,” Oliver said sarcastically, slightly raising his voice, as he glared at Jake. Casper appeared in the doorway and looked at them.

“What? Are you okay?” Jake asked worried, when he realized that Oliver was bleeding, and that he could have gotten badly hurt, and he moved to try and look at the cut. Oliver brushed him off frustrated.

“If I was, would I be looking for the first aid?” he replied cockily. Jake frowned and looked at where Oliver was holding the tissue and moved Oliver’s hand away. The cut wasn’t bleeding much, but it was still long and in need of cleaning.

“Shit. Wait here, I’ll get the one from upstairs” Jake said and pointed at a chair which Oliver took, though he wanted to inform Jake the upstairs one was empty, but he didn’t get a chance with how fast Jake went upstairs At the same time Casper walked into the kitchen, leaning up against the counter and looked at Oliver.

“You good otherwise?” he asked with a pointed look at the cut. Oliver rolled his eyes and placed his elbow on the table, before cradling his head in his hand, looking annoyed, still holding a tissue to the cut.

“Yeah, just peachy,” he answered sarcastically, while avoiding looking at Casper. Casper didn’t say anything else, and they waited in silence, until Jake came back down with a first aid kit, Oliver wondering where he had gotten it from, and he looked at Oliver. 

“Ok, remove that” he gestured to the tissue Oliver still kept on it. Oliver sighed and removed it, letting Jake take a good look at it. 

“Shit, it’s pretty deep” he cursed, as he grimaced, “I’m not sure if I can clean it properly” he said, wondering. 

“Let me, I learn this is in first aid class” Casper said and moved from the counter. 

“I’m not going to let you touch me,” Oliver hissed and was about to stand up, but Jake pushed him back down.

“Shut up and let him fix you, unless you want to take a trip to the hospital, and further making our hospital debt bigger?” Jake asked, frowning. Oliver glared at Jake, then at Casper, feeling cornered. After staring at Casper for a few seconds in silence, almost like it was a battle to see who would give up first, Oliver had to throw the towel in the ring, and he broke the eye contact first.

“Just hurry” he stressed, and Casper moved to take Jake’s spot. He couched and looked at the cut on the arm before he went to work. 

He started with dragging Oliver over to the sink where he ran the tap water, letting it rinse the wound for several minutes.

“Jake can you grab a clean towel? So, I can dry his arm,” Casper asked Jake who hurried off to find a clean towel, leaving Oliver and Casper to stand alone by the sink.

He didn’t like standing close to Casper, though he couldn’t help but glance at him. He looked at his eyes, then moved down to his nose, quickly passing his lips before he ended up looking at his jaw, were he saw a tiny beauty mark, he hadn’t noticed the last time they had been close. Oliver quickly looked down at his arm when Casper started to move. 

Jake came back with a towel and Casper carefully cleaned the cut before he took Oliver back to the chair. He then added some antibiotic ointment, making sure it was covering all of it, before he then applied a non-adhesive pad over the cut and bandaging it. Casper moved to clean up some of the others cuts before he went to throw out the used tissues and to clean his hands. 

Oliver looked at it, surprised by how well he had bandaged it, and must admit he was impressed. Casper then returned and looked at Oliver before handing him a beer. Oliver took it looking skeptical at Casper.

“A reward for being such a good boy,” Casper teased which made Oliver glare at him. Jake chuckled but looked at Oliver with a serious expression.

“But are you good otherwise? No concussion?” he asked. Oliver looked at the beer then back at them with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

“Shouldn’t you ask that before handing me a beer?” he asked, but he shook his head and got up. Oliver had been lucky he only ended up with some small cuts and bruises. “No, I’m all good,” he said and went towards the staircase. 

“Hey, you just going to leave without as much as a thank you?” Jake asked, pointing at Casper. Oliver flipped him off as he walked up the stairs, but yelled ‘thank you’, as he got up the stairs, though Jake wasn’t happy with his attitude but Oliver heard Casper say it was fine. 

 The mall seemed even busier than normal, even for a Monday evening. There were Halloween decorations all around and coffee shops offering pumpkin spice latte and Halloween cookies. 

Zack and Oliver had strolled around, looking for a game to play for ten minutes, but they decided to wait and get something to eat instead, since they could see it would take a long time to get to one of the games. 

As they walked up to the food court, they saw Casper standing behind the counter, ready to take in orders. Oliver sighed, but he had started to getting used to Casper. 

“Hey Casper,” Zack said when they came up to the counter. Casper looked at both of them and smiled. Since the whole incident with the car, Oliver had been more tolerate of Casper, which Zack had noticed. When he asked about it, Oliver didn’t answer him, not wanting to explain it but just said that Zack was right about them having to talk, which was why he was trying to make an effort. Oliver had regretted saying anything right away, because Zack ended up making a big deal out of it. Oliver wasn’t the type of person to admit he was wrong, so by saying Zack was right, he had admitted his fault.

“Hey, what can I get you?” he asked, ready to push in their orders. Oliver looked at the screen behind Casper, seeing if there would be anything new on the menu but decided to order a large chocolate milkshake. Zack decided to order a hotdog and paid for both of them. 

“Dude, you didn’t have to pay for mine” Oliver complained as they went to wait for their orders. 

“You can pay next time” Zack grinned and hit Oliver on the arm, right on the cut. Oliver flinched and hissed as he moved his hand up to his arm. 

“Oh, shit sorry!” Zack apologized, his hand carefully raised. Oliver shook his head, forcing a smile, even though it was painful. It had only been four days, so the cut was still very sensitive, but thanks to Casper, it was healing nicely. 

“Number 72” someone called up and Oliver looked at their number and saw it matched. He walked up and got their orders and went back to Zack. He gave the hotdog to Zack, and they left to find a table. They took a seat next to some other people, who didn’t mind sharing their table, since all of the table were occupied. It was around dinner time, so most people would be eating.

“So, got any plans tomorrow?” Zack asked. Oliver looked at him as he sipped form his straw and shrugged.

“Either come here, or if it’s not raining, I might go on the ramp and practice” Oliver answered. Zack nodded with a smile. 

“Well, I might join you later after my sister’s competition” Zack said and ate a piece of his hotdog. 

“Right, it’s tomorrow, her first competition in what? Tennis?” Oliver asked, moving him hand as he was trying to recall. He couldn’t remember what it was Zacks younger sister had been practicing, since it was the fourth thing, she had changed to in less than two years. 

“Yeah, and I want to support her” Zack said, smiling almost proudly.  

“Tell her I’m cheering for her too,” Oliver grinned. 

 

Zack had always been very close to his sister, and he supported her in whatever she did, and sometimes maybe a bit too much. He had a tendency to be a bit overprotective of her.

They finished their drinks and food went to throw out the trash. Oliver glanced at the counter and saw that Casper was watching them. When their eyes met, Casper gave him a small wave, that could be easily missed if Oliver hadn’t been watching him. Oliver didn’t return it, since he both felt awkward about it but also because, it wasn’t like he wanted to be friendly with Casper.

After a few games in the arcade, Zack had to return home, so Oliver strolled around the mall, not really feeling like going home. He ended up ordering ice cream, since he had a craving for it, even though he just had a milkshake.

Oliver found a bench inside the mall, where he sat down to eat his ice cream in peace. He was listening to music while looking at his phone, leaning back on the bench. He wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings and didn’t notice someone had walked by him, stopped, and then turned around to stand next to him, until he saw a pair of white sneakers in front of him. He glanced up to see who the shoes belong to, and was met by a familiar face.

Casper was looking at him, smiling kindly, no longer in his uniform. Oliver sighed looked back slightly annoyed, clearly not interested in whatever reason Casper had to be standing there. 

“Hey,” Casper greeted. Oliver didn’t reply but gave him a small nod. 

“Can we talk?” Casper asked and rubbed his neck uncertainly.

“Nope,” Oliver answered him. Casper frowned a little and sighed before sitting down on the bench next to him.

“Listen, don’t you think it’s time for us to talk?” he asked as he looked at Oliver with a serious yet kind expression. 

Oliver shook his head. “No, I mean, thanks for all the help you have done, but,” Oliver stood up, “I am not interested in getting friends with you or anything.” He looked at Casper who looked back slightly disappointed, yet also a hint of annoyance. 

“All I want is to live my life and not think about you,” he said, and Casper leaned forward, resting his arm on his knees while intertwine his fingers.

“And you think getting yourself high and drunk all the time, is the life you want?” Casper asked and Oliver for a second wanted to hit him with his ice cream, instead he took a step back.

“Listen, just leave me the fuck alone, I don’t need you to try and take care of me, I don’t need anyone,” Oliver said before turning on his heel and walk away. For a glimpse, just before he left, there was an expression on Casper’s face. Was it pity? Disappointment? Oliver didn’t care, it wasn’t like that was the first time he had seen it.