forum One-On-One (Closed)

Started October 24, 2018 by @Imperfect_Autumn group

tune

“You can always talk to me when you’re stressed,” he added, biting the inside of his cheek. “And I’ll try to help however I can.”

Kasey's smile grew a little, and she brought his hand up to her lips to press a soft and hopefully not sticky kiss to his fingers. "Thank you, Barry. That means a lot. I'll always be here for you, too."

Barry gave her an affectionate smile, but the peaceful expression on his face was quickly fractured by the result of his lazy thoughts. “My parents..” he breathed, “Do they know?”

Kasey blinked and tilted her head in confusion.

"Know about what?" she asked. After a moment, she "ooh"ed and shook her head slowly. "No, they don't… Sorry, I was focused on getting you back, not relatives…"

“Don’t worry about it,” Barry hastened to assure her. “I just—Can I call them? After we eat? I don’t have the best relationship with them, but..”

"Of course!" Kasey agreed quickly, grinning at him. "I would never stop you from doing that. Just… Please be careful with them, okay? I know they don't exactly like our relationship…"

Barry nodded in understanding. “Yeah, I know, don’t worry. I know they can be assholes sometimes… most of the time… but yeah. I also haven’t talked to them in ages…”

"When you finish eating, go ahead and call them. I'll put everything away," Kasey said, squeezing his hand gently before taking another bite of her food.

“Thanks, love…” he murmured, swallowing the last bite of his food.

Kasey smiled a little. “Any time, babe.”

He helped clear up the table anyways, lost in thought. When the kitchen was clean, he went to sit in his arm chair. It took him a long time to stop staring at his phone…. He was frightened. Frightened of his parents’ reactions. Frightened they wouldn’t pick up.

But eventually, he pressed the ‘call’ button and pressed the phone to his ear.

“Mom?”

Kasey picked a few last things up from the table and glanced over at Barry. She made her way over to the couch, pressed a gentle kiss to the top of his head, and walked back to the kitchen. Hopefully, this call would go over well for him. She wanted him to have a good relationship with his parents, but… was it possible…?

“Barry?” His mother’s voice was harsh and painfully familiar. “What do you want?”

He winced. “Hi….. mom. I just—I called to tell you something.”

“Hurry up and tell me, then, I’ve got a lot to do. I don’t see why you couldn’t have just——“

“I was kidnapped,” he blurted, squeezing his eyes shut. Silence on the other side of the phone. “Just for a day. I got home last night. Just… thought you and Dad should know.”

“Barry, what the hell?” His mother sounded a conflicting mix of agitated and irked. “Why would you do this to us? I know you like attention, but even this is a little much. We would have been called!”

Barry’s heart plummeted. “Mom—I’m not making this up.”

(Aw, poor Barry…)

Kasey glanced over from the kitchen, hearing parts of Barry’s end of the conversation. She frowned a little and stopped what she was doing.

Do you want me over there with you? she asked silently.

Please.

“Mom—no—“ His mother cut him off. “Barry, I will not stand for this! You’re not a kid anymore, stop fabricating stories for attention!”

Kasey set down the dishes she was holding and dried her hands. When she had made her way over to the living room, she carefully sat down beside Barry, resting a reassuring hand on his knee.

You’ve got this, love.

“I can prove it,” he blurted, covering Kasey’s hand with his own. “I have scars. Mom, there are words carved across my face and chest. For once in your goddamn life, believe what I say!!”

Silence from the other end of the phone.

“Mom?” His voice shook with anger and frustration.

“I’ll call you back.”

Kasey sighed and leaned her forehead against his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Barr… She should have believed you.”

Barry, unable to contain his frustration, hurled his phone across the room. Shaking, he buried his face in his hands and broke down.

Kasey flinched slightly at his sudden outburst, but she quickly recovered and wrapped her arms around him.

“Hey, it’s okay… They don’t have to believe you. We know what happened, and that’s all that’s necessary, right?” she murmured gently, pressing soft kisses to the side of his head. “I’m here for you if you want to talk.”

Barry pressed against his girlfriend, barely managing a nod. “She didn’t even care…” he whispered, voice breaking, “I almost died and she didn’t even care..”

“I know, Barr… That was terrible. I wish she would have believed you,” Kasey said softly, rubbing circles on his back.

"She's just in denial," he continued to ramble, barely registering each panicked word that flew from his mouth. "She'll come to her senses. Right?"

Kasey hummed, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. She sighed and pressed another kiss to the side of his head, shifting a little into a slightly more comfortable position.

Barry inhaled shakily, not trusting himself enough to speak again. Instead, he tucked his nose against the crook of Kasey's neck, attempting to calm himself down.

"I love you. Okay? I love you so much that it hurts me to be away from you," Kasey murmured quietly, burying her face in his hair and breathing him in. Gosh, she'd missed the smell of him. It just wasn't the same when it was in his clothes… "I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you…"

Barry's trembling hands found hers.

"I–I love you, too. Always. I promise. Even—Even if we parted, I'd never stop loving you."

"I'd never leave you. Not of my own will," Kasey promised softly, squeezing his hands.

She moved so her face was out of his hair and chewed on her lip. She wanted to ask him something, but she didn't think it was the right time to. Not after what he'd just gone through with his mother. And it might not even be a good idea to ask it, anyway…

Barry placed his head on her shoulder and closed his eyes, focusing on his erratic breathing in an effort to slow it down.

After a moment of silence, only filled with the sounds of their breathing, Kasey pulled back a little to look at Barey softly. "Do you want to go back to bed?"