Page 83 of Encounter

“And youstillwanted a session? Glad I didn’t feel like it.”

He didn’t say anything else out loud, but when I glanced back at him, he had a satisfied expression on his face. I didn’t do it for his praise—I fought back formyself—but I would’ve lied if I tried to convince myself it didn’t make me feel all good and fuzzy inside.

I took a sip of the soda and quietly watched TV until a minute or two later, when Chast shifted around, putting his bottle on the coffee table.

“C’mere. Take your blazer off,” he demanded, though his voice was honeyed and soft. Hesitantly, I obliged. “I’ve got plenty of experience with shit like this. He bent your arm behind your back?” After I gave a nod, Chast shifted closer to me. Giving him my left arm, I pointed to the area between my shoulder and elbow where it hurt the most. “I’m no doctor, but let me try what I can do to make it better.”

Hesitantly, I turned with my back more to him, so he could do his magic. Bitter sensations lingered on my tongue when I realized Dad didn’t even ask or care if I was okay.

To distract myself, I rested the opening of the can against my lips, while Chast’s fingers pressed and wrapped around my arm, softly yet with a controlled firmness.

“I’m glad you stood up for yourself,” he said, “but I hope all that stuff I was teachin’ you didn’t come off like my intention was for you to... start fightin’ and gettin’ in trouble mindlessly.” His chuckle sounded uncharacteristically doubtful.

“It didn’t.”

“Good. Was mostly to give you more confidence. Seems like that worked, at least,” he noted with another playful snort, and I found myself disgruntled to not be able to see his face. “Once you push back, they won’t see you the same. Trust me.”

Nodding, I pictured the expression Blake had when I did—when I pushed back. “You should’ve seen his face,” I said out loud, unable to hold in the spiteful, childish happiness and pride I felt.

Laughing, Chast began getting deeper into my tissue with his palm and fingers, sending shooting pain through the left half of my body. I didn’t care. I was happy and light, and it almost didn’t matter.

“Did you at least kick his ass, too?”

One of the corners of my mouth sank down. “Not really,” I admitted. “But a professor stepped in beforeIcould get any bones broken for resisting, so... I see it as a win.” I tried not to let my critical self convince me it was a failure, because it wasn’t.

“I’m sure you did good. I’m proud of ya.” When Chast said it, I shivered under his warm breath hitting against the back of my neck.

Calm down. Don’t think about anything dumb.

“Hopefully, they’ll leave you alone now. Trust me, kids like that—they just... want some easy ego boost. The moment you push back against most of them, they lose interest.”

Chast’s words reminded me of the time he told me he used to be like that. As I pensively ran my eyes around the rim of the can, it wasn’t too hard to imagine younger Chast in Blake’s place—they had the same scarily dominating presence.

He seemed to have picked up on my change in mood, somehow. “Does it hurt?” he asked carefully and eased off with the massaging.

Shaking my head, I rolled my shoulders back and stretched my neck. “It’s actually helping. A lot,” I murmured, not wanting to seem ungrateful. “I was— I was just thinking about how funny it is that... if we were the same age, in some alternate universe, you’d probably be there with Blake, beating me up.”

How isthatfunny?! God, he’s going to think you’re a damn weirdo.

“I’m sorry. That was stupid to say,” I blurted out right after, shaking my head.

Unable to see him, Chast’s silence made me uneasy. His hand rested on my shoulder, while the other hung loosely around my arm.

“I’m sorry.”

Startled by his tone, I turned around. Chast’s eyes already waited for me, strangely vulnerable and raw. It made my heart restless inside my chest, seeing him like that. Like there was something wrong. Like hedidsomething.

“Wh... What are you sorry about?” I asked with a frown.

For a few more seconds, he didn’t say anything.How unlike him.“About havin’ to deal with stuff like that. Life’s hard enough without shit like school bullies.” I opened my mouth in response, but nothing came out. Why was he getting so emotional about this? “Turn back around,” he said, gently forcing my torso to twist to the previous position.

Following without resistance, I focused my confused gaze back in my lap. “I’m alright, really,” I said to fill the awkward silence, trying to move on from it. “It doesn’t even get too serious or bad anymore. Used to be much worse when I was a kid.”

“Don’t make itbetter, does it?” Still—his tone was cold and low, like something weighed on him. Before I gathered the courage to ask, Chast spoke again, “It’ll probably take yourfriendsome more time before he grows out of bein’ a bully. Or he’ll turn into an even bigger, more dangerous one. Either way, people like you suffer under the hands of people like him in this fucked up world.”

“Chast, are we still... talking about me and Blake?”

Chuckling bitterly, Chast shifted his weight and shook his head behind me. As his hands applied the relieving pressure from my shoulder to the part of my back, I couldn’t let myself get comfortable until I found out what it was all about. It felt wrong, seeing Chast like this. I was usually the one lost in my negative thoughts, anxious, doubting.

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