Page 8 of Splintered
“Evan!” he shouted, ripping the covers off the bed. “Evan,wake up!”
Evan bolted upright, his eyes wide and staring at nothing. He screamed again and grabbed his head, doubling over, curling into a ball on the mattress as he moaned.
“Evan?” Ben scrambled into the bed, grabbing him. “Are you okay?”
Evan breathed hard, almost panting. His eyes were squeezed shut. He held his head like it was in a vise and he was struggling to break free. “My fucking head,” he groaned. “Jesus, make it stop!”
“I’ll get you some painkillers.” He sprinted to the bathroom and grabbed the extra strength painkillers and a glass of water. Evan had curled into an even tighter ball. “Evan, sit up. I’ve got the meds.”
“Make it stop…” Evan hissed. “Make it stop.”
“If you take these, it will.” Ben tried to uncurl him, tugging on his shoulder. “You have to take these, babe.”
“Will they make it stop?” Evan choked out, through gritted teeth.
“Of course. That’s what painkillers do.” Ben pulled him close, coaxing him out of his ball, and held out the meds. “Come on, babe. You’ll feel better after you take these.”
Evan finally palmed them both and slipped them into his mouth. Ben helped him hold the water glass in his trembling hands. Evan collapsed after, breathing hard, and rubbed his hands over his face. “Thanks,” he breathed.
“I made you dinner. You hungry?”
“Yeah.” Evan finally looked at him. He rested his head on Ben’s shoulder. “Thank you.”
“I’ll be right back.”
In the kitchen, Ben grabbed the toast—cold now—and spooned thealla pannainto a bowl. He hurried back upstairs as fast as he could.
Evan was still in their bed, breathing steadily, one hand over his eyes.
“Your favorite, hon.”
Evan dropped his hand and beamed, smiling so brightly Ben almost took a step backward. His breath caught in his chest.And this is reason 2,753 I fell in love with him. That smile.
“You make this better than my mom does,” Evan said. He shoveled spoonfuls into his mouth, as if he hadn’t eaten since the sandwiches the night before. “You can never tell her I said that.”
“I’ve never met her, so that’s not a problem.” It slipped out, and as soon as he’d said it, Ben wanted to take it back. He grimaced, looked away. Picked at the edge of the sheets.
Evan stilled. His good mood seemed to dissipate, scatter like a cloud bursting apart. Except instead of revealing the sun, there was a darker cloud there, something ugly and insidious. “You know my parents don’t know.”
“I know.” Ben tugged at a loose thread. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“It would ruin them. They’redie-hardCatholics. My mom, she tweets the pope. Literally. She learned Italian in order to listen to Catholic radio over the internet. She goes to Mass every single day. I can’t evenimaginehow they’d react if they found out I’m gay.”
“I know.” They’d had this conversation before, about a hundred times. Evan wasn’t willing to come out to his family. But hewaswilling to lie to them, apparently, and to keep them at a distance. They lived across the Bay in the south peninsula, but they might as well have been across the world. The Evan they knew only existed in their minds.
“This is really good,” Evan finally said softly. “Thank you.”
“Can I get you anything else?”
“An ice pack? I’m going to lay down for a bit. Hope my headache goes away.”
“Sure, babe.”
Evan passed the empty bowl to Ben and flopped back down. He scrubbed his hands over his face, rubbed his fingers over his temple, the cut there, and the bruise forming around it.
“Do you… want to talk about what happened today?”
“Not now.” Evan rolled over.
