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This was the first time Travis has had real friends, and it was weird as fuck. Sure, he used to hang out with some kids at church when he was younger, but none of them paid attention to the masses or cared about what God had to say, so after a while, his dad forbade him from even talking to them unless it was strictly necessary.
As the years went by, he got used to being alone. Besides the teachers, the only people he talked to were Sal and his little group of "gay freaks", and that was with the sole purpose of insulting them.
So, as you'd imagine, he got really suspicious when Sal Fisher, of all of them, started to be even nicer and even tried to do small talk with him. Travis had even punched him in the face for God's sake. Was Sally an imbecile or just too nice for his own good?
Travis found out after a while that it was a mix of both. As much as he wanted to keep telling him to fuck off until Sal gave up in his silly little attempt to be a good samaritan, he unconsciously started opening up.
When they became friends (though Travis refused to admit it), the blue-haired boy persuaded him into apologizing to the rest of the group, which took him a ridiculous amount of time to do due to his gigantic pridefulness. Even so, they forgave him easily, with Larry being the exception as he still doesn't like him.
In any case, his current reality was being in a sleepover with his (now high) group of friends; they were all talking and giggling as he awkwardly fidgeted with his fingers while sitting in a chair that was almost too far away from them.
Joining the conversation would've been nice, but after growing up only talking to his dad about religion, his brain couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't revolve around that topic. So just staying quiet and not being a nuisance seemed like the right choice, but obviously Sal wouldn't accept that.
Even though Travis prayed with all his heart for Sal to ignore him, God decided to do the complete opposite. He sometimes felt like his life was some kind of cruel joke.
"Hey Travis, is everything alright?" Sally's voice was raspy, making Travis slightly more anxious. Before he could even think of a response, Sal got out of his seat and walked towards him, clumsily sitting on the floor, besides the chair.
"Yeah... Just kind of tired." Lying was a sin, but as long as it wasn't hurtful, he could confess to a priest to be forgiven by God. He repeated that over and over in his mind, trying to stop himself from getting even more nervous.
"The rest are also tired; it'd better to go to sleep before they end up doing something dumb." Travis simply nodded at Sal's word, helping him get up from the floor. They helped the others get in their sleeping bags, having a little trouble with Larry, who refused to be touched by Travis.
Sal turned off the lights, also getting in his sleeping bag. After a few minutes, Travis could hear him snoring from time to time, making it even harder to fall asleep. It was probably 4 a.m. by now, he guessed, and his eyes were still wide open.
Before he could go for his fifth attempt to fall asleep, Travis heard someone groaning. Was someone having a bad trip? Isn't that supposed to happen when you're awake? It's not like he actually knew the answer; he hadn't tried any kind of drug. The Bible didn't say consuming drugs was a sin but becoming an addict was still a possibility. He'd rather be safe than sorry.
Anyway, after a few minutes of trying to ignore the noise, Travis decided to go wake up whoever was having some kind of nightmare. It turns out it was Sal. He'd assumed that, being the best friend of Larry Johnson, Sally would have more experience when it came to smoking weed without it ending in a bad trip.
After shaking Sal for a minute or two, Travis notices that not only that wasn't working, but also that whatever was going on in Sal's mind started getting worse. He would even say that it was a panic attack, but he wasn't sure if that could actually happen.
Travis started panicking too; he might've been an asshole with little to no regrets to Sally for months, but this was extremely concerning. He assumed Sal was traumatized in some way, his face was completely fucked up after all, but he never actually realized how serious it could get.
In a desperate attempt to either wake or calm Sal down, Travis hugged him tightly, not even giving himself time to think if this could be considered humiliating. And to his surprise, it seemed that it was actually working.
At least Sally wasn't crying as bad as before. When Travis started to feel more relaxed, he noticed that Sal returned the hug, startling him. He attempted to get away from him, clearly scared and embarrassed.
"Don't leave." Sal whispered, his voice shaky and desperate. It was the first time that Travis had ever seen Sally decompose; he was always the one who somehow had everything under control. It was scary.
Travis didn't move, though. After what felt like an hour but probably was around 4 minutes, Sal let go of Travis' arms, clearly ashamed of his behavior with him of all people.
"Fuck, I'm so sorry, Travis." Was all that Sal could say; his mind was still kind of fuzzy.
"It's, okay. That's what friends are for, right...?" He replied, extremely embarrassed at his own words, though it seemed like the appropriate response in a situation like this.
"So... you finally admit we're friends?"
"Fuck off."