Chapter Text
Carmelo’s heart seems to stop as he looks up from his computer. His phone vibrates against his desk, that annoying ringtone of his blaring into his ears as he’s completely pulled away from whatever stupid video he was watching. He reaches his hand forward and in one little click, the the ginger figure in front of him stops moving. Although, she looked more strawberry blonde than anything else. His computer screen is the only thing lighting up the otherwise pitch black room.
He picks his phone off the desk and stares at the contact saved as Greg. The number he saved only a few months ago and hasn’t thought of since. He’s fully aware of who that is, and his stomach turns slightly as he watches the phone ring. He doesn’t want to pick it up, no matter how selfish that might sound.
He sits there in silence, letting it ring for a minute before accepting the call and pressing the phone up to his ear. There’s a sniffing noise, then a quiet gasp of surprise from the other line.
“Hello?” He mutters, eyes narrowing as his lashes cover his shame.
“Carmelo! I got your letter-”
Those words alone make his nausea almost unbearable. How had he forgotten already? The letter.. That stupid piece of paper. It wasn’t just a note, it was an apology. It was so many of his deepest feelings spilled out through his shitty writing. Still, there was so much more he wanted to say. So much more he’s always wanted to say.
“Yeah?” He manages to mutter out, stomach turning.
“Thank you. For apologizing, for..” The voice on the other line silently chokes up again. “I know how hard that is for you.”
“Okay.. Look, this isn’t gonna be easy to talk about over the phone... Why don’t we meet up?
“It’s late, you know how my mom is..”
“Dude, It’s like 10-” Carmelo’s brows furrow as he starts bouncing his knee uncomfortably. “No, I mean tomorrow. I’ll go over to your town, and.. I don’t know.”
“There’s a park near my house. It might be nice to go over there and talk. I feel like when we last met up there wasn’t really much room for conversation.”
“Fine, whatever. I’ll be there at noon.”
“Okay.. Goodnight.”
“Night.” Carmelo quickly hangs the call up, maybe even cutting himself off in the process. That was so awkward.
He pushes his chair away from his desk, shutting his laptop before throwing himself into his bed and staring at the ceiling. His gaze softens as he thinks of Gregory.
Oh, Gregory.
That dumb note had only consisted of multiple half-assed apologies. It’s hard to believe that it meant so much to him. He’s pretty sure he heard the poor boy cry.
He doesn’t even know where the damn park is, but he’ll sure as hell find it.
His voice sounded so different. He didn’t have a lisp, and he sounded so much older. The whole situation is strange. He doesn’t know why he was thinking of Greg recently. He had already forgotten about him for what felt like years.
Carmelo turns to his side, washed out blue hair falling over his eyes, chest feeling slightly empty. He pulls his blanket over himself, eyes closing as he pushes aside his guilt for the night.