The Carnivore [boyxboy]

Chapter 14

“Here.” Deacon held out the notebook.

Rory eyed it suspiciously. He didn’t know if he really wanted it back. He didn’t care what Deacon had written in there, but he was sure Elise would. And then she would wonder why it had been Deacon who did it, instead of Rory. He gave in and took the notebook back before shoving it into his backpack.

Deacon shifted on his feet some. “You haven’t told anyone, have you?”

“No,” Rory answered. He didn’t understand why Deacon had to be so worried about it.

Deacon forced a smile then. “Well when do you next have counseling?”

“I think tomorrow,” Rory grumbled. “The last one I went to was a last minute scheduling, so it was on a weird day. My mom says she’s going to try and get a regular time on Wednesdays for me.”

“Well let me know how it goes then—with the notebook and all,” Deacon said. “I have to get back to class. Enjoy your lunch.”

Deacon left then, and Rory still wondered why Deacon didn’t skip to have lunch with him. Deacon had done it once, why couldn’t he just do it again? If he wanted to spend time with Rory, then that was one way.

Rory went back to eat lunch with his friends. In the back of his mind he was curious what Deacon had written in the notebook, but he would look at it later. It wasn’t a priority.

He waited until he got home and could shut himself safely in his room for a short while. Rory pulled out the notebook then, noting Deacon’s surprisingly neat handwriting.

Gets freaked out at the idea of having to touch other people in places like on the bus or in the hallways at school. Keeps hands to self, trying not to touch other things. Cringes or tenses whenever someone coughs or sneezes. Doesn’t like to eat out because he doesn’t trust the cleanliness of where the food is being made. A teacher took away the class hand sanitizer, so he bought large one simply for personal use, yet still says he’s not dependent on it.

 

Rory closed the notebook then and tossed it aside. He did not cringe when people sneezed or coughed! And not trusting how food was made was completely justifiable. Plenty of places weren’t up to code, or the workers just plain didn’t care sometimes. He’d seen enough Kitchen Nightmares to know that the kitchens weren’t always clean.

Rory curled up on his bed and glowered at the wall, trying to think of all of the things that he did that maybe other people thought were weird. There was the one time Deacon had to clean the desks for him, but that had a good reason to it too. Otherwise, staying home most of the time wasn’t too bad.

He laid there on his bed for a while, not noticing when he fell asleep.

***

Elise flipped through a few pages of the notebook. “You didn’t write this, did you?” She noticed immediately.