— psycho : part nine !

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𝐏 𝐒 𝐘 𝐂 𝐇 𝐎

‘ 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘦 : 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘦𝘴 ’

_______________________________

Waking up with Alisha next to him was not a new thing, but it felt weird now. There was a rift between them after last night and after yesterday as a whole. After his words in the car, he refused to say a word for the rest of the night, and Alisha didn't force him to tell her anything. It was like she could see how hard it was for him to say and decided that was enough. As they began a new day, however, those rules no longer applied.

"So... when you say might, are you saying...?" she hesitated as the boy sat up with a yawn and a groan. She trailed off, judging his mood. It was obvious she had been awake much longer than he had judging by the mug most likely filled with coffee on the nightstand and her phone in her hand. She had always been an early rise and a chronic over thinker, so he expected this.

"I'm not saying anything besides what came out of my mouth already," he explained with a tone blunt enough to halt any questions but soft enough she knew he wasn't mad at her. "I really don't wanna talk about it right now, okay? Is that okay?"

She nodded, "Of course it's okay. Take all the time you need. Maybe its best you kind of... ugh, I don't know... stay away from him for a bit? Just to clear your mind? I can tell you from firsthand experience, figuring out your sexuality with a fling getting in the way is tough. Just take some time for yourself and figure things out on your own, you know?"

Norman sighed as he shook his head, "I am not figuring anything out."

"Not with that attitude," Alisha shrugged, grabbing the mug off of the nightstand and handing it to him, "Here, I made you one when I went downstairs to clean mine out."

"How long have you been awake?" he asked as he looked down at the mug and took a sip.

"Long enough to hear you moan about John B in your sleep," she said with a small laugh, eyeing his horrified expression before saying, "I'm kidding, you've never talked in your sleep. I've been up for a while, though, you know me. I just went downstairs and chatted with your mom for a bit. She asked where you were last night and I covered your ass, you're welcome. If she asks you were out with James and his car died so I went to get you home."

"Thanks," he said with a nod and a measly smile, "Sorry for being an asshole last night. I didn't wanna tell you who I was with because I didn't know if you'd judge me for it. Also, I know you kinda hate JJ, but he's actually kind of chill. When he's stoned, at least."

She shrugged, "I'm sure he's fine when he's not drunk and armed. He was pretty chill actually, up until then. I wouldn't have judged you, Rocky. I know you have a history with John B and after what James did, I know there really wasn't anywhere else to go."

"I didn't plan on it, for what it's worth," he explained as best he could, "We just... ran into each other. We called a truce, but I called it off at the end of last night."

"Why?" Alisha asked with a furrowed brow, stealing a sip from his mug when he let her. What's his was usually hers, too.

"It's so much easier to hate him."

"Rocky, I know you said you didn't want to talk about it, but can you just tell me something, really quick?" she questioned and he sighed but nodded regardless. She did lie to save his ass with their friends, so it was the least he could do. Once she got his permission, she continued, "If you were gay or liked boys, why is it such a big deal to you? I wish I had a nicer way to say this, but I don't so what I'm really asking is... what are you so afraid of?"

Weirdly enough, Norman wasn't sure if he had an answer for her. What was he so afraid of? He knew by hesitating, he was already giving too much away but he wasn't too worried about that right now. Instead, he waited and he thought. After a moment, he had his answer, "I don't want to be wrong. What if I come out and tell my parents and our friends which, by the way, doesn't even feel like something I could do at this point in time, but then I realise I was just... I don't even know, infatuated with him and I like girls and decide it's only girls and what do I do then? Just recant my statement, tell my parents it was an early April Fool's joke? Where do I go from there?"

"No one is asking you to tell anyone while you go through with this, Rocky. Hell, you didn't even have to tell me," Alisha mused with a gentle, understanding smile, "I just think it would do you so much good if you just... let yourself try. If it is a fluke and you're not gay or bi, then you don't owe that information to anyone but yourself. But don't stop yourself from at least trying."

He hated how right she was all the time. Maybe he could it to himself that he did want something to happen with John B, but that would change everything. That was the part he was scared of the most — the change.

As if the universe knew what they were talking about, Norman's phone rang with an unknown number on the screen. Before he could grab it to decline, Alisha picked it up and answered it.

"Hello?" she spoke into the phone and he could hear a muffled voice from the other line. "Oh, hi, yeah, this is Alisha, you might've heard of me. Yeah, he's right here, I'll hand you over."

She took the phone away from her ear, mouthing, "It's him!"

"Hang up!" Norman whisper yelled with fear rampant in his eyes, but the devilish grin on her angelic features told him she was not going to do anything of the sort. Instead, she reached over and pressed the phone to his ear. "Uh, hello?"

"Norman!" he heard John B exclaim and just hearing his name threw him right back into their conversation from last night. He sure seemed to be using his name a whole lot ever since Norman gave him that tidbit of information, "Listen, truce back on, please? Like it or not, you're in this with us now and we want you here—"

"I mean, I have no preference --" he heard a voice say in the background, which Norman laughed as he could only assume it was JJ.

"Okay, most of us want you here, happy JJ?" John B said more to the other boy than to Norman. "Listen, I don't care, okay? Hate me, like me, I don't care. I just want you here."

"Simp!" JJ could be heard again, causing Norman to break through his angry facade and laugh.

"JJ, shut the fuck up!" John B yelled before turning his attention back to the phone call, "We're on the way to your house already, just tell me if you're getting in the van or not. Like, soon because we're like two minutes away."

Norman sighed, "I hate you."

"Great, is that a yes or a no?"

"One moment," he said before pulling the phone away from his ear and explaining to Alisha, "He wants me to go hang out with them. Should I? I know you said to stay away from him for a bit, but he's on his way."

Alisha rolled her eyes before grabbing the phone from his hand and putting it up to her ear, telling John B, "He'll be there, honk when you're out front. Bye, bye!"

She hung up the phone but didn't give it back yet. He saw her typing something in with a mischievous smile before handing it back. When he looked at what she had been doing, he saw there was a new with nothing but the word 'bae' and a red heart next to it.

When he looked up at her she said with a satisfactory smile, "If you change it, I will cry."

"I hate you," he sighed, but he didn't change the name. "I thought you wanted me to stay away from him. What changed in the last five minutes?"

She shrugged, "This is gonna sound like it's from a rom-com, but your face lit up when you realised it was him. Like, Rocky, call yourself what you want, but that is the gayest shit I have ever seen. "Might," my ass. You have a crush on him and you know it. Just know that there's nothing wrong with that. Okay?"

"Okay, mom," he mocked her, but there was a smile evident on the boy's face, "I'm not saying anything for sure yet, but I hear what you're saying, and thank you. Now, I have like two minutes to get dressed and it's incredibly important that I look good."

"Is that you asking for help?"

"Was that not obvious?" Norman asked, but the girl just rolled her eyes before standing up and pulling an outfit out of his closet with an ease he would never master. She threw the clothes at him and he got dressed just in time to hear a horn honk from the street. He was electing to ignore how quickly his heart was beating as he looked at his best friend. "Thank you."

"For what?" Alisha asked with a shrug.

Before he even knew what the answer was going to be, it was already leaving his mouth. "For telling him yes."

She just laughed, shaking her head as she motioned towards the door, "Go!"

So, he did. He ran down the stairs, bidding goodbye to his mom before she could even ask what was going on before heading out the front door and being met with the now-familiar sight of John B's old Volkswagen. As he left his house, the door to the van slid open and Norman climbed into the back, saying hello to everyone in the van.

"Hey, Norman," John B greeted in a way that was so casual it was obvious that it was on purpose. JJ must have sensed this too as he made a fake gagging motion the moment he said it. Pope smacked him, but Norman just laughed at it.

"Hey, guys, so... what is this? What's going on?"

"We're going to the scrapyard to get a drone that can do a deep dive so we can see if the gold is on board the Royal Merchant," Kie explained from the enger seat and Norman was thankful he was getting an actual explanation for once. "We were in the neighbourhood because we were using the computers at the hotel and John B wanted to come get you."

JJ fake coughed and in between the coughs, he muttered, "Simp." Pope smacked him again.

"I think this is bullshit, but I'm in the group so I don't have a choice on being here," Pope sighed.

"Pope, chill out, we're not stealing the drone, we're borrowing it," John B explained from being the steering wheel.

Pope shook his head disapprovingly saying, "Humans are the only animal that can't tell fantasy from reality."

"Did you come up with that?" John B asked to which Norman chuckled softly, knowing the origin of the quote.

"Albert Bernstein came up with it, but it applies to this whole treasure-hunting thing. So, which is it? Fantasy or reality?"

"Why are you so weird, Pope?" was JJ's genius contribution to the conversation as he worked on rolling a blunt. No one answered him.

Kie shrugged, looking back at the boy, "Fantasy, but could be reality."

"I think reality," Norman answered without really thinking about it. He didn't know why, but he trusted John B on this.

"Reality, too," John B spoke affirmatively. "He gets it."

Norman shrugged, ignoring JJ's furrowed brow in confusion as he said, "Virtual reality."

He went to light up the blunt, but Pope plucked it out of his mouth and threw it aside with a coy smile as he said, "Keep the signal clear."

"You guys are ridiculous," Norman shook his head with a small laugh before asking, "Why am I here again?"

"Funny, I was just asking myself the same question," JJ mused as he looked around on the floor of the van for the thrown t, cursing to himself when he couldn't find it. In reality, Norman had found it first and hidden it behind him so the blond wouldn't be able to find it. Pope must have seen this because he laughed softly when he met Norman's eyes.

"Because I called and you answered," John B said as he stopped the van.

"Actually," the boy corrected, "Alisha answered, not me."

"Shut up," was all John B retorted as Kie stepped out of the van while Pope and JJ began arguing. Leaning out the window, he heard the boy say to Kiara, "Hey, don't worry. You got this."

"It's not me I'm worried about," the girl joked as she motioned to JJ and Pope.

As the two of them fought, Norman adjusted himself so he was in between the gap in the driver and enger seats, able to get a better look at John B. Once he had the boy's attention, he asked, "Why did you really want me here, John B? Don't give me some bullshit. It feels like I ran away dramatically for nothing."

John B laughed at him before leaning down and whispering in his ear, "Because you cut me off before I got the chance to say that I felt something, too."

Before Norman got the chance to say anything, John B opened the door and stepped out of the van, opening to back for the rest of them to get out. They hid behind a wooden railing as they waited for Kiara to get the gate open.

"How's it going with Kiara?" JJ asked, which Norman was immediately confused by.

John B shrugged, "It's not awkward, weird, or anything."

"What happened with Kiara?" Norman questioning, attempting to hide the minor panic in his voice. Had he read this all wrong?

The blond boy scoffed, "Honestly, I did not think you were actually going to listen to me. John B kissed her, like a dumbass. Besides, I was one-hundred-percent sure she was into you. Pope would agree."

"Eh, I don't think Kie particularly has a thing for any of us," Pope shrugged, "She's just... Kie."

"You kissed Kie?" Norman asked, still unable to move past that part.

John B seemed to notice something was wrong, which was the last thing Norman wanted. Still, he played it off, saying, "Yeah, after the whole lighthouse thing I was kind of freaking. It didn't mean anything, we both agreed it was weird."

Thankfully, the conversation ceased as Kiara got the security guard where they needed him to be and JJ told them to go. Before the gate could close, they slipped in the knick of time. They ran to the back storage while JJ worked with the padlock and the rest of them kept watch.

Once Pope and JJ were out of earshot, Norman asked John B, "So, exactly how many people did you kiss yesterday, huh?"

John B smacked him gently, ignoring the teasing smile on his features. "Are you jealous?"

Norman shook his head, "Nah, you're not anyone to be jealous of. Besides, I hate your guts, ?"

"Keep telling yourself that, Bates."

"Again with the nicknames?"

"You know it."

Before their conversation could continue, JJ broke it up by saying, "All right so I might have the wrong numbers."

"Damn it!" John B exclaimed. Out of nowhere, a dog came running towards them, barking its head off. The first thing the boy did was grab Norman's wrist and get them out of there. Pope stayed to fight the dog, which was a supremely stupid decision, but JJ managed to lead it away and run with it. However, it was probably already too late and there was no way the security guard hadn't heard it. Once the dog was going after him, John B peeked around the corner, saying to Norman, "Wait here."

Norman watched as John B took one of the loose pipes and managed to use it to break the padlock. He was ittedly impressed, but he would never hear the end of it if he ever told John B that. Once the doorway was open, John B disappeared inside and Norman followed. They got what they needed and got the hell out of there.

JJ was the last to make it back to Kie's parent's car. As he climbed in, he asked, "Did we get it?"

John B smiled satisfactorily, "We got it! Let's go find that shipwreck."

"Can we get some food first?" Norman asked, very aware of the fact that his stomach was growling, "I woke up like twenty minutes ago."

They all looked around and nodded before JJ exclaimed, "To The Wreck!"