"You sure?"

"Yes, Dash. I'm positive."

"But what if… what if I mess up? Aren't you gonna be upset?"

His mother knelt down to him and smiled. "As long as you go out there and give it your best shot, I'll be happy. Don't put too much pressure on yourself, baby. Just because your father expects perfection, it doesn't mean you should beat yourself up about not getting it right. You are perfectly imperfect, and that's okay. What matters is how you recover from the situation. I'm forever proud of you, and no matter what, always remember what I told you."

"Never stop reaching for the stars, because one day, I'll be where I want to be in life."

"That's right."

The moment played on repeat in my mind as I sat at my desk, writing notes. I completely forgot that ever happened. I forgot that my mother told me years ago that I wasn't going to always be perfect. Why did this come to mind for me, though? None of these thoughts or emotions started to come up until—

"Fucking Danny." I muttered quietly. It's not that I'm upset at the ghost boy, but ever since that anxiety attack and our most recent interaction, I've been having dreams about my childhood. Dreams that involve only one person: my mother. What was going on with me? These memories were dead and gone. They were completely buried. She was a distant memory that could've been locked in the depths of my brain. Or so I thought. Not only that, but I was now starting to think about Danny. More than usual, at that. I couldn't stop thinking about his smile, how calm and comfortable he felt. The image of Danny clinging to my chest flashed in my mind, and in that same second, I started to feel a warm vibration throughout my body. "I can't believe we… we did that a few days ago." I muttered again. In the midst of my writing, I looked up for a moment and could see that small shadow floating innocently into the room, hood covering his head and face. "Speaking of the ghost boy…" What's kind of weird is that he's partially invisible, but I can still see him. My eyes follow him as he walks over to an open spot next to me, and he takes a seat. Not sure if he notices me staring at him right now, but it's fine. He slowly turns visible again, and starts to look through his phone for a song to listen to. Another change I've noticed about Danny is that through all of his issues, he still finds a way to keep himself calm.

"I don't know what to say to him. The energy between us feels off. Maybe he's scared to say something."

I tried not to look at Danny as I sat there and not think about him, but the more I attempted to not focus on him, the more concerned I got. I closed my eyes and took some deep breaths, and during one, another image of my mother flashed in my head. This time, she was holding me closely to her after I sustained an ankle injury at a football practice. I have to be at least six or seven in this image I'm seeing, even though it's kind of blurry. Little Dash must've been crying his eyes out, because I can't see anything but a blurry lens of my mother's face. She's whispering something to me, but I don't know all of what she's saying. The only words I can make out are "patience" and "time."

Just as I open my eyes, and the image fades from my mind, I feel a gentle tap on my shoulder. A hesitant tap on my shoulder. "Hmm?"

"H-Hi, Dash." The tap came from none other than Danny. "You okay?"

I thought about my response for a moment, but every sentence that formed sounded like the old me. I thought about what my mother would say, how she would respond. Wait, am I… am I starting to return back to my younger self? Just older?

"Hi, Danny." I replied quietly, smiled, and reached out for his hand, which he let me hold. I stroked it lightly and looked into his eyes. "I'm fine. How are you today?"

I think this is his way of relaxing around me, because he immediately loses all tension in his body and smiles at me. His eyes flutter as he looks back into mine, which causes my heart to skip a beat. It's kind of a weird feeling, but in a good way. Danny used to be my number one target to take all of my rage and anger out on, but now, he's kind of like my number one target of support. In a sense… he needs me more than I need him. "I'm a little sleepy, but I'm okay. Kind of didn't sleep much last night."

"What's going on? Is something bothering you?"

"Just a little stressed. Y'know, ever since senior year started, I've been having these moments where I spaz out because of my stress and anxiety. It still feels weird to not have to use my ghost powers anymore."

Oh yeah, I forgot. Danny doesn't need his powers anymore. His parents and sister take care of the ghost problem. However, I can tell his ghost sense still goes off whenever something is up. "Your mind is still getting used to not having to disappear and fight ghosts. I know your body is kind of used to it, but mentally, that hasn't set in yet." I still have a grip on his hand, strong yet gentle. "Give yourself some time, Danny. I think you're rushing through everything too quickly. Stop and take a minute, and you know you can come find me if you need me."

It doesn't take but two seconds for his sentence to completely fire through my mind, plunge into my heart, and create a flutter in my stomach.

"Maybe I need you more than I thought."

I'm sorry, WHAT? I… I WAS RIGHT? I've never been right about anything relating to Danny… until now. Even though I am shocked and kind of confused, I look closely at Danny. He looks conflicted, scared. He looks as if he wants to run into my arms and start crying instantly. "What…?"

"I… I need you more than I thought…" Danny spoke quietly. "It's hard to explain, but I need you more than I initially imagined."

The low hum of the room fell silent. It was one of those moments where you could've swore you heard something that you weren't supposed to hear, but you heard it anyway. I blinked and looked at him nervously. My heart was pounding at an alarming rate, and I didn't know what to do.

"To kind of keep it short, I did some thinking last night, and it turns out that I can't process things on my own, especially overwhelming situations. I only end up crashing and burning. Things are tough on me right now, mentally, and I'm unsure of how to soldier forward. I'm honestly scared."

In my head, I'm having a battle with myself. Part of me wants to just tell him that he'll be okay, as long as he remembers what I told him. As long as he remembers to take it one day at a time and not rush, he'll be fine. The other part of me? That's a different story, because the other part of me is scared to even let him go through this alone. I don't know if I can help him. It's hard to say I can when I'm going through something similar. But then again, we can help each other. He can lean on me, and I can lean on him. Also… why is he scared? Is it because he can't trust me? Could his anxiety be something that may potentially destroy him from the inside out? Or is it because of something else? Only one way to find out honestly. "Danny, why are you scared?"

"Several reasons, Dash. Several… fucking… reasons."

I can't push him. Not too much. I don't want to push him. But I do want to know why he's scared, and I want him to tell me because he means something to me. "It's okay, Danny. It's okay." I say quietly and calmly as I continue to gently glide my fingers over his shaking hand, which relaxes in mere seconds. "You're safe to tell me anything. I'm going to listen to you, hear you out, and make you feel secure. I promise."

Danny's eyes lowered slightly, as if he was narrowing them in a skeptical way but could still see me and I could still see him. He tapped my hand, then squeezed it. Seconds later, I saw his blue eyes look at mine nervously as if to say, "Are you sure?"

I squeezed his hand back lightly and nodded. "Yes."

"I'm scared to get hurt… to trust you. I'm scared to let myself be open and vulnerable with you. I want to trust you, mentally, but my heart is refusing to let me do that. I don't want to get hurt again, Dash. I don't want you to hurt me… again."

The word 'again' was a gut punch like no other. He's right: I did hurt him. In fact, I'm probably the real reason why he has trust issues now. Words formed in my mouth, but never came out. I have no excuse for what I did. It is truly insane how the person I terrorized, traumatized, degraded, and well… bullied is the one person who actually cares enough to try to get to know, well, the real me. Whoever that may be. Honestly, I'm still not sure. All I know is that I'm not the sadistic bully of an individual I used to be. I'm not "King of Casper High" Dash anymore. I'm not the untouchable, dominant, feared athlete anymore.

"I'm scared because, once again, I'm on my own." Danny continued. "I don't have anyone to go to when I feel like I'm being suffocated by life. The two people I thought I could trust are dead to me. I don't want to be alone, but who can I trust?"

His eyes shifted from the ground to mine, which I could tell was hard for him to do. It's clear he doesn't like eye contact because of his past. I could feel his hand begin to tremble slightly, but I kept a soft yet determined look on my face, assuring him that he'd be okay. "Hey. I know it's hard for you to trust me. I know you're scared. I can see the fear in your eyes. Danny, it's okay to be scared. I'm scared too… but I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't feel it was right. Remember, I got you. Will it be hard for us to get to where we want to get? Yes. I don't doubt that, but I want to improve our relationship with each other. Will you do this with me?"

"I… I'm in. Let's do it." He answered nervously.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Danny. Never again. I know you're scared, but you can trust me."

He smiled softly, and nodded his head. "Okay. I'll trust you."