Matteo

It was my last year of high school, and college was getting closer and closer. I wanted to study Veterinary Medicine at a university that was five hours away from the city where I live, and that worried me more than I liked to admit, because of you.

The arguments with you usually happened because I kept my worries to myself until I couldn't take it anymore. Part of that anxiety came from the constant fear of seeing you suffer from relapses of your eating disorder, even knowing that you were in treatment and improving.

To try and cope with all of this, I dedicated myself even more to the things I loved. I had been doing huggies for years and also worked part-time at an animal shelter. Taking care of the animals always helped me organize my thoughts and reminded me why I wanted to be a veterinarian.

But as the move approached, I couldn't stop thinking about the distance. Five hours felt like so much more than just five hours. I was afraid of leaving you behind, afraid of not being there when he needed support, and afraid that the changes would ultimately drive us further apart.

-•- AT THE MOMENT-•-

The next morning, Matteo woke up with a hangover, troubled by the memory of the previous night. At the bar, after drinking too much, he had been rude to a boy who seemed to be hitting on his boyfriend.