Sink or Swim

Chapter Seven: Second Times a Charm?

"Man that was the longest speech I think I have ever had to sit through!" Karl laughs sitting on his bed. He was trying to break the ice since George's eyes and attention had been stolen by his phone for almost an hour now.

They were back from the welcoming now, but the whole time they were there, Karl couldn't stop worrying about George, I mean how couldn't you when you could tell he was in a constant state of holding back tears.

George sighed one more time before taking a seat on his bed. He turned off his phone and layed it face down beside him. He hid his face in his hands and began to let the tears he was holding back flow. They fell down rapidly, almost like a river if a dam had broken. Once he started crying he couldn't stop. The tears burned his cheek, although it was just a normal tear, the emotion behind it hurt.

This obviously wasn't over looked by Karl, and this wasn't the first time George had a breakdown in front of him. Usually George would feel bad about having someone pity him like this but, he knew he needed someone there. Karl sat next to him and pulled him into a side hug. Surprisingly he didn't ask questions, he knew George would tell him when he felt it was the right time. George didn't have the thought process to be embarrassed right now, he acted without thinking. He lied his head on Karl's chest and muffled cries were heard from him. A small puddle began to form on Karl's hoodie just like the one on Dream's the day George left.

They sat like this for a few moments, minutes went by before George's breathing finally calmed and he lifted his head up. As you would've guessed, his eyes were puffy and red beyond belief. He wiped his final tears before sighing and looking up at Karl. A painful smile crept onto George's face because he knew that he couldn't have asked for a better roommate. George knew that he probably did owe Karl at least a bit of an explanation. So he opened his mouth and began to form words for the first time in hours.

"The voicemail. It- it was from..." His words trailed off and he hoped Karl would mentally fill in the rest, and that he did.

"Was it that bad...?" Karl questioned, hesitant at first wondering if he crossed the line in any way.

"No, that's the problem." George said but, he couldn't stand to look at Karl anymore, so he turned to face the window. The blinds were still shut but sounds of laughter, people talking, and music could be heard faintly from the other side.

"Problem?" Karl didn't know if this was one of those times he was supposed to know what George meant.

"He hasn't started to move on, he seems more upset about it now than he did the day I left. The thing is, I know I have to keep living, without him. It just hurts both of us more if we keep in close contact." George explained as he stood up and opened the blinds fully. The sunlight peered in, lighting up his face. His cheeks had a shine to them from the tears that previously sat there.

"This is really mature of you, George, you know that? I am proud, you have taken this better than I could ever imagine someone in your position would." Karl tried to cheer him up, but George seemed focused on the window for the moment.

George let out a deep breath and brought his hand up to the window. His warm breath added a slight fog to his line of vision which caused his attention to move back to Karl. "I hope I did the right thing, man."

"Quackity, follow me, quick." Dream stated as he started to dart over to the nearest bench that was far enough away from the other students around, including Bad and Skeppy.

"Okay, okay, what's up?" Quackity responded as he started to trail not far behind Dream.

"The text I mentioned earlier, it's from him." Dream took a seat and patted beside him to signal to Quackity he could sit beside him.