A Lovely Pear

Track Two: Negotiations

“Is it still raining?”

“Yup and I don’t think it’s gonna stop anytime soon, either.”

“Damn I wanted to go buy enchiladas at Tuskin’s.”

“Call an Uber?”

“Don’t feel like talking to people today.”

Sebastian snorts at his friend’s unapologetic honesty. He takes a sip of the hot chocolate he has nestled in his hands, cringing away when the hot liquid turns out to still be way too hot. He’s seated in the beanbag chair, his legs propped up on a small stool and wrapped in CJ’s blanket. CJ is laying on the carpet, earphones plugged in and eyes screwed shut. The space heater rotates unceremoniously at CJ’s freezing feet, sending short bursts of warm, not hot, air in Sebastian’s general direction. They have maybe ten minutes of heater accessibility left before they must turn it off to lower their electricity bill. Sebastian hugs the mug closer to his body, feebly blowing on the surface.

The sound of the rain pitter-pattering against their window and the end credits of some Netflix series are the only background noises in the apartment. Well, along with the heater. CJ groans, sitting up and squinting at Sebastian’s hunched-over figure. “Is the sound of this heater getting on your nerves too or am I just at the point of boredom where everything begins to irritate me?”

Sebastian shrugs and takes a small sip of the slightly cooled down hot coco. “Little bit of both?” The heater makes a pathetic whirrrrr noise. “Yeah, I think it’s a mix of both.”

“Oh joy,” CJ says as he flips himself over onto his stomach. He wiggles and groans into the carpet.

Sebastian snorts at his friend’s misery. “Why don’t you go take a nap? Didn’t you say you needed five more minutes this morning before you went to the gym?”

CJ turns his squished face slightly to glance at Sebastian. “I only take midday naps when I feel like giving up on trying to make the most out of the day. Besides midday naps are for sad people.”

“I take midday naps.”

“Exactly.”

Sebastian launches the throw pillow at CJ’s head. Of course, his aim is horribly off and it hits him in the butt instead. “I’m not sad, I’m just-“

“Tired.” “Tired”.

“Hahaha, so funny, “ he comments dryly. He leans back into his self-proclaimed cocoon.

For a moment, the rain dies down again, before picking up and slamming against the windows again. CJ chooses this moment to loudly proclaim: “I wanna go for a walk.”

“It’s literally raining, CJ.”

“Then we walk around the apartment complex!”

Sebastian shakes his head and takes another sip of his coffee. “No thanks. No “we”. I’m staying in my cocoon.” He wiggles further into the beanbag chair for emphasis. “My legs have moulded into the shape of this here chair. I’m not moving.”

CJ squints at him and smirks. “Are you not moving because you’re comfortable in your little old person nest or are you not moving because your legs are asleep and it’s painful when you move?”

Sebastian scowls at the laptop on the coffee table. “No.”

“No to which one, Sebby?”

“Just no. I don’t need to answer that qu- No, why are you getting up? CJ, I swear to- WHY.” Sebastian barely has time to register what his friend is doing before CJ is crawling toward him with that familiar mischievous smile of his on his lips and Sebastian is suddenly thrown over CJ’s shoulder, trying helplessly to balance his hot chocolate in his hand. “Why do you do these things,” Sebastian says, rather than asks. He knows what the answer would have been had he genuinely made that query: “Because it’s me and it’s you and you’re stuck with me.”