behind the wheel

~11: Connor~

//tw: mentions of sexual activity, mature language

Sometimes, being a roommate is fun.

You get to hang out with friends, you only have to do one-third of the chores, and you're always able to count on two other people for anything you need.

Other times, being a roommate is hard work.

I was woken up at around 3 am to a crying George stumbling into our shared apartment.

Wiping the sleep from my eyes, I grabbed a blanket from the hallway closet and some ice cream from the freezer, wrapping the blanket around my sobbing friend and handing him the sweet treat with a spoon.

I gently lead George to the couch, sitting him down and rubbing his back as he sniffed and hiccuped, slowly spooning ice cream into his mouth.

I reached over and wiped some of the tears from his face, not saying a word.

Something I've learned about George is that if you question him, or say anything at all really before he's ready, he will close off completely.

So I kept my mouth shut for almost an hour, waiting for him to calm down some before deciding to break the silence.

"How ya feeling, buddy?" I asked quietly, rubbing his back some more.

George nodded a little, sniffing and setting the ice cream aside. "Better. Thanks, Connor."

"Don't mention it."

We sat in silence for a while more, waiting for George to be ready to talk about what happened.

He just stared blankly in front of him, so it startled me a bit when he decided he was ready to open up.

"He was at the party."

"Wh-... oh. O h." I grimaced, giving George's hand a small squeeze to let him know he was free to continue.

George took a shaky breath. "I thought that if I- if I did something drastic then... then he'd see how much I've moved on, b-but-" he choked on his words before he could finish.

"Shhhh. It's alright. You're okay." I gently traced circles on the back of my friend's hand with one of my thumbs, the other reaching out to wipe some fresh tears from his face.

George shook his head. "It didn't work. And I was so fucking stupid to th-think it would."

He reached up with the end of the blanket to wipe his nose. "I kissed someone, Con. I literally tripped into someone's arms, who is pretty much a stranger to me, and kissed him. And for what? He literally got punched in the jaw because of me! And I never even explained to him why I kissed him in the first place! God, I'm such an idiot! I'm such a fucking idiot!"

George burst into another round of tears, curling up into a tight ball and leaning into my side as he cried.

I just wrapped a comforting arm around him and rubbed his arm, listening to anything else he had to say. We could have an actual conversation about this tomorrow. For now, he just needed to get it all out.

When George eventually fell asleep, still curled up with the soft blanket, I carried him to his room and tucked him into bed. I left his door cracked a little, just in case he woke up and needed me for something, and was about to go back to sleep before there was a knock on the front door.

Ah. That must be roommate number two.

To my surprise, when I opened the door there were two people there.

My second roommate was asleep in someone's arms, looking... well... exhausted, to say the least.

I blinked back surprise when seeing his state and met the other dude's eyes, raising an eyebrow at him.