Close To You

4

TW's:
-None

Clay's POV

After a long shower, I went downstairs in my old clothes to see Sapnap and George sitting down on the couch as they were talking to each other. Sapnap jumped up as he saw me and handed me a pair of sweats and a hoodie.

'Thank you,' I whispered shyly as I looked down at my shirt with a few gaps in it.

Sapnap saw and I shrugged. 'It's old.'

'Clay? Do you actually only have three shirts and two pairs of trousers?'

'Yeah,' I muttered as I stared at my hands.

'I know what we are doing today,' George said with a smile. 'We are going shopping with us three.'

'But-.'

'Belated birthday present,' Sapnap grinned. 'I know your seventeenth birthday was a month ago, but this is still our present.'

'And we are going to the supermarket after so you can choose dinner,' George added to that.

I couldn't stop smiling and shrugged shyly. 'Thank you for being here for me.'

George stood up and gave me a tight hug as he ran his hand through my hair. 'You deserve it, go get changed so we can spend all day in the stores.'

'Is it annoying that I don't have money? I'm not faking it, I genuinely have nothing.'

'Of course you're not faking it, why would you even do that?'

'I'm just scared that I'm annoying you both.'

'Not at all,' George answered. 'You can't help it at all and we have enough money to take care of you as well.'

I smiled and looked at my hands again. It made me a bit sad that I was this poor sometimes, I wouldn't know what to do without these amazing friends.

'Thank you again,' I muttered as I turned around to quickly change into the clothes of Sapnap's brother. I smiled at myself in the mirror as I saw I was finally wearing normal clothes again and ran downstairs to show George and Sapnap.

'Look,' I said with the happiest smile I had in years. 'Do I look good?'

'You look amazing,' Sapnap said as he smiled at me. 'We are going to buy you whatever you need.'

'Thank you so much,' I said with a bright smile. George smiled because I looked so happy.

'You look great,' he said with a cute smile.

I never thought about him in that way so I quickly pushed away the thoughts. I knew I liked boys, but I still didn't like George. He was my best friend, it would be awkward if I fell in love with him.

'Do you want to go?' Sapnap asked as he stood up.

I nodded. 'But how are we going there?'

'With our bikes?'

'Uh-,' I muttered. 'I uh- don't have a b-bike.'

'Oh gosh, I forgot. I'm so sorry,' Sapnap apologised. 'I'm sorry, dude.'

'It's fine,' I muttered. 'I hope you don't mind. My old bike broke and I don't have enough to buy a new one since we really have nothing at the moment.'

'I'm good at riding a bike, you can sit down behind me,' Sapnap said. 'I'll be able to deal with that. I don't think you're that heavy, you look a bit thin.'

'I lost a bit of weight. Can we stop talking about this? It's making me a bit too conscious of the fact that I'm poor.'

'I'm sorry,' Sapnap said. 'I didn't mean to make you self conscious, I just want to let you know that I'm here for you.'

'Thank you, I'm sorry that I'm poor.'

'Shut up, I don't want you to ever say that again,' Sapnap said as he grabbed my hands. 'It's not your fault that you have less money than others. I'm sorry for bringing things like that up, I genuinely forgot that your bike broke.'

I smiled. 'It's fine, I can sit behind you.'

George smiled at me as we walked outside. I felt my cheeks getting a tiny bit warmer as I saw his cute smile. I quickly walked to Sapnap's bike as he sat down. When he went home to get me some clothes, he got his bike as well apparently.

I sat down on his bike and he started cycling as George cycled next to us. He smiled again. 'Are you excited? You can buy whatever you want, we will pay it all for you.'

'I don't even know what to say,' I muttered as I glanced down at my hands. 'I'm so thankful to have you both.'

'We love you,' George said. 'Are you excited?'

'I'm pretty scared to buy stuff though, I don't want to spend all your money.'

'I don't want you to worry about that, please. It's fine, Clay. Just buy everything you need.'

'I will pay back for it someday,' I muttered. 'I will get a job to pay it back.'

'Stop, Clay. I won't accept any of your money. If you get a job and you get some money, I want you to spend it for yourself,' George said as he smiled at me. 'Please, don't worry about it.'

I smiled and relaxed for the rest of the bike ride. After twenty minutes we arrived in the city and I got off Sapnap's bike. He parked it just as George did and they looked around them.

'Let's go to the clothing store first,' George said. 'And again, I don't want you to worry about the money at all. Please buy whatever you want, I will only get upset if you end up not buying stuff to save our money. We agreed to this, we told you to and we don't want you to not buy anything just because it's expensive.'

I smiled shyly and had to resist myself from crying. They were so sweet and I really didn't know why I deserved them being this sweet to me. I started feeling a bit guilty that I hadn't told them I liked boys. They did everything for me and I didn't have the courage to tell them. I was going to this sleepover, I promised myself to tell them.

1020 words