Mateless and Home Bound (In Process Of Publication)

Chapter 11: Friends

He felt a little better that morning. Those sad thoughts weren't hurting him too much, at least. He woke up in the fluffy bed that he had woken up in the day before. The curtains were closed, so he didn't know what time it was, but that didn't matter. He didn't have anything to do today. The big trek back home wasn't until tomorrow. He wasn't sure whether he was looking forward to that or not.

A familiar sound kept those sad thoughts away, if not just for a little bit. He smiled and rolled to the edge of the bed to see the source. Reggie was laying on his back on the ground beside his bed, snoring ever so lightly. He always snored when he slept, Sage loved it. For some reason, snoring actually calmed him a lot when he tried to sleep.

He didn't know when Reggie decided to move onto the floor, but he was glad that he didn't leave. He wasn't expecting him to hold him for that long, but he really wished it never ended. That was like its own shot of dopamine. It was just like whenever his grandmother comforted him. Only it wasn't his grandmother. It was this handsome guy that he had a crush on since the second he met him.

Sage sighed and rolled back to the middle of his bed. What was he doing? He couldn't be thinking about all of this right now. This was easily going down the path of just using someone. He felt like he needed someone right then, but that was just because he was being a wimp. He was letting his own emotions get to him.

He didn't want to keep on using Reggie. He had his own stuff he needed to do. And he really didn't want him to get in trouble with those parents of his. He remembered when Reggie told him about them. They were so controlling of him, and he always had to prove himself with them. Sage hated it, because Reggie was so far from a bad kid. He was the star of their school, actually. Everyone loved him, he had great grades, and all the teachers (minus a few they pranked) praised him for his hard work.

And they still demanded more from him. It was absolutely ridiculous.

No, he couldn't use Reggie as a crutch while he mourned over his grandma. He had his own problems. He just needed to figure this out on his own. Maybe when he got back home things would be better. He could just be in the peace and quiet of the forest, and have that for comfort instead. You couldn't burden a forest with all of your problems. It was much simpler than a person.

Simpler.

Yeah, it was probably time to start thinking simpler he supposed.

The snoring stopped after he finally came to that conclusion. He looked to see his sleepy friend rubbing his eyes. As soon as they opened, he looked at him and smiled.

Fuck. Why did he have to look so hot when he did that?

"You forgot to take your contacts out again," Sage smirked at him. He was trying really hard to ignore what that look was already doing to his body. Reggie looked absolutely gorgeous whenever he just woke up.

"They'll be fine," he said. "How are you feeling?"

"You are going to kill your eyes if you keep those in all the time like you do," he ignored the question. "You're going to have to take them out eventually."

"Nope," he shook his head. "These are the good kind."

"Every kind requires you to take them out before you go to bed, dummy."

"I'm never going to show you my eyes without them," he smirked back at him.

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to," he shrugged. "It's as simple as that."

"That's not fair, you know."

"Tough," he joked. He sat up and stretched a little. Then he groaned and put a hand on his stomach. "Too many chocolates."