And They Were Roommates...

Chapter 9

Bad's jaw dropped as Diamond- er- Skeppy stood up with a horrified look on his face. No words left his mouth and Skeppy took off in a mad dash toward the door, grabbing his bag before hopping off the balcony. Bad chased after him, calling out "Skeppy! Skeppy wait!" But Skeppy was long gone by the time Bad made it to the door. "Diamond, I- Skeppy, I-" Bad was in shock. Never in all this time had he expected any of this to happen.

Rat came trotting up behind him, staring up at him from where she sat on the floor. Bad stared at her for a moment, feeling another tear streak down his cheek. He picked up Rat and buried his face into her fur before quickly pulling away, realizing his black makeup was getting all over Rat's white fur. He sighed and set her down, walking toward the bathroom down the hallway. Bad splashed cold water on his face, washed off his disguise, and changed into his comfortable clothes before returning to his desk.

There was a lot to process. His worst enemy was actually his roommate, who just happened to be the person Bad loved. Skeppy had been acting unusual ever since his sleepy confession, and now Bad understood why. Skeppy had been in love with two different people who turned out to be the same guy. Bad thought about what Skeppy had done, and all the anger in his mind was quickly replaced with sorrow and concern. "I hope he's okay..." Bad mumbled to himself, standing back up and grabbing his duffle bag. He took Rat and headed for the elevator of the office building, not even bothering to hide the fact that he was holding a dog.

...

Upon arriving at home, Bad looked around the house in search of Skeppy. "Skeppy?" He called into each room, even into his own room just to make sure. Skeppy wasn't there. "That's not unusual," Bad tried to convince himself. "Skeppy's usually home after me..." He sat on the couch waiting for Skeppy for a few minutes, but when it was obvious that Skeppy wasn't coming back, he grabbed his phone and tried to call him.

Bad dialed Skeppy's number and the call went straight to voicemail. Either Skeppy's phone was off, or he was declining the call himself. "The number you've dialed is not available, please redial and try again." Eventually, the calls wouldn't even go to voicemail, but simply just get declined. Bad threw down his phone, done with the futile attempt to reach Skeppy. He was worried, but he wasn't sure chasing Skeppy down was the best plan of action after what had just happened.

Bad found himself sitting on the couch waiting for several hours before finally dozing off into a fitful sleep. He hated the fact that he had turned Skeppy down. It was obvious to him now that Skeppy was Diamond. The signs had been there the entire time, but Bad had been too blind to see. They spoke the same, looked the same, the only difference was the helmet. Of course, it was obvious, how had he not seen it sooner?

Bad woke up when he heard a sound, but, to his dismay, it wasn't Skeppy. The heat of the day had filled the room and the air conditioner had turned on, that was what Bad had heard. He sat up and drowsily checked his phone, noticing the time as he did so. The time. It was almost time for his shift at the cafe. Bad wondered if Skeppy would show up to work today.

The answer was clearly no when Bad arrived a few minutes late, and the only person he saw was Angel behind the counter. "Angel!" Bad exclaimed, running up to the counter. "Have you heard from Skeppy?"

"Yeah? I mean, sorta. He called the work phone last night and left a message saying he needed someone to cover his shift for a few days." Angel seemed to notice the panicked look on Bad's face. "Is everything okay?" His tone shifted.

Bad had no clue what to say. "I uh- Mhm, it's fine."

"Well... I couldn't find anyone willing to cover Skeppy's shift and Emma isn't here today, so I guess I'll have to help out," Angel said.