And They Were Roommates...

Chapter 10

"The stars are so pretty tonight, aren't they?" Skeppy asked, not taking his eyes off the flickering lights in the sky.

"Yeah, they are," Bad sighed, laying down on the grass beside Skeppy.

"Do you think there's somebody out there, looking up at the stars like this, wishing for any way to solve a problem of their own?" Skeppy's tone remained indifferent, his gaze still dead set on the sky.

"I bet there probably is," Bad said, looking up at the constellations.

"I wish the stars could help me solve my problems," Skeppy said.

"I wish they could solve mine too..." Bad muttered.

The two of them remained silent, not taking their eyes off the sky for several minutes. The sound of the water in the river and the occasional car were the only sounds that interrupted the quiet.

"Skeppy?" Bad asked after a little while.

Skeppy didn't respond, but Bad spoke again anyway.

"Can we please just talk about it?" Bad asked, looking at Skeppy to see if he could notice any expression that would give a clue as to how Skeppy was feeling.

"What is there to talk about?" Skeppy's tone didn't waiver. "We both know what happened."

"Look, I know we can't go back to the way it was before, but maybe it's better that we just try and move forward from this," Bad said, hoping that Skeppy would agree.

"Fine. We can talk about it and then move on from it. You have questions? Hit me, I'll answer."

Bad considered the questions that had filled his mind the past two days, but now they seemed to be all mushed together into one word. "Why?" He asked, adding nothing else to the question.

Skeppy understood. "I was lonely. I was sick and tired of being lonely, and if falling for my worst enemy was the only way to solve that, I guess it worked. I was foolish, I fell for two different people. You have no clue what I'd give to go back to two nights ago. I would've made the right choice." He sounded regretful

"I think you made the right choice," Bad murmured. "How much longer could we have gone on like that? You were practically dying of sleep deprivation."

"I guess so... But now I've lost both of my best friends," Skeppy sighed.

"What do you mean? I'm right here!" Bad felt hurt and confused by those words, unsure if he understood what Skeppy was saying.

"You told me there was someone else, Bad. I just had to go and mess things up with both of you. Now I can't leave one of you and talk to the other, there were never two to begin with. I feel so stupid, Bad. I knew it was you the whole time, but I just refused to believe it. Now you have someone else, and I have no one." Skeppy rolled over onto his side, facing away from Bad.

"Yes, I did say there was someone else, but you ran off before I could say anything else," Bad explained.

"Well, we're both here now. Tell me, who is it?" Skeppy curled up on the cold grass, waiting for Bad's answer.

"It was you, Skeppy. You were the other person. I was turning down Diamond, not you. I'm sorry Skeppy. You didn't hear me the other morning. After you said that to me, you fell asleep and didn't hear what I said."

"And what did you say?" Skeppy asked, masking his face of any emotions.

"I told you I loved you too. I wish you heard me, but it doesn't matter; you're hearing me now and that's what counts." Bad felt more confident as he continued to speak. "Look, Skeppy, I do love you and if you want to just know that and go back to the way things were before, I'd be fine with that. It doesn't bother me what you choose to do now, I just don't want you feeling like I don't like you."

Skeppy looked like he was considering Bad's offer. He rolled onto his other side and looked up at Bad, who sat silently, waiting for Skeppy's reply.

"I don't want things to go back to how they were, but I don't want them to change either," Skeppy said at last.

"What is it that you want?" Bad asked gently.

Skeppy looked directly into Bad's eyes, the white contacts hiding his irises underneath. He looked at Bad for a moment. Bad's apprehension grew for each second Skeppy stayed silent, but he didn't say anything.

"I want to be with you. I want to live life in a way I've never lived before. I want to spend my days working with you at the cafe and my nights running around the city with you. I want to take nights to stay in, have dinner, watch movies, and go to sleep without feeling like I've abandoned someone." The words poured out as Bad listened to what Skeppy was saying. "And more than anything else, I just want to be loved." A tear slid from the corner of Skeppy's eye as he finished his sentence. Bad quickly wiped it away, smiling sadly.

"We can do that. We can definitely do that," Bad whispered.

Skeppy curled up closer to Bad on the grass. Bad wrapped his arms around Skeppy as best as he could and pulled him close, allowing any worries and sadness from the past two days to evaporate. The two of them laid there, completely content in the present moment, for a length of time that neither of them could guess.

After a while, they stood up from the cold grass and looked down into the river. Even the river seemed content in the present moment, looking completely still from their viewing point. "Here, before we do anything else," Bad started, reaching down to the grass where they had been laying. He picked up Skeppy's helmet that had been sitting on top of his backpack beside them.

Bad placed the helmet onto Skeppy's head, who looked confused about what he was doing. "What are you doing, Bad?" Skeppy asked.

"Could you just... Say it again?" Bad asked.

"Say what? I don't understand..."

"Y'know, the other night, what you told me in the office building," Bad hoped Skeppy would understand what he was trying to do.

Skeppy nodded slightly before tilting his head up to face Bad. Through the slight muffling of the helmet, he said, "Crimson... Bad... Whoever you are..."

Bad smiled, knowing Skeppy had understood exactly what Bad had wanted.

"I'm going to listen to my heart," he continued. "And my heart tells me that I'm in love with you."

Bad took a deep breath before speaking again. "And I'm in love with you too, Skeppy." Bad smiled and lifted Skeppy's helmet off his head, discarding it to the side. Bad wrapped his arms around Skeppy and pulled him toward his chest. He looked into Skeppy's eyes, which reflected the moonlight and glowed a dark-brown color. Not another word was spoken as Bad gently leaned in and kissed Skeppy. He pulled his head back a little, happy to just stay in their little embrace forever.