Living

Chapter 35: Apologies

Davey sighed and stepped out of the apartment, closing the door behind him. He crossed his arms defiantly. "You're sorry?"

Elle nodded quickly. "For what?"

"For being an asshole", she sighed, chuckling at the very thought of her actions. "I insulted your boyfriend because I was jealous."

Of what? Davey didn't consider himself an individual to be jealous of. He was boring, a bit of a stickler for the rules—he was working on that—and enjoyed grammar a little too much. His brows furrowed in question. "Why?"

"Because Jack has what I want", she confessed, doing all of this while holding three pizzas. "You."

"Me?" Him?

"Yes, you", Elle chuckled, shaking her head. Davey, for one, was taken a back.

He'd never been on the receiving end of an unrequited love. Most of the time, he's the one with the hard-to-get-rid-of feelings and some boy who caught his eye was either too dim-witted or rude to realize. Boys. "I'm- boys."

Elle raised a brow. "Excuse me?"

"Boys, yes", Davey nodded, hoping he wasn't embarrassing himself too harshly. "Men. I like."

"I know", Elle accepted, scratching her brow. "I know. That's why I lashed out."

Davey hummed, looking down at his socked feet. This was awkward. He felt like he didn't have any control of the situation, and that it was slowly slipping out of his hands. His hands were sweaty and his chest was tight, the feeling of anxiety coming hard and fast. "Well...you're forgiven."

"Thanks", Elle smiled softly, handing Davey the boxes. "You know I would've given you the pizza anyway without this, right?"

"Yeah", Davey laughed, handing her the money in exchange. "I'll see you Thursday, okay?"

"Alright." Elle walked off, leaving Davey to turn around and walk back inside. He smiled when Roller ran up to him and snatched the pizzas out of his hands.

"What took so long?" Roller took a deep breath, smelling the freshness of Domino's. "You can't deprive a mama from her babies for that long."

Jack rolled his eyes as everyone laughed. Davey sat next to his boyfriend, pulling him into a small kiss. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm better", Davey nodded, a happy smile on his face. Jack grinned and turned back to the TV.

——————

"Bart, I swear, if you apologize for the restaurant one more time, I will hit you."

"I get it! I just thought this would be perfect and I would take you out to somewhere fancy-"

"Sweetheart, I work in New York! Half the stuff I want, I already can't afford. And tonight was perfect, even without wine I'm not allowed to drink."

Bart chuckled. "You can't drink wine?"

"Nope, I'm nineteen", Sarah shakes her head, laughing at Bart's face. "What? How old are you?"

"I'm, I'm 23."

"Oh."

They continued to walk in silence, wondering how the older felt about the age gap. Truly, it didn't bother Sarah, and it didn't bother Bart either—they liked each other too much—but how would the other feel.

"Do you care-"

"Nope."

They smiled at each other, squeezing hands and walking down the street. They decided to take the long way to Sarah's house, hoping they could spend as long as they wanted together. The night was young, and so were they. What's a little longer spending time with the perfect person on a perfect night?