Signed /Dream Team/

4

I felt such a relief after seeing that everything was okay. Well, at least for me. Things sounded so tragic for them that even the angry guy decided to come out of the room after ignoring us for half an hour.

"What did you just say?" He looks at George.

Clay's question frustrates him for a decent reason.

"So you were listening the whole time and ignoring us," George sounds hurt, "and what's wrong with your eyes? You should stop crying, I'm scared for your vision."

"You look like a blobfish," Nick adds quietly.

I feel guilty when Clay looks at me with his still swollen and bloodshot eyes, but I decide to ignore it. They have a much bigger problem to solve now that doesn't involve me at all.

"I wasn't crying. Someone, a home intruder, used pepper spray on me," he sounds so dramatic that I roll my eyes involuntarily.

"I think you're the home intruders now," I shake my head, "and it wasn't pepper spray, it was hairspray."

Things go downhill from that point. George gets mad that I used his expensive hairspray and left it rolling on the floor, Clay demands explanations while the other guy, Nick, is sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. He's the only one quiet in this room. Clay's point overpowers though and he finally gets the explanation he wanted.

"This genius rented the apartment for the next year," George points a finger at his guilt-ridden friend, "he tried calling but the landlord's in a different country now, he said we should contact somebody else responsible for the house and we did, but they said they can't help with such a major issue and the agreement's signed."

He sums up what happened in the last 30 minutes and I watch the aggression build inside the blonde the more his friend speaks. I just pray to God he doesn't have another breakdown and lock himself in my room.

"Oh, so you're telling me we rented an apartment with our last penny, flew all the way to Minnesota to live in the streets for 6 months? Is that what you're trying to tell me?" The blonde laughs in disbelief, raising his eyebrows and waiting for an answer. I just stand there awkwardly, watching them argue.

"We'll figure something out, just relax," Nick finally speaks, the guilt in his voice adamant.

I expect the argument to end there on a positive note but as far as I can see, Clay is radiating negativity in every way possible.

"We?" He laughs, "No no, buddy. You dug this hole by yourself, you're getting us out by yourself."

I can't express with words the secondhand guilt and embarrassment I feel from his words for Nick. I get that he made a huge mistake and I also get that Clay's probably still extremely pissed from the hairspray incident, but still, never I could talk to my friend like that even if they made a huge mistake. Maybe that's why I have no friends.

"Okay, stop being a dick for a second, we're in this together," George frowns at Clay.

"No, we're not," the aggression pours out once more, "good thing our bags are still packed. Grab your shit and let's go, we're in somebody else's house."

When he mentions me, I quickly jump into the conversation. I don't even take a second to think, the words pour out of my mouth.

"I mean you can stay for a while, clearly you have nowhere to go," I speak hurriedly, knowing damn well that I'm being impulsive.

"No, we're n-"

"Really?"

While Clay was quick to reject my offer, George's eyes sparkled as he looked at me. He sounded full of hope. I cannot say no to that, but my biggest challenge right now is to try not to dig a hole for myself trying to help others.

"Yeah, of course!" I smile, "You can stay here for a few days until you get your situation sorted. Or at least have a clue on how to sort it."

It feels like I see Nick reincarnate after my words. Him and George exchange a look, then both look at me.

"You'll really do that for us?" George maintains eye contact as he speaks.

I hope I'm not blushing.

"You'd do the same if you were in my place, I think," I shrug.

I don't know if I'm being too kind or too generous, but to me, it's nothing. I don't think anyone would be able to rest their head on the pillow knowing that they could've helped someone and didn't. Even if the someone is a stranger. And besides, I wouldn't be able to sleep knowing that 3 guys probably don't have a roof over their heads.

They look at each other once again but this time I can't read their faces. I assume that they agree, cause when they look back at me, they smile. Except for Clay, of course, he didn't take part in any way in this conversation.

Until now.

"I'm flying back to Florida, you can stay and bother this girl just because she was kind enough to offer help."

So he's from Florida. I lived in Florida, and I've interacted with the people there. Everything kind of makes sense now.

Anyways, I was about to say that they weren't bothering me, but George interrupts me.

"Yeah, good luck saving up to buy a ticket back to Florida and take all of this stuff with you," he points at some open boxes that have gaming chairs and other stuff in them. I hadn't noticed them until now. I feel bad that they brought all of that with them, they must've spent a lot of money just to get here.

Clay is silent. He bluntly stares at George, pressing his teeth together which makes his jawline pop. I'd pass out from fear if he looked at me like that, so it's confusing to see George smile proudly and add fuel to the fire.

"We just need a few days, is that okay with you?" Moving his gaze back to me, George speaks with a much softer voice.

I want to tell him that they can take all the time they need but I'm scared of sounding too desperate and giving out the fact that I'm happy to live with someone so attractive-

Okay, that's a bit too much, I apologize.

I chose a cooler answer.

"Yeah, you can stay for the week."