Headphones // Merome

Chapter 28: Unwell

|Jerome's POV|

I could tell as soon as I saw him that Rob that something was wrong. His eyes were faintly red, and Preston looked worried about him too. I knew Mitch wouldn't be able to tell if I asked, so I leaned over to Mat as they got closer. "Does Rob look like he's been crying to you? Or that something's wrong?" I whispered. Mat immediately nodded. "Yeah. Preston looks like if he's not right by Rob's side, Rob is gonna drop dead." May answered with a slight grin. "What's the thing Emma and Vic say? Shipping? I ship it." Mat added with a smirk. "Same." I answered, returning the grin. "Who are we shipping?" Preston asked as he walked up next to us. "No one." I answered quick. "Bull." Rob answered. "Fine. You and Preston." Mat smirked, watching the expressions on their faces.

Rob started to blush but played it off by laughing, and Preston just glanced behind him like someone called his name. "Ooh! Preston's hiding the blush!" I yelled, and he turned back to face me, cheeks bright pink. "I am not!" He protested. "Oh my God, he so is!" Mat joined. "Shut up! I am not!" Preston frowned. "Aw, give Preston a break." Rob said, but kept grinning as he put his arm around Preston's shoulders. "Oh, look at that. Robby comes to the rescue, saving his love from the torment of his best friends." Mat smirked, and I stopped trying to hold in laughter. Rob laughed with me, but Preston shot Mat a death glare. "Oh my G-God, P-Preston stop!" I laughed, and Preston sent the glare my way, which only made me laugh harder. "Ugh. I hate you all." Preston sighed, throwing his hands up in defeat. "Even me?" Rob asked with puppy-dog eyes. "No. You aren't being a jag." Preston said, glaring at Mat and me again. "You are talking to the Jag Master, Preston." Mat made a grand gesture to himself. "Believe me, I'm aware." Preston huffed, and rolled his eyes. "Hey guys!" Emma and Mitch joined the conversation, and Mitch took my hand. "What are we talking about?" Mitch asked. "Noth-" "Preston and Rob being a couple!" Mat cut Preston off. "Really? Is it a thing? Wait... What about Em?" Emma asked, smiling at first but then it slowly faded away.

"Oh... About that..." Rob said, scratching the back of his neck and looking away. "Are you guys like... No?" Mitch asked, not wanting to make Rob upset. "Yeah... we are no more. I am a single dood." Rob sighed. "Not for long, you've got Preston." Mat smirked, and Preston glared at him. "No way!" I shouted, but then put a hand on Rob's shoulder. "I'm sorry buddy." I said, then back away. Emma hugged him, and he hugged back. "I'm so sorry Rob. That's terrible. Do you know why?" Emma asked, letting go. "She's in love with a girl, who also loved her back. Megan was her name, I think." Rob explained. Mat, Mitch and I gave him a sad smile, but Emma's jaw dropped. "Megan? I met her the other day. I can't believe it!" Emma exclaimed, putting a hand to her forehead. "Is there something wrong?" I asked, confused. "No, no. I just... Wow. I cant believe that's actually a thing. Vic and Hope joke about it all the time. Guess they knew something is didn't. I'm sorry Rob, if I knew, I would've-" "Nah, it's not your fault. Seems like it was inevitable anyway." Rob stopped her. She sighed, and looked at her feet. But then her smile returned and she looked up. "But from what I understand," she started with a smirk, "You've got Preston now." I smirked, and Mitch laughed. Mat reached over and high-fived her. Preston looked ready to slap us all, but he was blushing like crazy. Rob just stood there, a small grin and small blush on his face. "Rob doesn't seem to mind that idea..." Emma poked him in the ribs. "Ha. Yeah. Like that would ever happen." Rob replied. And at that, I swore I saw Preston's face fall for a split second.

--------------

After school, it was just Preston and I alone. Rob, Mitch and Mat had previous plans for something "I couldn't know about." Vikk and Lachy were going out together, Brandon and Emma were doing the same. Victory and Emily were with Hope and Megan, who picked them up from school, seeing their private school got out before we did. That left Preston and I to drive back to my house.

We sat in silence, so I decided to turn on the radio.

All day, staring at the ceiling, making friends with shadows on my wall. All night, hearing voices telling me that I should get some sleep because tomorrow might be good for something.

Hold on, feeling like I'm headed for a breakdown, and I don't know why.

I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell, I know, right now you can't tell. But stay a while and maybe then you'll see, a different side of me. I'm not crazy, I'm just a little impaired, I know, right now you don't care. But soon enough you're gonna think of me, and how I used to be.

I debated bringing up Rob's comment and Preston's reaction to it. I thought I should, but Rob seemed like an awkward subject to Preston right now. I decided to go for it, I was Preston's best friend -besides Rob, of course- and he might need the help to talk about it. "Preston, are you okay? You seem a little out of it today." I said, starting up conversation. "Nah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Preston answered. "Well, I dunno. You took the Rob thing a little bit weird, and you were almost silent at lunch. That's a very rare occasion." I said, taking a sideways glance at him. "No, I just felt bad for Rob. And I didn't have that much to talk about at lunch anyway." He replied, looking away from me. "Preston, come on. You and I both know you're lying." I said, pulling into my driveway. "Jerome... Really. What could possibly be wrong?" He asked, stepping out of my car. "You're right, you do feel bad for Rob. I can tell, and you want to help. But... Something's stopping you, and it's annoying you." I said, and when he didn't reply, I knew I hit the target. "What's stopping you, dood?" I asked as we walked around to the back of my house. Preston sighed and dropped onto the hammock. "I... I don't know." I sat down beside him. "You have some idea." He took a deep breath, then mumbled something I couldn't hear. "Huh? Talk louder, bro." I said. He took a deep breath again. "I think I like Rob."

::A/N::
Guys don't worry this is still a Merome story I promise. I want to get everything (Everyone) set for my plan, and then I'll do step one of said plan. Clearly to accomplish step two, I need step one. So this is all preparation. Also, I have a question. Would you guys like me too start putting the videos/Lyric videos to these songs in the chapter, so as you read you can listen? I'll go back to all the previous chapters and do so, and then start putting them in here on out. Let me know! Thanks so much for everything Rosebuds, and until next time, ~Rosie <3

Unwell, by Matchbox 20