Love Explosion [3]

Chapter 9 - Basketball

Italics is texting

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TW: Swearing and smoking

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Chapter 8

October 24, Sunday

No one's POV

The world seemed darker after the death of Ethan Chase, or to Arthur that is.

It's almost as if his limbs were ripped off of him– gone out forcefully, and never able to come back.

His death occurred thirteen days ago, but it seemed as if life dragged itself out so much that it almost felt like years have passed.

It was mostly just a blur. Arthur wanted to forget it all. He seemed to have buried all of his emotions so deep down it didn't even exist anymore. He covered up all of his feelings by focusing on the minimum-wage jobs he got and by going to the gym– feeling the burn of working out; because if he had that physical pain to focus on, he wouldn't have to worry about the anguish in his heart.

And in the process of being drowned in his grief, then overcome with this intense haze of emptiness, his mind didn't seem to make time to remember his boyfriend, who he hasn't called since the Monday everything happened. That call on Wednesday never occurred either.

It was the afternoon, the sky dark, the setting cold. Arthur was playing basketball on his own in a court near his house. He barely stayed home anymore, everything there reminded him of his father, and it just pained him too much– remembering. He spent so long trying to not feel, he couldn't risk feeling such agony once more. When he woke up every morning, he would immediately go to work, then to the gym, and only go home late at night when he had to go to sleep– no more. But he doesn't work on Sundays, so he's been on the basketball court for God knows how long.

Kathrin, on that particular evening, was walking around, doing her usual nightly stroll as she smoked a cigarette. But that was when she saw Arthur, and instantly stopped in her tracks.

She recognised the routine, the 'distracting yourself so much to forget the pain' routine. She went through it herself when her mother died. And even if she knew she shouldn't, she pitied Arthur at that moment– pity what a shitty situation he was in, pity how much pain he must've been in.

Kathrin walked up to him, after noticing that he stopped playing and sat down on one of the benches on the side. "Hey," She called out, Arthur seeming to snap out of his daze as he turned his head to look at the girl.

"Hi," Arthur replied, voice hoarse, dull, quiet. It was almost as if he hadn't spoken for days.

"Aren't you cold?" Kathrin asked, noticing he was only wearing a t-shirt and seemingly thin pants. Arthur only shrugged, looking down at the ground as he fidgeted with the basketball in his hands.

She hastily took her large jacket off, handing it to him. Arthur, after taking a second to stare at it, took it from her, almost defeatedly. "Thanks," The redhead muttered, putting it on; It fit Arthur well considering it was far too big for Kathrin.

Hesitantly, the brunette girl sat down next to Arthur. She debated on offering him a cigarette, but then decided against it; it would be wrong to inflict her addiction onto him.

"How are–" She started saying, but cut herself off after realising asking 'how are you?' right after the funeral wasn't the best question. "Are you–" And then she realised 'are you okay?' was an equally bad question. She ended up saying: "I wonder when it's going to start snowing."

Arthur played around with the basketball in his hands, finally looking up, staring straight forward. "Probably in a week or so." He replied, voice low.

It was silent between them, awkwardly. And in the moment of quietude, Arthur seemed to have realised something: he and Leonard were supposed to meet that day. He quickly pulled out his phone, realising that it had been on silent for the whole day, checking any past messages or calls from Leonard.

15:37

Hello.

I am sorry to inform you that I can't make

it to our meet-up today.

I, surprisingly, am behind on some work,

so I would have to get those finished.

Part of Arthur was relieved that Leonard couldn't make it, so he didn't technically stand him up. But he wanted... more. He wanted something. He wanted his boyfriend to care for him. Which is why Arthur felt almost mad at Leonard, for not being there for him– but Leonard doesn't even know what happened.

The redhead sighed defeatedly. Kathrin debated on asking 'what's wrong?', but that might be the wrong question too. Though, Kathrin didn't need to ask, because Arthur answered anyway.

"Leonard and I were supposed to meet today. But he's busy, and... I forgot." Arthur spoke, laughing at the end of his sentence; not of glee, or humour, but at himself for being such a mess.

"I don't– I don't even know what the fuck is happening anymore. Everything is just a... blur. I can't remember anything I've done from the past few days, and I feel like I'm going crazy." He kept on saying.

His voice was shaking, like an earthquake was occurring in his throat. He felt the burn in his nose as tears glazed his eyes, sniffling as if it would help hold the tears back.

"God, this hurts so much." Arthur then murmured, feeling hints of the grief he tried so hard to push down creeping back into his heart.

Kathrin didn't know what to do. She just resorted to putting a hand on Arthur's shoulder, as if it would help him in any way.

Arthur sniffled again, wiping his eyes before any tears could come out. He bit onto his lip to stop it from quivering. "Sorry– sorry for rambling, and being such a downer." Arthur then apologised, trying to stifle the trembling in his voice, but the sobs that hung on the back of his throat didn't help at all.

"No– don't apologise to me. If you even need to vent, anytime, I'm always here, okay? We're friends, and I'm meant to be here; so I am." Kathrin stated, her hand sliding off of his shoulder and falling back onto her lap.

Arthur sniffled again, smiling, as if it would bury the pain again. "What if you have class?" He then asked. Kathrin shrugged in response, "I'll find a way."

Arthur finally turned his head to look up at Kathrin, leaning his elbows on his knees, still playing around with his basketball. "Thank you." He muttered, and Kathrin nodded.

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