Just Friends

65

Pov Sage

"Meri," I sob softly.

He grips the pillow a little tighter.

"Meri?" I ask again, sobbing.

He slowly turns his face to me. His tears flow down his cheeks. Just like with me. When he sees that they are also rolling down my cheeks, he wipes away his tears and opens his arms. I walk over to him and crawl into his arms.

"I'm sorry," I sob.

Meri quickly wraps his arms around me, his chest still shaking up and down.

"Me too. I should have come by sooner," he sobs.

"You were right," I stutter.

His grip immediately tightens.

"Axel?" he asks lowly.

I nod in his arms.

"What happened?" he asks cautiously

"I wanted to surprise him. I went for a long time and then," I sob.

"Shh, calm down," he mumbles to me, rubbing my back reassuringly.

"I went into his room and he cheated. Just as you said. I'm sorry I didn't believe you," I sob, a few more tears streaming down both my cheeks.

"What a terrible loser," says Meri.

I nod cautiously. Even though he cheated, I don't want to say he's a loser. Even though I know Meri is completely right this time.

I notice that his chest is still shaking up and down a bit. I look straight at Meri.

"But enough about me," I try to smile at him.

There are tears in his eyes.

"What's up with you?" I ask him.

He immediately sinks down again so that he can lie down, because I am still in his grip, I automatically sink down with him.

"Can you just lie with me like this for a moment?" he asks with tears in his eyes.

I'll just take a look at him. A tear escapes from the corner of his eye and he quickly wipes it away.

"Meri?" I ask softly. "Are you okay?" I add to my sentence.

He nods cautiously. I lay down on his chest and place one hand next to my head while I wrap the other around his waist. He takes a somewhat shaky deep breath.

"My grandfather has cancer," he says quickly.

Preferably so quickly that no one heard. Only I understood it. I know how much he cares about his grandpa. Even though you may not always be able to see that clearly.

I give him a slightly tighter hug. Meri presses his nose against my hair. I look at him.

"Do you want to tell me something about it?" I ask him carefully.

He nods.

"I used to always stay with him. When grandma was shopping, we would watch an episode of Sesame Street," he says with an immediate big smile on his face.

"Not that I ever lasted an episode. At the end of the episode I was always sleeping next to him on the couch," Meri chuckles and a tear rolls down his cheek.

I chuckle gently and wipe away a tear from him with my thumb.

"When Mom told me Grandpa had cancer. I was devastated that it had spread to his brain and that he was beyond recovery. I still am. I went straight to the hospital. My grandfather just lay there in the hospital bed. He looked bad. When he saw me he motioned for me to come. I sat down on the chair next to him. He asked if I wanted to watch TV with him," he said.

He starts talking more and more shakily. Tears well up in his eyes again.

"Sssht," I shush him a little and place my hand briefly on his cheek.

"He turned on the TV and Sesame Street was on TV. He grabbed my hand and looked at me with a smile. I smiled back at him. Normally I always fell asleep in his arms when the episode was over. But this time... this time he fell asleep in my arms for good at the end of the episode," Meri ends his story, tears streaming down his face.

I lean forward a little and press a short kiss on his cheek.

When I bend back a little, he catches my eye. He looks at me in mild surprise.

He sits up a little straighter without taking his gaze from mine.

His gaze darts from my eyes to my lips and back again. He slowly comes closer.

I allow it. My eyes dart up and down from his eyes to his full lips.

When I look straight at him he is already quite close. Only a few millimeters have been removed between our lips.

Meri closes his eyes and I follow his lead.

A second later I feel his soft lips pressed gently against mine.

**

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