Impress Me Not: Neon Underground

Chapter 48

He was fine. Everything was fine. This was just like all the other times. He just needed some sleep and he would be fine afterwards. That's how it worked all the other times.

Sleep definitely helped. It just wasn't enough. Melvin felt like he needed to sleep for an eternity rather than just a day. No matter how comfortable his bed, he never could be at peace in bed. It was the kind of tired that no sleep could fix. His soul was tired.

Her perhaps he was just being dramatic.

"You aren't dramatic for having emotions."

Melvin smirked, huffing a laugh. Of course, he wouldn't listen to his own advice. He remembered telling Mateo that. He hoped that he was doing better than him. It wasn't like Melvin was having a mental breakdown about his entire life, along with a mid-life crisis before the middle of his life. He knew just how bad that could be, and just how low that realization could bring you.

Those thoughts were enough to bring him out of his bed and towards his dresser. He just grabbed some clothes before taking a quick shower. He needed to wash away all the dirt from the past couple days.

Having the water hit his neck almost reminded him of Mateo's fingers teasing his neck...At least that was a good memory he could enjoy for the moment.

The warm water made him feel better, along with a quick smoke break. It was the only thing that calmed him sometimes. Thankfully, it didn't bring him into another coughing fit. Maybe that was a sign that it the problem would just disappear.

It probably wasn't good to fool himself like that. But it was all he could do.

"Hello?" He answered the phone right when it rang. He didn't know what had gone on while he was sleeping. He didn't even know how much time had passed. All he knew was the sun wasn't out, so it must have been a while.

"Hey," Anton's voice surprised him. "I was wondering where you were."

"Just about to get ready for work," he told him, grabbing some water from the fridge. "You don't have to worry about me, you know."

"I thought you were going to take some time off from working so much," he said.

"Funny," he chuckled. "I thought you were going to do the same." He could hear the sound of that café in the background. It was too recognizable. He had been hanging out with Anton in that place years before he even became the owner of it. He used to taste test the man's homemade coffee creamer. That was the first thing he became known for in that place.

"You have way more workers than I do," Anton said. "And I'm just doing paperwork right now anyway."

"It wouldn't be that loud in the background if you were just doing paperwork," he said, grabbing his keys. "Since you're there, though, mind making me some coffee?"

"If you're actually going to show up," he answered. "I might think about it."

"You act like I don't have money," Melvin teased. "I haven't hung out with you in a couple of days and you're going to act like this now?"

"Just get over here," Anton said. "I'll get you your coffee."

"I'll be there in five," he told him, hanging up the phone afterwards. It was just what he needed to get out of this mood that was starting to drag him down. A little sense of normalcy was good. This was the one time of his life that he actually welcomed it.

The café was full, but slow at the same time. All the customers had already been served, yet most of the seats had already been taken. There must have been a midterm coming up, because so many of those tables had books open and people taking notes. It wasn't a bad place to study, especially if you had headphones to drown out the noise. He remembered many nights finding Anton here after his shift studying for his classes. The man was so innocent back then. He didn't even know his sexuality when he first came to Florida.