Are We Just Friends? / / Matty Healy / /

// FIVE //

I managed to avoid everyone from school for a good portion of the next day. I took a shower at Harry's house and borrowed his t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. I only stopped back into my dorm for my backpack and lucked out when I found that Katie was taking a shower and therefore not in the room when I was.

Throughout the day I received a couple texts from Alyssa and Dylan. Both had tried seeming casual in their texts, but it was clear that Katie had probably asked them to get in contact with me since I wasn't speaking to her. For that reason, I ignored their messages as well. It may be childish but I didn't care. Unfortunately, the time came where I couldn't avoid the dorm anymore.

Walking into our room, I ignored Katie who was sitting on her bed, typing away on her laptop.

"Danny," she breathed out quietly sounding relieved. I threw my backpack on the ground and crawled into bed, exhaustion creeping over me. It felt like I hadn't slept for months.

"I'm really sorry," Katie said in a hushed tone. I was surprised that she wasn't pestering me with her usual 20 questions whenever I came back to the room, but maybe she was scared that she'd set me off again.

"It's fine," I said sounding a bit harsh. Quickly I attempted to soften my tone and said, "Really, it's okay."

She didn't look convinced, but accepted my response.

"I was worried about you," she continued.

"There's nothing to worry about. I'm fine," I said again. And I think it was true, though I'm not really sure what 'fine' even means anymore. I could see that she was dying to ask me questions—probably about what I had been up to for the past 36 hours—but I was glad that she refrained from saying anything else. I could feel her eyes boring into me as I tried my hardest to fall asleep.

"Danny?" Katie's voice broke the silence just as I had nearly drifted off to sleep.

"What?" I groaned.

"I know this isn't the best time to ask..." she paused making me sigh internally. Just when I thought I had escaped her interrogation. "...would you want to come to a concert with me and Alyssa?"

I opened my eyes to turn to and look at Katie, slightly miffed at what she had asked me.

"Uh, yeah, I guess. When is it? And who's it for?"

"This Saturday. And it's for a band called The 1975. I think you'd like them! I love them and so do Alyssa and Breanna," she gushed.

"Oh, why isn't Breanna coming then?" I asked. Katie looked at me guiltily.

"Well, actually, she was supposed to come. But a family thing came up so we have an extra ticket," Katie said while looking down and picking lint off of her blanket nervously. I was hurt that they hadn't thought to include me in their plans until one of them had to back out. We used to do everything together, and now I felt extremely distant from the three of them. To be fair, it was all my fault that we had become so distant but they just didn't understand why I became the way I am now.

"Oh," I said pretending not to be bothered. I wondered how long they had been planning this for. Usually you had to plan weeks, if not months, in advance to get tickets for a concert depending on how popular the band is. Had they been making plans for that long behind my back? "I guess I'll go. I like concerts."

Katie offered me a smile and said, "You have to look them up. Their songs are so catchy and deep."

"I'll look them up tomorrow," I muttered between yawns, knowing that I wouldn't actually. I couldn't even remember the name of the band that she had said, and truthfully, I didn't really care. All I wanted right now was to sleep.