Watcher (KSImon)

Twenty Three

"Simon?" He exclaimed.

"JJ?" I whispered in return.

JJ wrapped me in a big hug, "oh my God Simon! Where have you been?"

"Long story," I mumbled, not wanting to tell the story again.

"Why are you here?" JJ asked, shuffling through the house to Ethan's room.

"Well, I dropped a drunk Em off two days ago... And I'm still here."

"Oh really? Em never gets wasted."

I laugh, "she was out of her mind."

Ethan comes out of his room yawning and rubbing is eyes. He bumped straight into JJ and started to scream. JJ cackled a bit which caused Ethan to knee him in the crouch. I stand there and chuckle.

"I guess it's kind of scary to wake up in the morning to see a tall, black man in the doorway of your room," I said to him, and looked at JJ writhing around on the ground.

"Oh boy, Jide, what are you doing?" Ethan shook his head.

"You kicked me. And I'm on the floor."

"No I mean why are you here," he chuckled.

"I needed to get out of that stupid house," JJ staggered up, "I live with a bunch of asses."

"What did Vikk do this time," Ethan sighed.

"This," he showed a blurred picture of him sitting on the toilet.

Ethan chuckled a bit. At least he blurred it!

"I just need a day out... To plot..."

"Ay! You should go with Simon! He's going to withdraw from University today!" Ethan perked.

"How much did I miss?"

"A lot," I say.

Today I was going to have an outing with Olajide Olatunji for the first time in two years.

~~~

We piled into my car. I was breathing heavily as we drove down the street. What were my parents going to say? Why was JJ here with me?

"Are you okay?" JJ looked at me, beads of sweat starting to appear on my face. I nodded, still unsure. Wasn't I already a failure?

My hands started to shake, causing the wheel to shudder a bit. This couldn't happen in front of JJ, of all people. It just couldn't.

"Simon. Does this still happen to you?" JJ questioned.

I shook my head. A lie. My grip on the steering wheel became tighter and tighter.

"Pull over," he said.

"What?" I didn't look towards him.

"Pull over, Simon!" JJ commanded. I did as he told, "breathe," he whispered and took my hand. It was warm, but not damp. I could feel his breath on my skin. It tingled.

Slowly, I turned back to normal.

"I'm driving now," he jumped over into the chair I was sitting in. Awkwardly, I wiggled over to the other side, "Simon. This isn't a mistake if you hate it so much."