Temporary Bliss [boyxboy]

8: Ikea

I woke up feeling pretty rested.
The sun was shining into the room through the blinds, so I figured that I'd slept fairly long.
I squinted my eyes at the light and turned my head to face Anna; she was still sound asleep.

The blinds were casting shadows, so that the whole room looked like it was covered in stripes.

With a quiet sigh, I got up, padding into the bathroom. After I finished doing my business I went back into Anna's bedroom, finding that she was now awake.

"Morning," she smiled and sat up a little.
"Hey," I said, deciding that I'd just get back into bed with her.

"You don't want any breakfast?," she asked.
"Nah, not yet," I shrugged and took my phone off the nightstand.
I had about a dozen texts and missed calls from Caleb. Seeing that made me feel shitty.

I really had overreacted. I felt guilty now that I'd slept off my anger. He was probably worried sick.
I decided I would call him back after breakfast.

---

After Anna and I had finished eating, I took my phone and called Caleb.

"Fuckin' hell!" was the first thing he said when he picked up, "Where the fuck are you?"
"Uh, hi. I'm at Anna's." I answered dryly.

"You're fuckin' insane! Why the fuck did you just run off like that? Do you even know how fuckin' worried I was?"
"Yeah, okay," I snorted, "You need to chill. The reason I left in the first place was because you were being a complete dick."

Silence for a couple of seconds, then a sigh.

"I know. Sorry."

"Uh-huh."

More silence.

"Look, I'll come pick you up and we can, uh... I dunno, go to Ikea or somethin'... Just gimme the address," Caleb offered.

To understand why this was something Caleb could use to make up for being an ass, you have to know that I loved Ikea. Not necessarily because I liked the stuff they had there or because I wanted to buy something, but because it was magical for some reason. The way it was set up, so spacious, with example bedrooms, bureaus, living rooms or kitchens. The unnecessary, yet useful and very tempting little things they sold... And last but not least - the food. I just loved being there.

Caleb sounded genuinely sorry, and seeing as I had already admitted to myself that I had overreacted, I was finding it difficult to stay mad at him.

"Alright," I gave in and told him the address after asking Anna for it.

I briefly explained the whole situation to Anna, since I hadn't wanted to talk about it the day before.

"Well, you'll be okay. You guys have been friends for ages right?"

I nodded, "Yeah, and as I said, maybe I was a little too quick to storm out and stuff. What can I say, I'm a little dramatic sometimes."

Anna laughed, "Well, I'm glad it's not that bad."

A short while later and there was a honk from a car that had just pulled into the driveway.

"That's Caleb," I said matter-of-factly, "I'd better get going. Thanks for letting me stay again."

"Thank you for cleaning the whole house," she said with a small smile, "And anytime. I had fun last night."

"Yeah, me too," I grinned, "I'll see you."

I went outside and got into Caleb's car.

"I'm sorry."

I slammed the car door shut and gave my friend a look that let him know how confused I was.
It had been odd enough that he had apologized over the phone, but face to face? That was unheard of.

"I'm sorry too," I mumbled, "I overreacted."
"So... Are we cool?" Caleb asked unsurely and I nodded.

"We're cool."

---

We came out of Ikea laughing, with two new rugs, a lava-lamp, a rubber spatula and a dog plushie.

"So much for 'just looking', huh?" Caleb laughed.
"Hey, you offered. You know exactly what my relationship with Ikea is like."

He shrugged, silently agreeing. We carried all the shit to the car and I hugged him from behind.

"Thank you," I said sweetly, dragging out the 'you'.

"Ugh," Caleb laughed, "Get off me, stop being gay."
"Stop being homophobic," I grinned and punched his arm playfully.

It was good to be with him again.

--

A few days later, I came home from my last day of job training in the early evening.
I dropped my bag by the door and walked into the kitchen to find Caleb sitting at the kitchen island shirtless, stuffing his face with muffins.

"Hey, what you been up to today?," I asked, surprisingly distracted by Caleb's tan, toned upper body.

He said something unintelligible through a mouthful of food.

"Sorry, but I don't speak fatass-nese," I said and took the plate away from Caleb who grunted in protest.
"Hey! And that's not even a word."

"You don't say? And here I was my whole life thinking it was legit," I said sarcastically, picking up a muffin myself.

"So how's your training been going, you hypocrite?", Caleb asked, turning towards me and pulling the muffin plate back over to him.

"Hey, I'm allowed to eat as much as I want. After all I'm the one going to work," I argued.
"My house," Caleb shot back.
"Your parents' house," I corrected him smugly.

"Touché," he laughed, "Can you at least give me a discount on the booze at that club?"

"That depends on how nice you are to me," I said, glancing down at Caleb's abs every few words.

What the hell was wrong with me? It wasn't like I was into guys, not at all. Let alone Caleb. I shook my head to myself and drew my eyes away from my friend, feeling awkward.

"Hey, put your tongue away," he laughed.
"Fuck off," I said, my face going red. He had noticed?! God, this was embarrassing.

Luckily, Caleb dropped it immediately and I didn't have to talk about this sudden attraction to my friend.

It was so weird. I mean, clearly this hadn't been the first time I'd seen him shirtless, not by a long shot. We'd been friends for quite a few years and I'd never looked at him like this. So why was it happening now?

I figured that it was probably just the fact that I'd been spending even more time in his presence than usual, and that I maybe felt a little lonely.

Sure, the whole Anna thing was nice, but it just wasn't right.

Yeah, that had to be it. I was just desperate - I knew I wasn't gay, and that was final.