{COMPLETED} ✔ December Bloom

forty'eight

"So?" Braden finally asked curiously.

"What?" I answered back, slightly puzzled.

"What was up with Nurse Rose?" he elaborated.

"Oh. Nothing." I shook my head, determined to keep our exchange secret. It's not like I wanted everyone to know what she said about Dante…and me…sort of, "She was just telling me to drink lots of water and eat healthily."

"Oh."

Braden and I lapsed into a comfortable silence, Dante keeping silent the whole time I hardly noticed he was there, until I thought of something.

"Braden, didn't you say something about telling Dante and I, uh, something?" I asked him, wrinkling my nose at the way my words came out.

Braden looked at me confusedly.

"Huh? Wha - oh. Oh. Oh yeah, yeah, I did." he said, rubbing his neck in a suddenly nervous way.

Dante looked up from where he was staring at the ground to give me a look of confusion. I shrugged.

"Look, can we just walk back to our dorm?" Braden asked after sighing heavily.

"Are you okay, Braden?" I asked him as I sat down upon the couch in their dorm, looking worriedly at him.

I saw Dante glance at me, something passing across his face before it settled into the unreadable expression he seemed to have adopted for today.

"Yeah, I'm fine." he cleared his throat.

We were back in Dante and Braden's dorm, Dante and I sitting on the sofa and Braden standing up, looking very nervous.

I was quite sure about the fact that he was lying.

"So, what did you want to tell us?" Dante asked, his voice rough and bored as if he wanted to get this over and done with, as if it were all a waste of time.

Braden took a deep breath.

"Okay, um, I - shit, I uh, I - fuck - uh, I don't uh…" Braden stuttered, wiping his hands on his jeans hurriedly.

"Braden, calm down." I told him, making gestures with my hands to just go easy.

He nodded at me, gulping and swallowing.

"Braden, what is it? Come on, I don't have all day." Dante said coldly.

I turned my head to look at Dante, annoyance building up inside my chest.

"Dante!"

"What now?" he groaned, shaking his head and glaring at me.

"Uh, Braden is your best friend, shouldn't you be I don't know, comforting him? He's nervous!" I told him, a little loud to try and get my point across.

"Right, well, I probably would be comforting him if I knew what the fuck was going on but since I don't, what can I fucking do?" he replied angrily, his eyes like ice.

"What the hell is your problem, Dante?" I yelled at him, glowering as his face seemed to darken.

"I don't have one." he said bitterly.

"Aw I'm sorry. I guess I mistook your attitude, glares, bitter tones and unemotional expressions the wrong way. Sorry, that's how people behave when they don't have a problem." I said sarcastically.

"Shut up."

"No, I won't. Braden's trying to say something and you're not being very co-operative about it. He's your best friend, you should listen to him."