Recalibrate

3. Shadowed

When he woke up, Squid felt completely lost, he realised that he was on the sofa in Stampy's house, he had a blanket wrapped around him. There were a couple empty beer bottles around the place, he looked around and Stampy was asleep beside him.
The TV was still on, and he could see that blocky design. He found himself laughing at the situation. It was like so many back in the old days.
He carefully removed himself from the sofa and looked down, his ankle had badly swollen, he saw that Stampy was gradually starting to wake up.
"Morning." He laughed, picking up the beer bottles and placing them back in the purple bin.
"Hey.." Chuckled Joe, his eyes squinting open.
"How are you?" He asked him, sitting on the edge of the sofa.
Stampy just laughed, standing up and raising his eyebrows, "Might need an ibuprofen."
Squid took out a packet of painkillers from his pocket, "lucky I got into a car crash last night!" And threw Stampy over the box.
"Yeah, lucky." Chuckled Stampy, opening up the cupboard and grabbing two glasses, filling them up with water and passing one to Squid as they both took the tablets.
"Cheers." Murmured Squid, "mind if I take a shower?"
"Go ahead- there's a couple fresh towels in the bathroom." Said Stampy, pointing to the door.
"Thanks mate." Said Squid, walking towards that door and closing it behind him.

A couple seconds later he heard,
"Christ I look awful!" Protruding from the bathroom,
"It's not that bad!" He called back. It was pretty bad though, he had a black eye and a large wound across his temple.

After a couple minutes of trying to get over his hangover, Stampy heard the front door open, his stomach dropped and he walked over to the hallway where he saw Sqaishey open the door with her suitcase in her hand.
She immediately looked up at him and ran over to him, "Hey!" She squealed, putting her arms over his shoulders and pressing her lips against his. After splitting apart Stampy held her waist,
"What are you doing?" He asked her,
"W-what?"
"You said you wouldn't be home till Friday."
"It is Friday." She said, taking out her phone and showing him the date.
"Since when did it become Friday?" He laughed.
Sqaishey walked towards the kitchen where she heard that the shower was on.
"Who's in the shower?" She asked, turning white.
"I.. need to talk to you." Stampy began, as Beth's eyes widened with disbelief, "it's not what you think." He said, laughing, "honestly."
He walked over to her and kissed her again, taking her arms, "sit down and I'll make you a cup of tea."
"Who slept here last night?" Asked Sqaishey, noticing the blanket on the sofa.
Stampy walked over beside her.
"Last night I got a call that Squid had been in a car crash in Southampton." He told her.
"Squid? As in-"
"Yep. He's a little shaken this morning. He's got a pretty bad black eye."
"-and you made him sleep on the sofa?"
Stampy started laughing with her, "we had drinks and played a couple games and then we just fell flat asleep."
"Silly goose." She giggled, greeting the dog, "I'm gonna go upstairs and have a nap, I've been up since 3am. Say hi to Squid from me."
"I will." Said Stampy, kissing her cheek, and giving her the cup of tea he had made, his day just seemed so much brighter with her in it.
"I'll lift your bags up." He offered, taking them upstairs and placing them beside the bed where Sqaishey was lying. He sat down beside her, putting his arms around her as their dog, Alyx nudged her snout between her arm. He couldn't stop smiling.
"What's up with you?" Asked Sqaishey, "Whats got you so happy?" But she was giggling too,
"I've got my friend back." He told her, kissing her lightly on the lips before walking into the bathroom to have a shower as Sqaishey's smile slowly faded.

Squid sat on the rim of the bath, watching the shower sprinkle down cold water as he caught his breath. He recalled the car accident yesterday. He remembered his head crashing against the windscreen before the airbags went on- he supposed that must have added to the dizziness he was feeling right now. He turned off the shower to try and settle his head. His right ankle was completely swollen as was the whole right side of his face from hitting against the door of the car.
After about half an hour he heard Stampy knocking on the door.
"Hey are you alright?" He heard,
"Yeah.. sorry.." squid took a large breath, "bit light-headed."
"I've got some fresh clothes for you mate- take it easy." Replied Stampy.
Squid tried to step out of the bath but his vision went blank. He didn't want to alert Stampy so he felt around to lie on the ground. When his vision returned he reached for one of the fresh towels and wrapped it around his waist. Sitting down against the wall and catching his breath. He opened the door slightly and reached to see the clothes that Stampy had left him: they were fairly standard t-shirt and bottoms which seemed to fit him well.
He ruffled his hair with the towel, still shocked by his bruised face. He was in pain now: the whiplash was getting to his neck, and the pain-relief tablets didn't seem to be helping.
He leaned his hands on the sink, splashing cold water over his face before drying himself and walking out. When he walked out he saw that Stampy had showered too, and he looked over to him. Squid's ankle was in agony and he found it almost impossible to walk.
Stampy ran over to help him, putting one arm around Squid's back and setting him down on the sofa.
"Do you reckon it's broken?" Asked Stampy,
"I dunno but it bloody hurts." He muttered. Pulling down his sock and looking at his now purple ankle.
"Jesus- I'll get some ice. Did the ambulance not do something?" Asked Stampy,
"I said I was fine and told them to focus on the other car." He replied.
"You're too kind to people." Sighed Stampy.
"I was the one that got them in the crash in the first place." Added Squid, looking down.
"I was on the phone to the police today.. they told me that they reviewed security cameras and said that the other car was in the wrong, in fact." Said Stampy sitting down beside Squid with a packet of frozen peas wrapped in a tea towel.
"W-what? when? That's absurd?"
"Just when I came out of the shower."
"Crap- what- why? I was completely in the wrong!"
"Apparently the lady was a little tipsy and she didn't start breaking until after she finished blasting her horn. And that you did indicate."
"Wow.. she had a baby in her car.. and somehow knowing I wasn't totally in the wrong has made me feel a bit worse. God I dont want to go to court." Sighed Squid, his brow sweating.
Stampy handed him a glass of water, putting his hand on his shoulder and secretly wanting Squid not to get better so that he'd stay here with him.