Road To Happiness ✔

THIRTEEN

"Well, what do you think?" Stefan asked. They sat at a table in the middle of a quiet cafe, sipping on iced coffees.

Hugo pursed his lips and stared at his drink. He could feel Stefan staring at him expectantly and decided to make him stew for a moment. "I like it," he signed eventually and smiled at him.

"Thank God!" he exclaimed. "At least someone does. Renee hates these things."

"Why? It's good," Hugo replied, his face scrunched in confusion.

"I don't know, she's weird."

"That's for sure."

"Don't tell her I told you that though, or she'll have my head."

Hugo beamed at him. "Your secret is safe with me," he told him.

It was the second time they'd been to lunch in a week. The second time since Stefan saw him at the clothing store. It was the first time he was wearing his new clothes. He liked how they looked on him. They were comfortable for the most part, except sometimes the jeans felt a little tight, but he was sure he would get used to them. However, no one had said anything about them. It felt like he was the only person who noticed anything different.

He was meant to go to Stefan's and Renee's house after lunch for another movie marathon. It was all they did aside from the occasional racing game that always left them yelling at each other, even Hugo, who had to put down the controller to sign angrily at whichever one had beaten him.

The waitress came by with their food and Stefan dug in without another word. Hugo took his time, unlike the man before him, who stuffed his face with food so quickly he was sure he would get indigestion. Stefan looked up and froze. "What?" he asked. "I lived with three other boys, if you didn't eat fast, you didn't get seconds."

Hugo huffed out a laugh. He never understood the things siblings did as an only child and if he was being honest, he was grateful. Siblings seemed way too stressful for him to deal with and way too annoying. Stefan guffawed along with him. He still hadn't gotten used to how loud the other man's laugh was, but it never failed to make him smile.

"So, was there anything you wanted to do after this?" Stefan asked. Hugo shook his head. He didn't have anything he needed to do. He wasn't going to buy anymore clothes for a while. Most of his money was going towards saving up for a place on campus. He still needed to ask his boss for a raise and tell his father his plans, both of which scared him too much.

"Not that I can think of," he answered with a frown.

"Good," Stefan said. "Means we can go straight back to mine. Renee is filling my phone with messages wondering when we're going to be there."

"Why didn't she just come with us?" Hugo asked. It would have been good to see her outside of class. They hadn't done much over the past week or so. This would be the first time in a long time where they weren't going through notes together.

Stefan shrugged. "I think she said something about hanging out with some high school friends today. She hasn't seen them in a while," he replied. It took Hugo a moment to remember that he and Stefan were the same age and the high school friends Renee had were not the same as him. Stefan probably wasn't friends with Renee's friends. He'd chosen to spend time with Hugo after all.

When they finished their food, Hugo followed him back to his car. Stefan had gotten into the habit of picking him up from his house every time they met up for lunch. Hugo's father said nothing every time he went out, but Hugo knew the man was happy he was making friends again. As long as he didn't pester him to speak, they would be fine. Despite it, he was still going to leave. He needed to get on his own two feet. He was twenty-three, it was time to be more independent.