Comfort

Goodbye

(944 words)

It was now the next day, the storm had finally moved away, it was calm. Last night, was weird like every other day I've spent here, unsurprisingly. I might have gone too far, but I told him I wasn't good with banter. It was hard to sleep with the storm and all this on my mind, I only got a few hours of sleep.  I was forced to get up, however, when Maui decided to jump on top of me.  He scared me a bit, and it made me severely miss Benji.  I gave Maui the affection he clearly needed.

  Whilst I was petting Maui, Grian came down, "Wow, I've never seen him so friendly to anyone else before."

  He had Pearl come down after him.

"Oh, Hello.  He must be thanking me for finding his friend." I said, still half asleep.

  Whenever Maui saw Grian, he got off of me, and started rubbing Grian's legs. 

"What a traitor." I said, yawning.

"Oh, he just wants his breakfast." Grian said happily.

I pulled my torso up, rubbing my eyes.  Whenever you wear tight sweaters, it can get uncomfortable after awhile, but his didn't.  The material was soft and although tight, it wasn't suffocating.

"You sure I can have this sweater?" I asked readjusting the shirt.

"Of course, it's my gift to you." Grian stated, fixing up some cat food.

"May I remind you of the fork of friendship?  You said that there was a price to that, so I'm worried there is a price to this." I said pointing to the sweater.

"Well, you stayed with me.  That was the price." He said lightly, once again making me think of my actions.

"I um, I wanted to apologize, again, for last night."

"Mumbo, you don't have t—"

"I do, because I believe I over-stepped my boundaries.  I shouldn't have done that, and I won't ever again." I insisted.

  The man is gay, and I used that to my advantage.  I thought about it too long last night to not feel guilty.

"Okay then, thank you." Grian said blankly, continuing to feed his kitties.

  I was not satisfied with his reaction, he was supposed to be more grateful.  Like Maui and Pearl when he gives them their food.

"Alright well, I'm going to head home soon.  I have to pack and all that jazz." I said getting up from the mattress.

"Oh actually, can you lay on the mattress a bit longer." He said walking towards me.

"Um, what?" I asked, laying back down cautiously.

  He didn't look at me, or acknowledge anything about me or the fact that what he said was weird.  He just bent down, and pulled the plug holding the air in, then went back to the kitchen.  I felt like Maui or Pearl, I wanted attention dammit.

"Hey, um, thanks for letting me stay." I said, just trying to make a conversation.

"No problem." Was all he said, laughing as he played with the kitties.

  The only noise in the room was the air flowing out of the mattress, and Grian playing with his kitties.

"You know, I never felt that appreciated for finding Pearl." I mumbled childishly.

"What?" Grian asked, he probably didn't hear me.

"Nothing." I said, still childishly.

  The rest of the morning was quiet between us, I was finishing getting the air out of the mattress, and then I would be on my way.

"Make sure you got everything before you go." Grian said.

"Yep, I'm good." I said without even thinking, I was now being cold to him.

  I grabbed my clothes, and was headed for the door.

"Um, Mumbo?"

I stopped, "Yeah?" I asked, turning my  head around.

"Bye, I had fun." He said, holding his hand out.

  A hand shake goodbye?  What are we, business partners?

I looked at him weirdly and rejected his hand shake with a one armed hug.  His hands wrapped around me naturally.

"Um, Mumbo?"

"Hmm?"

"You know I'll see you tomorrow?  And then we'll go to the Bahamas together, right?" He chuckled.

I let him go, "What's wrong with a hug goodbye?" I asked.

He laughed, "Nothing, goodbye." he waved with a smile.

"Goodbye." I waved back happily and then left.

  I was unnerved with our goodbye, it felt weird, but I'm happy to be going home.  I got in my car, put on my seatbelt, started it up, and I was on my way.  I made it to the end of the neighborhood, when I realized something, I left my phone and my charger at Grian's!

"For Christ's sake!" I say turning around.

  I made my way, back down his neighborhood, slightly going over the speed limit.  Then I saw him, Grian was running with my charger and phone.  I stopped and pulled over and got out.

"Mumbo!  I told you not to forget anything!" He said annoyed and slightly out of breath.

  He was handing me my things, I grabbed them and put them on my seat in the car.

"Thank you." I said smiling.

"Okay, goodbye for real this time." He said.

I pulled him into a hug and laughed, "You didn't have to run after me."

  He didn't say anything, just hugged me back and chuckled at himself.

We both let go, "Alright, it was fun, goodbye." I said.

"It's not goodbye though, I'll see you tomorrow!" He smiled.

"Right, see you tomorrow." I smiled back.

  He walked back home, and I moved my phone before getting back in my car.  Once I was situated, I turned around using a driveway, and I drove back home, this time, more content with our 'goodbye.'