Approximately 2 Years [×Lunch Club×]

I Got Depression

As Schlatt walked out of Cooper’s apartment, he stopped and turned around to say bye. “I’ll text you guys later, yeah?” He asked. Carson yelled at him to go away from inside the house, clearly losing at Mario Kart. Cooper nodded and smiled, rolling his eyes as he held onto the door. “Yeah, that’s fine. I should go make sure he doesn’t break anything,” he replied, giving Schlatt a fistbump. “Good idea,” Schlatt turned to walk away, but quickly spun around again. “I almost forgot to ask you! Are you going to Liam’s birthday party tomorrow? He told me you’re invited and he wants to see you again since he’s never really here anymore.” At the sound of Liam’s name, Cooper’s breath stopped, if only for a moment.

Tomorrow. Two years to the date. And Cooper was invited to Liam’s party again. “W-we’ll see. Who else is gonna be there?” Schlatt shrugged in response. “I’m not sure, he just said he really wants everyone to come and he said that no one needs to bring presents, just beer, so…” He trailed off, watching two squirrels chase each other. They watched the squirrels for almost a minute before Cooper gathered himself. “Those squirrels are little cunts, you know that?” They laughed and Schlatt walked away, telling Cooper to text him later.

Carson could tell something was off when Cooper came back into the room. He had heard the door close about 3 minutes ago, but Cooper was only just showing up. He sat on the couch behind Carson, not bothering to pick up a controller. “So are you gonna go to the party? I’ve heard it’s gonna be a lot more high energy this year after everyone gets settled in.” Cooper’s eyebrows went up. “I guess I could go for a hangover soon…” He replied.

Carson paused Mario Kart and stood up from the floor, sitting back down next to Cooper on the couch. “Why are you saying shit like that, dude? You’ve been really down lately. It’s pretty concerning.” Carson watched as Cooper’s eyes scrunched up and he swallowed hard. The silence was deafening to both of them. “Just… thank you for staying with me tonight. I’m not ready to talk about it, but maybe I’ll tell you if… tomorrow…  At the party. Okay?” He tilted his head down and turned to face Carson. Carson’s eyes widened slightly as he noticed the tear on Cooper’s cheek. He leaned over and wiped it off with his thumb. “That’s fine.” They spent a moment in silence before Carson spoke up again. “I want cereal.” Laughing, the two boys walked into the kitchen to eat their cereal as the music from Rainbow Road played in the background.

‘Travis! You idiot ass!’ ‘Carson! Don’t curse in front of  Travis, dude, he’s baby!’ ‘I do what I want, Coopie.' ‘Hey! Only I get to call him that! Also, you suck at Rainbow Road, dude. Get got.’