Devil's Effect

What Happened?

Chester stared at his cell phone. He'd been looking at the open text thread with Mike for the last hour, ever since Ryan had left. He couldn't commit to how he wanted to word his text, or even if he wanted to send one at all. If I say something, and he's not really cheating, then I'm just falsely accusing him. Just like he did to me, and I know how crummy that feels. He slumped at the kitchen table of Amir's downstairs. The apartment was quiet, and Noah had left right after Ryan. Since then Chester had managed a shower, and now he was in nothing but a pair of purple underwear and a matching t-shirt. His jeans were hanging over the back of his chair. He would pull them on before the pizza would show up.

I promised Ry I'd eat and I'm going to. Stupid melty hot fudge sundae just made me hungry. He wrapped his arm around his middle as he stared at his phone, sitting on the table. Maybe I just won't text him at all. He doesn't care...and if he doesn't care, then I don't care, he decided as he tried to sound convincing in his own head.

He tapped the screen on his phone, and scrolled through his last few messages with Mike. They weren't mean, but almost playful among the apologies. It was hard to read without feeling sad all over again, and Chester quickly clicked his home screen to black, just as someone knocked on the door.

He stood up, and looked down at himself. "Shit," he hissed, thinking he'd have more time. He grabbed his jeans, and started to pull them on as he hopped toward the door. "I'm coming!" he hollered when they knocked again.

Mike stood outside the door to Amir's apartment. He hadn't texted to say he was coming, and he wondered if Chester would even hear him back in the bedroom. He didn't wait long before he knocked again, and he heard Chester's yell through the door. Mike put his phone in his pocket and took a deep breath. He hadn't worked out what to say on the entire ride over, so he could only hope that he would be able to get the words out.

Chester opened the door and Mike saw the look of confusion on his face. He's dressed. So he wasn't in bed. "Hey," Mike managed to say. "I know I didn't text or call or anything. I was hoping you'd let me in. I, I want to talk." He felt his hands twisting up into the bottom of his t-shirt, and it was in that moment he realized he was still wearing pajama bottoms.

Chester looked him up and down before he stepped to the side. "I was waiting on pizza, and debating on texting you, so I guess this saves me that." He motioned for Mike to step in.

"Oh, good. Pizza." Mike realized it sounded like he was expecting to have some and saw Chester give him a look out of the corner of his eye. "For you, I mean. Ryan said you didn't want to eat, so pizza is good," he rambled nervously as he followed Chester into the apartment.

Chester ran his hand over his tiny mohawk. "He didn't need to tell you that," he mumbled. "You know how I get with my appetite." He glanced Mike's way when they got to the table. Despite his ex being in pajamas and generally looking like he'd just rolled out of bed, Chester felt something soft creep across his belly. Maybe he's coming to explain what happened last night. He looked over toward the open bedroom door. He wasn't sure he trusted himself to take Mike into his borrowed room, where the bed was. Where the closet was. Where it would be easy to do something he'd regret, just to try and feel something other than hurt. He scooted around Mike to get to it first. He closed it tightly before he pointed at the table. "We can sit down. No one else is here."

"Okay." Mike waited for Chester to choose a seat before he sat down, across from him. His skin felt clammy and his stomach was already rolling with nausea. He could see the bags under Chester's eyes, and he'd noticed Chester's bare feet when he came in. He always wears socks. He never walks around without them. "I know you're tired of hearing me say that I'm sorry," he started, his hands nervously moving in his lap. "I just... I thought about telling you something last night, when we were in the closet, and I didn't. And, I, I feel like I should."