Like Buttons On A Shirt

Chapter 22

After switching through different channels I settled for some cheaply made reality show. I could really use some drama to keep my head off... things.
I had missed the beginning but apparently Jacpb cheated on his girlfriend Alice with his coworker Karen.
Goddamnit Jacob...
Oh and now Alice seems to be pregnant and nobody knows whose child it is because she also had an affair with Jacob's brother Timothy.
Wow... the audacity...

"You really wanna watch this shit?", Gerard said after a while of Alice and Jacob shouting at each other.
I jumped slightly. Invested in the drama I kinda forgot that I wasn't alone in this room.

"There's nothing better to watch I guess...", I murmured.
"If you push the SYnC button there should be a movie selection. If you want to of course", Gerard said and I looked over to him. He hadn't taken his eyes off the sketchbook yet.

"Nah I think I'm good", I said. I secretly really enjoyed the show. You know... sometimes you just need something trashy to relax. Something you dont have to concentrate on but that flows through your head like its nothing. That's really enjoyable.

"Besides, dont you want to know if little Jeremy is Jacob's or Timothy's child? Karen really fucked up!", I said wildly gesturing towards the TV.
I could have been mistaken but I thought I heard Gerard snort a little.

"Yeah I guess so. I bet its somebody else's child entirely. I mean... it would be too clichee for it to be the brothers child right? They need a big plot twist at the end to make it remotely interesting", Gerard said.
He turned the sketchbook a little to the side to reach some spots better. Luckily it also made me have a better look at what he was drawing. Sadly I coukdht really make out what it was supposed to be. Just a few lines randomly splattered on the page. Maybe he just wasn't that good at drawing. I mean... I couldn't judge him.

"What do you think happened?", I asked him.

He leaned back on his bed and thought about it for a second. Then he pointed the pencil at the TV where Alice was holding her face in her hands, obviously crying.

"I bet Karen had a fling with some random dude that got her pregnant and is now trying to push the child onto Jacob or Timothy to get some money out of it"

"That would suck", I said.

He nodded.
"But only for Alice. I cant pity a cheater. Thats the lowest of every low. I mean... if you dont love your partner enough to the point of you wanting to fuck somebody else you should break things off right away. Spares you a lot of tears and troubles"

Gerard was right. I had the same opinion in the whole cheating thing.
And low and behold: he even got the storyline right!
After a very dramatic pause the host of the show revealed that neither Jacob nor Timothy were the kids father.
Goddamnit Karen...

"How the fuck did you know?", I asked surprised after I realised that Gerard had in fact guessed the big reveal.

He just shrugged and said: "Intuition I guess. I seem to be good at that"

For a while nobody said anything and we just watched Alice have another mental breakdown while Karen was frantically trying to explain herself to the two brothers.
The host managed to calm everybody down and the end of the story consisted in Alice actually getting back with Jacob, forgiving him his affair with Karen.
Gerard and I both let out an annoyed sigh.
Goddamnit Alice...

"Hey it's pretty late... do you want to have lunch maybe?", I asked after I took a look at the clock at the wall. I kind of knew that he was going to day no but after the day was aos successful I thought I could try anyway.

"No thanks", Gerard declined. Like I thought.

He closed the sketchbook and put it on his nightstand together with the pencil and the rest of the box.
"Actually I am pretty tired right now", he said and shrugged, "I guess I would like to lay down now"

I was surprised. He seemed fine just a second ago but suddenly the weird, down-dragging aura was back and everything seemed heavy again.
I would lie if I said that I wasnt disappointed.

"Oh okay", i said and I could hear the disappointment in my own voice.
"Uhm... are you okay?", I asked as I got up fron my chair and put it back to the desk. I knew it was a stupid question to ask but I didnt know what else to do.

"Yeah. Yeah I'm fine. I just want to sleep now"

Gerard got further under the blanket.
I could sense that he didn't want to talk anymore. Maybe I should just leave him alone for now and get something to eat myself. I was pretty hungry after all.

"Okay then... just call me whenever you need me. I will check on you later", I offered but Gerard didn't say anything to that.

I left his room and closed the door behind me.
I think I just need a moment...

I was shocked by how fast this whole day ended. Just a second ago we were talking about Alice and Karen and whatever the other guys were and now...? His mood changed withing a single second and I couldn't explain why or how or... just anything in general. Was that normal for people like him? I would have to ask my mother about it. She seemed to know more than me.

Now that Gerard was back to his old self I didn't really want to do anything anymore myself.
Though I did get lunch, I skipped dinner after Gerard told me he didnt want anything when I checked on him again.
For some reason I felt bad. Like it was my fault that his mood changed. Maybe I shouldn't have pushed myself onto him like that. He probably wanted to be alone while drawing.
I sighed. I thought I was making progress but now?

With a weird feeling in my stomach that went far beyond disappointment I went to bed early but as I expected I couldn't fall asleep for the life of me. I was the kind of person whose sleep schedule is heavily affected by feelings so this wasn't a surprise to me.

And when I checked my phone at 3 am and heard crying from the other room I wasnt surprised either.