Match

26: Breeze

Thump!

Hayden drops his luggage on the floor once he walks in the bedroom. He falls flat on the bed, the mattress bouncing upon impact.

"It's so good to be hoooooome," he says through muffled blankets.

Cole watches Hayden's body sink into the fresh sheets. He's annoyed at how Hayden didn't pay any mind to his efforts, but then again Hayden is wrack from jet lag and long flights. He lifts his head to meet Cole's eyes.

"I swear the worst thing for me is the flight back."

Cole raises a sheepish smile. "That's how it is for everybody."

"No, but," he lifts his body up to scoot against the pillows rested against the bedframe, "I can't fall asleep easy on a plane. It would've been such a breeze. Mind you once we all met up in Vancouver, the flight there was like, ten hours."

"Oooh," Cole raises his brows.

He notices Hayden's dark circles and nest-like hair. Along with his raggedy look, he caught a whiff of stale sweat. He can tell Hayden was in a hurry to get home.

"Well you should probably take a shower before you nap," Cole says. "Or you're gonna stink up all the cold air we have left in the room."

Hayden stretches, yawning. "Aren't you gonna ask me how it was?"

"Hm?"

"The trip, dingus," he says, giving his luggage a lazy shove under the bed.

"Okay, how was it?" He adds a bit of sarcasm to his tone of voice.

Hayden yawns again. "It was so much fun. We went to these really cool public shrines, almost convinced ourselves to try the Mount Fuji hike. Went to Nara park. Pet some cats at the cat cafes. Ate a lot of sashimi, bought a bunch of souvenirs... oh yeah that's right!"

He dips down to his bag and unzips it. Cole peers over, perplexed. Immediately when he opens the bag clothes spill out. He digs around within the clothing mess and pulls something out. Up in the air, he tosses it to Cole, who just barely catches it. He examines what's handed to him. It's a colourful package with bold Katakana lettering.

"What's this?" He looks to Hayden.

"Pineapple candy."

Cole looks at the pineapple imagery plastered on the front. The package crinkles the more he moves it around.

"I was gonna get ya something like Pocky or the neat KitKat flavours they have but," Hayden yawns, "it'd probably get crushed and melt."

Cole rests the package in his lap. "Thanks, uh, it'll help my sweet tooth craving I guess."

"It doesn't only help a sweet tooth."

"What?"

"Nothing!" Hayden shoots up. "I'm gonna shower and then conk out."

Cole smirks. "Don't conk out in the shower."

"I won't."

"In fact, don't lock the door."

Hayden waves an exhausted arm in the air as he strolls into the bathroom.

———————————

Cole continued listening to Hayden chatting away about his crazy trip stories. He said how he needed to touch up on his Japanese, as he struggled to read some menus and signs. He almost lost his wallet in Kyoto, and was also bummed about missing cherry blossom season. Thankfully, there were some flowery walkways one of his friends found. On and on, he was a constant chatterbox, until he slowly fell fast asleep. While talking, too. Cole pops open the bag he was gifted and chews on a piece.

His tongue is hit with an instant sweet flavour. He makes a satisfied 'hm' sound, popping another piece in his mouth. He decides to sit on his desk chair and reawaken his laptop. The brightness hits his sore eyes, until he manually dims it down. Tomorrow is a usual day of work, followed by another match. He taps away on the keyboard to look up the weather for Saturday.

'22 C, with severe thunderstorm warning'.

Cole frowns. That's not gonna be good, he thinks. Over his shoulder, he hears Hayden wail out a heavy snore. He looks behind to check on his loud roommate. Hayden's body is stretched out in an awkward position. The majority of his half-naked body isn't even covered under the blankets. He shifts his weight in his sleep to face the opposite direction, bringing the snores to a brief standstill.

The silence is deafening to him. It leaves room for his thoughts to crawl back. Jonah. He's about to reach over and grab his phone, but then stops himself. We saw each other like three times this week, he thinks. He pinches his brows together. But we're friends, yeah? Friends hang out... do they hang out this often? He doesn't normally question his friendships like this. His conscience tells him something else: he misses him. Brave fingers grasp at his phone, and then take a shy U-turn as soon as he remembers what happened yesterday. Instead, he texts Dakota.

Cole:

hey. u and lily free 2morrow? i can take you to my game after work.

He lets out one of the longest sigh of his life, then realizes he might've awoke Hayden. He swivels in his squeaky chair to check. Hayden is completely out like a light. His attention returns to the dinging phone.

Dakota:

Sure!! :D Me and Lil are staying over at my aunt's. I'll send the address and directions so you don't get lost LOL

While he is excited to meet up with his friends again, his cowardice still bugs him. It's right there, his contact is in plain beaming sight. Yet, to him it's like a literal firewall preventing him from texting Jonah, even for a simple 'how are you?'. So much for being a breeze, huh?... breeze... that's right! He completely forgot to tell Hayden about the A.C. Tomorrow feels like it's miles away. Maybe by then, he'll have enough courage to talk to Jonah.