california world - dreamnotfound

sleeping in

"hey wake up, lazy fuck," i mumble, carefully slapping nick on the cheek several times. he's leaning his head against my shoulder, sitting in roughly the same position as he fell asleep in last night. today though, he's looking hungover and gray as ever.

"let me sleep man," he grumbles, only shifting slightly beside me.
"we gotta get to the mall, clay's coming today."
"clay? is it monday already?" he wonders, almost inaudibly. i nod. "damn i thought it was, like, saturday."

"you're fucked up. what the hell did you take yesterday?" i ask as i light a cigarette.
"i don't know man. i barely remember yesterday."
"it better not have been anything heavy, you know i'd kill you."
"don't worry, it was probably just ecstasy or something," he yawns, sitting up straight.

"good. i don't want to lose you to anything bad."
"well i don't wanna lose you to any shit either so you better behave."
"i will," i chuckle, taking another drag.

i use all my strength and power to stand up and stretch my sore limbs. nick tries to do the same but just stumbles backwards and falls flat on his ass again.

"god, you're starting to become a real junkie," i comment, sighing.
"i'm sorry," he pleads with puppy eyes, "i promise i'll better myself, now pull me up will you?"

i help him against my will, immediately turning to walk to the mall. the sun burns against my skin, it's probably past noon already judging by its position in the sky. i feel nauseous, but also painfully hungry. i doubt we have any spare money though, so i guess i'll have to go empty until clay arrives.

the fact that i so heavily rely on him to get me through the day is truly cringeworthy. he already doesn't have much money for himself, yet he still chooses to spend a bunch on a street junkie down in la. i don't know if that means anything special, surely he wouldn't give me any if he didn't want to.

the thought of being special to clay awakens the butterflies in my stomach, making me very visibly crack a smile.

"why you look like the joker?" nick questions, snapping me out of my thought process.
"i-i'm just excited to meet clay, i guess," i stutter, mentally smacking myself.

"you're so in love with him dude!"
"i'm not in love with him, he's just... really cute?"
"awwww," nick exclaims, grabbing me with one arm and pulling me closer to him, "couple of the year."
"calm down, i haven't even met the guy yet."
"i have a strong feeling you guys will get along just fine."

i wonder how clay will react to us, to me, in real life. both me and nick are very touchy-feely type of guys, we have no problem cuddling up to each other on a chilly night and we often hug to show our love for one another. hopefully clay is the same.

a few minutes later we have the mall in sight and i start dashing across the street to connect to their wi-fi, avoiding all the traffic. as soon as i have a connection messages from clay pop up.

clay
the city's in sight :)
we're almost by the delivery point now
text me the address as soon as you see this

i quickly type out the address to the mall, flinching when nick grabs my shoulders, jumping up and down in excitement.

"is he here? when's he coming?"
"soon," i assure him, rolling my eyes.