Somewhere Only We Know

Another Day

Chapter Three

It's really awkward now.

I'm not sure why he's acting the way he is but he's ignoring me. Well, not really ignoring. He just doesn't say anything other than 'good morning', 'good night' and an occasional 'excuse me'. I think I preferred it when he was trying too hard.

Football practice isn't as bad as I thought it would be. We have a game tomorrow but I'm pretty sure I won't be playing. Either way, I'm still trying my best.

Big Ben tackled me a few times, harder than he should have. I think he's still pissed off about the thing at the party. He would have kept going if it wasn't for Noah telling him to cut it out. He still managed to bruise me a little, especially my ribs.

Winston's not in our room when I come back. His bed is neatly made, like always, he's not in the kitchen and he's not in the bathroom either. He's usually already here when I come back, sitting at his desk and typing away. I try not to worry about it too much.

I open the fridge in our kitchen to look for something cold. I thought I still had an icepack somewhere from yesterday's practice but I must have left it in the locker room or something because it's not there.

We're going to be having food at the college once the semester starts but for now, we're living on whatever we have in the fridge. Most of the food belongs to Winston but there is some of my shit in there too. It was bought with Scott's money but It's still my food.

There's a can of coke that I'm pretty sure is mine because it's on my shelf, so I take it and I shut the fridge again.

I sit down on my bed, my shirt lifted and the cold can pressed to my ribcage. The cold can feels weird on my bruised skin but I think it's helping. It's better than just leaving it like Winston did to his face.

It's healing, his face. Slowly but still, it's healing.

I leave the cold can on my skin until I get used to it, then it seems to stop helping. I still feel sweaty and dirty after practice so I decide to take a shower.

I stand in the shower, letting the hot water pour down my face, my chest, my arms and my legs. My muscles start to feel better after a while, more relaxed. I quickly scrub myself down, I'm hoping to get some more sleep before the game tomorrow.

The room is still empty when I come out of the shower. I was kind of hoping he'd be back by now. I hope he's okay.

***

I don't get to worry about where Winston is or isn't because I fall asleep almost as soon as I get into bed.

It isn't until it's much, much later that I wake up.

I hear a crash and I start to stir awake. When I open my eyes, the room is almost in complete darkness and Winston is stood in between the two beds.

He's bent down, picking something up from the floor and I want to fall back asleep and pretend I didn't see anything but then he turns around and he almost jumps when he sees me looking at him.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up," he whispers and I sigh in response. He stays standing there, the plate that he knocked off of my nightstand is still in his hand and he quickly puts it back where it was.

"'You 'kay?" I ask. My voice is quiet and raspy and I have no idea whether he heard me or not. But then he nods. He's been gone for almost the whole day and I should probably ask him where he's been but I'm so tired.

"Sorry I wasn't around," he says quietly as he starts undressing for bed. I should probably look away.

I close my eyes and I hear the sound of him taking his jeans off, the sound of his shirt landing on the floor.