He says"Hi."

13

I hung up my phone and began shuffling through my jersey pocket. I was immediately stopped by a pulsing sensation in my wrist.

Guess I have to ice it again...

I shrugged off the discomfort as best as I could and continued digging. Finally, I recovered a pair of earphones and placed one of them in my ear.

Play Music Now
I began my journey. With each step, the constant motion increased the intensity of the breeze, the cool air easing me. As neighbouring houses begin to pass by, I slightly picked up the pace to the point where I was race-walking. This went on for a short until I notice a familiar house. I sauntered towards it, taking my earphones out as I did so, and gave a few knocks.

"Who is it?" asked Daniel from the other side.

"Who do you think?" I replied.

I waited for a few seconds, the locks on the could be heard faintly. the door opened with a silent CREAK, revealing a comfortable-looking Daniel sporting a fluffy bunny onesie and extremely messy hair. I could not help but let out a small chuckle. Daniel narrowed his eyes slightly and thinned his lips.

"Did the chuckle bug bite you or something? What is so funny?" He said in an accusatory tone, half-grinning himself.

I immediately stopped and cleared my throat.

"Oh, it is nothing. Nothing at all."

"Ah-huh... The fuck happened to your mouth?"

Shit!

Putting my hand to my lip, I tried my best to create a quick cover-up.

"I... uh... tripped on my way home from school yesterday." I answered, trying to sound as natural as possible.

While, at the same time, slowly moving my hand to my back in hopes that he has not seen it already.

Daniel eyed me up and down for a solid second but ultimately shrugged it off. He stepped aside giving me space to enter the house. I walked in and immediately the warmth of the house is wrapped around me. I let out a small sigh. After locking the door behind us he turned towards me.

"Do you feel the bedroom or living room this time?" He asked.

I replied with the bedroom, this resulted in the slight rise of Daniel's eyebrows.

"Damn... week must have been really shitty, come on then."

I followed him up to his bedroom and closed the door behind me. At the immediate sight of a bed, I sauntered towards it and laid down, face first. I felt a few head-pats, resulting in long groans to escape. I was partially relaxed.

"Come on, tell Danny what happened." He said mocking comfort.

"Arthur is making me see a doctor!" I whined, my voice muffled by the duvet.

"And why is Arthur making you see a big mean doctor?"

I looked up at Daniel, he was sporting a faking pout and still patting my head. I rolled my eyes and flipped to my back.

"It's because of the fall I just told you about."

"Ahhhhhhh. Well other than that, what else has your mood down?"

"Your ass of a brother-" I stopped myself before I could tell him the truth.

"He...he hasn't been treating me well lately and it's really been messing me up." I mumbled.

"Oh no, I'm sorry." He said, more sincere in his tone than before.

I closed my eyes in response, letting a little humph escape my mouth.