HSMTMTS CHRISTMAS ONE SHOTS

Day 7. Before You See PT 1

In which 2 broke college students find themselves in 1 apartment after a pandemic. In a conversation, they decide to clear more than just 1 thing up.

Except well...1 thing.

Nini Roberts
"And what do you think that is?" I swallow, knees to chest. I watch Ricky across the room in the same position. "My reason for being what I am today?"

"Y'know, I wish I knew. Could I have told, you would've known way earlier."

I suck on the inside of my cheek before examining the room. It was messy, no doubt but...everything about us was messy. Our relationship was the one thing that was clean, but now? I don't know what we are. Friends? Acquaintances? Strangers?

"Ricky...I-..." I take a second to think and fidget with my fingers. "How long have we been in this...quarantine?"

"I'm not sure. I think 4 months? Why?"

"I don't know, maybe because we managed to completely fall apart in just 4 months?" I sigh. "Y'know this isn't us."

He chuckles. "You're right. We aren't slobs are we?"

"Are we?" I grin.

"Another question we'll never be able to answer." We both laugh and ignore the distance between us.

"God, what are we doing?" I question. "Why are we struggling so much?"

"Well...we're both broke college students so...AY we got an answer." I snort and we both try to recover from a conversation that was honestly not that funny, but funny in our minds. He bites his lip before standing up and walking over to me. He sits besides me and keeps his smile. "How do you think we can fix this apartment up?"

"For starters...let's get our mental health back up, then we can y'know. Talk apartment shit." I joke.

"Oh yeah? How are we going to do that?"

"Well...I think that it's more so me than you."

"O-kay. Then how we can we get your mental health back up?" He returns to his knee position and and smiles at me.

"You're gonna ask the person whose mental health is low, how they should get it up?"

He cocks his head to the side. "Something wrong with that?"

I snort. "Just a bit."

He chuckles and clicks his tongue. "Okay...tell me what's wrong then. Am I reason why your mental health is so low?"

"What? No. No, it's just school. You're annoying, but not that annoying Ricky."

"School? It's not that bad right now."

"Maybe not for you but... it's just stressful."

He slightly frowns. "How come you haven't asked me for help?"

"You have your own shit to deal with and I'm a theatre major. You're a film major and I'm sorry but those don't work as well as you think."

"You haven't even asked me though. Maybe I could help. Take some stress off of your shoulders."

"Thank you, but...I'm not going to have you by my side all throughout my life."

"What? Are you saying we aren't going to be friends when we're older? That's rude."

"No, I mean-" I giggle, "just that you won't be able to help me all through my life."

He nods. "Okay, maybe...maybe not but.. that doesn't mean I can't help you now, does it?"

I sigh. "Well I crammed all of my work in yesterday so there's nothing you can help me with."

"Mkay. Mkay, that's good. Nothings too stressful right now is it?"

I shake my head. "No..not right now but this room...is something else."

He looks around. "It's annoying you?"

"Yeah.." I admit. "But I'll clean it later. I think we should go get some food."

"We can order pizza. We don't have to go all that far and we can clean now if you'd like."

I raise a brow. "What's with the sudden care?"

"What?"

"Why are you caring about this all of a sudden?"

He snorts. "I've always cared, what are you going on about?"

"Yeah right."

"What do you mean, I always have. Especially if it bothers you." He stands up and holds a hand out. "Come on. Let's stress clean."

I find myself laughing as I watch Ricky dance with a broom in his hand. "Come on, the broom makes a way better mix stand than regular ones," he says, smiling as a curl drops onto his forehead.

He sings and sweeps as I begin to pick up the crazy amounts of paperwork from the ground. I never thought that theatre would end up doing that to you, that's for sure. Papers and papers and totally wasted time.

As James Arthur plays in the background, I sing along and wait for Ricky to bring a trash can over to me. When he does, he hesitates putting it down for no apparent reason. I don't question it though since he overall is a weird guy.

He stops for a second before realizing that the doorbell had rung. "I'll get the door."

"Okay. Don't forget your mask though."

"I won't, I won't."

I shove the papers into the garbage can and release a heavy breath as I tie up my hair into a bun. I stand up and check my phone for the time before looking around the room.

We've cleaned half of the apartment for the most part but I mean... actually....this is a lot for us. I'm quite happy that we did this. It's another weight off of my shoulder and I'm sure off of Ricky's. He legit sleeps on the couch, this must've been hell for him to see every morning.

How did it even get this messy actually? Who did what?

Ugh whatever, it's both our place anyway. It shouldn't be so musty.

I find my phone ringing and catching my attention. I look at the unknown number and hesitate before answering it.

It wasn't long before I found myself scared of Ricky coming back.

WattPad wasn't letting me access my books so I apologize. You'll be getting your 3, almost 4 chapters today!

Enjoy Your Day or Night!
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-CR🎅