(Warning: This chapter contains offensive slurs, strong language and verbal attacks. Just keep that in mind loves.)

Chapter 27 - A Friend In Me.

Oliver

"Why exactly are you crying right now?" Chris asked me with an upset tone, springing up from the floor and standing on his two feet.

Casper was the only one who was still sitting amongst the three of us.

"Because I'm right and it's true that he's a fag. Ask him," he spoke with a mouthful of chocolate.

"Shut up, shut your mouth. I wasn't talking to you," Chris snapped at Casper whose eyebrows knit into a frown.

"Watch it, I don't like your tone. I'll break your jaw," he threatened, but Chris rolled his eyes and brought his gaze back to me.

"Who is he? Who is this boy?" Chris asked me again, sounding a lot calmer than he did the first time he put the question to me.

"He's just a random person from my highschool," I sniffled, wiping my eyes but the tears just came trailing down again. I made sure to avoid using the word 'friend', because the last time I did he threw an offensive slur my way.

"Just a random person from highschool?" Casper garbled it into a question. "Ouch! Is that how you introduce Mason to your other fag, fairy boy friends?" He sneered another question at me.

"Stop saying that word," Chris cautioned with an aggressive tone.

"What word?" He shot back, feigning ignorance.

"The F word, you know the word I'm talking about. Stop saying it," Chris demanded, pressing his eyes shut as if calming his temper. He feared and refused to say the word like it was bitter in his mouth.

"Oh you're scared to say it? I can help you, fa-" Casper continued to deride me in front of Chris but he cut him short.

"What exactly is this fuckery?!" Chris boomed again, disgusted, "I swear to God if you say that word one more time I will-"

"What are you gon' do?" Casper interrupted him this time, throwing the remnants of the chocolate he'd suddenly lost interest in to the side. He wore a serious face as well.

Clenching his jaws and sharpening his gaze at Chris, I felt tense where I stood. Not only was fighting prohibited and considered a serious offence in lighthouse, but they were going to fight in my room and that will probably destroy all of my property.

"What are you doing here, Casper?" I quavered, wiping tears from my eyes again.

"I came to see you, and like I said before I'm hungry," Casper slowly took his glare from Chris to me.

He sat so comfortably on my desk chair and stared up at the both of us like he was ready to beat the shit out of us anytime soon.

"Olly do you want him here?" Chris asked, not taking his eyes away from Casper.

Of course I did not want him here, but how was I going to say it without getting beat up by him.

"I-I-I n-not," I stuttered uncontrollably.

Casper mimicked my stammer with a laugh. "You what? Speak up man, we can't hear you."

"Let him be," Chris scolded Casper again.

"Ugh," he groaned, pressing his thumb and his index finger on the bridge of his nose. "What even is your problem? I'm not even talking to you, why are you defending him?"

I broke another sob, Casper was embarrassing me in Chris's presence and I feared this might ruin my friendship with him.

"See? You're just making things worse stop butting in," he spoke with fake concern, motioning to me. Chris just stood still staring at me with a blank expression. "Wait, wait," Casper crowed, his voice rising and his eyes widening as if in realisation of something new. "He's the same person I saw you with that day in school, he was with a girl but that's not deceiving anybody," he gasped and held his hand over his mouth. "He's your boyfriend! You're his boyfriend, right?" He directed the question to Chris.

"Why the hell are you even saying this?" He narrowed his eyes at Casper, looking from him to me in confusion. "I'm not his boyfriend, and if I was I would've kicked your ass out of here by now."

"You're his boyfriend," Casper stated dismissively. "You haven't kicked me out yet because you're scared I'll break your jaw like I said I would, and I would. So not kicking me out is a wise decision."

"Try me," Chris spoke daringly, taking long strides towards Casper who made to stand up from my desk chair chair.

Oh my God, my room and my precious properties will all be in shambles by the time they're done fighting.

That was the only red flag that popped up in my head when I pictured the fight, and the image of my totalled room wasn't looking nice at all.

Dashing over to Chris, I stepped in front of him and stopped him from taking those remaining few steps towards Casper, which would most definitely start something we'll both regret in less than ten minutes.

Luckily for me, he listened and stopped. Placing a hand over his chest to stop him from moving any further, I could feel his heart pounding frantically behind his chest. He was enraged.

"Oh my God, see the way he's touching you all over and you're just listening to him. He has you wrapped around his finger," Casper shrieked and convulsed all in the name of laughing.

His laughter was disgusting to the ear.

"You've proven to posses unworldly stupidity," Chris sassed, "kudos to you." He took deep breaths to calm himself. I was glad at least there wasn't going to be a fight.

Or was I wrong once again?

"I wonder how Mason is going to feel when he sees the two of you booing up together and all," he said in between laughs.

That was the second time he had mentioned Mason, I was getting uneasy and upset. Was it just coincidence that after Mason visits my dorm, Casper comes waltzing in a few days later.

"How did you find my Dormitory? Did Mason tell you?" I voiced my fear. Despite my voice still being shaky from crying, I got that out at once without any hiccups.

"Oh you don't trust Mason anymore?" He exclaimed with a mocking pout. "Well no, Mason did not tell me. Even if I asked him and forced him to, he wouldn't, so I didn't waste my time asking him. I've other means," he finished, eying me and Chris who slowly removed my hand from his chest with a cold gesture.

I could already feel his hatred for me building up, but I had to deal with Casper first then Chris later.

"What other means?" I blurted out almost instantly.

"Oh," he looked around with an ugly toothy grin on his face, "I deal drugs here in Denberg," he put his hands around his mouth and imitated a whisper. "But that's a secret don't tell anyone," he relaxed back into the chair.

"Jesus Christ, how can only one person have such amount of stupidity?" Chris jeered with a hand full of bitterness, face palming himself.

"Why you mad though?" Casper scoffed then gasped again, "oh my God, were you guys about to get down and dirty before I entered?"

That seemed to have been the last straw to break the camel's back as Chris stiffened beside.

"Kick him out," Chris uttered in a voice devoid of any emotions.

"Jimmy can't do that bruv," he laughed at me mockingly.

I had managed to get my tears under control, but this only made it a lot harder to control myself.

"Kick him out now!" Chris barked, his voice thundering against the walls of my room. I feared someone might hear.

"If you're so angry why don't you just get out and leave us alone!" Casper yelled back, the laughter in his tone disappearing in a blink of an eye.

His cold sober matched that of Chris and this was bad. They continued yelling and bellowing at each other, while I cried beside Chris, still holding him and preventing him from walking over to Casper.

It went on for another minute or two and I decided I'd had enough.

"Just leave Casper, please," I pleaded with a teary voice.

They both went shut the second I spoke, as if someone had just been shot.

"What did you just say?" Casper hissed in a ominous tone.

"He said you should pick yourself and your unworldly stupidity and get the fuck out," Chris clarified in a harsher language.

"I swear to God, I'm one second away from breaking your jaw," Casper declared, shaking his head and clenching his jaw once again.

That's how you know he's furious. But I didn't need to see his jaw flex to notice that he was fuming. He loved being in control and Chris made it so difficult, almost impossible, for him to take control of this particular situation.

"And I've three of my fingers on nine, nine and nine, but I won't have to dial it before the security guard at the gate comes around and takes your above eighteen looking ass to jail. Bruv, I don't think you know where you are, you're in fucking lighthouse. How did you even step your filthy broke legs, which can't buy you a meal, into this place? You can't come here and mess with any of us, trust me you'll regret it."

We all went mute, well not all of us. I was still sobbing and trying to get my emotions under control, while the both boys glared and sent each other murderous looks.

"Tell him to get the fuck out," Chris repeated, tapping his right foot on the floor impatiently.

"Please, Casper, please. Just leave," I pleaded again.

"I told you to tell him to get the fuck out, I didn't say you should beg him," he demanded more from me.

I looked up at Casper and caught his sharp gaze which was narrowed at me and a gush of fear ran down my spine.

"I'm sorry but I can't say that," I averted my gaze, cleaning my snotty nose.

"Well then speak louder, I don't think he can hear you. His brain cells are too busy dying, you've to speak louder for them to hear," he kept his death glare on Casper even while talking to me.

We all stood still for another minute, nerves tensing up and testosterone from the both of them filling the air.

"Casper please leave," I repeated again after sometime, but he didn't say anything. "Cas—"

"I fucking heard you, God damn it!" He roared, causing me to cringe away from him.

He leisurely got up from my chair and strolled towards us. I unconsciously scampered away from his way as he walked towards us, attempting to hide behind Chris.

"You'll regret this Jimmy," He jabbed in a very low tone which was incredibly menacing, but while I hid behind Chris, he stood unfazed and sized up with Casper who knew better than to start a fight here after all Chris had told him.

He made a precipitous attempt to jab me but Chris hit his hand away and closed the distance between them, clenching his first tightly by his side, their faces only inches apart now.

Casper backed away slowly and went straight to the door, swinging it open then banging it shut behind him the second he stormed out.

"Oh my God! I can't believe that asshole!" Chris grunted and started pacing from end to end. He was still fuming.

This was the first time I was seeing Chris this angry, it scared me.

"You can leave now if you want to, I'm sure he's gone. He's not coming back," I muttered softly, avoiding his burning eyes.

"And why would I do that? Why would I want to leave when I haven't finished what I came here for? Unless you're chasing me out of your room?" He spoke so quickly, his tone hurt me more than Casper's slurs did.

"No, I'm not chasing you out. I just thought-"

"You just thought what?" He interrupted me before I could finish. "Oh God," he sighed, letting out half of the tension along with the air. "Sorry," He uttered quickly before going back to sit on the floor, close to his laptop.

I slowly followed suite and resumed my position on the floor, my hands were cold and shaky. I was scared of the image Chris might have of me now.

"That was the same guy I saw you having the suspicious conversation with some weeks ago right?" His voice sounded a lot calmer after he'd taken a moment to abate his rising temper.

Chris didn't look like it, but from what I'd observed I could surmise he had a short temper, or maybe Casper just pushed him to his limits way too quickly. That was most likely to be the case, Casper has that perverse superpower.

"Yes he was the one," I sniffled, ridding my face of the last string of tears.

"Who is he, and why does he keep pestering you?"

There was no need leaving anything out, so I was just going to answer all of Chris's questions. He was kind enough to remain here with me after everything that had just happened, he wasn't spitting slurs at me and he'd literally just saved me from Casper. So answering his questions was the least I could do.

"We were classmates in highschool, but then he started bullying me sometime in our third term in eleventh grade," I explained. Sighing and sniffing again, I tried to comport myself. Luckily I did not need a tissue so that was fine.

Chris sat quiet for a while, staring at his lollipop with sudden distaste. He wasn't furious or unstable anymore, matter of fact he was chill. I assumed he was trying to find the right questions to ask which would help him understand the situation better.

"Why does he keep calling you the F word, and why does he think I'm your boyfriend?" He finally asked the questions I knew were just at the tip of his tongue after a short while of contemplation.

Staring at my laptop and the biography of Plato I was writing like it was going to help me in any way, I tried to find the right answer to his question. But to my surprise he cut to the chase and made things easier for me.

"Are you gay or bi?" He took a short pause, "are you LGBTQIA?" He reformed his question.

Well, that was oddly elaborate.

A surge of insecurity formed like a lump in my throat. I didn't know the extent to which I could trust Chris, and I didn't know just how open-minded he was to issues like this. Fiddling with my hands and ruining the edges of the papers I worked with, I nursed a vague expression whilst trying to find the right way to answer Chris's question without saying too much.

"I'm not trying to pressure you, but if we're really going to be friends I've to know," he mentioned, waiting for me to say something but I was still not ready with an answer. Then he continued, "I'll also have you know that I've nothing against them, it's completely fine by me. I recently just found out that my ex from highschool is currently in a relationship with a girl. I felt like less of a man when I found out because she looked happier than when we were dating, but that's just life. Most of us have these kind of things sorted out while the rest are still struggling, so if you're bisexual or gay-"

"Bi-curious," I said shortly. I couldn't let him dwell on calling me gay because I was still trying to figure things out like he said, so bi-curious was a more accurate term for me.

"Huh," he voiced his confusion.

"Bi-curious," I repeated, "I think the right term for me is just bi-curious. There was series of mishaps and unforseen events that confirmed Casper's suspicions in highschool, that's why he's so bold calling me names and all," I stopped fiddling with the papers and looked up to meet Chris's concerned eyes.

Adjusting myself, I got rid of the uneasiness now I'd gotten that out and Chris didn't seem to freak out.

"Whatever it is you are, you shouldn't feel ashamed of it. It's the twenty first century, it's been established that you can love whomever you want. People don't really care, except cave men like that nincompoop who just soiled these grounds with his stupidity. At least you should know majority of your friends aren't cave people, I'm sure Jess is aware of you. It's fine by me," he spoke reassuringly and let out a deep sigh when he finished.

He looked like he'd just delivered a lengthy speech to an audience of fragile kids.

I truly appreciated his genuine concern and acceptance, but this was contrary to what he'd told me sometime ago.

"You once told me to not be gay, you did say you weren't judgemental or homophobic, but why did you say that?" I spoke shortly after him, I couldn't let the silence stretch any longer as it would make things get weird, and I could tell that was exactly what Chris was trying to avoid.

Just giving that little speech had him looking pale and at everywhere else, but at me. My question, however, jolted his liveliness back.

"Wait what? When did we even have that conversation?" He chuckled nervously, turning to face me well.

"That was on the first week of school, I think Thursday or Friday. It was after the party you all went for, except Mako who stayed back," I couldn't remember the exact date, but I could remember his words so clearly because they were burned deep into mind. "You specifically told me to not be gay," I finished, trying to remind him of his own words.

"Fuck, I really did? I can't remember," his obliviousness of the topic ever coming up between us sounded unfeigned. "But I'm sorry if I hurt you by saying that," he apologised sincerely.

"It's fine," I shrugged it off. It was difficult to stay mad at Chris, and it was almost impossible to get mad at him in the first place.

"I think I was still suffering a hangover because I took too much at that party, like I always do," he shoved the lollipop back into his mouth in embarrassment, "and I guess I just didn't want you to suffer any problems. I mean it's the twenty first century, yes, but not everyone is as accepting. The nincompoop is a perfect example of that category, and then there's Alex who's literally living in the same compound with you. I don't know if he's homophobic but he's a lot of other things, and he has a sharp mouth. I guess I didn't want you to always have problems with him because of your sexuality, but it's the university mate, this is where life happens. And except the nincompoop, no one really gives a dusty fuck about your sexual preferences," he finished with a chuckle, the lollipop bobbing up and down in his mouth.

"You don't like Alex much," I noted to myself but he took it as a question.

"No I don't, but he doesn't get in my way, he stays in his lane, so that's completely fine by me. He rolls with Khalid pretty well though, they're mates," he mentioned, shrugging it off.

Hearing that from him stirred the anger and jealousy I felt towards that friendship, but I refused to venture towards that area at the moment. "Yeah, it's the university," I muttered, looking down at my laptop.

"Exactly, so keep your head up. People like Alex or the nincompoop shouldn't bother you," he advised, beaming widely at me.

"His name is Casper," I corrected, chortling at what he'd been calling him this entire time.

"I think that's an insult to every other Casper in the world, both living and dead. Nincompoop suits him better," he stated, shaking his head and refusing to listen to my correction. "Why are you so scared of him though, I was disappointed in you back there. I mean, I noticed you can talk back to Alex, what's so terrifying about this guy?" He furrowed his eyebrows at me as he finished wording the question.

"I don't know, I guess it's because he has a strong hold on the one thing I'm insecure about; my sexuality. He's just a nightmare, I instantly get speechless and my feet freezes over whenever he's around," I analysed audibly while explaining it to Chris.

"You should accept yourself then, and you should do that very soon so the nincompoop can stop being a bitch around you," he advised, twirling the lollipop in his mouth again like a child.

"Sure, thank you," I mumbled an appreciation, catching his eyes for a split second before he turned back to his computer.

"There's no need to thank me, I'm your friend after all. If you didn't know before you know now that you've a friend in me," he spoke, facing his laptop screen. "I'm still not done with this and I don't think I can continue, I'm already tired and bored of it," he exhaled loudly, gently tapping his head.

"I can help you," I offered, crawling over to him.

"Nah, it's fine. I'll just finish it later, I still have tomorrow," he switched tabs with inhuman speed to an online game he was playing earlier on.

Sitting beside him, I watched him play and interact with real time players. He really looked like a kid with the way he furrowed his brows in concentration and held the lollipop in his mouth.

"What game is this?" I asked after sometime of watching him play.

"Wizard 101," he replied hastily. "We're going to meet the head security guard and tell him to never let the nincompoop in ever again, he'll tell the other guards. And then when the concierge comes around we'll inform him as well, so he would take legal actions if he ever steps foot into lighthouse, please don't forget," he kept his eyes fixed on the game on his screen as he spoke. "No one messes with any of my friends like that," he added and I had to fight back the tears of joy I had coming on.

Indeed I had made good friends here in Denberg.

***

When Jess and Yadiri returned from the supermarket, Chris and I relayed everything that happened to them. Jess almost pulled off her ear rings, getting ready to fight, but we told her that we already handled the situation.

She kept spewing imprecations at Casper till we got her to calm down a bit.

Later that evening, we went down to the guardhouse to inform the chief security guard of our dormitory about Casper. I realised I didn't even have a picture of him anywhere in my phone, but it turned out Jess was following him on Instagram so that helped.

I didn't even know he had an Instagram account.

It was a bit late now and I was with the girls in their room. We were all absorbed into our various activities; Jess was seeing a movie on her laptop, Yadiri was on Skype again, and I was just scrolling through Instagram.

"I can't believe Casper had the guts to come here," Jess was the first to speak. I assumed she'd finished the movie, it had been well over two hours since she started.

"And I can't believe you're following him on Instagram. I didn't even know he was on Instagram," I chuckled, still scrolling through my feeds.

"You know what they say; keep your friends close and your enemies closer," she shrugged, still typing on her laptop. "But don't worry, if Chris really showed him who's boss in lighthouse I don't think he's ever gonna come back," she added.

"You know, he doesn't have to be your enemy just because he's mine," I spoke calmly, sending her a quick look before taking my eyes back to my phone.

She sighed and slightly kicked me on the bed. "Babe, anyone who's your enemy is my enemy," she stated firmly, before taking her eyes back to her laptop. "You're going shopping with all of us tomorrow, right?" She asked whilst keeping her gaze fixed on her laptop screen.

The question made me recall what I'd tried my best to brush aside earlier today. I remembered that Khalid had actively been avoiding me since he saw the kiss, or was it even before he saw the kiss because we didn't see at the party, albeit we were supposed to.

"I don't know," I exhaled, attempting to clear my mind of these thoughts that weighed me down, "no one invited me," I finished and resumed scrolling on my phone idly. My brain wasn't registering the words or pictures I was seeing anymore, I just kept scrolling.

"What do you mean no one invited you?" Jess held the top cover of her laptop and slightly brought it down, focusing on me. "No one told you that we're going to a boutique in the city tomorrow? Not even Khalid who tried his best to persuade all of us?"

My attention was on her but I just kept scrolling on my phone as a distraction.

"I mean Chris told me, but Khalid hasn't told me and I'm assuming he's the one who came up with the idea. If he hasn't informed me then that simply means he doesn't want me there, don't you think?" I blinked repeatedly to stop the stinging sensation in my eyes. The brightness of my screen wasn't aiding me in that venture.

Jess remained silent for a while, looking at me with concern.

"He hasn't spoken to you since he saw you and Mason kiss?" She finally questioned.

"No he hasn't," I replied shortly to keep my voice free of any emotions.

"Not even a text since then?"

"No," I sighed, rubbing my eyes.

Jess took another short pause to process.

"Well I think you should text him," she started, "I mean he might not like you, but I don't think he's homophobic. You shouldn't push yourself away from him just because he saw you and Mason kiss. And the fact that he doesn't like you doesn't mean the both of you can't be friends," she advised.

"How do you know he's not homophobic?" I unintentionally asked, perking up and getting hopeful.

"Meh," she raised her shoulders, "I don't know, I'm just guessing, text him and find out for yourself. But if he's homophobic then it would be easier to get over him, don't you think?" She chuckled, playfully nudging me with her leg to cheer me up.

"I guess so," I admitted, losing every last bit of hope.

But she was right. If Khalid was homophobic, then getting over him would be a lot easier. It will hurt, yes, but only for a short period of time. At least Chris wasn't homophobic, and I was more likely to run into Chris on a daily basis since we shared a few lectures, so avoiding Khalid wouldn't be too difficult.

I had Mason anyway.

"So what exactly is going on between you and Alex, if I may ask," I chuckled, changing the topic.

Until I was ready to talk to Khalid, I decided to try my best to avoid getting into the subject.

She gasped, "what did you hear?" There was a guilty smile on her lips but her eyebrows were furrowed at me.

"Nothing, actually, you're about to give yourself away," I pointed at her face.

She blinked repeatedly and faked a deadpan. "Nothing is going on between us, he's just being nice and he offered to buy me a thing or two tomorrow, so there's that," she explained with a little hint of excitement in her voice.

"I still can't believe this," I admitted, staring at her in awe.

"I don't get why everyone finds it hard to believe, I really can't see the douche bag attitude everyone claims that he has," she defended Alex again.

Widening my eyes at her, I couldn't believe the combination of words that just left her mouth.

"So you're in a relationship with him now?" I teased, wiggling my brows at her.

"God no," she exclaimed with a grimace, "we're not in a relationship, he's not even really my type. I mean he's not a douche bag but he's a bit weird, and he acts really high sometimes. He's not my type, we're just friends," she explained hastily.

Uncertainty was audible in her voice, there was no hiding it, so I just arched an eyebrow at her and sent her a knowing, teasing look.

"Cut it out!" She began kicking me playfully on the bed.

Yadiri finished her call on Skype and came over to Jess's bed to join us.

"Alex and Jess, right?" She inquired with a grin on her face, sitting at the other side to stay away from the struggle we had going on.

Jess finally stopped trying to push me off and turned to Yadiri. "You too?! Like Patrick didn't ask to take you as well," she announced, exposing Yadiri.

I widened my eyes at her. "What exactly is going on, is everyone getting a boyfriend now or something," I crowed, spreading my arms apart.

"I'm not, I don't know about Jess. Patrick just asked me because his roommate asked Jess, so it's like a roommate thing," she explained to me.

"I see," I voiced my realisation. "Well, if Alex is being all nice and colourful with Jess, then I suppose that's a good thing. Maybe she can change him a bit," I mentioned, bracing myself just in case Jess decides to attack me again.

"I'm definitely going to change him," she agreed with me, "but I'm not going to date him," she stated dismissively and I decided to respect that and not poke any further into the discussion.

"You are always on Skype with that dude," I referred to Yadiri, locking my phone screen and gently throwing it aside. The buzzing sound had begun to annoy to me.

"It's Joshua, her secondary school boyfriend," Jess chipped in quickly, smirking at her.

"Joshua is not really my boyfriend," she squinted her eyes while explaining and I took note of the word 'really', "and that wasn't even Joshua. It was Ezio."

"Who's Ezio? He's a Q and a T," Jess let out a short laugh.

"Truth," I supported with a giggle.

"You guys spied on my video call?" She glared at us.

"We didn't really spy," Jess started, "I was just passing and I saw his face."

"Same here," I saved my own head as well. "So who's this Ezio, is he your boyfriend then," I repeated Jess's question.

Yadiri burst into laughter, "I'm sorry, it's just funny because he's gay," she said in between laughs. "He's one of the closeted guys I told you about."

"Oh my God, he's adorable," Jess gasped, pouting afterwards.

"I know," she agreed with a proud smile and a nod of her head.

"Are they still together? The closeted guys from your secondary school?" I asked, sincerely keen to find out.

"Yes they are," she cooed, "Ezio schools in Canada now, but despite being over five thousand miles apart they're still together," the smile on her face grew brighter as he explained.

Jess clicked her tongue and shook her head disapprovingly, "it's going to crash," she muttered to herself, but we all heard.

"No! don't say that," Yadiri scolded.

"I'm saying that on a serious note," Jess slightly raised her hands up in defense. "I mean Ezio is very likely to find someone better in Canada while the other one-"

"Leonard," Yadiri informed.

"-Leonard, will probably just give up on the relationship. Distance never helps a relationship, trust me," she concluded, taking her eyes back to her laptop.

Yadiri just sighed and walked over to her bed, probably seeing the truth in what Jessica had just said.

"I hope their relationship stays solid," I took my eyes back to my phone, deciding to remain optimistic.

We all went back to focusing on our devices in silence for another thirty minutes or more until I felt sleep tugging at my eyes.

"I think I'm gonna go sleep now," I got down from the bed and stretched as yawn escaped my mouth.

"Mkay, goodnight Olly."

"Goodnight babe."

They chorused.

I left and went straight to my room. Quickly heading to the bathroom, I brushed my teeth and got ready for bed. Pulling the shorts I wore over my loose boxers, I felt free once again. But the cold attacked my legs, so I sped straight to my bed and buried myself under layers of my smooth, soft duvet.

I closed my eyes and told myself it was time to sleep, but I just couldn't sleep. My brain decided to wander and only the thought of one certain someone remained dominant in my head; Khalid.

Sighing and sinking deeper into the earthly comfort of my bed, I rolled from side to side to find the perfect position to drift off, but I wasn't successful in my attempts.

Giving up, I groaned and went for my phone which was placed on my bedside table. I couldn't hold this in any longer, I was going to text Khalid now whether he was online or not. The suspense was too much for me to bear, it was ridding me of sleep. I was feeling sleepy just a while ago, but just thinking about this eradicated every last trace of dizziness I felt.

Unlocking it and instantly tapping on the WhatsApp messenger icon, I scrolled past all the spam messages from group chats I should've left ages ago and went down to Khalid's chat head which had been interred by so many unnecessary messages.

I inhaled deeply and let the tension out with the breath, easing my nerves, I tapped on it and opened his chat.

A wash of hope and joy came over me when I found out he was online.

I started typing but just then 'typing' appeared below his name, signalling that he was typing as well. Clearing the few words I'd written I stopped typing and waited for him, but the icon disappeared immediately like it wasn't there just seconds ago.

Sighing, I started typing again but I was notified that he'd started typing again as well. I stopped typing and waited for him but the icon disappeared the second time.

This happened over five, six times and I was honestly beginning to think my phone was faulty.

But I was proven wrong when he finally gave up the silly game we were playing and texted me.

Khalid
Hello Olly.

I stared at the text with wide eyes, I was both scared and happy at the same time.

Happy because he was the first to send a text message, which meant he wasn't avoiding me. At least not as actively as I previously thought.

Scared, or maybe even terrified, because I knew it was time to talk about past events. It was time to talk about the kiss he'd seen a few days ago.

I gulped and brought myself to reply, I couldn't waste too much time. He had already been notified that his text message has been read by me because my read receipt was on.

Me
How're you doing? It's been a minute since we last spoke.

I replied.

And that was the start of a very vital conversation we should've had weeks ago.

_
AN: This chapter contains a sneak peek of a story I'm going to write in the nearest future, if you look closely you'll find it. Hehehehehe.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you did please hit that cute star button and support! <3 (if you can't tell that's a purple heart.)

I know you want more, lol, the suspense is real. I'll give you more in a few days. Till then loves! Stay happy and stay safe, DrillBurger loves you! * <3