GRIFFIN E. WALKER
October, 2014

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

Callum pulled me to the side and had a little chat with me. That chat covered what the fuck I was doing, bringing some fella back home when he is here to which I just pulled an offended face then explained that the fella was Harry and I was doing Nadine a favour. He looked at me weird and called my explanation a bluff. Apparently, he saw the way I looked at Harry and the way he looked at me and the way we spoke was also slightly alarming to him. At the sound of all of that, I just rolled my eyes and told him to get back to his room and sleep off whatever he had today.

When I returned to the living room, where the guest had taken up the sofa, he was already long gone. He was snoring and everything, which I found to be my opportunity as I walked over to him and flicked his nose as hard as it was possible. It made him jump up and wake right up, scared out of his mind. As my laugh continued to fill the space, he gave me the dirtiest look and leaned back down. His back faced me and I could see that he crossed his arms, not very happy with my actions.

But I wasn't very happy being the middle man of his relationship. Taking care of his ass one time was fine. Now I had to do it a second time and it wasn't as fun.

Probably because Nadine pretty much asked me without actually asking me to do it.

I couldn't sleep the whole night. Something kept me awake. My mind couldn't quit thinking. The wheels turned and turned until I nearly screamed. So, in the end, with my laptop open and papers and notebooks all around me, I started writing one of my assignments. I needed to distract myself from thinking about endless scenarios, ones that were impossible and would most likely never happen.

But making myself believe that when I'm layers deep into overthinking is not something that can be achieved.

"Knock-knock."

"Who's there?" I asked, not bothering to look up as I continued to type away. I was in the middle of my essay and I had a great sentence in mind to summarise the findings I jotted down. My warm white lights were bright enough to see the words on the paper, highlighted in yellow so I knew what to focus on. I even lit a candle because it helped me focus, the smell of it calmed me down more than anything else.

"I eat mop."

"I eat mop who—oh my god," I screwed my eyes shut as I replied without thinking about the answer. In my defence, I was writing.

"That's vile, Griffin," he scrunched up his nose as he stood in my door, it being ajar so he had to peek inside. I sighed as I nodded my head a little to invite him in. Don't ask, I didn't know why I had done that. I guess I just wanted company. "Oh, god. What is going on here?"

"The suffering of a final year student," I made the comment as I flipped over one of the papers. My eyes widened a little bit when I found the information I was after and instantly began typing. Focused on the writing, I didn't need to be looking at the keyboard to get the gist of it down. "Why are you up?"

"I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. The headache could be the reason," he answered. Yeah, that made sense. Normally, I wouldn't have cared. Normally, he wouldn't have been invited inside of my bedroom. Normally, he wouldn't have been at my place in the middle of the night, period.

But he was.

And, like I said, it was the middle of the night. I was a different me during that time. I was less like my every day self, I was more lenient, I was more half arsed. So, I got out of bed and dragged my back pack out of my wardrobe to find some Nurofen. I always had it in my bag in case I had a headache or period pains since they happened often.

I popped two of the red capsules into his hand then I reached for one of the unopened water bottles I brought in my room. Whilst he took the pills, I got back on my bed and put my laptop on my lap again.

"This is so weird but I keep finding myself wanting to talk to you. I guess it's because you don't care about me so everything you say is cold and I think I need to hear it," he admitted as he sat on my chair. I glanced up at him for a second as he spoke but I kept writing. He leaned his arms on the back of the chair once he spun it around and put his chin on top of his hand.

Through my nose, I exhaled. For some odd reason, my mind made me want to keep looking at his arm. The black ink covered his bicep. It wasn't a full sleeve, there weren't many tattoos. I was used to them because a bunch of lads had tattoos at uni. I guess his were different because they were unlike any of the ones I've seen on other boys.

Like the ship. Made absolutely no sense to me yet it just belonged there.

Weird. My four AM mind was something else.

"I'd say talk to me but one, I'm not a therapist, two, it's four in the morning, three, I'm doing my work and four, I don't particularly care," I said honestly. His life didn't interest me. His problems were not mine to deal with. Frankly, the thought of me having to listen to them, made me want to pretend to be asleep so he'd leave before he could even begin.

"So, pretend to be a therapist, ignore the time, stop doing your work and, well, I suppose you can continue not caring."

I clicked to save my work then pushed the top of my laptop down. Crossing my arms, I lifted my head and asked, "Is this about Nadine?"

"Yes."

Couldn't help the way my eyes rolled or the sigh that I let out. As much love as I had for my best friend, talking about her every day was not how I imagined I'd live my life. Realistically, I was always meant to side with her so to do that, knowing only her side of the story was the way to go. Therefore, deep down, it was clear to me that by being exposed to a different viewpoint, I'd decide in my head which one seems fairer and side with that.

"Five minutes. Go."

"Fuck off," he scoffed. "Don't put me on the spot like that."

"You sounded ready to talk. So, talk."

"I... I don't even know where to begin."

"Sounds like a you problem, doesn't it?" I asked.

"She wants me to meet her family."

"So, meet them," I shrugged. "I don't see why you're being a dick."

"You know we fought over that?" he asked me. Silly boy. Of course, I knew. I knew everything. Hence the reason I referred to myself as the middle man of their relationship all the time. Well, only to myself but that wasn't the point. The question he should have asked was what did I not know.

"Her family can be difficult but I don't see why that's stopping you from meeting them if you know it'll make her happy. Isn't that what you wanna do? Make her happy? Do whatever it takes?" I dropped questions on him without the chance of letting him breathe. He wanted to see what I thought, I gave him everything I thought.

"But why is it so important for her? Why do I have to meet her family?"

"I don't know. Have you asked her?" he looked away. That was either a yes or a no but more a no than a yes. "I don't want to get tied up in this shit. If you're so worried about meeting her family, tell her no. If you want to know more, ask her. Talk to her. Don't fucking walk out on her. I don't know and honestly? I really don't care. I love her and she knows I care about her but her drama with you is everything I do not need in my life."

"I understand..."

"I'm not attacking you with this. I'm just saying," I reassured him. Hah. There is a first for everything, I suppose. "You both lack communication which is probably the key to all successful relationships."

Not that I'd know because I'm the whore of my course. At least, I heard a couple people say shit about me for getting around but hey? What matters is that I do get around, right? Still very confused as to how that's anyone's business but mine. It made me laugh how boys were allowed to have as much sex as they wanted to but if a girl did the same then they get shamed for it. Kind of stupid to think like that, isn't it? I didn't care much for it. It didn't keep me up at night. But if it made others feel better, to talk shit about others, then who was I to tell them to stop?

"This is weird now, isn't it?" he asked. That made it weird. I didn't think it was until he said that. Didn't bother mentioning it though, in case he decided to leave me be. My sudden motivation to write this essay needed to stay so I could get at least half of it done.

"Help me word this differently," I picked up the paper I had the quote on. I didn't want to add another direct one and then explain it because, well, I couldn't be arsed. And since there was no appropriate answer to what he had just asked, I decided to change the subject. Which I was very good at.

And it seemed to work. Harry sat on my bed, which made me want to kick him in his side at first, and he pretty much helped me cover a whole section of what needed to be done. With my degree being taken from a management angle, he was a little bit of help until he fell asleep. On my fucking bed.

He laid his massive head on my pillow, on the side I usually take, and just slept. He didn't snore, which was good. I felt weird, though. Not only because he slept in my bed but also, and probably most importantly, because I let him. As to why, was unclear to me. He wasn't my friend and I didn't particularly get on well with him, either. Saying that, though, he'd been more tolerable today than he is any other time we ran into each other.

I continued writing my essay in quiet. After every other sentence or so, my eyes would glance over at him as he slept, kind of on his stomach as he still held my pen in his hand. Unsure of how this made me feel, my teeth nibbled gently on my bottom lip, peeling the skin until it hurt. Harry seemed undisturbed and completely out and there I was, being an absolute creep, watching as he breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth, making his lips rasp.

"Nothing's going on, hey?"

"Oh my god!" I jumped and whipped my head towards my door, my eyes finding my cousin there with a dirty smirk on his lips. Deeply exhaling, I closed my laptop and pushed my blanket down. As I walked out of my room, I looked back at Harry and then pushed my cousin out and closed my door. "What are you doing up at this time?"

"It's seven-fifteen," he said as a matter of fact. "What is he doing in your bed?"

"Since when do you care?" I fired back as we walked towards the kitchen. I yawned as I sat down and toyed with the salt shaker, passing it from one hand to another as it slid across the kitchen island.

"I don't," he chuckled.

"Why ask then?"

"Can I not?"

"Oh, come on, Callum," I rolled my eyes. "Out with it."

"Getting with your best mate's lover, not a good idea," he let it slip and it pushed my blood pressure through the roof. The fact that it even crossed his mind, made me want to go ballistic on him, rip his head right off his neck because how dare he assume I'd do something as horrible as that? Sure, it was an innocent thought of his, one which I have wanted him to share more than he was willing, but it did not take away from the way it made me feel. "Unless, of course, this fight of theirs was the final straw? In which case, I applaud you for being such a great actress; showing your endless love and support towards dear Nadine during this tragic time whilst also showing the lad what he's been missing. Perhaps I have reason to be proud of you."

"And here I thought this little incident of yours would allow your head to screw onto your neck properly," I commented with a dramatic sigh left between us, just as derogatory as he'd been speaking to me. Of course, that was how we were hence the reason I never took offence to it. Well, serious offence, that is.

"That hurt my heart, child," he pressed his hands to his chest. He's changed. I wasn't sure what it was which annoyed me. The sudden change in his behaviour was fascinating, the banter we've had since he came out of the hospital was next level and I actually preferred it to our bland fights.

"So," I drummed on the surface with my hands, twice to be exact, and then sighed loudly. "What's your plan for today? I'm off of uni and I've done quite a bit of work overnight which means I'm free."

"You want to hang out with me?" he asked. The idea came out of nowhere and it shocked me as much as it clearly shocked him. Perhaps his incident changed me the same it changed him. "Shit, okay. What do you want to do?"

"Dunno... anything. Something that requires as little exercise as possible. Probably go for food?" the suggestion was a lazy one, mostly because there wasn't anything that popped into my mind, being put on the spot so quickly.

"Seeing as it's still seven, not to mention the guest who funnily enough made his way from the couch to the comforts of your bed, I say we think about the rest of the day and call a meeting for around twelve?" he gave me the plan for the morning, using his business voice, one which he often used to slip into without any realisation. As usual, it made me laugh, although now, out loud, as opposed to usually finding myself biting away the gesture.

"Yes, Mr Walker."

"Oh, shut up," he chuckled as I teased him. At least he realised he was doing the big-bad-boss act. "Do you want breakfast? I was thinking of being a horrible cousin and ordering a McDondald's breakfast. I'm not really in the mood for anything healthy."

"I live on maccies brekkie when I have a nine am so, I'm down," I let him know, kind of excited for the meal now. It was greasy and the worst thing for your body, but it was heaven while it lasted. And, if I wasn't paying for it, well, that'd have been just silly to turn down.

My lips pressed into a thin line, I slammed my fists against the kitchen island and I leaned on them to push my chair out from under me and stood up. Callum left the kitchen and took his mug with him, stinking up the whole apartment with his god forsaken coffee. He had to have that shit every morning, well, when he was home, anyway. Although, I didn't know he could drink it so soon after being released. Saying that, give or take, it's almost been a week which I didn't even realise, seeing as how busy I've been procrastinating.

On my way back to my bedroom, my cousin stopped me as he called my name, "And, Griffin?"

"Yep?" I stepped back to look in to where he sat.

"Get rid of the boy," he changed his tone to a more serious one. Kind of a threatening tone. Oops.

"Will do," I saluted and turned on my heel to complete the task. I didn't want Harry at mine any more than he did.

As I pushed the door open, I wasn't sure what I expected to see, perhaps Harry still knocked out. Which is probably why it came as quite the shock to me that he was sitting and rubbing his eyes. The warm white lights I left on seemed pretty harsh on him and he grimaced.

"I see you're awake," I commented as I flicked off my lights and pulled the blinds up. It was still quite dark outside with winter nearing and all so I put the big light on instead.

"And I heard I'm to leave, so," he pushed himself out of my bed, acting like the whole of last night and this early morning never happened. I was more than happy to come to terms with this, having to explain it to him that this doesn't make us friends seemed like such an effort.

"Yep," I nodded as I gathered my things on my bed and then followed him out of my room and to the main door. It was awkwardly silent between us as he left and as soon as he was out of my hair—and apartment—I felt the responsibility I've been graced with, completely jump off of my shoulders.

Before my cousin could have had a chance to say something, I hurried back to my room to get it together. I needed to wash the sheets and put on new ones because I was not about to cuddle myself into the same one that Harry slept on. I've spent too much of my time on him already, if this wasn't going to get me the Best Friend of The Year award, then I didn't know what would.