I stood outside of Gavin's and Aaron's apartment patiently waiting for Aaron to open the door. Gavin cooled down enough to allow Aaron back into the apartment, but he was still giving us both the cold shoulder.

        He wasn't home at the moment; he was working out alone because he was mad at me and Aaron and Honoka was still a little angry at him. I was glad he wasn't around because I wasn't ready to face him yet.

        A couple minutes passed, and I was still standing outside, which made me irritated. Aaron was home, meaning the door was probably unlocked, so I turned the knob.

        It was unlocked.

        Dumbass.

        I shook my head at my friend's stupidity and entered the apartment, gently closing the door behind me. The place appeared more cluttered than usual. The furniture was disheveled. Clothes were scattered all over the place. Food was out. Aaron was definitely home.

        Then I heard a moan.

        Followed by a groan.

        Then more moans.

        The more I listened, the more prominent the sounds became, and it was obviously coming from Aaron's room. I grinned.

        My boy was getting laid!

        I couldn't help but be proud. It had been a while since we'd all gotten some. Gavin had a girlfriend, but Honoka wasn't putting out. Aaron had a sort of dry spell with the ladies recently. I was the one getting some ass, even though I wasn't really getting ass yet.

        A particularly dragged out grunt removed me from my thoughts, and I grinned mischievously. I was going to fuck with him. On multiple occasions, Aaron had walked in on me with a girl. On purpose. Thank God he never walked in on me and a guy. That would have been disastrous.

        I tiptoed towards the room, keeping in the urge to burst into laughter due to the ridiculous sounds. Man, my boy was getting it in. I almost felt guilty for what I was about to do. Oh, well. Sucked for him.

        Payback was a bitch.

        I edged toward the room and grabbed onto the knob. When I heard a female's cry of pleasure I knew it was my chance.

        I burst through the room and yelled, "What's up, motherfuck—?!" I paused when my eyes landed on the girl bent over in front of Aaron as he took her from behind.

        Arya.

        My mouth dropped open, and Arya screamed and pulled away from Aaron, who looked at me in pure shock. Arya covered herself with the covers while Aaron stayed where he was—buck naked with his dick out and staring at me.

        "The fuck is this?" I finally yelled, my eyes flickering between the two. "Aaron? Arya? Together? Fucking? What?" I glanced away, rubbing at my forehead. This was too weird to be happening.

        "Darian," Aaron said through gritted teeth.

        That was my cue to leave. I flashed them both a fake smile. "I'm gonna go now. Just continue... fucking. Don't mind me."

        I turned and left that room like it was on fire. I slammed the door behind me and ran to the living room, throwing myself onto the couch.

        The hell did I just witness?

        Arya and Aaron?

        I always knew Aaron thought she was hot, but I never expected Arya to actually sleep with the punk. She could be stuck-up sometimes, and she was very picky when it came to men. Aaron was cool and all, but he didn't seem like Arya's type, even if it was just for fucking.

        I sat on the couch, lost in my thoughts for... I didn't know how long. My eyes locked on the table in front of me as I tried to process what I just saw.

        When footsteps came from my right, that was when I turned to see Aaron and Arya walking towards me. Aaron was in his boxers while Arya wore an oversized t-shirt that was definitely Aaron's. I held back a smirk as she sat on the table in front of me while Aaron sat beside me.

        "I never saw you as a doggy-style type of girl, Arya," I teased.

        She narrowed her eyes at me. "Screw you."

        Aaron laughed, and I turned to him with a proud smile. "Dude, you were tearing that shit up!" I pounded Aaron's fist, and he grinned.

        Arya rolled her eyes. "You guys are foul." We laughed as she stood up. "I'm going to get something to drink."

        "Didn't he give you enough to drink? Or is he not hitting the mouth, too?" I taunted, and Arya glared at me while Aaron stifled a laugh.

        "Fuck you, Darian. Up the ass." She turned on her feet and headed for the kitchen.

        No one had fucked me up the ass.

        Yet.

        I turned to Aaron. "How long has this been going on?"

        "Not long." He leaned back on the couch, getting comfortable. "A few weeks now. One day, we bumped into each other at the store, and we started talking. Then I got her number and asked her to hang out. Before I knew it, we were at my apartment just chilling. Then our clothes started coming off and the rest is history."

        "Is it a friends with benefit sort of thing?"

        "I don't know," Aaron said. A frown deepened into my forehead.

        I didn't want him using Arya like all those other girls he used to play. She wasn't all those other girls. She was once my best friend, just like Camila, Honoka and Alissa were. On top of my mother and sisters, I didn't want anyone hurting those girls.

        "We're not dating," Aaron said, "and we're not exclusive, but we do have a lot of sex." A goofy grin took over his face. "Great sex." He leaned in to whisper to me, "She's a wild one."

       Okay. I didn't need to know that.

        "Just don't fuck with her." My expression became serious. "Figuratively." His grin remained intact. "I'm not joking, Aaron." His expression died down.

        "I won't." He raised his hands in surrender. "She's a pretty cool chick." He smiled with a blotch of red creeping on his face. The fuck?! Since when did Aaron blush? "I wouldn't mind seeing where things go with us, but she wants to keep things casual." Arya was making her way back to us, so Aaron lowered his voice. "If sex is what I can get now, I'll take it."

        He leaned back on the couch as if we weren't talking about anything, and Arya retook her spot on the table in front of us with a root beer in her hand.

        For some reason, this arrangement between Aaron and Arya reminded me of what me and Kenji had going on. I didn't mind dating Kenji, but if all I could get now was sexual favors from him, I could live with that.

        At least, that was what I told myself.

        "So," Arya began as she zeroed her attention in on me, "how've you been, Darian? Other than, you know, cockblocking people."

        "Ooohh," I dragged out with a slow shake of my head. "Throwing shade, I see? Well, I've been doing good. Working out. Hanging out. Pulling out." Arya jerked her head back, and I grinned. "I'm playing. You guys do now I'm going to milk this out until the last drop, right? See what I did there? These innuendos are going to keep coming. I did it again!" I chuckled at her irritated expression.

        "Don't you have anything better to do with your life?" Arya set her drink down and crossed her arms.

        The way she said it and what she said was slightly offensive, but I didn't let it get to me. I shrugged instead. "Not really. I don't even have a boring job to go to anymore."

        "What happened?" Arya asked.

        Aaron's eyes lit up. Geez. He was going to go into story mode. "He got fired." Arya's gaze stuck on me with a mix of shock and expectance. Okay. That offended me. "It was rad!"

        Aaron went off telling Arya everything I told him, exempting the gay aspect of it. He told her about the bigot and how I handled him and my getting fired along with my not-giving-a-fuck exit. I still hadn't returned the uniform, even though my old manager, Rich, had called me multiple times. I smirked at the fact.

        When Aaron was done, he clasped his hand on my shoulder. "My boy knows what's up. He knows how to put fuckers in their place." I nodded in agreement while Arya watched me with a brow quirked.

        "So you don't have a job?" Arya asked, and I shook my head. "I can get you one if you want. One of my uncles owns a gas station, and my cousin is the manager. I can talk to him to get you a job in no time. Even with your fucked up résumé, it'll be easy because you have connections." Arya pointed at herself with a smug smile. "Moi."

         A line formed in my forehead. What the hell was I? Some charity case? First, she looked at me as if it was no surprise I got fired, and now she was offering me a job as if I was so desperate for one?

        I was, but no one had to know that.

        "Why?" I questioned her. "Is this your way of repaying me for messing up the get-together with the others last time?" Arya tilted her head to the side. "Or is this part of your volunteer hours for college? Help delinquents who aren't going anywhere with their lives get jobs?"

        Arya slit her eyes. "Excuse me for trying to help you." She stood up. "You know, Darian, you really are something. You act like we're all below you and you don't need anyone, even though you aren't shit!"

        Why did this feel like déjà vu with what happened with Honoka?

        "Arya, c'mon," Aaron intervened, trying to reach for her, but she slapped his arm away.

        "No," she said. "I don't need this bullshit. This is what I get for trying to be nice. Fuck niceness. I'm going home." Arya moved around the living room, grabbing her clothes dispersed within the clutter. As she scrambled to grab her things, she kept talking. "I'm done with ungrateful pricks like you. Continue being unemployed for all I care. I'm out."

        I watched her with a bored expression. I was so used to people yelling at me by now that it didn't even faze me anymore.

        After Arya grabbed all her things, she turned to Aaron. "I'll see you later."

        "Arya!" Aaron called out, but she wasn't having it.

        She opened the door and turned around to glare at me one more time. "It isn't such a bad thing getting help sometimes, Darian. Just remember this, when you come crawling to me for a job, I'm going to make you beg." She walked out and slammed the door behind her.

       Well, then.

        "She's going to drive in just your t-shirt?" I asked Aaron.

        "She's driven in worse."

        I laughed. I wasn't too surprised. I was waiting for the day Arya drove naked.

        "You shouldn't have been smart with her like that," Aaron admitted, not looking my way.

        I turned to him with a scowl of my own. "Sorry I'm tired of people looking down on me."

        "I don't think she was looking down on you," he said. "She just wanted to help."

        "I don't need her help," I muttered. "I'm so tired of people acting as if I need saving or that I'm wasting my life away. It's my life, and I should choose what to do with it."

        "Do what you want to do with it then," Aaron encouraged.

        "If I want to be unemployed and if I don't want to go to college, so be it."

        "So be it." Aaron nodded once.

        I paused. "If I want to be single with a wedge between me and my family, then that's that."

        "Preach." Aaron raised an arm.

        Then it dawned on me. "Aaron?" He turned to look at me. "What's next?" He rose a brow. "If we don't have a job, a family, a significant other, a college education, what do we do now? What happens next?"

        "What happened to carpe diem?"

        "I'm being serious." I lightly punched his arm.

        "I don't know." He shrugged. "I don't really care. I just want to travel. Explore the world." His face lit up. "I don't know if I want a family or if I'm ready to settle down anytime soon or if I want a college education or if I want a job. I don't know. All I know is, I want to go places. Meet people. Eat different food and have a blast." Aaron smiled. "I want to live multiple lives in each new country with each new experience."

        I crossed my arms, leaning back. "Wow." He pursed his lips, having finally gotten himself back from his daydream. "Look at you. Caring about something for once."

        "I want to travel," Aaron repeated. "That's the only thing I'm certain of in my life. I want to experience the world, in it's full entirety. It's the only stable desire I can cling onto." He sent me a sad smile. "But I don't know how to make that dream into reality. The one thing I want, I don't know how to get it, so what's the point?"

        My eyebrows furrowed. "I don't know, man," I replied.

        "Exactly. There is no point." Aaron sighed. "Why waste my time trying?"

         Was there a point in trying? I didn't know either.

        We stayed silent for a few seconds.

        "Okay, enough of this shit," Aaron finally said. "Talking about the future is depressing me." He stood and peeked down at me. "Wanna get some beers?" He grinned. "Some more good shit?"

        I sent him a look. "Gavin is pissed at us, and you still want to smoke good shit?"

     "Gavin's been boxing a lot more lately." That meant he was stressed. "So us not smoking weed isn't going to make him less angry." Aaron had a point.

        "I can't," I still said.

        "Why?" Aaron sat back down.

        "I've been cutting back on beer, weed, and cigarettes lately," I told him. "I'm unemployed and recently cut off from Daddy's resources. Money is scarce, fool."

        "Damn." Aaron hissed in air. "What're you gonna do?"

        "Cut down on beer, weed, and cigarettes," I repeated, "and other unnecessary shit I don't need to not die or be evicted."

        "Unnecessary? Now, that's just wrong."

        Of course, he said that. He wasn't the one surviving by a thread, and he wasn't the one late for rent. I didn't even know how I'd been surviving.

        "Couldn't be me." Aaron shook his head. "Giving up beer, weed and cigarettes? Nope."

        I laughed, but deep down, I didn't know how I managed either. It was hard—giving up beer and weed and cutting back on cigarettes. I always thought I could stop whenever I wanted, with ease, but being forced to stop in order to survive made me realize quitting those habits weren't so easy.

        I was in deeper than I thought.

Right now, I couldn't afford that defiance.

        "You're brave, Darian," Aaron applauded.

        I wasn't.

        "Boy gotta eat," I let out.

        If it wasn't for Kenji, I would have starved by now. After he found out about my father cutting me loose, every time he cooked, he brought me a plate of food. Sometimes, multiple times a day, even if it meant riding the bus more often.

I was touched by his gesture.

        "Carpe diem!" Aaron shouted. "Enjoy the present. We don't think about stressful shit like this."

        But like I said, what was next?

        The more I thought about it, the more I felt pathetic. The more I felt like a loser.

        I was grateful for my phone beeping, which distracted me.

I pocketed my phone and turned to Aaron. "I gotta go." I stood up and walked to the door while Aaron followed me.

        "Where to?" he questioned when I walked out, and he stood in the doorway.

        "Shirley Heights University."

        "Why?" He stared at me with confusion edged on his face.

        "To pick up a friend." I patted his arm in farewell before turning and walking off.

        "Who?!" he yelled out to me. I ignored him and kept walking. "You have friends other than us?"

        Asking all these questions.

        I didn't have time for that.

        Kenji needed me.

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* Ready for more Kenji and Darian one-on-one time? Do you guys like it when they spend time together with just the two of them? What do you think will happen this time? Comment your thoughts. :)

* Like I said, the next three updates will be almost back-to-back. I need to get them out of the way before my vacation, and I'm super excited for them, especially the last update before I leave. Until then!