Please Don't Hit Zero ~ IwaOi

~41~

"So," Makki turns to me, "you two wanna go first?"

I shrug. "Sure. Graduation, huh... How long has it been? A year or two?"

The other blinks a few times, not knowing what to say. "Huh? It's been four years."

My heart sinks. "What?" Four years?! What have I been doing with my life? That means I'm twenty-two already. What the fuck?

"Sei-chan, I don't think I'll be this pretty for much longer. Will you still love me when I get gray hair and when my face gets all wrinkly?" I rest my head on my best friend's shoulder.

He chuckles shortly. "Idiot. We're not that old. Four years, eh? Damn it. I'd hoped we would have our lives in order by now."

"Don't you?" Makki tilts his head a bit, confused. "You have a job and a place to stay, right?"

"I guess..." But we are still emotionally dependent on each other. We're stuck in this spot together. Even if we wanted to go work or live somewhere else, we wouldn't make it.

Where did we go wrong? When was the right time to pull ourselves out of this mess, and make something of our lives? Maybe we were doomed from the start.

After my timer broke and Iwa had left, Lana asked for my phone so she could call Issei. She briefly explained the situation to him when he arrived, which made him resent Iwa this much. The fellow heartbroken boy took me home, holding me for the rest of the day.

The two of us skipped school on Friday, but were forced to go on Monday. Our exams were starting, and I was not about to do the entire year again. I got two failing grades, and the others were just barely passing, but it was enough to keep me motivated.

After that, we managed to hold on to our sanity by studying 24/7. There was absolutely no contact between us and the other duo. Every lunch break, I would head to Issei's table, while Makki would go to Iwa's. I'd always give my pink-haired friend a quick smile, but I didn't dare do much more than that.

Due to our devotion to the classes, we managed to make it. We graduated first try. I was glad, because being so close to Iwa physically while there was a huge mental ravine between us was really hard. But I also thought I'd never see him again. That hurt me.

We spent a while going back and forth between Issei's house and mine. I hadn't seen my dad in a few months, and I felt really bad about it. He was so, so worried, but I didn't tell him anything. I couldn't. I was somehow scared that I would disappoint him.

I'm surprised neither of us has had to go to the hospital before, because all we did was drink and sleep. I have no idea how long it lasted, because that entire period is one big blur.

"Uhm, let's see... We enjoyed our freedom for a while," I start my summary of our post-graduation time. "And then Lana suddenly showed up at our door. Saying she had a dream to open a cafe-bar kinda thing. She asked if we wanted to help, if we were looking for a job."

"Man, we had to work our asses off back then," Issei laughs. "We were the only two employees for a while, and the place got popular real quick. We had full shifts for months, handling customers and training the newbies."

I smile, too. "And Lana was wondering why we slept so much. It was exhausting... I still haven't recovered all the energy I spent back then."

"And that's why you live here?" Makki questions us after a few seconds of silence.

"Yeah. She's rented the whole place, so we kind of claimed this room. Hers is at the end of the hallway," I explain. "Normally, only the three of us are allowed upstairs."

"Honestly, there's not much else to say. Our days have been the same. I thought it had only been a year and a half as well," Issei concludes.

Makki frowns. "Really? Nothing weird happened? Don't you get a lot of creepy guys around here?"