Not What We Expected

11: He Swallowed

Dec called Joanna to make up and ask her over so they just could hang out but she wasn't at home... No, her sister explained that she went to the cinema together with Rufus, so now Dec feels even more lonely. The house is empty as well, Martin's at a friend's and his parents won't be home until much later either. Sometimes is being alone all he ever wants but right now he doesn't at all like the silence around him. It makes him start to think about stuff he doesn't want to be thinking about right now.

Standing with the telephone in one hand and the phone book in his other he eventually decides to call Anth. He has become the second person on the list if he should rank his friends, (or shared second place with Clara, but that's still extreme). But even if he's very high on that list, for some reason Dec doesn't want Anth to be aware of that. And he doesn't really want to ask straight away, 'Want to come over and hang out?'. He has asked that exact question before but in the very situation Dec is in right now he fears that the question only will scream 'I'm feeling very lonely and I have no one else than you to ask!'

"I- I have a civic assignment and I just wonder if you could come over and proofread it for me?", he says instead when Anth answer, "I know history and civic are your things... Would help me a lot."

"Of course Dec!", he hears Anth on the other side, "Now, or?"

"Now- if you have the time, I mean."

"Absolutely, see you in a bit."

A bit passes and about twenty minutes later is the doorbell ringing and Dec welcomes Anth to his house. To stretch out the not-being-alone-time, Dec makes them a pot of tea and finds some biscuits they have before he goes and gets the text he wants Anth to read. It doesn't really need proofreading, both Camelia and Jojo have helped him already so the only thing Anth finds he should change is the one time he has spelt 'released' with z instead of s.

"And now?", Anth asks and raises up from the table.

"Are you leaving now?", Dec wonders, not wanting him to go but not really daring to suggest doing something else together.

"I'm- Ehm... I don't know...?", Anth stutters a bit and looks at Dec.

"Ehm... Jojo and I always watch some telly or a film when we're done studying...", Dec answers and looks away from the taller one.

"Yeah, maybe we could do that? I haven't got anything else planned for today anyway."

Dec can't help the smile forming on his lips when he hears Anth answer that, hopefully that means at least two more hours in another humans company. They leave the cups and the crumbs at the table and Anth follows Dec out to their living room. He tells Anth to choose a VHS as he walks to his room to get some pillows and blankets.

When Dec comes back and sits down beside Anth he makes sure that it's at least one foot between them and then they just sit there in silence and watch the film.

"Are you alright?", Anth is the one to first speak up after about half an hour.

"I'm fine", he answers on routine, "Why?", Dec asks, looking up at Anth.

"You've been staring at your lap for like the last five minutes and you seem a bit... I don't know, down...? Have you solved that thing with Joanna yet?", Anth asks and his hand reaches out and strokes Dec's arm and it makes him shiver. He looks away and shakes his head, almost thinking that was a bit spooky, how Anth could sense that... How well he could read him.

"Okay...", Anth says low, "Want to talk about it?"

"No.", Dec says and shakes his head, "I don't like talking about stuff."