Felix and Warren (boyxboy)

Fourteen

Warren felt, in that moment, like grabbing a hold of Felix's face and telling him that he could never be a nuisance, but he didn't do that. He didn't want to make Felix stay if he didn't want to. For some reason, that thought made his chest hurt, but he shoved the sadness down.

"You wouldn't be, but I get it," he said.

Felix thought that Warren didn't get it. How could he? Felix hadn't told him anything about what he was going through. He wanted to. He trusted Warren, for some reason, but he just couldn't right now. It was too hard.

"Let's go," Warren said.

He and Felix stood up from the sofa and made their way over to the front door.

Felix was silently kicking himself. He felt like an asshole. He hadn't actually done anything wrong. He just didn't want to shut Warren out, but he wanted to protect himself.

"Thank you for having me," Felix said, not forgetting his manners.

"That's alright," Warren said, with a faint smile. "You're always welcome here," he added, sooner than he could stop himself. God. What a weird thing to say out loud.

"I appreciate that. Hey, it's been a while since I've had a genuine friend, so thank you," Felix said. He meant every syllable.

"No, thank you," Warren said with sincerity.

There was a small pause, then, but Felix eventually took a breath and smiled.

"I better go. I'll see you tomorrow, Warren," he said.

"Take care, Felix," Warren replied.

Felix would try his best.

He headed up the drive and started to make his way to the bus stop so he could get a bus back home. He hated taking the bus, but it was getting dark and although their neighbourhood was relatively friendly, Felix didn't feel like being murdered. Not today, at least.

That was more of a Wednesday thing.

"Hey," Wynn greeted him, when he got home. She rubbed at her sleepy eyes, which had silver shadows forming under them. She hadn't slept well recently. She'd been overthinking. It made the whole sleeping thing incredibly difficult.

"Where were you?" she asked, trying her best to not sound like their mother.

"Out doing drugs and-" Felix choked out a laugh when he saw Wynn's expression.

"It's not funny, Felix," Wynn replied. Her expression was perfectly serious.

Felix shook his head.

"'Course not. I was with my- my friend," he managed to say. It was still weird, but he was beginning to like it. It felt as though he was actually doing something good for himself for the first time in a while.

"Ah, I thought maybe you were working," Wynn said.

"Nah. I have a shift tomorrow," Felix said. He really didn't want to go to work, but money could be exchanged for goods and services, so...

"I feel like I have to get to know you all over again. Who's your friend?" she asked.

"His name's Warren," he said.

Wynn nodded, as a small smile formed on her face.

"You seem happier. You look well," Wynn said.

For some reason, that comment caught Felix off-guard. He really didn't feel it, but he supposed it was a good thing that he looked it. He occasionally worried that the drug use would destroy his looks, but really, that was the least of his concerns.

"Yeah. It's good to have a friend again. It's uh...been a while," he said. He didn't want to sound like a total loser.

Fortunately, Wynn wasn't one to tease him.

"What did you guys get up to?" Wynn asked.

Felix started to tell Wynn about the game that he and Warren had played.

Wynn wasn't too keen on games, but she listened.

It made Felix feel a little better that he had one loyal person in the world that actually cared about what he said. He supposed, now, that he had two people like that.

Felix asked Wynn what she had been up to, so she went on to explain.

"On the way home from school, these kids basically pushed this old lady over and grabbed her purse. I rushed down the road and helped her up and had to call the police. What the hell is wrong with people?" Wynn asked.

Felix's jaw tensed in that protective older brother way that it tended to do sometimes.

"You need to be careful," he said.

"I can look after myself," she replied.

Irritation flashed in Felix's eyes, but he didn't want to argue the matter further. This was the first time in a while that he and Wynn were getting along. Properly. The way that they did when they were kids.

In truth, most days Felix felt as though he still was a kid. He was officially an adult, of course, but this adulting thing was difficult.

They had both lost their parents far sooner than either one had prepared to. It wasn't easy.

There was a buzz from Felix's phone, and he looked down to find it was a text from Molly. That was unexpected. Felix had been convinced, up until this point, that she didn't like him, but he supposed that was now changing. She had invited him to a party.

Felix's mind immediately went to Warren. God. He hadn't asked to have all these thoughts of him, but they had just sort of appeared. He wondered if Warren would go to the party with him. He didn't suspect that was Warren's kind of scene, but maybe it would be different if the two of them were going as friends.

The main thing he was concerned about was the fact that Molly still lived at home and her dad, Laurence, was the town mayor. He was not a nice guy. If Molly trashed her house with a party, Felix could only imagine what the aftermath of that would be. That being said, Felix wanted to have some fun.