saturday mornings are for pancakes // a dream x reader fanfiction

CHAPTER 46: TWO OFFERS

Clay shakes his head slightly in a way that I know something's wrong. "No, Natalie and I-" he stops himself.

There's tension in the room now. I feel myself holding my breath, scared to blow air in the wrong direction. George is the one who breaks the silence when he turns to Nick. "Are we the losers for not having a date tomorrow?"

"Pfft." Nick jokingly waves it off, thankful for the change in conversation. "We have each other, George. That's all we'll ever need."

George rolls his eyes. "So yes we are?"

Clay snorts, and I feel my shoulders relax a little. He gives us a half-hearted wave. "I'm heading to bed. Night."

George, Nick and I watch him leave, waiting for the door to shut at the end of the hall.

"Is he okay?" George asks quietly.

I shake my head. "I think something happened."

"With Natalie?"

"It had to be," Nick says, "That's where he was tonight, right?"

"Think so." George shifts in his chair. "I feel bad for him."

Nick nods. "He really likes her." My chest pangs, but I listen to what the boys have to say.

George clears his throat. "Well, they'll probably work through it."

I swallow once. I feel awful that hope sprung from my chest in these past few minutes. I try to reset my thought process, to get excited about tomorrow night, but I just can't.

"I'm going to head to bed," I say softly.

"That's right." Nick smiles. "You get some beauty rest for that date of yours."

I roll my eyes. "It's just a date, Nick. No big deal."

"Or a very big deal," George points out.

I shake my head as I head towards the hallway. "Goodnight boys."

"Night," the call in unison. I hear Nick call out "Jinx!" right after.

I walk to my room but hesitate right outside of it. I glance two doors down at Clay's room, seeing that the light's still on.

We talked a couple nights ago, so it wouldn't be weird to reach out, right? I take a deep breath, putting one foot in front of the other.

The door's cracked open instead of all the way shut. I decide to knock and walk in at the same time. "Clay?" I say softly.

He's staring straight ahead at his black monitor. He snaps out of his trance and glances at me. "Hey."

"Everything okay?" I ask, not leaving the doorway to give him some space.

"She got a job offer," Clay explains, "In Georgia."

"Oh," I say at first, then pause knowing I need to be supportive. "I mean that's not too far. We share a border with Georgia, and it's only a couple hour flight, probably. It could work."

"That's what I said." He sighs. "She said she doesn't want to do long distance."

"She wants you to move there?" My eyes widen.

He meets my eyes now. "She said it's all or nothing for her."

I take a deep breath in, wanting to word everything just right, but I find nothing to say. "Wow," was all I could breath out.

"I know." He chuckles, looking back at his empty desk. "I didn't like the idea, and she didn't like that I didn't like the idea."

I risk the question. The one that fills my heart with hope. "Did you guys break up?"