HAPPY PLACE ╱ CONRAD FISHER

SIX

REAL LIFE

So the house was being put up for sale. This was happening and there was nothing they could do about it. Conrad argued that he had it handled and that they didn't have to worry, but Charlie could see right through his bullshit—he was just as lost as the rest of them were. All lost at sea with no light(house) to guide them.

      Jeremiah had stormed off somewhere to blow off some steam, which left Charlie and Belly with Conrad in the living room. Conrad, disgruntled, turned to rest his hands against the mantle above the fireplace, and Belly was the first to attempt at comforting him. But Charlie couldn't help to notice that Conrad hadn't paid him a lick of attention the second he stepped into his line of vision. "What is he doing here?" was the only question he got and it wasn't even directed at him, so maybe Conrad wasn't paying attention to him at all. Charlie would've thought that it stung, but he had been like that for some time, even when the two of them were rooming together.

     When Conrad discovered that he and Charlie were going to be sharing a dorm room, of course he was going to persuade housing to get him another roommate. But since everyone else was pretty much partnered up, he was more or less stuck with his best friend who wasn't feeling like his best friend at that moment. To be fair, they hadn't resolved whatever it was they were arguing about before they showed up to move-in day at Brown, so they were stuck at a minor impasse as they unboxed their belongings in silence.

     Now that Belly made her peace with the fact that she wasn't getting through to Conrad, that left Charlie with him in the living room. The silence was tense, not to mention awkward, and Conrad hadn't made a move to turn around and face Charlie. At last, he sighed. "I still don't know what you're doing here."

     "Simple," Charlie shrugged, even though Conrad couldn't see, "I wanted to tag along to help Belly and Jeremiah find you. In fact, I figured you'd be here."

     "Because you know me so well," Conrad grumbled sardonically as he finally turned around.

     "Better than you think." The confident tone in Charlie's voice would've rocked Conrad if he wasn't already so down in the dumps, but he was just about at rock bottom and he didn't need to be aroused by the fact that his friend knew him inside and out. Those feelings were so far misplaced, it was actually embarrassing.

     "Have you considered that maybe, just maybe, that I didn't want to see you?" Conrad had the nerve to ask.

     "Considering that we're technically still roommates, I'll take it as a hard no."

     "I could've switched dorms."

     "And yet, you didn't fight hard enough to do so. What now?"

     "You're a dick."

     "And your mom's house is being put on the market. I think you have bigger fish to fry than pointing out my dickish behavior, no matter how justified. And last I checked, Belly was the ex, not me. So what's going on?"

     Seeing that Charlie wasn't budging, Conrad sighed. "I'm gonna use my trust as a down payment for the house. I'm talking to one of dad's financial guys tomorrow morning. It's handled. You don't have to stay."

     Charlie took a step forward. "Have you considered that I want to stay? You're not the only one losing this house, you know. We practically grew up here. Your memory is as much as mine. I'm staying, and there isn't much you can do about it."

      Conrad bowed his head and mumbled, "What about your finals?"

     "Already taken care of, I turned in my last portfolio yesterday."

     Conrad nodded, leaving it at that.

Night soon fell over the house, and Charlie was flipping through the cabinets only to find that they were all empty, which made sense considering if there was any food, it'd all have gone bad by now. So he made a mental checklist of going down to the local market and picking something up the next morning before heading out the back door to sit on the deck.

     Of course, the house was different now that Susannah was gone, she was the magic that lit up the place, anyway. That was how the house was so bright in the first place. Now, the light was dimmed and Charlie wasn't sure there was a way of getting it back if it didn't involve selling an arm and a leg. He lay down in the deck chair, barely noticing Conrad sitting on the edge of the pool, his feet softly swinging in the water. If he wasn't so on edge, Charlie could've sworn that he would've been able to fall asleep right then and there underneath the glittering stars, the sound of the soft waves from the pool and the feather-soft breeze setting the ambience.

     "One day, I'm just gonna sleep out here for the fun of it," Charlie mused softly, clasping his hands across his stomach as he settled in.

     Conrad turned his head, huffing out a laugh. "Didn't we do that already?"

     "We tried to, but the winds that were coming up all the way from the beach made it too cold to sleep so we had to head back inside."

     "Right, right. What makes you think you'll be able to do it?"

     "If there was anything I learned from Susannah, it was that anything was possible. So even if you do end up using your trust to help save the house—which is actually an insane idea—we'd have no choice but to celebrate out here."

    "It'd beat stargazing out on the quad," Conrad piped up, smiling softly to himself at the memory.

     Charlie made a face. "I wouldn't say all of that, personally, but it'd be a close second."

     The two of them sat in silence then, letting the sounds of the pool and the cicadas fill the void they left as their words fell flat. Charlie let his eyes fall closed for a moment, releasing a breath and relaxing into the chair. There was a sloshing noise then as Conrad brought himself out of the pool and padded back into the house, leaving Charlie outside by himself.

     By the time midnight rolled around, Charlie figured it was time to sleep in an actual bed, considering that the chair was not made for eight hours' worth of sleep, even if Charlie did pride himself on the fact that he could make a bed out of practically anything. So he finally got off the chair and headed into the house, combed through the linen closet for some sheets and headed for his usual room. He tried to sneak past Conrad's room on the way, but there was always a creaky floorboard that never got fixed so of course he ended up stepping on it on the way.

     "Charlie?" Conrad asked from inside. There were shuffling noises before there was the sound of the doorknob turning and the door creaking open as Conrad poked his head through the doorway. "I thought you were sleeping outside."

     Charlie shook his head, clicking his tongue. "Didn't have the proper set up and that deck chair was going to ruin me before I even fully knocked out."

     Conrad nodded then, and took note of the linen sheets in Charlie's hands. "Aren't you exhausted? You don't want to make the bed at this hour."

     "I'll be fine. Don't worry about me." Charlie shrugged.

     Conrad gave him a flat look before jutting his head in the direction of his room. "Come on. You can make it in the morning."

    "You don't give up, do you?"

    "Not much you can do about it. And stay on your side."

    "I'm not the one who clings to people like a koala in his sleep."

    "Only when I'm drunk."

    "Right. Might as well have alcohol poisoning."