All in Time

Chapter 9

(About a month later)

  I find myself laying on my floor in silence again. Just me and my thoughts. I'd already told Karkat about my family situation and we had even seen each other after that. I still feel apprehensive and I don't know why.

  It might be because we have to actually come out with our relationship soon. That's going to be a trip. I still don't know much about his family, but he promised to tell me. He just hasn't done it yet.

  I need to do something. I don't want to go outside or get up, but I need to distract myself.

  I reluctantly pull myself off of the floor and grab a random book off of my dusty shelf. I don't read very often unless I have to.

  I ended up grabbing a book about self help. Peachy. That really makes me feel wonderful, thanks World.

  Regardless, I read through the entire thing. I was done with it after 3 hours of reading. I found things in there that could help me, but I wouldn't take action on it.

  I come to the conclusion that Rose left it here.

  I haven't talked to Rose in a while. It's weird, considering we're twins. We should talk way more than we do.

Maybe I should return it. I went and got my phone and called her. Might as well go ahead and knock that out.

"Hello?" Rose's voice answered after three rings.

"Hey, it's Dave." I answered.

"Oh, hey Dave. Do you need something?" She asked.

"No, not really. You left your book here. The one about self help. Yeah, I was just calling so you knew and you can come get it whenever." I explained. I never really liked talking over the phone.

She paused for a moment. "You can keep it. It's fine. Thanks, though."

I realized quickly why she left it. She thought I needed it. I didn't call her out on it, though.

"Oh. Okay then. Um, well I can go now. Unless you want to talk or something." I said.

"Dave, I can hear your strain over the phone. We can hang up now. If it makes you more comfortable, if I want to talk to you, I'll just text." She replied.

"Thanks. Bye." I stated simply. She bid me farewell and hung up.

Then I just sat there with my thoughts. My thoughts were as jumbled and undignified as always. I gave up and switched on my TV. I lost myself in the world of useless infomercials.

I'm not sure how long I watched the infomercials and random TV shows for, I just know that it was dark when a vibration from my phone caught my attention.

Karks: Hey.
You: Sup.
Karks: I'm bored. Want to talk about useless shit?
You: That's all I ever talk about.
Karks: True.
You: But why not. Uh. I don't know what to talk about.
Karks: Me neither.
You: Figures. You done anything interesting lately?
Karks: You.
You: Bro. Take the question seriously.
Karks: No. I am serious. I am as serious as serious gets. You are the most interesting thing I've done.
You: Okay then.
Karks: How about you?
You: I just binge read a whole book about self help.
Karks: Oh... Way to make this conversation depressing Dave.
You: It was what I picked up. My sister left it here.
Karks: Pink one or the other one?
You: The other one. Her name is Rose.
Karks: Note taken.
Karks: ...
Karks: Wanna do some borderline sexting?

  What? Karkat, the angry little shit I've come to love, just asked me if I wanted to sext. Wow. I laughed a little.