They Don't Exactly Cover This Subject In Boarding School

49. Saturday, January 26th

(Not sure if people get triggered by it, but tw for talk of getting mugged, just in case.)

Philip went to the other party Georges had invited him to, just because said cousin insisted that being social would fix his love problems. That didn't seem entirely accurate to Philip, but he was willing to try it anyways.

So he danced, and drank, and kissed a few people. Not a lot, just two or three at the most.

And then the clock hit sometime in the early Saturday morning, and he had work later that same day, so he headed out to catch a few hours of sleep before his shift. Even though Georges pouted, he did eventually let him leave.

Philip intended to walk out of the house, and down the street to his nearby apartment, maybe call an Uber if it was too cold to walk, but life had a habit of looking at his plans and saying 'no, fuck that'.

George fucking Eacker was leaning against the front of the house, smoking a cigarette. Philip wanted to keep walking, pretend he didn't see him, but he glanced at George longer than he intended to, and he looked so goddamn sad, and maybe it was just the alochol in his system, but Philip suddenly felt the strong need to at least resolve their relationship nicely, instead of letting it end the way it was heading.

So he took a step off the front steps and walked to George, stopping next to him. George doesn't look over, but took a drag of his cigarette in acknowledgement.

"Smoking is bad for your health." Philip said, digging his hands into his coat pockets.

"I know." George said after a small silence, that was either a few seconds or a few millennia "I just needed one tonight."

Philip didn't answer, and instead leaned against the wall next to George. He can hear the music from inside, the bass resonating in his chest.

"How are you and Robert?" Philip asked after a while.

"What do you mean?" George responded.

"Aren't you dating? I saw you flirting with him a while ago."

"What- you thought that was flirting? He was asking me for answers to homework! Do you really think I would sink to his level?"

"What about the other night? You came to the party with him."

"Yeah, cause I need a ride since my car's in the shop, and we're friends with the same people!"

"Fine, alright. But why didn't you tell me it was you on Halloween? I fucking told you about it, couldn't you have at least told me? We were both drunk, it wouldn't have made anything weird between us."

"I know it's just- I-" George took a deep breath, and then another drag of his cigarette "I like you Philip. Like, a lot. Like, I want to go on dates with you and all that dumb shit, and I was afraid that- that if I told you, it would make things weird, no matter how many times you say it wouldn't. And I'm sorry, really, really sorry, but I think with my heart, not my head, when I'm around you, and my heart is dumb as hell. I'm sorry."

Philip smiled. "I wanna do that dumb shit with you too."

"You do?"

"Yeah, but I'm still mad at you." Philip said, beginning to walk towards the sidewalk.

"Wait, you can't just say that and walk away, come back! Philip!"

Philip flipped George off from the sidewalk. "Fuck you!" He called, but he was grinning happily, and so was George, and he let George catch up with him, despite his claims of being mad.

"Let me walk you home, at least. I don't want you getting mugged." George said, dropping his cigarette in the snow and grinding it with his heel to be safe.

"I'm not gonna get mugged."

"You're small, I feel like you'd be easy to mug."

"First of all I'm average sized-"

"Ok, ok. Average sized, but I'm still bigger than you. Let me walk you home."

"Fine, if it'll make you feel masculine or whatever." Philip said, taking George's hand in his own.

George laughed and they began to walk. Philip hadn't felt this light in months. It was like all his problems had gone away, which most of them had.

"Fuck you too, by the way." George added after a minute or two.

"Triple fuck you."

"That's not a thing."

"It is now; I just decided."

"Fine, but only because I like you."

"Aww, you're cute."

"Quadruple fuck you."

Philip gasped dramatically and shouldered him, but George started laughing, and then Philip started to as well.

"I hate you." Philip said once they had calmed down.

George grinned at him, and Philip's heart fluttered.

And he knew that things, at least things that involved George, were going to be alright.

(Bam, bitch. The angst soup is gone, we got fluff turkey for dinner now.)