Just Wait » Boyf Riends

I Have Made A Semi-Enemy And Gained An Ally

  "I, uh, uhm, uh, no! It's fine! Uh, d-don't worry about it Jake—" I start panicking and Jeremy seems to panic slightly as well by the way his leg is jumping up and down, but somehow his bright idea was to stay silent anyway.

  I heard some muffled muttering from the other side and then Jake speaks up, "Anyways, Michael, I think it's great that you and Jeremy are da—"

  "It is not great, Jake, give me the phone."

  I hear Jake sigh, "Okay, sorry dude. Michael, I'm sure you guys can make up, Rich, stay civil."

I look over at Jeremy and he seems in between indifferent and mildly panicked. I very audibly gulp and put the phone on speaker, "Uh, hey... hey Rich."

"Is Jeremy there?" he asks.

I look at Jeremy and he frantically shakes his head, I respond: "Yeah, he's here." Jeremy sends me the universal look of 'what the fuck!!!!!!'

  "Can I please talk to him?"

I hand the phone over to Jeremy immediately and he very tiredly holds it for a moment, staring into space for a solid five seconds before realizing he needs to actually talk: "Oh. Uhm. Hi Rich."

"Jeremy, is everything okay? Your voice sounds really scratchy?"

"I'm... 'Is fine..."

"Are you sure? Does Michael have something to do with it? God, what did that bastard do—"

Jeremy shakes his head before realizing that Rich couldn't see him. He spoke up hoarsely: "No, Michael didn't... he didn't do anything."

"Why did you forgive Michael just like that? I told you he wasn't good for you."

"But... he like... he makes me happy an' stuff," Jeremy mumbles, "Really tired."

  "Why? Is everything okay?" Rich's voice seems impossibly soft, which was such a stark contrast to when he was yelling at me earlier. Damn, this guy really cares about Jere, doesn't he?

  Jeremy sniffs, "Throat kinda hurts. Not fun to talk. Radiotherapy," he whispers, "Michael's takin' care of me. I'm fine."

  "Jeremy. I want you to tell me your complete and honest opinion on Michael. Take it off speaker. You can tell me anything. If he's not treating you right then tell me now."

  "No, he's good and stuff," he flinched soundlessly again because of his sore throat, "I... it kinda hurts to speak right now. I can send you texts and stuff about it. Promise that he's cool. I really really like him. I want you two to get along an' stuff."

"Okay, text me as soon as possible, okay? Rest your voice."

Jeremy sniffs and takes a moment to register what Rich said, "Wh-wha... Oh! Uhm, y-yeah. Thanks... thank you Rich."

Rich hangs up.

Jeremy sighs as he sits up and pulls his knees to his chest, "Can you go grab my..." he grits his teeth as the grip around his own wrist tightens at the feeling of searing pain shooting through his throat, "My... My phone?" He croaks out.

"Yeah, yeah, of course! I'll go get it real quick, okay?"

I walk over to the wardrobe and grab his phone. When I turn around I take a minute to just look at Jeremy. He is one hundred percent half asleep and one hundred percent incapable of defending me in any kind of way, but I have some (kinda, sorta, not really) faith in him.

I throw the phone over to him and his reaction time is delayed by maybe three seconds.

"So, what are you gonna tell him?"

"I dunno. Tell him that I love you."

"I don't think that's going to work."

"Well, I'm—" he freezes for a moment and the grip around his own wrist tightens as the searing pain of his sore throat shoots up his body, "Shit, why?"

"It's okay, don't worry, you're going to go to sleep any second now and then you won't have to worry about that shit."

Jeremy sniffs and laughs dryly, "Thanks, ahavah."

"You can really just go to—"

"No! Have to talk to Rich first! Gotta convince him that... convince him that..." he trails off.

"Convince him of what?"

"Convince him that you're cute, obviously! What else would I say?"

"You loser, stop calling me cute."

"You hate me because I speak the truth."

"Actually, in fact, I love you."

"See? Look? Cute."

"You're cuter."

"Impossible!"

"Your friend thinks I'm an abusive jackass, I really think we have more important things to discuss here," I sit next to him and lean over his shoulder to see he's open on Rich's contact.

"I got nothing, though."

"What if we... Couldn't we... couldn't we hang out with Rich at like a takeout place or something? Then after hanging out with me for more than four seconds and actually interacting with me like a normal human being he'd realize that I don't want you dead?"

"I mean... yeah! Yeah, that could work," Jeremy smiles to himself sleepily, texting out a quick message devoid of capitalization and littered with misspellings, "Which day?"

"Friday next week?"

"I have radiotherapy, dumb ass."

"Saturday next week?"

"Alright," Jeremy adds another even worse message which is so atrociously misspelled that it would be a miracle if Rich could even understand it, "I'm so tired."

"I can tell."

"I'm gonna do what all those like... cheesy romcom movies do and I'm gonna like... lean into you and stuff... and then we can fall asleep and we'll be like... hopeless romantics and... we'll be Super High School Level losers..." Jeremy loses his train of thought as he rests his head on my shoulder before throwing his phone across the room.

"I'd be okay with that.'

"I'm... trust me, Michael... Rich is gonna... he'll love you..."

"God, I hope so."