It was two hours after we first arrived at Karl's and I decided to play them what I said was going to be an amazing movie. Award-winning, beautiful, magical, cinematic masterpiece, are adjectives I used to describe it. But as my sweet revenge, I played them the worst movie I've ever seen in my 22 years of life. It's called Mom and Dad and it stars Nicholas Cage and a bunch of other famous talented actors yet somehow it's literally the worst thing I've ever seen. It's an absolutely atrocious movie, there are barely any other adjectives to describe it. Not a cinematic masterpiece, but they definitely figured that out by the time it was over.
"I seriously think that was the worst movie I have ever seen in my entire fucking life." Alex sighed.
"No cause same. And you said that you wouldn't put something diabolical on. I can't believe I trusted you." Karl agreed with Alex, shaking his head.
"Fuck you guys, that was phenomenal," I said, clearly sarcastic, "aren't you guys so happy I shared that with you?"
"I feel like I just lost my youthfulness watching that, like it made me gain 20 years," Alex said, tossing his head back on the couch and running his hands down his face.
"You're such a drama queen." I chuckled while reaching over Karl and snatching his beanie off his head.
"My wig." He jokingly yelled, covering his long hair with his hands.
I waved the beanie around in his face and right as he tried to snatch it back I tossed it across the room.
He sat up and stared me down for a second before reaching over Karl and snatching the pillow from behind my back before smacking me in the head with it.
"Ow goddamn." I snorted out a laugh that sounded like a wince while putting a hand on my head where he hit me.
"Oh shit, did that actually hurt?" He asked genuinely. He put on a serious expression, trying to hide the fact that he was just about to burst out laughing.
"Yes, like really fucking bad." I held the side of my head and swayed a little.
He paused for a second and then leaned forward, trying to look me in the eye to see if I was being serious.
I hid my smile with my arm and snatched the pillow back, and right before Alex was about to apologize I pelted the pillow and it hit him square in the face. The recoil of the pillow was so hard from hitting his face that it bounced back. And smacked Karl.
"Jesus Christ, Eden." Karl laughed while holding his face, laughing at my silent wheeze.
"Are you-" I laughed harder, "are you alright Alex? I smacked you harder than I intended to."
"You hit us so hard you could see our heads reverberate, we were like bobbleheads. I think it's still moving back and forth." He laughed, mimicking his head reverberating like a cartoon character that'd just been hit.
"Holy shit I'm gonna get abs from laughing this hard." I leaned forward clutching my stomach.
"I'm glad both of our concussions seem funny to you, we can really see your true self right now Eden," Karl said playfully.
"Yeah you're not gonna be laughing when you have to drive us to the hospital dude," Alex said.
"I probably will be though, that was so funny," I said after finally catching a breath.
After laughing at them for a little while longer I decided I was starving and that all that laughing at them really took a toll on me, so I definitely needed food. Alex agreed. Not to the me starving part but to the fact that we were both hungry.
"What sounds good?" Karl asked.
"Burger King." Alex immediately offered.
"Yes, that sounds phenomenal." I said, dragging out the 's' the yes.
"For one, Burger King is shit, for two, when was the last time you had it?"
"Um," Alex paused, looking up into the air trying to collect his thoughts, "yesterday."
"That's an immediate no."
"Well, what would you like Your Royal Highness?" Alex joked.
"Pizza Hut." I butted in, "Oh my god. The last time I had Pizza Hut was when we all hung out at my house last. Those fucking wings." I put my fist to my mouth and blew out air. I've been craving those wings so fucking bad.
"That sounds good to me, are you fine with that Alex?" Karl asked and we both looked over at him.
I clasped my hands together, and mouthed 'please' like seven times.
"I mean, I guess so." Alex shrugged after a suspenseful moment of silence.
"Fuck yeah, let's go then," I said.
"Nah let me go get it, it's clear across town and I don't wanna spend almost 30 minutes in the car with you guys." Karl offered.
"Why not?" Alex asked in a puzzled high-pitched voice.
"I'm not a Jason Derulo stan."
"You know what, you can go on your own," I said, honestly a little offended, because literally who isn't a Jason stan.
"Okay then, you kids behave while I'm gone, okay?"
"No," Alex replied.
"Alrighty then, bye." Karl said, dragging out the 'e'.
"Bye." We both replied in sync.
_____
After Karl left the silence was louder than I'd have liked it to be. I don't know what's going on with us, after whatever the fuck happened at the bar, things between us have been different. We used to never sit in silence trying to find words to say, they just came to us. I don't know what's changed. I think we're just at different points in our lives, we're both so busy with streaming and just with life in general, that maybe we're drifting apart. The thought rattles me so hard I have to catch my breath.
"I don't hate you, stop panicking." He said, seemingly reading my thoughts, "I'm just thinking."
"What are you thinking about?"
He takes a big breath but stays silent.
I scoot towards him on the couch, facing him, "is everything alright?"
"Yeah, everything's fine." He says, making his best attempt at a joyful voice.
"Did I say something at Florescence? Did anything happen that I don't remember? Shit has been so weird since then."
"No. Not other than talk about how much you loved Dan and Phil." He shrugged.
"No," I said in horror, throwing my head back on the couch, "are you kidding?"
"No." He chuckled lightly, fighting back a smile.
"Ugh I'm fucking mortified, I was praying that I wouldn't say anything." I covered my face, groaning.
He reached over and uncovered my face with gentle hands, "If it makes you feel any better, my favorite show in middle school was Victorious. I was obsessed."
"What? How have I never heard that before?" I laughed.
"I swore that I would take it to the grave." He smiled back. His hands were still around mine, and I don't even think he realized he was doing it. His thumb was absentmindedly moving back and forth.
I looked down at our hands and he immediately moved them away, clearing his throat. After a beat of silence, he squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them just to stare at a spot behind my shoulder.
"Ok, seriously what's going on? I'm tired of the awkwardness Alex." I shook my head and forced a laugh, "what's going on with you?"
"What do you mean? I haven't been making it awkward." He fake-smiled back.
"Yes, you have."
"Don't act like you haven't been acting weird either, it hasn't only been me." He shot back, not bothering to fake any emotions now.
"What's that even supposed to mean?"
He took a deep breath and then continued, "Shit has been weird since Florescence. It's been three fucking days and you're acting completely different." He said, snitching his eyebrows together.
"So have you," I stressed, pointing a hand in his direction.
"Okay so we both have, I don't know how to fix it then."
"Don't be a dick, Alex. There's no need to argue about this."
"No, you don't a dick. I don't know what you want from me, Eden. We're arguing because we're confused."
"Why would we be confused?' I asked.
He threw his head back and ran a hand down his face.
"Jesus Christ Eden."
"What? I don't know what you're talking about." I said looking into his eyes, trying to understand.
He shook his head in response to my question, his face showing so many emotions at once that I couldn't even begin to name one.
We gazed at each other's faces, searching for the right words to say. His eyes started to linger on my features as if studying them for the first time. As our eyes met, I became extremely aware of our proximity, and how our faces were only inches apart.
His eyes drifted down to my lips, then flicked back up to my eyes and I could see his breath pick up in his chest as I held mine.
The anticipation was killing me to the point where I couldn't handle it anymore. Before thinking about what I was doing, I leaned in, our lips centimeters apart. Alex leaned in to close the gap but before our lips could meet, Karl flung the door open.
"Hey, kids." He sang out, his back facing us to kick the door closed, because his hands were so full, "A little help would be much appreciated."
Alex quickly got up and walked over to Karl in silence, taking a bag of food from his hands. His face was a little red, and he looked relieved to see that Karl didn't see us.
I felt almost sick. My heart was racing from the adrenaline still and my mind was racing just as much. Did he have feelings for me? Did I have feelings for him? I don't think I've ever felt more confused. Maybe it was just a moment of vulnerability from the intensity of the situation. As I tried to collect my thoughts, I was completely overwhelmed by uncertainty and fear. Alex is my best friend, and he has been for the past 3 years. As much as I tried to shake the feeling that it would all be the same, I knew that things would definitely change between us, which made me feel so much worse. I couldn't bare the thought of losing him as a friend, but for the past few weeks things have been different enough to where panicking is warranted.
"Earth to Eden," Karl said, waving me over from the kitchen, "come over here dude, I've got your wings."
I got up from the couch and walked to the kitchen, grabbing the wings from Karl and purposely avoiding eye contact with Alex.
I guessed that Karl began to catch on that something was happening by the way his eyebrows scrunched together as he looked from me to Alex to me again.
"Why are you guys acting so weird, did you change your mind about the Pizza Hut? Bro." Karl said, clearly absolutely distraught by the idea of having to go out to get food again.
"No, we're good. Just tired," Alex replied and looked over at me for a quick second before turning away.
At this point what Alex said isn't even a lie, I am tired. And I think we both knew we had to stick it out for the night for Karl.
I shook up the container of wings, then ran a hand down my face. I can't even imagine what it would've been like if Karl had seen us. I've never been more grateful that he hadn't. I shook away the thought out of utter fear and started eating my wings.
This is going to be the longest night of my life.
(a/n: 😗😏)
( word count: 1984 )