"Can I know what this is doing here?"
"This has a fucking name."
"I don't care. You are not supposed to be here," I told Greg, glaring at him and he returned me the very same bad look. It was currently lunch time and this dumb ass named Greg decided to join us for some unknown reasons. Joshua didn't seem to mind his presence but me, I had a different opinion on the matter.
"It's Joshua who invited me for lunch," Greg informed me, pointing one accusing finger at Joshua who was eating his food silently. "So whether you care or not is my problem."
"Tell me that this is a freaking joke?" I asked my best friend who immediately swallowed the food in his mouth.
"I just thought that the three of us could enjoy a nice little chat," he defended himself and I looked at him in disbelief. "Don't look at me like that, Declan. It's just for this lunch."
"I don't want to have lunch with Greg," I complained.
"Well, you remember this time when Pierre dragged us to his friends' table for lunch?" He asked me and I nodded slowly, replaying this particular lunch in my head, I couldn't really forget about it, "Well, I obviously didn't want to have lunch with them, but I did it for you, so now you are going to do the same for me."
I snorted and looked back at Greg, annoyed. The latter just shrugged and started eating his food, not bothered at all by my presence. It sucked. I didn't want him here. I had a few things to tell Joshua and Greg was going to prevent me from doing so.
"Can I have, at least, a good reason to explain his presence?" I demanded and Joshua rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding my eyes.
"If you really want to know, Greg and I have started talking to each other once again," he admitted and I could just stare at him, "And I guess that we are getting along...again."
My gaze hardened and Joshua let out a nervous laugh. I just had to ask:
"Did you two kiss again?"
At my words, both Greg and Joshua choked on their food and I just watched them without doing anything.
"What the fuck, dude!" Greg exclaimed angrily and I shrugged.
"What? Is there a problem?"
"Declan, don't be stupid. We didn't kiss!" Joshua exclaimed in embarrassment and I could see the slight change in color of his cheeks. He was blushing? Well, that was rare. "We're just friends, that's it. There's nothing more going on between us."
"Then why didn't you tell me anything sooner?" I questioned him and he sighed.
"I just-"
"He doesn't own you any explanation,"Greg interrupted Joshua, "He can talk to me if he wants. He doesn't need your consent."
"I'm his best friend, dumb ass. He needs my consent if he is going to do something stupid," I told him and Joshua looked at me in disbelief.
"You're one to speak. Remind me who is not listening to me when making important life choices," Joshua said and I huffed, rolling my eyes. I took a few sips of the water in my bottle.
"When did you two start conversing?" I continued to question, ignoring Joshua's previous words, and Greg was the one to reply.
"Since he gave me a dog."
"Obviously," I rolled my eyes again. I couldn't believe it. So all this time Joshua had been talking to Greg without telling me anything about it. Was Joshua falling for him again? I wasn't sure anymore. "Greg, are you not worried that your friends tag you as fag because you are having lunch with us?" I asked him, briefly glancing at the football team table.
"It's just for this lunch. They won't make a big deal out of this."
He got to be fucking kidding me?
"Boy, don't forget that your fucking group of friends and you beat Joshua because he dared to have lunch with me once," I reminded him. "How is that one time different from now?"
"Declan, let's not just talk about that," Joshua said quietly.
"No, I want to know Mr. Greg's answer," I insisted and Greg looked like he wanted to punch me in the face. Though, he quickly calmed himself down.
"I made a mistake back then," he replied, actually surprising me, and I blinked, "And I regretted it soon enough. I won't do it again. Happy?"
"Not at all," I replied and I folded my arms, "I still don't like you and I obviously don't trust you."
"I don't really care. I don't like you either," he admitted and he glanced at Joshua, "And I only need one person's trust."
I raised one eyebrow at him. He ignored me and just continued to eat his food. I looked back at Joshua.
"You sure about this whole thing?" I asked him and he sighed.
"Yeah, don't you worry about me," he reassured me. "I know what I'm doing."
"I doubt it," I told him honestly, "But Greg is already there, so I guess that I'll bear with him for this lunch...just for this lunch."
My best friend smiled.
"Thank you, Declan!" He exclaimed, "Your approval was important for me."
"Don't mention it," I brushed it off and he chuckled. It was quiet for a while before Joshua spoke again.
"So, Pierre told me that you went at the orphanage on Sunday, how-"
"I don't want to talk about it with an intruder here," I made it clear, looking specifically at Greg to make him feel really targeted and he rolled his eyes.
My little time at the orphanage with Pierre was really amazing. We played with the kids, we had lunch together and I played some more piano. The little ones seemed to really like me in the end, especially the little girl named Lily. She remained close to me the whole time and was really sad when it was time for me to leave. Though, I promised her that I would be back. I loved it going there and the fact that Pierre was there with me the whole time made me love it even more.
"You can speak freely. I already know that you and Pierre are screwing each other," Greg informed me and at his words, my eyes snapped into the direction of Joshua.
"God, don't tell me that you-"
"What? No! Declan, do you seriously think that I would go talk about your personal life with Greg?" Joshua asked me, shocked, and probably slightly hurt by my assumption. Okay, it was dumb of me to even think about that.
"I'm sorry, Josh, I shouldn't have thought of that," I immediately apologized, feeling extremely guilty, "I know that you wouldn't do something like this. Never."
He was definitely one of the only persons who would never hurt me like this.
"Idiot, Joshua didn't tell me anything, I have eyes and a brain so I can guess when two people are in some sort of secret relation," Greg intervened, "I'm surprised that no one else has found out about this yet. Pierre and you are basically always stuck to each other."
"You don't know anything," I told him and he let out a dry laugh. "Pierre had a girlfriend recently."
"A girlfriend who he already dumped," he added, "And no need to be a genius to know why he broke up."ma
"I don't like you," I mentioned once again.
"And I don't like you either," he was soon to say.
"Can't you two try to get along?" Joshua asked us.
"No," Greg and I replied at the same time and my friend sighed.
"At least I tried," he murmured and I scoffed. It was quiet again then and Joshua, once again, decided to break the silence, "By the way, did you two hear about the masked ball?"
"Yep. It's the second time that you are mentioning this," I told him, eating my food, "And I saw a few posters around concerning this."
"Same for me," Greg added.
"And, are you two planning on going?" Joshua asked us and he looked at me in the corner of his eyes, "With someone specific for example?"
"No," the intruder was the first one to reply, "Those stuff are dumb and thankfully, I have no girl to force me to attend this."
"Oh, poor you," I mocked sympathy and he rolled his eyes, "I'm so sad that no girls want to have a boring straight life with you."
"I just had sex yesterday for your information, so keep your comments to yourself," he said and Joshua and I grimaced.
"This wasn't necessary to mention," Joshua told him and I looked closely at his expression. No, he didn't look hurt (or anything of the sort) by Greg's shitty information. That was a good thing. It would be really bad if he had any feelings for this dumb Greg. My friend noticed that I was staring at him and he gave me a questioning look. I shook my head and he frowned. "Okay," he said in confusion, before asking, "Will you go to the ball, Declan?"
"I have no idea," I replied to him with a shrug, "I didn't think about it yet actually." I hummed. "Besides, it will be no use for me to go if I can't go with you know who."
"You mean Pierre."
"Shut up, Greg," I snapped at him and he rolled his eyes.
"Look, if you want to talk about Pierre, you can, you don't have to speak in coded words," he said and my eyebrows furrowed.
"Why do you want me to talk about him so much? Are you some sort of spy who came here to collect useful information?" I wondered for a moment.
"I'm no spy, and if you were to give a description of your sex life with Pierre right now, this information would be completely useless to me."
"We never had sex."
"Oh, too bad for you, I'm so sad," he mocked me and I glared at him.
"Okay, no more talk about Pierre. I don't want his name to be mentioned again," I stated firmly.
"As you wish," Greg said and judging from the expression on his face, he didn't give a crap.
"Wait, can I mention something?" Joshua asked just then.
"What is it?" I questioned him.
"Well, Pierre and I talked about the ball and he said that he wouldn't mind going," my friend informed me, "Actually, he would really like to go, so maybe you should think about it some more. That's all."
He got me curious and I was also surprised. Why didn't Pierre tell me about the ball, if he wanted to go? To be honest, I didn't even bother thinking about it because I knew that even if I did invite him, we wouldn't be able to go together. Would his parents even let him go?
I really needed to talk about it with him.
"Joshua, what are we going to do concerning your birthday?" Greg asked suddenly and I snapped out of my thoughts. "Are we-"
"What are you doing?" I interrupted him and I was slightly confused, "Why are you talking about Joshua's birthday like if you are going to be there?"
"Declan, don't start please," Joshua said and he seemed tired, "My friends need to be there for my birthday and Greg is one of my friends, and before you try to protest, he was there for your birthday and you were there for his birthday. You have no right to protest here."
"It's not my fault that he was there for my birthday. It's you who asked him to bake the birthday cake," I reminded him. "And I didn't even know that it was his birthday until you mentioned it."
"Conclusion of the story, we'll all be there for Joshua's birthday," Greg finalized but I wasn't too happy about it. He looked at my friend, smiling, "I'll make the cake."
"I hope that you'll choke with your freaking cake."
"Such an hostile character."
"Like if you are any better."
"I'm trying to be a better human being," Greg told me and I huffed.
"That would be a big first," I said and I turned to Joshua, pointing at Greg.
"Is it because of those types of line that you accepted to take that little puppy back?" I asked my best friend and he groaned.
"Declan, I'm tired, please stop," he pleaded me, letting his head fall on the table. "Greg will be there for my birthday, end of the story. Whoever I feel like inviting will be there, whether you like them or not. You have no say in this."
"Guess that the boy of the party decided."
"Shut up, Greg. You're making things worst," Joshua snapped at him and that removed the satisfying look on this idiot's face.
Good for him.
I let out a small sigh and patted Joshua on the back a bit before leaning my forehead against his shoulder, closing my eyes.
"Fine, your friend Greg can come," I whispered to him.
"Idiot," I heard him reply and I smiled, relaxing a bit. I could feel an intense gaze on us though and I didn't have to open my eyes to know that it was Greg who was looking at us. I ignored him. I remained lean against Joshua for a while before he finally told me to back off because he wanted to finish eating his food.
Joshua tried to get us to engage into another conversation, but it was kind of fruitless, and soon lunch ended. Greg was the first one to stand up and go. He made sure to tell Joshua that he would talk to him later while I just received a little nod of the head as a sign of goodbye.
"Well, that went well," Joshua said as we stood up to get rid of our empty trays, and I rolled my eyes. "We should do that again another time."
"Absolutely not," I immediately refused, "One lunch with Greg is enough for me. I don't need another one."
"Come on, Declan," he pleaded me and we both got out of the cafeteria, "Can't you make a little effort for me?"
"I already made a big effort today," I informed him and he sighed.
"I really want you two to get along."
"And that's exactly what I can't understand. Why would you want that?" I questioned him and he sighed once again.
"He's my childhood friend," he told me then as he looked down at the ground, "I know that he was bad to me. He hurt me and I thought that our friendship was over. I didn't plan on talking to him again but after his birthday, we started texting each other and the little texts turned into long conversations. I know that I should have told you about this sooner but I wanted to handle the situation on my own and now, I feel like things are returning back to normal. I want him back in my life, Declan. I need both of you. That's why I want you to get along with him."
What to say to that?
"I don't want him to steal you away from me," I finally let out, my voice low, "I'm your best friend now and he can't just come back and steal that privilege from me. I can't accept that."
That was what I was truly scared of and it was also part of the reason why I was so hostile to Greg. He used to be Joshua's best friend and if he really came back into the picture, what would happen to me?
Joshua suddenly stopped walking and grabbed me by my shoulders.
"Don't be an idiot, of course, you'll still be my best friend," he told me, "Greg won't be able to change that, no one will come to the same level as you. That's just impossible. Never dare worry about this again. I'll punch you if you dare doubt our friendship."
I let out a laugh at that but he really succeeded to touch me a lot with his words.
"No one will be able to replace you too," I promised him and since he now took away my worry, I guessed that I could try to be a little nicer to Greg.
Though, one thing for sure, it would take much more than a simple lunch for him and I to get along.