Tharn was rinsing the glass he had just drank water from when he suddenly heard furious knocking coming from his front door. He turned to look at the wall clock in the living room to see it was 8 PM. It was a Wednesday, so he wasn't expecting anyone to show up. Unless it was Pina deciding to come back, in case she managed to finish her group assignment early. But she had a key, so he was confused even further. He figured that she might have forgotten to take it.
He walked to the door and cracked it open to be faced by Type, looking furious, who proceeded to push past him and walk to the living room. Tharn followed him with his eyes as he stood rooted in place. Type walked ahead and flopped down angrily on the couch.
Tharn was extremely shocked at this surprise visit because Type always texted him before he came over. Also, he never saw him on a weekday, so he was twice as confused at his sudden, angry presence on his couch.
He walked up to the couch and looked at him warily. "Type, what's wrong?" He asked, furrowing his brows in concern and a bit of fear. Type looked up at him and Tharn could see fire in his eyes. This was the most angry he had ever seen Type and it worried him.
"Nicolette is being impossible," Type said in a huff. Tharn immediately felt a sudden discomfort creeping into his system at the possibility of his friend getting into another fight with his girlfriend. He walked up to the couch and sat down next to him. "What happened?" Tharn asked softly, bringing a hand up to Type's shoulder.
Type turned his head to look at his hand and then back up at Tharn. He felt his anger ebbing at the worried look on his friend's face, which suddenly made him remember why he was angry in the first place, reigniting his fury. He shook his head and brought a hand to his forehead.
"She wants me to distance myself from you," he said, turning to look at Tharn. Tharn, hearing that tidbit, felt his breath hitch. His mind started running a mile a minute, trying to figure out what he did wrong, but couldn't conclude why Nicolette would say that. He thought they got along well. He wondered what he had done for her to ask of such a thing. He felt knives twisting in his chest at the possibility of losing Type again. He needed to fix whatever he did wrong to prevent that from happening. After he tried to think about what he intentionally or inadvertently may have done to Nicolette for her to dislike him to such an extent, he came up empty. They hadn't even interacted enough for her to dislike him so fast. "Why?" Tharn asked, his voice breaking because of the intense feeling of impending loss that was gnawing away at the back of his mind.
Type felt his stomach twist uncomfortably at the tone of Tharn's voice. He suddenly felt like maybe he made a mistake by coming here. He didn't want to see that look of hurt on his friend's face. He hated to see Tharn like that. He tried to think about how to phrase the next sentence but, seeing Tharn searching his eyes for an answer, couldn't help but be honest with him.
"She thinks we're too close. She said she feels uncomfortable to see me hang out with you," he said, the hurt and anger those words had caused him still coursing through his body.
Tharn froze. He did not expect that at all. He didn't even know where she was coming from. He tried to wrack his brain to think of any incident which would have made her feel uncomfortable to the point of asking Type to keep his distance from him, but came up empty. "What? I don't…." Tharn said as he looked up to stare at Type with eyes drenched in confusion, ".... understand."
Type could see the bewilderment and hurt in Tharn's eyes and felt even worse. "Yeah, neither do I. Apparently, the night we had gone out clubbing, you and I were dancing together and she felt very uncomfortable about it," Type said frustratedly.
Tharn suddenly recalled a small memory of that night as he stared at the wall behind Type. He remembered holding Type in his arms as they swayed to the music. He felt immediate guilt assault his system at that recollection because he figured he was the reason for them being in that situation, given how drunk he had been. He looked back at Type, feeling guilt stricken. "I'm so sorry, Type. I don't even remember that properly because I was extremely drunk. I just remember how drunk you were and I was trying my best to look out for you," Tharn said sincerely.
Type could see the honesty of Tharn's words reflected in his eyes and felt a lot worse. "I don't even remember that part of the night. You don't have to apologise for dancing with me. We were at a club and we were drunk," Type said bringing his hand up to rest on Tharn's shoulder to calm him. Tharn just felt bad because Type was trying to console him when he was the cause of the strife in Type's relationship.
"Maybe we should distance ourselves from each other to ease her mind," Tharn said. Type leaned back a little in surprise at Tharn's suggestion. He was not going to lose his closest friend over something so ridiculous.
"No, Tharn. We did nothing wrong. It's her problem. She needs to get over it, like I told her to," he said with conviction. Tharn raised his eyebrows in surprise at hearing that. He could feel that Type had brewed another problem between Nicolette and himself with his callous words and, now, Tharn was the reason behind it. His surprise quickly turned to panic when that fact fully registered in his mind. "No, Type! You can't say that to her! She's your girlfriend. You need to work through your issues together. You can't just give her an ultimatum like that. Did you forget that you need to see things from her perspective too?" Tharn said anxiously.
"I saw her perspective and came to the conclusion that it was dumb. Her whole argument is based on seeing the two of us dancing together when we were drunk in a club. That is the sole reason she wants me to stay away from you," Type said, exasperated at the sheer ridiculousness of her reasonings.
Tharn felt another pang of guilt wrack his insides at being the reason they got into that situation in the first place. Knowing that, if only he hadn't drank so much, they wouldn't be in the predicament they had found themselves in, he felt ready to be swallowed up by the ground. "Type, let me apologise to her. It's my fault. I dragged you to the dance floor. I held you up because you were too drunk. This is all my fault," Tharn blubbered, utterly scared for causing him relationship troubles.
"This is not your fault Tharn! We're just friends. You and I know that. No one has ever had a problem with how 'close' we are before. Pina literally has been with us from the beginning and she never says anything. You know why?" Type asked and Tharn shook his head to let him know that he had no clue. "Because there is nothing wrong. It's all her. It's in her head," Type added.
Type's words did make sense to Tharn. He was right. He had been with Pina for over half a year and they even hung out together with Type all the time. She never suggested anything of the sort that Nicolette did after hanging out with them twice. It made no sense to him. But he realised that everyone was different and maybe she just looked at them differently. He needed to make Type understand that.
"Type, maybe it makes her uncomfortable. Just because no one else says anything, doesn't mean she would react the same. Maybe you need to think about her feelings and keep your distance from me," Tharn said, already feeling a little hurt at the prospect of losing Type. Type snapped his head in his direction and scoffed. "Are you fucking crazy? I'm not going to throw away a close friend because someone I've dated for just over a month asked me to. Don't be ridiculous, Tharn!" Type screamed.
Tharn jerked away from Type at the sudden rise in his volume. He felt relief washing over him because of those words, which immediately transformed into guilt for feeling relieved. He had momentarily forgotten that he was affecting Type's first college romance and felt like real scum. Recalling how long Type had wanted to date somebody, and him finally having found someone, he felt like an asshole for being the reason to take that away from him. He needed to make Type see sense.
"Type, but you need to reach a common ground with her. She's your girlfriend. That relationship goes deeper than mere friendship," Tharn said, trying to reason with Type. Type felt anger flare up inside him at how Tharn thought he meant so little to Type.
"Are you daft? You mean more to me than she ever will. I don't care if our friendship bothers her. I'm not giving you up for a girl," Type said and Tharn felt a guilt-ridden jolt of happiness within. He smiled woefully at Type, realising how Type appreciated having Tharn in his life as much as he did. Because of that fact, Tharn knew that he couldn't let him fuck up his relationship. Especially not because of him.
"Type, I am so happy to have you back in my life. I never thought I'd see you again after the last day I saw you walk into your car back in school. I thought I'd meet you the next day, but I never did, and I've remembered you fondly for all those years. I never imagined I'd run into you again in the future. I thought I had lost you forever. But, since we chanced upon each other again, I knew that we were always meant to be friends, because our friendship hasn't changed since we were kids. I appreciate having you in my life again. I want nothing but for you to be happy. But, I don't want to be the thorn on the side of your relationship. I won't be able to live with the guilt. It hurts me to know that I'm the reason that you're having the issue to begin with. I want you to go and fix it with her," Tharn said, trying his best not to break, given how heavy his chest felt saying that to Type. It felt like a goodbye speech as those words tumbled out of his mouth.
Type felt his chest tighten when he remembered the last day he saw Tharn in school. He was waving at him so enthusiastically with his small, chubby hands. He didn't know how much he had meant to Tharn till that point and felt even more determined to stick to his guns.
"I don't care, Tharn. You are my friend. You're my closest and oldest friend. You can't blame yourself for Nicolette making up stupid conspiracies in her own head. I'm not going to let her come between our friendship. I'm never going to let anything come between us ever again," Type said with determination. He had abandoned Tharn once; which couldn't be helped because he was too young to put his foot down; but he was no longer that young boy anymore, and he was never going to do that to Tharn again.
"What are you planning to do?" Tharn asked, looking up at Type worriedly.
"I'm going to break up with her."
Tharn stood up in shock and stared at Type wide eyed at his declaration. He felt his body start to go numb. He couldn't believe Type was going to break up with Nicolette for him. He couldn't handle it. He couldn't even begin to form a single thought because he was shocked to the core. He needed to stop Type, that's all he knew in that moment. "No! You can't do that!"
"Not your decision to make," Type said and walked to the kitchen to get a drink of water.
Tharn felt lost. He didn't know what to do. He had to fix this, no matter what. He was not going to be the reason behind Type's break up. He wouldn't be able to live with the guilt of it for the rest of his life. He quickly texted Pina to come over because he wasn't able to have a single rational thought at that point. He needed her to rescue him.
Type stalked back into the living room, turned on the TV, and stared emptily at the first channel that played, not really paying what was on screen much mind because his thoughts were miles away.
°°°
Tharn heard the front door unlocking after Type and him had stared at a documentary without speaking a word to each other, minds not really taking in the visual playing in front of them, for an hour. He immediately got up from the couch and hurried to Pina and grabbed at her arms desperately.
Pina saw the confusion and pain in his eyes and brought a hand up to caress his cheek. "What's wrong, babe? You okay?" She asked. Tharn shook his head, not being able to form words. Pina looked behind him and quickly greeted Type who just nodded his head at her.
Type was feeling a little annoyed about the fact that Tharn had probably called her to convince him to not break up with Nicolette. Tharn was not going to change his mind.
"Type…. Type is trying to break up with Nicolette because of me!" Tharn said panicking. Pina soothed his shoulders with her arms to get him to calm down. "What? Why?" She asked calmly. "She saw us dancing in the club and wants Type to keep his distance from me and he refuses to do it. He instead wants to break up with her because of that. Because of me," he said, eyes glazing over with tears of panic.
Pina, seeing him falling apart, caressed his face with both hands and smiled at him soothingly. "It's okay, babe. Calm down. Don't worry. Let me talk to him." She walked up to Type and handed her phone to him. Type looked at her confused at her action. "What?" He asked. "Give me her number. I'll talk to her," she said. Type looked at her unsurely, but took her phone and punched in Nicolette's number.
Pina dialled the number and walked into the bedroom to talk to her privately. Tharn, too high strung to sit down, paced around the room staring at the floor. Type just sat on the couch watching Tharn's slow mental breakdown, not understanding why he was so much more concerned about his relationship than Type was himself.
Pina walked out of the room in about an hour and both their heads snapped to her direction, each searching for the answer in her face. She saw the boys staring at her like surprised barn owls and chuckled.
"What did she say?" Tharn asked, walking up to her. She smiled and turned to look at Type. "You should be getting a call right about…. now," she said as Types phone started ringing. He picked it off the table to see it was Nicolette. He walked to the balcony to answer the call. Tharn looked at Type closing the balcony door and turned to look at Pina, still very concerned. Pina smiled at him as she smoothened the hair on his head in a calming motion.
"It's going to be fine. I talked to her and explained that you guys are just close friends. I told her that it was probably the cultural difference that was making her feel uncomfortable. There is nothing wrong with your friendship. You can stop worrying now. Everything is going to be alright," she said. Tharn felt a giant wave of relief crashing over him. He couldn't believe he was dating someone like Pina. She was the most amazing girl on the planet. He bent down and placed a kiss on her cheek. She smiled at him and grabbed his face, bringing it down to kiss his forehead.
"You guys would be lost without me," she said with a chuckle. Tharn agreed with her wholeheartedly.
He hugged her again, looking up to stare at Type's back through the balcony door. He felt his chest starting to constrict, knowing that things were about to change for them.
A/n
My network is testing me. So is my beta. (Kidding. Love you beta! Please keep the amazing proof reading up!)
I'm actually very tired. I just wanted to get this out before I went off to sleep. God knows which year I'll wake up.
Thank you for reading!