IceBerg - 21. Chapter 21

The months were a blur, in between still script writing for the comedy show, Charlie and I had been on the sets of our show, watching the scenes and acts all over and over. I had no idea how slow it all was. Watching scenes to repeat over and over. I was almost silent on the show, invisible, but I wrote down extra notes and passed them down.

The actors had felt more comfortable talking to the director, Sammy, than me. Sammy, who I had barely talked to for five minutes. When I was not on the set, in the background, with all the random noise and busy people, I was sat on a small desk, in a busy office, writing up scenes for the show. Sometimes I would mix up scenes and I had to rub my eyes, delete or scribble everything and start afresh.

‘Yeah, I’m a real writer now,’ I said to Oli, when we were hanging out at his. I gripped the can hard and took another sip of my pop.

‘Stone cold,’ Oli stuck his tongue out at me ‘Well, you got me jealous, that’s for sure. You only started this; you wrote your website months ago and now here you are. Every writer’s dream, right?’

My website. I lowered my eyes and take a guilty sip of my pop.

‘I’m losing the common touch,’ I replied.

But Oli caught my eye and gave me a small grin, ‘Don’t feel bad, you deserve this!’

‘I can think of about twenty other people who deserve it more than you,’ sneered Jake.

‘Only reason you got this is because of Charlie and Alex’ sneered another voice

‘If they are even real.’

‘Oh yeah, the Rockstar life of getting up at six am and finishing at midnight,’ I rolled my eyes. ‘This is exciting, but it just sucks the absolute life out of you.’

‘Got an interview next week,’ he raised his cup.

‘Awesome!’ the smile was first genuine one on my worn-out face. ‘What’s it for?’

I needed to know and keep up with my best friend’s life. I didn’t want to become one of those guys who forgot everyone around him.

‘It’s David’s cousin, she works at a magazine place, I got an interview to see what they got there, I think they got some sort of editor assitant position.’

‘That’s fantastic, Oli!’ I beamed, smacking him the arm and wrapping another around his shoulders.

‘You didn’t ask what kind of magazine it was yet,’ Oli laughed.

I pulled away and frowned.

He laughed at me more and teased, ‘Just kidding. It’s just a magazine for middle aged women, ‘my best friend is a potato’ and ‘my husband has two secret wives’ type of stories.’

‘I’m proud of you,’ I grinned.

‘I haven’t got it yet, man!’

‘You know you will rock it.’

‘Well,’ he shrugged. ‘I’ve had a few interviews and didn’t get anything back. I want to get away from the ball and the waiter life, make a great career, like you did! You made the dream, dude!’

I was still grinning, but I said nothing to that.

Instead, I reached forward and grabbed the remote, ‘You should just do what makes you happy, Oli, that’s what’s important. What season of Desperate Housewives is this anyway?’

He looked at me, annoyed, ‘The latest one of course.’ He paused and brought the pizza box to sit in the middle of us on the couch. ‘Have some. You’ve not eaten since you’ve been here.’

‘Not hungry yet,’ I said, taking a sip of pop. I turned to him. ‘What?’

He pulled a face and murmured, ‘If your mum was here, you’d be eating better.’

He was right.

‘Yeah.’

‘Just take a slice.’

‘Look,’ I sighed. ‘This is the hectic lifestyle; I eat at weird times. I will eat something later, okay?’

‘I haven’t seen you eat.’

‘I don’t eat much anyway,’ my voice was a little clipped. I didn’t understand how we got to this topic of conversation. ‘Oli, I am not bulimic or anything, I am eating, I like food. Ow! What are you doing?’

He pinched my arms and rested against me, ‘You’re losing weight. I’m going to make you lunches to take to work.’

‘Yeah?’ I smirked, raising an eyebrow.

‘You will eat one normal meal at least once a day,’ he smirked back.

Normal meal. What was that, anyway?

‘When will you have time, you know what Gregory is like, how is that old rustboat anyway?’

‘He got married.’

‘Ah.’

The T.V began to sing out jolly adverts with fake smiles and plastic faces on how this advert changed their simple lives.

‘I will make time,’ his voice was quiet. ‘I will make time to make you some lunches. You know I cook well; I already make David things and he loves them.’

‘I don’t want to.’

‘It’s not a big deal. Please just let me do it.’

‘I mean, alright, I won’t fight you on it.’

He said nothing. He had never been this close to me before, half of me expected him to slap me against my back and laugh in my face.

Crap, he really was worried about me. Did he really think I had some sort of eating problem? Granted, I was not eating but it wasn’t deliberate. I just didn’t have appetite.

‘You’re a bad friend, Nathanial,’ Jake’s voice lulled in my head. ‘You’re making your friend worry about you for no good reason.

‘No good reason. Worrying him.’

‘Bad friend. Bad person.’

I sighed and reached for a pizza slice, ‘Okay. You can make me food. I don’t think there is anything to worry about but the last thing I want is for you to stress about me.’

‘Good,’ he turned the T.V up. ‘You got me all camp and caring there for a second.’ He paused and added, ‘Before you hit me, let me know if you want me to visit your mum this weekend.’

Mum’s grave.

I shook my head, ‘I’m good. Thanks though. You really are caring, aren’t you?’ I then added, ‘So, Gregory is married? Who’s the lucky girl?’

He gave me a dirty laugh and I couldn’t help but snort along too.

‘Oh, you didn’t hear,’ he slapped me hard on the arm.

‘Ow!’

‘The girl he married is twenty-one.’

‘Damn! Poor idiot.’

‘Which one?’

We both snorted out laughing.

*** 

 

The doors opened and the power rush of fans screaming and lights almost knocked me to the ground.

I got a little push from behind. I glanced behind at Charlie’s grinning face. I smiled although it felt weak. I looked forward, and kept my head down, a bottle of warm water still in my hand. All I could smell was the sweat from travelling on a coach for hours on end, my skin feeling grubby. I walked onto the stage with the director and actors beside me. I got to my small side table, letting the fans see the director. Reaching for my seat, I pulled it back and sat down, and Charlie sat next to me.

He was loving this. Soaking it in, grinning like a wild cat, fisting the air, getting the crowd to cheer more. I couldn’t help the grin that came on my face as I shook my head at him.

I was surprised I could grin; I felt so exhausted, the only energy I could muster was moving my face. I knew I needed to eat more If I ate more, then I wouldn’t be so tired, I was not stupid. But my stomach. It just didn’t want anything, and I was too tired to force it to be hungry.

The crowd got even louder as the actors came on stage. They would be the ones mostly answering questions from the crowd, not us. It was a small crowd but still, I didn't think we would be this popular at a show convention already. I really thought sort of stuff was an American thing too but guess I was wrong

I took a nervous sip of water and Charlie winked at me. He offered me the rest of his messy sandwich. I shook my head. He frowned but shrugged and ate it.

He had been doing that a lot lately. Offering me his food, Alex had been making me come to his place a lot so he could cook food, and Oli had been annoyed that I wasn’t even eating half of the lunch he was making for me. I supposed they were trying to help.

‘Everyone is watching you, how you eat, how you talk, how you act,’ hissed Jake. ‘Don’t you get it? This isn’t real. You’re in the madhouse.

‘Madhouse. Wake up.’

‘Not real!’

‘Not. Real,’ whispered another voice. It sounded so clear.

I was running out of reasons to fight back.

I mean, they were right. Especially Jake. He would say other people felt uncomfortable around me and that I was definitely not part of the whole show. I would normally convince him and myself that he was wrong, but the last few days on set, I had seen actors laughing and joking with Charlie, and with the director, but not with me. I would try initiate conversation, but they wouldn’t laugh like they did with Charlie, they never looked comfortable like they were with Charlie. I didn’t have what he had with people.

They were laughing, enjoying what I had created though.

‘Because they are laughing at you,’ laughed Jake.

The host boomed his voice out into the sea of people, ‘Hello guys!’

Crap, why did I look out? There were so many people. But they were all smiling.

‘They love your show,’ sneered Jake. ‘You just love being miserable even when you are on top of the world.’

‘Stupid, stupid.’

                                                         ***

‘So, I told you not to worry,’ Charlie nudged my shoulder as we walked around the tables.

He snatched the bottle of water out of my hand and I rolled my eyes.

The talk took ages and I was actually enjoying it, I felt like part of the audience watching the panel talk.

Charlie drank the bottle and gave it back, ‘They usually just ask the actors the questions, writers rarely get asked anything.’

‘You got asked questions,’ I frowned.

It was true. Two or three members of the audience directed questions to him, as the more famous of the two writers.

He shrugged, standing in front of a stand with merchandise. He reached out, picking up random comics from the table, reading the back of them, ‘I’m Charlie Conray, baby.’

I snorted, looking at the comics that were scattered in a beautiful pattern on the table.

‘You’re the main writer,’ he put the comic down.

He smiled up at me, ‘Just remember, they love your show. They love the show you created. It’s an amazing feeling, isn’t it?’

‘It’s just the boost you need for your career,’ I teased.

He paused, half still smiling, and lowered his voice, ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘Nothing, it means nothing,’ I picked up a comic. I muttered to Charlie, ‘How did you find my website?’

‘You’re asking that now,’ he mused.

I put the comic back on the table. ‘You looked for it right after we meet at the charity event. Do you remember? Just find it strange.’

‘It’s not strange. Just lucky,’ he smiled at me. ‘Can you not see it like that?’

Crap.

‘Ah,’ I walked on with my backpack. ‘I’m pretty pessimistic, aren’t I?’

‘Shut up, fool, I, for one, am loving the fact you are here,’ he threw an arm around my shoulder and squeezed me close to him before letting go. ‘I know you are bit all over the place since the funeral. Don’t beat yourself up about this. We’re in this together, you know?’

The months had rushed by; I had been working non-stop with work and also working on this show. I hadn’t seen my dad much, but I talked to him on the phone as much I could. It never felt like enough.

I opened my bottle and drank more water, but it tasted bleak and warm on my tongue now.

‘Do you miss Claire?’ I asked, wiping my mouth.

‘Huh?’

We had continued walking around the merchandise. Groups of people walked around us, there was a rumble of chatter and excitement chittering around, squeaks of shoes on the polished ground.

We almost matched the crowd, Charlie in his bright loud statement of a t-shirt and scrappy shorts and I was in my dark hooded jumper and jeans. I looked like a lost wonderer with his surfboard friend. We smelt of sweat and our faces were tired from the travelling.

‘Of course, I miss her,’ he said. ‘What kind of question is that?’

I rubbed my eyes. I wished I had worn shorts too, these jeans felt so clumpy on me.

‘Just asking,’ I said. ‘Didn’t mean to upset you.’

‘No,’ he lowered his voice. ‘Let’s forget all this. Let’s just have fun. Come on.’ He punched my arm and pulled a face at me. ‘Explore and adventure round!’

‘Excuse me, Mr. Conray?’ a bunch of young guys came up. They were wearing shorts with silly shirts, wild hairs, wild grins, phones ready in their hands.

I smiled and bowed my head low, keeping quiet. Charlie got into the pictures with the guys, letting them take a selfie photo with him.

‘Come on.’

I looked up at Charlie waving me over. He grinned over at the other guys, ‘You guys want both the writers in, right?’

The guys cheered and I put my backpack down to get into the photo. Charlie pulled me up against him, we both stood in the middle while the guys took photos.

‘Oh, wait,’ Charlie paused, stretching into his pocket and fishing out his own phone. ‘Do you guys mind taking one of us?’

‘Of course!’ one guy was too excited, eyebrows raised high, eager smile. He snatched the phone out of Charlie’s hand.

Charlie puts an arm around my waist, pulling me close to him. Being so close, smelling fresh apples, I couldn’t help giggle stupid smile. He leaned his head close to mine.

‘Thanks guys!’ he called, grabbing it off them. He stood back and showed me the photo. Charlie looked so happy, his eyes were sparking, his grin was so cheeky. He looked… so. Wow.

I bit my lip and punched him in the arm, ‘You clean up good, Conray.’

His face flushed red. ‘It looks good enough for our show’s twitter feed, right?’

‘Mr. Greystone?’

Startled, I looked up at a young wide girl, standing there with large glasses, and a dumpy jumper and chubby cheeks

‘Yes?’ I smiled.

‘Thought so,’ she gave a nervous grin, shuffling in her feet. ‘I love your show.’

‘Aw, thank you for very much. I am so glad you like it.’

‘It’s amazing!’ she rushed out before laughing nervous.

Charlie gave me a harsh nudge into the ribs.

I winced and then tilted my head at the girl, ‘Would you like an autograph or a?’

‘You sure?’

‘Yes,’ I laughed. ‘If you have anything!’

‘Of course! Of course!’

In a flustered rush, she went into her brown paper bag and fished out random papers and a pen.

I had never signed anything like this before. I didn’t know what to say. I ended up just writing thank you and signing my name.

The minute the girl walked away, Charlie clapped a hand on my shoulder, beaming at me, ‘Congrats, man. First autograph and first photo.’

‘It’s weird, almost feels real.’

‘Yes, they do such a good job the special effects team.’

‘Ha! They really do!’

We grinned at each other, tired and wired, and I realised his hand was still on my shoulder.

He stuck his tongue out, taking his hand away, ‘Come on, we haven’t even been around half the room yet.’

I smiled. I heard a group of young laughter, behind us, cackling and snorting away. I could feel it without turning my head.
***

‘It sounds like you had a lot of fun!’

‘I did,’ I grinned, phone on shoulder while I put my t-shirt away into the wardrobe. ‘I bought some old junk in the end. Waste of money I know.’

‘Psh to your waste of money! I love spending, what did you buy?’

I laughed at him before grinning, ‘I miss you so much, you know.’

‘I miss you too. To be honest I was so worried you were going to have lots of fun without me.’

‘Please, I wish you were here, this convention would have been more fun with you. You’d be all ‘those convention hotdogs are a thousand calories.’ Ha.’

‘You really do listen aw,’ he teased.

After ringing my dad, I contacted Alex and I felt so much energy just hearing Alex talking to me. His voice was strong as always. He was definitely real. It was annoying that it took me half an hour to do this.

The hotel room was good here, everything in the room was so fresh, strict colours of blue and white, every part of the room ironed straight, even the giant wool curtains. I stroked the curtain, peering into the glass door patio. I still couldn’t get over the beautiful balcony view I had and that I actually had a balcony. It might have been small but it was definitely enough for me.

Going over to my bed, I lay back on the large white blocks of pillows. Curling my toes, I kicked my shabby shoes off.

‘So, you said before your training is going well?’

‘Yeah, yeah,’ he replied. ‘We got a small competition but it’s basically just a practise. I like to keep in check.’

‘No slacking off because you are a winner,’ I smiled.

‘Yes,’ he sighed and paused. ‘I don’t feel like a winner. You’ve gone through so much. I wish we were spending more time together.’

‘This is adult life,’ I said. ‘At least we have our calls.’

‘We really need to.’

‘Hook up? Yeah, I miss it too.’

‘When do you get back from the tour?’

‘Well, we are only a new show so apparently it’s just two or three, and this is the second one, so one more I think we should be back next week.’

‘I am glad you are enjoying it though,’ he replies, his voice soft.

‘It was hard to do the casting, I missed a lot of that,’ I said. ‘They did edit it a lot, it was so hard to say no, I did for a lot of stuff though. But there were areas I had to just agree with.’

‘Don’t give up on your story, Nathanial. It’ll always be yours.’

He made me feel better about leaving the convention early and hiding in my hotel room.

‘That reminds me,’ I said, sighing. ‘I have to take down the website. I have ownership of this with Charlie but I have to take it down.’

‘Good thing I can read it on your laptop instead.’

‘You still look on there?’ I mused, a half cocky smile on my face.

‘I like to re-read things,’ he said. ‘I told you I get bored pretty easily travelling.’

‘I’ll send you some things, put them on a file for you.’

‘I love you, Nathanial,’ he stopped and added, ‘You had a good day today with Charlie today, though?’

I didn’t go into much detail with him, especially how Charlie had dragged me round, hooking his arm around my shoulders, how he kept making me laugh, how he tried on different masks, dancing around like an idiot, watching fans taking pictures and him pulling faces at me whilst having a picture taken.

‘Thank you for trying with him.’

‘Well, one day I will have someone you don’t like and then it’ll be fair,’ he teased. He then gave a loud yawn.

A woman started wailing outside.

‘Well, that’s perfect timing,’ I said. ‘Some drunk is outside. Thought this was a classy hotel.’

‘She sounds like an eager fan of yours.’

‘Oh, shut up, man,’ I laughed. I rubbed my tired face. ‘I’ll ring you tomorrow, Alex. I love you.’

‘I love you too!’

The moment the call ended my eyes were heavy.

                                                      

A woman wailed more and started thumping the walls. Ugh! What was this?

Throwing my phone onto the bed, I strode over to the door. I peered through the hole. A woman was pulling a young man and he was trying to pull away. I squinted harder. Charlie.

Charlie was drunk, fumbling around. He kept pushing her away but she clawed at him, pulling at his arm, grabbing his hand and forcing his hand onto her. He pulled, his shoulder jerking back. He was mumbling while he stumbled against the wall, looking around everywhere while she pushed herself onto him, pushing her hands onto his chest. He frowned at her and barked her to go away but she shimmered her shoulders and pushed herself onto him again.

Charlie the idiot.

Why did I leave him at the bar? He was with the actors, I thought he would be okay. The girl ran a hand down his chest, to his groin.

I leaned back from the door. How did I help the idiot out? I saw the black telephone next to me bed and walked over.

‘Hi, security? I believe my next-door neighbour is having issues with some young lady. Can you please send some help out?’

‘No problem. We shall sort this issue out now. Have a good night,’ the woman was very cheerful on the phone.

‘You too, ma’am.’

After hanging up, I rushed to the door. Letting out a sharp breath, I yanked the door open.

The sudden opening of my door, startled both Charlie and the girl. In seconds, I gripped Charlie’s arm tight and pulled him, tripping over his own feet, into my room before my shoulder pushed my door shut. I flicked the lock on the door as Charlie staggered into my room.

The door handle was being pulled up and down, she began slamming against the door, with savage screaming.

I let out the breath I was holding in, stepping away from the door. Glancing over my shoulder, I watched Charlie stumbled around, aiming for the bed.

There was some mumbling. I looked through the peephole. The woman was arguing with the large balding security guard. He had his arms crossed, looking amused, before, grabbing her arm and walking her away, with her screeching for him not to touch her.

‘Ah,’ I leaned back off the door. ‘Problem sorted.’

I turned around and frowned. Charlie had got into my bed, kicked his shoes off and snuggled himself onto one side.

Great.

I walked over, nudging him, ‘Charlie? Charlie?’

He was flat out cold, snoring away, snuggling more into his pillow.

Yeah. This was great.

Wait. That girl might talk, say something she shouldn’t. She seemed insane.

I pulled my phone off the bed from under a heavy Charlie and dialled a number.

‘Hello?’ a groggy voice replied, yawning.

‘Hey Claire, sorry to wake you up so early.’

She yawned more, ‘Everything okay?’

‘Yeah, just to let you know there was an issue with some crazy girl.’

‘Did she follow Charlie back to the room?’

‘Yes.’

‘It’s fine, Nathanial. It’s sweet of you to call, but Charlie’s done that before.’

‘What?’

‘When he drinks, he drinks round fans, they follow him up to the room and won’t leave and he ends up having security escort them away. He is a moron.’

‘I know too well,’ I gave a soft laugh. ‘Well, I was just ringing. I mean I could have done this in the morning.’

‘But then you wouldn’t be Nathanial if you didn’t ring straight away,’ she laughed before pausing, ‘He didn’t do anything, though?’

‘No, no,’ I said. His snores got louder. ‘She was screeching about like a dog, it was embarrassing. Now he’s passed out in my bed.’

‘He’ll dead weight now,’ she laughed.

‘I know, I was so looking forward to sleeping,’ I laughed too. I paused, ‘Look I didn’t ring to put Charlie in the crap by the way, I just rang, the girl looked a bit, I don’t, deranged? Just worried she might say something and you might see and I just wanted you to know from me.’

‘Nathanial, it’s fine,’ she replied, her voice low. ‘I know Charlie would never do anything.’

I casted my eyes down, staring at the dark cream carpet, the tiny stands soft on my feet. ‘Yeah.’

Clearing my throat, I said, ‘Well, I should get some sleep and let you to it. Good night, Claire.’

‘Good night, Nathanial. Good luck with the drunken.’

I laughed a little before I hung up.

The colours in the room were green. Wait, they were blue earlier? Or was it red? I could almost see red lines running down the now green wallpaper. The red lines are so thin, I could just see them if I squinted hard enough.

‘Wake up, Mr. Nathanial.’

Turning the light off, I crept onto the other side of the bed. I edged as far away as I could from Charlie, before lying on my side. I pulled some of the covers over me and settle into the edge of the pillow. So much for having a double all to myself. Was really looking forward to that.

                                      ***

The sun was warm on my skin. Soothing. The light was shining though the small crack line of the curtain. I took a large breath into my nose, my body felt stiff. Stretching my shoulders, I went to lift my neck up.

There was someone behind me.

I followed my hand down, and there was a hand curled around my stomach, laying there, soft. The smell of alcohol was tinted in the air. Charlie was spooning me. A flush of worries entered my head. I should have got up. I should have peeled his hand away, edged away. I should have made those awful hotel room coffees, slowly wake him up, pretend he didn’t spoon me, pretend he didn’t hold me close and tender.

My body leaned back into his. He murmured a little and pulled me close into him, stretching out like a cat, I could feel his rib cages brush against my spine but he snorted a little and settled back into his deep breathing. I gritted my teeth and stared out towards the window.

Alex. Alex. Alex.

He rubbed his nose against the back of my neck and my breath got caught in my throat. I would get up in a moment, I told myself.



But his nose rubbed against my neck and I felt a sharp sniff of air. He didn’t just smell me. Did he? No, he was asleep. Right. Why I was smiling?

I stayed still, still as possible, so still I could barely breathe.

His phone sang out cheerful into the silence. The phone died out and we both laid there, wide awake. We were still, very still.

The phone rang out again and now we were really awake. He pulled away from me and I edged forward to the end of the bed, feeling him peel away from me. He sat up, groaning, before swinging his legs out of the bed. The bed creaked a little.

His voice sounded gruff, ‘Hello? Claire?’

Clearing his throat, he lifted himself off the bed.

‘Yeah, I am a bit rough, yes, ha, ha,’ he mumbled.

The sound of the rough made me bit my lip.

‘He sounds so good, so sexy, doesn’t he?’ sneered Jake.

I dug my nails into my palm.

‘Yeah, just give me a second,’ Charlie said to Claire.

He walked away to the balcony; I could hear the heavy patter on his feet against the carpet. The smooth glass doors opened and closed with a harsh clasp.

I laid there.

I needed to move. Move. Move.

My arm shot out and threw the covers off me and I peeled myself up. Keep moving, keep moving.

Walking towards the bathroom with quick paces, I slammed myself into the bathroom, I backed myself up against the door, breathing heavy, my heart hammering against my chest. My hands were shaking as I rubbed my face with a harsh scrub, the shower beginning to run.

                                                           ***      

I stepped out and reached out for a towel from the radiator. All I felt was sweaty heat. Confused, I lifted my head up and properly looked. No towel. I scanned the whole bathroom. No towels at all. Crap.

This was going to be awkward.

‘More awkward then having sharing a bed,’ mused Jake.

Ugh, not now.

Cracking the door open a little, I cleared my throat. The T.V chattered on, the laughter from a studio audience on. A smirk fell on my face. He was watching his own damn show.

I cleared my throat again and urged the voice to come out, ‘Ah. Um. Ah. Charlie? You still there, man?’

‘Yo!’ he called from the bed. He was lying there, legs stretched out, remote in hand. He caught my eye and gave a naughty grin, ‘What’s up?’

‘I left. I mean, could you pass the towel?’

‘A towel? Just one towel?’

‘Can you just please pass me a towel?’

‘That’s very nice of you, very polite,’ he said, rolling over to the bed.

He picked one up and walked over.

I stretched my hand through the crack of the door to grab it off him. But he snatched it back. He still had that bad smile on his face. Mischievous.

‘Oh, come on!’

I stretched my hand further out and he pulled back again.

‘You want it? Come get it.’

‘Can you just pass it through?’ my face was starting to burn.

He held the towel up high, letting it dangle in his hand. I stared hard at his hand and my face burned more.

He grinned more, ‘Come on, Nathan!’

‘Ugh! Stop doing that!’

He laughed at my scowl, sticking a tongue out.

Gritting my teeth, I hid my crotch under my hand and threw the door open. I snatched the towel out of his hand and spun around to the bathroom. Agh!

‘Ah, wait! Ha,’ Charlie’s hysteric laughter simmered a little. ‘You done in there? Can I go in yet?’

‘Go to your damn shower,’ I called over shoulder.

‘I don’t know where my key is!’

‘It’s in your pocket, isn’t it?’

‘Come on, just let me have a quick shower here, please?’

‘Your room is just next door, idiot,’ I looked into the bathroom mirror, wiping it down.

‘Oh, come on, Nathan, man.’

Sighing, I opened the bathroom door.

Stopped dead. Charlie was taking his clothes off.

He smirked at me, his hand on his last part of clothing, his boxers.

‘Just to make up for earlier, so we are both even.’

A state of panic, I averted my eyes and walked past him, ‘Here.’

I threw a spare towel off the bed at him.

‘We’re both men,’ he laughed, shaking his hips.

‘You are literally the absolute worst,’ I said to the floor. ‘Have the shower, Conray,’ I folded my arms and sat on the bed.

‘Aw,’ he sat next to me. He was fully nude. Ah!

He threw a loose arm around my tense shoulders. ‘Buddy! You need to chill out.’

‘Have a shower, man,’ I said, pointing up at the clock. ‘We got an hour and you haven’t even been in your room yet.’

Charlie said nothing and pulled a face. He grabbed the other towel and went to the bathroom. The door shut behind him and I let out a huge sigh.

‘But you wanted to look,’ giggles Jake. ‘You wanted to see, to take him in, to not control yourself.’

Go away, Jake.

‘Nathanial,’ cooed Jake. ‘You were leading him on earlier and now you reject him. You can’t be doing that now, can you? You just want everything and still be on the high horse.’

***
My phone went off on the table just as I finished tying my shoes.

Alex.

My guilty heart punched inside me.

I picked up the phone, ‘Hi Alex!’

I rushed to the balcony and slide the doors close behind me and continue to talk to him.

After thirty minutes, I came back into the room. The clock ticked heavy, I looked up at it. I had ten minutes to throw all my clothes in the bag and go. Stupid Charlie messing my morning up.

In an instant I walked over to the wardrobe and swung it open.

‘Ah!’

Ah! I panicked and flung my phone at the surprise.

‘Ow!’ Charlie laughed, rubbing his head. He stepped out of the closet and my instant panic was burned with humiliated and annoyance.

‘He came out the closet, ha, ha!’ crackled Jake. ‘Beautiful.’

I punched him hard in the arm and smacked up him the head.

‘Ow! Hey!’

‘What the hell is wrong with you?! Why would you do that? That’s not normal.’

‘Because, I don’t know, I felt like it.’

‘What are you, twelve?’

‘What are you, fifty?’

My face was still burning but I frowned hard as I grabbed clothes out and marched over to my bag.

‘You should get ready back in your own room. We only have ten minutes before we are kicked out.’

‘Well, when we are on the coach, I will be looking up self-defence classes for you, you really need them.’

‘I defended myself fine,’ I rolled my eyes.

‘Sure, sure. You want this back by the way?’

I snatched the phone out of his hand and looked over it.

‘Don’t worry it’s not broken. You didn’t do much damage to it. Or me.’

‘I don’t get you, Conray,’ I said, zipping my bag up. ‘Besides you should go get ready. Unless you were just in there to smell my clothes.’

‘No, that’s too lame for me. What I actually was doing was stealing parts of clothing to sniff later on to myself.’

We laughed a little but the air was a little tight.

I gave a sudden look over at him. ‘Oh, I see you’ve actually wearing my clothes?’

‘Yeah, we are the same size, I didn’t think you’d mind. I will give you them when we get back.’

‘Washed first though, right?’

‘Oh, come on, you want some of this sweat to put under your pillow, I bet it would make you sleep better,’ he wiggled his eyebrows with a bad grin.

I laughed. This wasn’t the best road to go down right now.

‘Ha!’ he punched my arm hard. ‘I got you.’

‘You are messed up, dude,’ I smirked, shaking my head. I picked my bag up. ‘You do realise you have five minutes to get your crap? I will meet you downstairs.’

‘No, wait! Meet outside my room in exactly five minutes, okay?’

‘Okay?’

‘I have something to give you.’

I tapped my foot, ‘Alright?’

He backed away, towards the door, pointing at me, ‘Five minutes!’

Okay it had been five minutes. I timed it the last minute on my phone, I stared at the background picture.

Alex had taken a silly picture of himself on my phone a while ago while I was making food and I remembered laughing. Even when pulling a face, Alex still looked amazing and handsome. I stared at the photo, a fond smile on my face.

‘Good, you’re here!’ Charlie flung the door open, dragging his large bag behind him.

I slid my phone away and crossed my arms, ‘Your two minutes over. Come on, let’s do this quick and go, they’ll be waiting for us downstairs.’

‘Here,’ he fumbled around in his large bag and thrusted a box to me.

I raised an eyebrow and opened it up.

‘What,’ I didn’t know what to say.

The picture inside the box was that of the entire cast of our show, everyone, even the directors. All posing, each holding up a letter, laughing and grinning at the camera. With each letter, it spelled out ‘Happy Anniversary to Alex and Nathanial, we love you!’ The glossy photo was silk under my fingers even with the sprawl of signatures everywhere.

‘Wow,’ I couldn’t stop staring at the photo.

‘It took ages to get everyone to get together, you know,’ he gave a short laugh. ‘Especially since Sammy was busy trying to get food all the time.’

I looked up at him and he was fidgeting, fumbling with his bag, looking down on the ground.

My voice was soft but stern, ‘You shouldn’t have done this.’

‘Why not, it’s been a year since you guys got together.’

How did he remember that?

Wait this was weird, he got us a present, but I thought he hated Alex? Friends don’t get their friends anniversary presents. This was weird. Definitely. I didn’t even think about our anniversary coming up. Charlie was a better boyfriend than me and he wasn’t even going out with Alex.

But I looked up at him again and he gave a little grin at me, ‘We best get going now then.’

‘Thanks, Charlie.’

‘No problem,’ he stepped forward. ‘Happy anniversary to you guys. I.’

I stepped forward and wrapped him up in a large hug. I squeezed tight. Charlie hung limp for a second before wrapping his arms around me, he buried his head into the side of my neck.

This was enough.

I stood back, pulling away, giving a harsh cough. I put the photo back in the box and started to walk away, I called over my shoulder, ‘I really need to thank the rest of the cast too.’

                                                          ***

‘It is weird he did this, yes, but it means he sees us a couple! Besides it has the whole cast in too.’

‘This is too weird, Nat,’ Alex stood in the kitchen, arms crossed over his bare chest.

‘I know that,’ I casted my eyes over to the picture still in the box left on the kitchen table, the gloss catching the light. ‘I know it is weird; you are right. But.’

‘What is he trying to prove?’

‘It is a nice gesture. Don’t you understand, he sees us as a couple.’

‘Are you saying he does want you, has he tried something?’

‘No. I mean, he sees us as couple. He wouldn’t do anything. Besides he has Claire.’

Alex snorted and turned his head away, ‘She deserves better.’

I wanted to argue back but I bit my tongue hard. I bowed my head down, ‘It’s by the whole cast too though. I think he is trying to show that you shouldn’t be worried by him.’.

                                               ***

‘So, what have you guys been up to?’

‘David took me to Las Vegas! Can you believe it! Vegas! Vegas!’

‘Special occasion?’ I grinned before realising.

‘Yeah, the occasion of aging, dude!’ laughed Oli.

‘Agh! Man, I suck, I am sorry, I forgot!’ I groaned.

‘You’re busy, I am not bothered about it, I was with David,’ Oli was so cheerful.

‘I am an awful friend,’ I said into the phone. ‘I’m on break at work now, but I have to make it up it you. Anything you want. Post birthday celebrations.’

‘Well, people always say to that, don’t they?’ laughed Oli. ‘I’m telling you I’m fine, I went to Las Vegas dude, I already celebrated in style. Cheesy beautiful style!’

‘Not real, not real, not real, not real,’ mumbled Jake.

‘You’re asleep now’

‘Sleep. Wake up!’

‘Now!’