Clusterfuck

xvi

When Toby wakes up the next morning, Leo is gone, and the gym shorts and t-shirt are folded in a neat stack on top of his dresser.

With a sigh, Toby rolls over to the other side of his bed, expecting cool sheets. But they're still warm. It makes Toby sit upright, face flushed, as he reaches blindly for his nightstand to grab his phone. There's a text he can't read, so he digs into the drawer for his glasses. It's from Leo, sent about five minutes ago.

Hey, thanks again for letting me stay. You looked so peaceful so i didn't wanna wake you up lol. Also i ran into your roommate on the way out. Seems like a nice guy but he looked so confused haha

Panic creeps down Toby's spine as he throws the covers off of him and staggers toward his door. When he yanks it open, he crashes into Reggie, and they both grunt in surprise. Toby flails for his glasses, which have flown off his face. He doesn't put them back on.

"H-hey," Toby says, stumbling back a bit and grasping onto the door frame for support. "Morning."

"Hi. So, uh, funny thing happened," Reg begins, raising his orange eyebrows and crossing his arms over his chest. "I was eating breakfast on the couch, minding my own business, and then I see a complete stranger walk out of your room, make eye contact with me, and throw up a peace sign before leaving."

Toby bites the inside of his lip as his stomach caves with a silent laugh. Of course Leo would just flash a peace sign and explain absolutely nothing.

"Um. Okay. So, I can explain," Toby says, rubbing his arm.

"I hoped so. Otherwise there's a whole 'nother issue on our hands."

"Um. Yeah. So, uh, basically my—my friend was dealing with some girlfriend stuff, and came to talk to me about it while I was at work last night. I mean, long story short, I invited him to sleep over. Not a big deal, right?"

"I mean, no," Reggie says, stepping back. "I've just never seen him before, so I was confused. For a second, I wondered if he was, like, some drunken late-night hookup or something 'cause of the way he acted. Good thing he's not, huh?"

Toby goes rigid, and it's suddenly much harder to breathe.

"Ah... y-yeah. Good—good thing."

~ ~ ~

reg said he thought you were a one nightstand

Lmao. Tell him you're not that lucky lol

Toby slams his phone face down onto the table—his table, at Nim's—and buries his face in his hands. Leo is not making this any better.

Good thing he's not.

Good thing he's not.

Good thing he's not.

Reggie's voice is echoing in his brain, clanging around from wall to wall, bouncing off the sides like in a pinball machine. He wants it out, wants it gone, but he can't stop replaying that moment, when it felt like the weight of the air on his shoulders became more than he could bear and the utter dread bubbled up in his stomach and all the air was sucked out of his lungs and he worried he might actually be sick, all over Reggie's socked feet.

He was hoping, hoping, that Reggie would be different. That he would have at least one person on his side that he was close to, someone he could rely on for pretty much all hours of the day, someone he could talk to, all without being hated.

But Reggie had said, Good thing he's not, huh?

And everything is ruined.

There's a gentle knock on his table. "Hey, stranger."