"Boundaries"
A tickle on Sanjay's face woke him out of his deep slumber. With groggy eyes, he brushed at his face, realizing it was the strands of his best friend Chanel's hair, rubbing against his pale cheek.
Though she was wearing his hoodie, she had slept so wildly that it was halfway on her head as she snored on his numb shoulder. They had been friends for so long that he was used to her snoring.
For a week, Chanel had been fighting the flu. Sanjay had been taking care of her. He spent the night all week at her apartment. They treated it like their typical sleepovers, watching movie after movie, though Chanel slept most of the time.
As Sanjay rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, his phone vibrated on the bedside to his left. The second he moved to reach for it, Chanel turned on her side, folding into fetus position without waking.
Grabbing his phone, Sanjay moved his arm around to get the numbness to leave.
He was getting an incoming FaceTime call from his girlfriend, Naomi.
Sanjay answers the call, letting out a yawn and "good morning."
"Hey you," he could tell she was on her balcony, having a cup of coffee as she did every morning. "You never replied to my text last night."
"Yeah, sorry," he let out another yawn, turning on his side. "Chanel had a rough night."
Suddenly, Naomi was squinting so hard; she pulled her phone close to her face as if to look for something.
"Babe, what's wrong?" Sanjay frowned.
"Is that - is that Chanel beside you?" she was looking past him.
"Oh yeah," Sanjay briefly glanced over at his best friend. "She's sleeping."
"Yeah, I see that," Naomi was still squinting. "Are you in her bed?"
"Yeah, I -"
"And is she wearing your hoodie?"
Sanjay's eyes shifted back and forth, "yeah?" he was visibly confused.
"And you think that's okay?" Naomi's neck was sticking out. It was a sign that she was upset, and Sanjay had no clue as to why.
"Is there a problem?" he asked sincerely.
"Is there a problem?" she scoffed. "Are you playing with me? Or are you that stupid?"
Sanjay's eyes shifted again. "I uh, I'm not sure I want to answer that."
"You just did," Naomi spat. "Screw you, San."
"Babe, wait -"
Naomi hung up, cutting him off. His face fell into an 'o'.
Genuinely perplexed, he called her back, but she ignored his call all three times.
"Damn it," he whispered, sitting up.
Still very much tired, he tossed his phone on the bed, rubbing both his eyes. Then, sucking in a sigh, he ran his fingers through his hair roughly.
"You okay?" Chanel had woken up. She was turned on her side, watching him. Her voice was hoarse from all the coughing she had done last night.
"Yeah, yeah," Sanjay rubbed his forehead, suddenly stressed.
"No, you're not," Chanel sat up. "What's up?" she rubbed his arm.
"No, no, it's okay," he patted her hand. "Just some stuff with Naomi."
"Did you guys get in a fight? You want to talk about it?"
