Babe For The Weekend

Chapter 3 - the sweet disposition

Joss limps his way to the kitchen, last night he made a promise to himself that he should do most of what he can.

After Luke's parents went home, they never really talked about what happened. He knew Luke didn't really want to discuss it. The mood had gone sour for the rest of the day and not even a game of live basketball was able to help. And so he didn't press on the subject.

"Hey hey! Put down the knife." Luke came in all sweaty from his jog.
"I can handle it, man."
"You really have a death wish bro."

Luke grab hold of the knife and took over.
"Sit at the counter." He ordered and Joss found  himself complying. He had nothing left to do but watch Luke in silence, peel and cut all the fruits he had taken out from the fridge.
"I got you a crutch. It's at the shoe rack." Luke was still focused on the cutting board.
"Thanks, babe." Joss said playfully.
Luke stopped to chuckle, throwing his head back, laughing like a little kid.
"No problem, babe." He answered, handing over the bowl of fruit to Joss.

The space seemed lighter than it was before, and Joss couldn't be more grateful. He couldn't stand the awkward silences and the stolen glances between them.

"I'm picking up your laundry later. Do you need anything? I could drop by the grocery store on the way back."
"I think we're out of oat milk." Joss fiddled with his thumbs, feeling uneasy again.
"I'll grab some."

Now that Luke had left, Joss was alone with his thoughts. At first it sounded like it was the hardest thing in the world to do, now pretending to be an injured boyfriend feels like nothing compared to what Luke was doing for him. They've been friends and that's that but Joss had never been one to rely to anyone for anything. He has to pay him back one way or another.

"Babe, I'm home!" Luke announced while carrying ten things in both his hands.
"Let me put this away and we can go to your check up."

Joss sighed, reminded that Luke was driving him to the hospital for his ankle and ribs check up.
"Cool, cool, cool." is all what he could say.

The rain had just stopped pouring when their car exited the lot. Luke looked so stern behind the wheels.
"I feel like I should pay you at this point." Joss blurted out. To which Luke only smirked and said "What are boyfriends for?"
Joss only shook his head in response.

The check lasted for some time and all the while, Luke would just stand by the door, holding his jacket and a bottle of water in case he gets thirsty.

"You didn't have to wait up. I could have just grabbed a taxi." Joss held on his crutch trying to balance his stance and he could tell Luke was alertly  prepared to catch him if he stumbles.
"Do you want hot pot before we go home?" He asked, ignoring what Joss said entirely.

As usual, Luke was the one to cook everything on their table. Joss just eagerly wait for things to cook.
"So mom called while you were in there."
"And?"
"They're visiting next weekend to drop me a couple of my running shoes. She also want's us to go with them next next weekend to go sailing."
"W-what did you told them?"
"I said if your ankle is fully healed then we'll go. So that's like 'never'. How soon can a broken ankle recover anyway?"
"Like.. next week!" Joss massaged his temples.
"What??"
"Yes, stupid. It was a mild sprain."
"Mild? I didn't know that! How would I know that? You fainted and stuff. To me that sounds pretty serious." Luke argues.
"I fainted because I took a hit on my ribs. I couldn't breathe for a moment." Joss explained.
"How was I supposed to know?" Luke yelped helplessly. "Okay. What if we fake it? Let's leave the cast on for another week."
"The doctor has to literally saw this off my foot Luke. What do you mean leave it for another week? This isn't an accessory."
"What if I break your ankle a little? Let's loosen it up a bit?" Luke proposed, dead serious.
"What if I break your nose? What if we do that?" Joss smacked his face.
"What do we do now?" Luke asked.
They both groaned, dreadful for what's to come.

After a week of rest, Joss can go about the house with no worries of mobility issues. Although he still walks a little light on his feet, he can now manage to do so on his own with no crutches or assistance from Luke.

"Stop that. You're making me nervous."
Luke paused from pacing back and forth.
"If they see that you're okay we'll have no excuse left. Are you sure we can't break it a little?" Luke even held up his hand with his thumb and index together.
"What if we break yours and use that as an excuse? Let's see how you like it."
Luke froze.
"Are you really considering it?"
The door buzzed.
"Never mind. That's them." Luke replied and hurried to welcome them.

"Hello sweetheart. Where is Joss?" Luke's mom glanced around.
"He's at the kitchen getting drinks."
"Oh honey. Look at you! You look good as new!" She praises as Joss enters the living room with a tray of their beverage.
"Hello aun-mom!"
"I'm so happy to see you're looking well."
"As well as I can be but yeah.." Joss replied almost hinting on something.
"What do you mean sweetie?" She asked
"We'll my ribs are still lightly bruised. So I'm hoping to borrow Luke for a few more weeks."
Luke was nodding at the side.
"If that's the case then I have the perfect thing for you!" She giddily took his hands.
"I want you to come next weekend for the sailing! This will be good for you! Fresh air! The ocean! Seafood, if you're not allergic."
"Oh.." Joss responded, caught off guard.
"I didn't see this coming." He whispered.
"What was that dear?"
"I said, no. I.. am.. not allergic. Yes. That's.. what I.. am."
He looked at Luke for help but the dummy was acting busy nervously rearranging the cups on the table.

The unfortunate weekend came faster than the wind. They never even had time to process last weekend's event.

"Okay this is the plan." Luke said while they head to the door.
"We just have to be lovey-dovey. We're already doing that way before so we're good. We just have to amped it up a bit." Luke kneeled down to ties the lace on Joss' shoes.
"And how do we do that?"
Joss leaned on his shoulders for support.
"You know.."
"I don't."
"We get handsy with each other and stuff."
"You sound like a creep just right about now."
Luke looked up at him.
"Babe, this has to sell, not just to mom but also to Inka and her parents. You can forget about dad, he's pretty much delusional about us at this point."
"Why is that girl and her parent's there?"
"They own the resort where dad has his sailboat. They're gonna be there."
"Seriously.." Joss uttered under his breath trying to look very bothered but he couldn't deny there's a sliver of excitement.

Blame it on old habits and on their routine for the past few weeks but he was too caught up on what will happen that he never even noticed that Luke had tied his shoes for him when he can now do it perfectly well all by himself.