1 // CONFIDENTIAL // JEDDY

// thirty seven //

> incoming call from jamieboi <
> fred <
> jamie <

"hey jamie! what's up?"

"i... um. i want- no need to talk to you. about something."

"shit, you're crying. jamie what's wrong?"

"i don't want to say because you'll hate me. you really will, freddy."

"jamie, i couldn't never hate you. we're best buds. you help me and keep me company when we have big family reunions."

"freddy, i just... i need to tell you this and i can't do it face to face but i have to. please can you come over?"

"yeah, sure. whatever you need jamie, you sound pretty torn up. when do you want me to come?"

"no, no! you can't be caring. you will hate me and i know there's no doubt about it. but you need to know, before you find out in other ways. can you come now, please?"

"yeah, i'm on my way."

"thank you, freddy. and i'm so so sorry."

"jamie, i'm sure you've done nothing wrong. but i have to go because i'm getting in the car, i'll see you soon! bye!"

> end of call <

"bye."

"what the fuck has happened?"

///

fred arrived at jamie's within five minutes from setting off. sure, it was a 15 minute walk; he shouldn't have used his car, saving the environment and all that. but jamie was crying. and he rarely ever cried.

he didn't bother knocking on the door, fred just barged in and noticed how chaotic jamie and teddy's flat truly looked; a massive contrast to how it looked the previous week when louis and fred came over for board game night.

scattered packets of crisps and chocolate bar wrappers had begun to create rug of rubbish in the centre of the living room. the sofa's were no longer in line with each other, but pushed so far back that you could see the marks in the carpet of where they once were. there was a kind of layer of dust that graced every surface, ticking fred's nose, making him want to sneeze.

and in the centre of this disarray, laid jamie. he was curled up in a ball, his knees pulled up to his chest, his head buried in the small nook. jamie was fully enclosed in himself.

"jamie." fred whispered without conscious effort. his cousin's name slipped out of his mouth, as if a reflex to the sympathy he was feeling for jamie.

he'd no clue what had happened to jamie, but it must've been something awful. fred only wondered where teddy was in all of this. why was the flat such a mess when teddy most likely wouldn't allow it?

crouching down next to jamie, he placed a hand on his shoulder, encouraging him to get up. "no!" shouted jamie, flinching away from any point of contact with fred.