𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 // 𝐒𝐋𝐔𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐀𝐂𝐈𝐎𝐍

𝟶𝟸: 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘𝚘 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑, 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚙 𝚒𝚝

𝙶𝙰𝚉𝚉𝚈

"You're thinking too much, stop it."

Jahseh was doing laps around the room which started to make me feel dizzy since my eyes had to follow his Speedy Gonzalez ass all around the place. The first day had already taken a toll on him and I thought I would've been the first one to crack under pressure. I owe Omar, or Mr. Pineiro ten dollars.

"It's not fair. It's not fucking fair," he retorted in an annoyed tone as he carried on with throwing a fit around the room. "Do I look like a fucking joke to them?"

"What you look like is a fucking mess. We're not even a week in and you're already allowing this to fuck with your head. Think of this as an opportunity to prove yourself to these people. Blow them out of the water. Centre your inner chakra."

I managed to get a smile out of him which stopped his hasty movements around the room. He sat on one of the the stools around the small kitchen island and sighed loudly focusing his attention on me.
"I just want to get somewhere with this," he sighed with his bottom lip poked out. "I don't want to be another sad case like they said I would be."

I wasn't the greatest when it came to uplifting Jahseh simply because I always saw him better than me even when he said otherwise. His life always seemed like the ones you'd only dream of and his luck was similar to the happy endings you'd only see in movies. He was always a happy person who could turn any rainy day into a sunny one and any sour mood into a sweet one, I was the opposite. It was always his forte. Yet here I was, forced to fill his shoes and uplift him the way he has uplifted and motivated me throughout the past few years. No big deal, right?

I bit down on my lower lip in a nervous manner as I approached the island leaning over to take his hand into mine. Wow, even his hands made me look like shit.

"You won't be a sad case like they said you'd be. We won't be. That's what we're here for, right? To prove everyone else and to prove to ourselves that we are more than capable of doing this." I gave his hand a light squeeze so I could have enough time to carefully go over my choice of words and not accidentally say something depressing or stupid. He gave me a sad nod and rested his head against the counter shooting me a look of defeat which wasn't a good sign. That was usually my thing, and having two depressed fucks in one space was going to equal a disaster.

I tried my best attempt at squeezing the suggestion into our conversation once it came to mind. "You know what we should do tonight? Have some fun. Let loose. We haven't done that in a while."

Jahseh's hands quickly removed themselves from mine retreating back to the spot on his lap. He seemed more alert than ever with a worried look across his face.

"You know I don't party anymore, Gazzy." His tone got even sadder which didn't seem possible to me moments before yet here I was dumbfounded. "No. We can't."

"No, we can," I argued reaching over the counter to grab his hands once again. "You just won't allow yourself to forgive and forget. If you don't get it off your chest, you'll never be able to breathe."

He seemed taken aback by my sudden inspiration but what he doesn't know is that tumblr and google come clutch when you aren't as creative as everyone else. What he doesn't know won't hurt him.

"I still have to unpack. This place is a mess." I could tell by his body language that he was struggling to come up with a decent lie as to why he refused to go.

"We have all the time in the world to unpack. You make it seem like someone's going to come through and rob us if we step out for a few hours, knock on wood." I knocked on the concrete counter because to be it's basically the same thing.

He laughed once again then got serious as if he were going to fight me back with another point.
"I already asked Omar to accompany us for the night. I won't get fucked up as I did last time and I won't make the same mistake twice."

Jahseh sat silent for what seemed like forever until he finally released a sigh of defeat which brought pure joy filling my heart.

"Fine," he finally agreed. "And it wasn't your mistake to make, by the way. I won't hesitate to gut another sick fuck who decides to put their hands on you and mail their intestines to their mother with a ribbon on it."

"Remember? Let it go. I did." I shrugged my shoulders as I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. "Now go find something sexy to wear so we can unleash another side of us tonight."

**

"Please come. I promise it won't be a waste of your time."

The other end got silent once I spoke up. Omar had no idea of what I was doing tonight and he was probably busy with more important things instead of wasting his time accompanying two twinks to a club. I knew if I actually didn't get Omar to come Jahseh would completely give the idea up and I refuse to accept defeat.

After the long pause there was a groan that sent chills through my spine.

He released a long sigh into the phone which sent me into a frenzy fully knowing he's about to agree.
"Fine," he huffed. "I was supposed to be meeting someone tonight but I'll let them know to show up there."

The thought that he had actually agreed quickly left my mind as I focused on the fact that he said he was going to be meeting someone. My heart sank immediately as I started overthinking about who this someone might be.

It's not that it would matter anyways. Omar is technically my boss who saw Jahseh and I as kids he could look out for and nothing more. My hopeful crush was now and always will be hopeless since he's a grown man with a stable job and a good life. What does he look like messing around with a mentally challenged kid who lives with his best friend and is feeding off his career?

"You're meeting someone?" I asked anyways. I wasn't in any position to get jealous over something like this since Omar and I weren't even friends but just a learner and a mentor trying to get me on the right path.

"I am," he responded almost as if he was smirking behind the screen. "A work client, to discuss a few things. You'll meet him soon."

I unintentionally released a sigh of relief into the phone which I assume he heard since he laughed afterwards so I quickly used my hand to cover my mouth cursing myself mentally.

"You know what, Jahseh just called me to help pick out his outfit. I'll send you the address later. Don't blow me off."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," he said right before I immediately hung up before I went into overdrive.