Endless

The Opinions of Friends

SAGE'S POV

"Long time, no see," Ben greeted at 7:06 PM while setting his bags down and pulling me in for a hug. After visiting his family early for winter break, he was finally home. Actual winter break wasn't for another week, but Ben wanted to go home early for reasons unknown to me.

A few days had passed since hanging out with Angel; I'd seen him in passing a few times since then, but only said a quick hello each time.

"How was your family?" I asked him, picking up one of his bags and heading towards his room.

"It was good. My sisters are tiring." I smiled and set his bag down at the foot of his bed, seating myself at the top of it near his pillows. He plopped down beside me and sighed, probably jet lagged. I stared at him. "What have you been up to?" He inquired, closing his eyes and exhaling.

"Nothing, really..." I trailed off. He opened one eye and peered up at me.

"Nothing? At all."

"Well, Leo threw a big early Christmas party."

"Typical," he muttered, making me chuckle. Ben liked parties just as much as the next guy, but he found it laughable how many we threw in the matter of a week, and still managed to keep the place in check. Usually.

"And I saw Angel Cole," I added, my voice lowering. Ben hummed in response, drowsiness seeping out of his pores. "I'll just let you sleep." I started to stand to leave the room, but he grabbed my arm, stopping me.

"No, I'm up." He opened his eyes, still laying down and holding the pillow tightly against himself. "Tell me about this Angel guy; are you friends now?"

"I guess... I've run into him twice now — literally." I shifted. "The first time, he was completely wasted. He'd spilled his drink on me and himself so I brought him to my room to change our shirts. He just kind of sat on my bed, going on about how he hates parties." I smiled softly to myself. "The second time, we headbutted and I had to bring him here because his head was bruising."

"What did you guys do when you brought him here?"

"Nothing, really. I just gave him an ice pack and let him lay on the couch for the day so he could rest. We had pizza, watched a bunch of movies... He fell asleep at some point, but I'd lost track of time, so he didn't leave until around ten."

I very conveniently left out the fact that I waited to wake him up until then because he looked so peaceful and comfortable that I didn't want to bother him. Trivial things.

"And why do you keep looking at me like that?" I snapped, because Ben was propped up on his elbows now, wide awake and gaping at me with intrigued eyes.

•

ANGEL'S POV

"He likes you," Terry stated, her tone so short it was almost dismissive. "He so likes you."

"What?" She stared at me for a while. That's when Carlos chimed in.

"She's right. He definitely likes you." I knitted my eyebrows together and shook my head quickly.

"No, no, no, you've got it all wrong." I had just told them about how I hung out with Sage the week before, and I'm not really sure what reaction I had expected, but it wasn't this.

"Angel, he took you back to his apartment just to give you an ice pack and let you stay at his place all day watching movies. That was unnecessary, completely atypical behavior. Kind of like you drinking as much as you did," she added in not-so-subtly with narrowed eyes. I knew that was going to come up eventually, I though bitterly of my protective friend.