I. L'instant [H.S]

VII

Joe must be the nicest person I know.

I don't think like that just because he's my boyfriend or because I love him, I do because he's truly, genuinely one of the most popular people I've ever met, and it's not because he's got a pretty sick band or because he's got the personality of a rock-star, but because under all of that, there's a man who cares about his friends, his family, who's always there to help and lend a hand to whoever's asking.

The first thing that made me fall for him, was his heart.

Joe's friends are vast, he loves every single one of them but perhaps the one that's his best mate it's John, he's the reason Joe moved to the UK in the first place and maybe I should thank him for it, but the last few months John's been nothing but a complete drag.

The lad used to be chill and friendly, but then he met the incredibly obnoxious Andrea, who's your average controlling, possessive and borderline-psychotic girlfriend. She got John to get a flat together just two months after they started dating and I've been betting good money with Eric and Martin that they'll get engaged by the end of the year.

The lad's got it bad for her because she's the first woman who has ever paid attention to him. It sounds bad and shitty for me to say, but it's the truth.

John's changed a lot since Andrea and him got together, he got this snidely, almost bitter sense of humour, he's sometimes rude and condescending to Joe, even though he's been nothing but comprehensive and kind to him. There's been times in which John's gone as far as to make fun of me and Joe's relationship, telling Joe he needs to grow a pair or that I'm a controlling hag, of course none of it bothers Joe because he thinks his friend's just messing around, when I sure as fuck know better than to believe he's not being a passive-aggressive prick.

What bothers me the most it's that the last couple of months things have gotten a bit rocky between John and I, but Joe's decided to be neutral about it. I'm not asking him to stop talking to John altogether, but he could at least tell his friend to stop being a wanker just because he's in a relationship where his girlfriend thinks she shouldn't have to pay for rent or food, because John's the man and he has to take care of her every need like the princess she was raised to be.

I've learned all of this because of Joe. Every single time Joe comes back from going out with John to a bar and watch his friend drink himself senseless because of the shitty relationship he's got himself into, Joe feels like dirt, telling me all that's happened in the last few days between John and Andrea, how unfair things are or just how much of a hag Andrea is.

Today's one of those days. Joe's been gone since the early morning because John called to tell him he's thinking of selling his shit and go back to the States, because he's got it 'up to here' with Andrea and he can't take being bullied anymore. I know John won't actually do it, he won't sell anything but he's having one of his ever-present mental breakdowns and needs his always-obliging best friend to listen to his endless rants and sobs about how much he loves Andrea in spit of everything and how unfair of a life he's got.

But instead of focusing on all that, I am deciding to go out with Eric and Florence for a while and distract myself from the fact that it's only been less than a week since Joe's back and he's already busy with other matters. It's Florence's birthday after all.

"Where's this place again?" Florence asks as she drives through the city's traffic.

Eric looks into his phone, "It's just around the next corner. There's a sign outside, supposedly."

"Isn't it that one?" I slide to the middle of the backseat, pointing ahead where a black chalkboard stands outside double french doors. "Looks nice."