Before Everything [Book 2.5]

Chapter Two: Brewed Coffee

Dean knocked on the white door three times and waited. He couldn't help but chew on his lower lip nervously. A few moments passed and then the door snapped open and he came face to face with a middle-aged man, who held onto a pair of reading glasses and had several forehead wrinkles.

"Yes?" he asked with a sharp tone.

"I- um..." Dean tried to speak, but he ended up off guard and rather intimidated.

"You're the goalkeeper, right?" another voice called, and a girl came next to the man that still looked at Dean with intimidation. "Remind me your name..." she went on, tucking a short black strand of hair behind her ear.

"I'm Dean. I was just worried about Mark," he said weakly to the girl. She gave a small nod and turned to the older man.

"Seán, it's fine. I got it," she assured him, and he stepped aside.

She motioned Dean to come and slowly he walked inside and followed her up to Mark's room. It had been almost one month since his breakup with Thomas, and while Dean and he had occasionally texted, Mark had mostly kept to himself, turning down offers of Dean to hang out.

"I'm Sam. You are friends with Thomas, right?" she asked, her tone not turning bad, but just a little threatening.

"I'm also friends with Mark..." Dean said.

She nodded, wanting to make it clear to him that she was aware. Mark rarely talked to her these days, but he had mentioned Dean. Dean was actually one of the topics Mark could easily talk about.

Sam lead Dean up to Mark's bedroom and slowly opened the door. As they walked in, Dean couldn't help but notice the window was almost completely covered, leaving little natural light in. Mark was in his bed, under the covers, but from the way he was breathing Dean could tell he wasn't asleep.

"He had a panic attack last night," Sam whispered to Dean. "He's currently having a migraine, so speak softly," she added and then walked closer to the bed. "Mark?" she said just a little bit louder. "Someone's here to see you..."

Mark shifted from underneath the covers and then eventually got up and looked at Dean as he rubbed his temples. It took a few moments for his eyes to focus on Dean and realize who it was, and then he weakly smiled at him.

"Hi," he said, his voice hoarse due to not having talked in a while. He reached out and grabbed the half-empty glass of water for the nightstand and downed it in one gulp.

"You're going to be fine," Dean replied, more as to reassure himself than Mark.

Mark checked his phone, the brightness of it still being too much despite it being as low as possible, and then turned to Sam.

"It's been four hours. Can you get me something to eat? So, I can take the next pill?" he asked her. She nodded and without saying anything walked outside and headed to the kitchen. "What's up?" Mark asked while sitting cross-legged on his bed under the covers.

"Blake's moving away in a couple of days, going to settle in New York. Bryan and Rachel are going on a road trip around the States before their studies start, they are leaving tomorrow. And I'm thinking of taking business and management courses, in the spring," Dean said. Mark smiled weakly at him.

"How's it going with Ethan?" Mark asked and leaned back till his back rested against the headboard.

"We still talk every now and then, but I can't see it going anywhere. I'm not really feeling it and... I mean I don't even know what to call myself. I'm in no state to get myself a boyfriend," Dean said and shook his head.

"He doesn't have to be your boyfriend..." Mark noted with a half-smile. Dean chuckled and ran a hand through his hair. "And you don't need a label to exist."