Living Next Door To Alice

9/ Two Hearts

The two roommates of apartment 4B had been working all morning, but Fred noticed that FP had been awfully quiet.
He wondered if something was going on, but also knew that sometimes not asking was better than bringing it up.

So, for the past few hours he had decided to keep it to himself, but the look of thunder on FP's face didn't seem to vanish anytime soon.

"You've been grumpy today, is everything alright?"

They sat down for lunch, which seemed like a good moment to bring it up. FP didn't seem to be surprised by the question, but still managed to avoid Fred's eyes.

"Yeah, all is fine." He brushed it off quickly as he grabbed his sandwich and unfolded the white paper around it. However, Fred knew his best friend way too well to believe that.

"If you are going to lie to me, at least be convincing." Fred was growing a little annoyed himself, especially since they made the agreement that FP would either talk or try to keep his head at work.

"Give me a break Fred." FP spat, clearly irritated.

He wasn't particularly mad at Fred, but right now he just wasn't the mood to talk about it and wanted for him to take the hint. Couldn't they just eat their lunch in silence?

"What's going on? Are you having a bad day or is something else bothering you?"

Fred had switched to a bit softer approach, feeling that maybe it was more complicated than he had assumed at first. It wasn't like FP to act this way, not even if he wasn't feeling well, so clearly it was something he couldn't help.

FP stayed silent but stopped eating his lunch as if he was discussing with himself whether it was a good idea to talk to him or not. He was probably overreacting, but somehow it was still taunting him.

"If you don't want to talk, that's fine. But you know that it isn't fair to project your anger on me when I have nothing to do with it." Fred stated, before wrapping up their conversation.

He didn't mind that FP didn't always wanted to talk about what was going on with him, but he didn't want to be the victim of his mood. They had talked about that before and Fred would give him a day off when he really couldn't take it. He always tried to be flexible and he didn't want to be repaid with looking at an angry face. They ate in silence for a while, until FP broke the awkward tension.

"Looked cosy between you and Alice last night." It was nothing but a quiet mumble, but enough for Fred to hear.

"What?" said Fred confused, not having a clue about what he was talking about.

"I saw you two when I came back upstairs." FP revealed, thinking that he was going to hear the truth of what was going on. Little did he know that he had misread the situation.

"And you think we have something going on?" Fred almost started to laugh, but knew that it would strike a nerve and therefore he changed his mind just in time.

"Could be. Do you like her?" FP tried to sound like it was a casual question, but his voice sounded insecure enough for Fred to hear.

"I don't. Not like that. But you obviously do." He pointed out, a smile tugging on his lips.

"I'm not blind Fred. I thought that you would at least tell me." FP spat out, the disappointment in his voice noticeable.

It wasn't until he heard the undertone that Fred realized that he was truly convinced about the fact that he and Alice had more going on than friendship, which clearly was bothering him a lot. This struck a nerve in Fred that hadn't been touched in a very long time.