The One You Love || Dreamnotfound

Chapter 15

Waking up in his own bed was nice for Clay. Waking up to a text from George was also nice, albeit far more surprising.

Gogy: good morning Clay :)
Gogy: how are you feeling?
Me: morning loser
Me: I'm alright
Me: my chest hurts
Gogy: your ribs?
Me: yeah probably
Gogy: aww poor thing
Me: oh fuck off

Clay shook his head softly, unsure of how to even respond to George being George. He knew they other cared about him, and that alone felt off to him. He ignored the feeling and just smirked a bit, changing George's contact information because he felt like he deserved it.

Gogy💙💫: Aw
Gogy💙💫: I'm just trying to be niceee
Gogy💙💫: ;-;
Me: still
Me: >:(
Gogy💙💫: nooooo
Gogy💙💫: anyways, keep yourself safe- does it hurt to eat?
Me: idk
Gogy💙💫: you don't know?
Me: idk
Gogy💙💫: did you eat breakfast?
Me: no
Gogy💙💫: go eat
Me: no❤️
Gogy💙💫: um
Gogy💙💫: yes?
Read.

Clay tossed his phone aside and got ready for the day. He found himself strapping knives down to his legs and waist as he usually did, despite the fact that he didn't have a target or anything.

He paused as he realized that. He didn't have a target. He didn't... have a target. No one to kill. No... goals. Nothing to do in school. Huh.

Well, he could always keep an eye on George. See what he was up to. He nodded to himself. That sounded like a plan.

With that in mind, he smiled and headed to class. Grabbing his backpack made him flinch in pain a bit, but he was fine after that.

When he got to school, he found himself not knowing what to do. Usually he would watch Techno... so now what? Well, he guessed he could find George- or, actually, Nick. Nick was the better option. After all, there were rules- such as:

Rule #2. Don't talk to Techno when he's with other friends.

Well... he supposed that had to be modified. Whatever, he could do that later. George was probably with his friends, so that crossed out him as an option. That was that.

Me: dudeeeee
Me: where are you
Sapnap🧡✨: I'm in the courtyard
Sapnap🧡✨: regular courtyard
Sapnap🧡✨: not the senior on Techno drags you to
Me: I'm gonna chill w you
Me: nothing better to do
Sapnap🧡✨: I'm down
Read

And that was that! He headed to the courtyard to meet with Sapnap, planning on just talking about their weekends and just talking casually. That /was/ the plan, until he saw that his friend was currently hanging out with George.

He froze up, unsure of what exactly to do. He told Nick he would come sit with him, but rule 2- why were the two of them even hanging out- wait-

Rule #1. Don't ask questions.

Shit. He was struggling to process his surrounding when he heard Sapnap calling him over. No time to think! He went and sat with them. God, this felt awkward already- he wasn't sure why. When George saw him, his eyes widened a bit.

"Clay?? Why are you here? You should be resting after all that-"

Clay only shook his head, cutting him off as he spoke. "I can't miss anymore days, I'm even out of hospital days."

"You're... out of hospital days?"

Clay blinked a bit, looking over at Nick in hopes that he could explain better. Nick looked over at him and sighed before turning back to George.

"Like I mentioned before, this happens... pretty often."

"Oh... Techno?"

"Techno."

The three sat in an awkward silence for a long moment before Clay sighed and stood up. "I'm gonna head to class."

"Clay, class doesn't start until-"

George tried to argue, but Clay only replied with "I'm going to class." once more before walking away and leaving the other two to talk.

He ended up spending the last half an hour or so left until class hidden away in the library, not wanting to risk the embarrassment of going back to his friends. Both Nick and George texted him a few times, but he didn't care to check what they were saying. It was probably something dumb anyways.

When class started, he headed upstairs. Instead of going to his class, he made his way to the hall where he knew George's class would be and spent a few minutes locating his friend's class.

Friend? Were the two of them friends? He wasn't sure in all honesty. His feelings towards George were... scrambled, to say the least.

He still felt that weird gross butterfly feeling when he was with George- but it was starting to feel less gross.

He decided not to think about it. Why would he? He didn't need to know how he felt; he had bigger concerns. Concerns such as... what the hell was he doing?

He had been sat outside of George's classroom all of class so far, and he wasn't even sure why he was here. He had decided he would do this, but... why? Honestly, he didn't know. Whatever. It was too late to change his mind- he had already been here for too long.

And so, for every class until lunch, he would sit protectively outside of the door to George's classroom. He would sneak behind a corner and watch George go to his next class, making a mental note of his schedule and then repeating the process again.

This went on until lunch time, when he went to find Nick. He met up with him, George catching up to them after. The three went to the courtyard together, Clay hesitantly following his friends into the lunch line.

As Nick and George got their food, Clay stood behind them. Nick was unphased by this, but George was clearly worried.

"Did you bring your own food, Clay?"

"No."

"...do you have money?"

"Nah."

"Are you... gonna eat?"

"Nope."

"Yes you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Bet."

George put another serving of food into his tray, getting enough for Clay and him to share. Clay shook his head, following the two through the line and to a table in the courtyard after they paid.

George sat down beside Clay, who was sat across from Nick. He set the tray between the two, Clay only looking down at the food then back at George, shaking his head.

"Eat." George demanded. Clay flinched a small bit at the command, making George's expression soften a bit in guilt. "I mean... eat, please?"

Clay hadn't meant to flinch as George spoke in a stern tone, but he realized that he did too late. As he looked back at George silently, George sighed softly and grabbed his fork, taking a bite of food and holding it up to Clay. After a second, Clay leaned over and took the food.

It was here and now that Clay realized how he felt about George- he loved him. He loved him just like how he loved Techno. The thought made him smile a bit.

He was in love again.