- 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝 𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒆, ( the movie : the book. )

chapter seven - awsten and otto

awsten -

"watch it, idiot!"

gracie threw a pillow across the room and hit awsten in the head.

it was in times like that in which awsten really realised how badly they needed their own place, because they're twenty seven and trapped in a high school environment.

it wasn't exactly gracie's fault. she had her own place with her boyfriend for a while, but they had broken up and she moved home a few months after the fact. as for frankie, she was twenty one and in school. awsten was the one who never left.

they've begun to frequent zillow.

they were looking at apartments when they had another coffee earlier that day, the waitress introducing herself as chloe. that's how awsten finally met geoff's girlfriend, and she had smiled and said she liked their voice. geoff probably showed her the demos, which was cool.

she had recommended awsten move in with her and geoff, but awsten insisted that being a third wheel wasn't what they wanted.

she agreed, then wished them luck as they left. they spent the rest of the day trying to mentally budget for rent, but their job was a by commission gig and the band could barely get time to perform without a name. they didn't have enough. fuck that.

at least otto left work that day. awsten didn't want their third meeting to be awsten asking about real estate.

but maybe he was a secret real estate agent, or maybe knew one.

or maybe needed a roommate, which made awsten smile.

and that's when they were hit with a pillow again, looking up and putting their phone at their side and glaring.

awsten tossed the pillow back.

gracie and awsten spent the rest of the afternoon having a pillow fight before making a truce.

otto -

it felt weird knowing that awsten went back to the diner and otto didn't get to take their order, but they felt better when chloe came over and talked about how she met them and knew them from her boyfriend, so that means the weird new guy didn't scare them off.

"what did they order?"

he was eating dinner on his sofa with her on the other end, the television more of a background nosie than a means of entertainment.

"black coffee," chloe stated, taking a bite of her ramen. she sipped her water and rose a brow. "why?"

otto shrugged. he took a bite of his food and glanced at the tv, and then back at her, shaking his head nonchalantly. "people tend to like our coffee, i wondered if they liked it or not too." he shrugged again.

she squinted.

otto changed the subject to the pregnancy and congratulated her once again, offering name ideas such as slippers and otto junior. none of them sufficed, tragically.

still, it made chloe smile. otto liked making his friends smile, it was something he felt he was good at. cheering people up. making them feel good. he was a good friend.

he wondered what kind of friend he could be towards awsten. he wondered what kind of friend awsten would be towards him. he wondered about awsten in general, and it felt odd. otto never thought so intently about anyone before.

chloe said it was because otto had a crush, but otto insisted it wasn't the case. he wouldn't have a crush on someone he barely knew.

but what if he did?