~Trigger warning: cussing
When Kieran left for the library that day, I didn't realize he would come back with a parasite. I wondered if Kieran was mad at me for a while. We stopped hanging out as much after that night we slept in the same bed. Did I push him too far? I'm still not quite sure what I was thinking; however, sometime between petting his hair, asking him to sleep with me, and snuggling him, I realized I might actually like him. Like, like-like him. Bad timing, right?
We lived together and I barely saw him outside of class. We only had Professor James's class together and fucking Ethan walked him to and from class. When I did see Kieran outside of class, there was Ethan! How can one child be so damn happy?! When Kieran brought him back to our dorm the first few times, at least he was quiet. Now, he was comfortable and never stopped talking. Basketball, psychology, anything and everything he could! The worst part was.. he's gay too!
"Oh, hey Simon! We haven't seen you in ages. You should come hang out!" Ethan, again. Hold on. Since when were he and Kieran a we? Is it a friendly we? Or a... we? While I pretended to consider, I tried to find what Kieran, if they were a... we, found so endearing about the parasite. Was it his height? Ethan was shorter than Kieran. I bet he wasn't even six feet tall! And he has green eyes. No one even likes green eyes. Does Kieran like green eyes? No, everyone knows blue eyes are superior. I thought proudly of my own bright blue eyes that Kieran had once seemed taken with. I noticed Ethan was wearing cargo shorts. Who the fuck wears cargo shorts? I bet he'd wear socks with sandals too.
It finally caught up to me that I'd been staring for too long without responding. "No, sorry. I have to get to my next class." Kieran knew I was lying but he didn't seem inclined to call me out on it.
"Liar." Or maybe he was inclined. He didn't even look up. Ethan looked at him confused and Kieran continued. "You've just had your last class of the day. You're even headed back to the dorms, not a class building." He flicked his eyes up to meet mine. Brown eyes ought to be worshipped. He looked dangerously attractive in that his eyes, hooded as they were by his bent head, gave the indication of being pure black. I was effectively silenced by his accusatory stare. I couldn't have brought myself to say anything if I tried.
Ethan glanced between the two of us nervously before trying to diffuse the tension by piping up chipperly, "Well, in that case, you should come hang out!"
Holding my hand up to silence Ethan, I decided to express my opinion on how Kieran had been treating me.. very loudly. "Hold on! Don't look at me like that! You have been avoiding me! All you've done lately is work and hang out with fucking ETHAN!"
The Ethan in reference seemed saddened. He probably hadn't realized how much he had kept Kieran away from me. Before he'd come around, Kieran had been my closest friend and that prick stole him from me. "But you never- I always make sure to- why don't you ever come along?"
Kieran was still, accusatory glare now a stricken look, but he stood as I opened my mouth to respond to Ethan's question. "Simon, I need to talk to you." He stood, handing his book to Ethan and letting his hand linger for an unnecessary amount of time in my opinion. "I'll be right back." He walked past me and I followed, too eager for the attention he had been withholding for so long.