08.

                                    

                                          
Slits of orange light flickered through the blinds, crossing over his face as he stirred into awareness. His head ached profusely, and all he wanted was death, or sleep. He pulled his torso up and ran a hand through his hair, which he noticed was damp with something. 
                          
The smell of stale bile hung like a cloud in the air, making his empty stomach lurch for anything to spit up. 
                          
The room was dark and unrecognizable to him, and it took a few minutes for him to remember exactly where he was. Jack's house. There was a party last night, and I probably drank more than I should've. 
                          
"Oh, you're awake." A timid and exhausted voice spoke up in the middle of his thoughts. He glanced over his shoulder and noticed a barely clothed Awsten, his petite body only covered by a thin fleece blanket. His eyes carried dark bags beneath them, and his skin was red with irritation. "How're you feeling Gee?"
                          
Geoff scratched at his stubbly cheeks, which were irritated from the fact he hadn't shaved in a few days. "Hungover—like more than usual." He fell back in a heap onto the lumpy pillow, his fingers shielding his eyes from the painful beams of sunlight. 
                          
Awsten sat up completely and tossed his legs over the side of the bed, padding over to what Geoff guessed was a bathroom and coming out with an unrecognizable t-shirt. "You want me to tell you what happened now, or whenever you're not hungover."
                          
"Tell me now, while I still have some remnants of alcohol in my system." Geoff croaked and turned over in bed, burying his messy hair into the pillow. 
                          
The younger boy's weight crashed back into bed as he curled back up under the small fleece blanket. "I was enjoying myself, must've smoked at least a blunt and a half before I noticed you weren't with me. So I talked to an extremely drunk Alex, who told me where you were. Luckily, I found you because you probably would've choked on your own vomit."
                          
Suddenly, Geoff sat up in bed, bleary eyes locked on Awsten's. "Oh god, don't tell me I threw up."
                          
"Multiple times, actually." Awsten laughed as Geoff crashed back into the pillow, moaning in a low and disgruntled voice. "Anyway, I helped you, and that's when I noticed you had thrown up all over the floor, and bed, and bathroom, and—"
                          
Geoff held his hand up, but kept his embarrassed face pressed into the pillow. "I get it. Just continue, please."
                          
Awsten's lips curled into a fond and playful smile as he continued on with his storytelling. "You called me a mermaid, proceeded to wipe a puke-covered hand all down my white sweater, then I had to take your t-shirt off, to which you vomited all down my sweater. Finally I got you cleaned up, washed your hair and whatnot, and you finally went to sleep at around three in the morning. By the way, thank you for completely fucking up my sleep schedule."
                          
"Don't mention it." Geoff held up finger guns halfheartedly, tossing over in the bed and coming face to face with Awsten's tired expression. "I'm guessing it's time to leave, huh?"
                          
Checking the time on his almost dead iPhone, Awsten nodded and stretched his arms out. "Guess you'll have to go shirtless, unless you want to wear your own vomit proudly." 
                          
————
                          
"It's really fucking cold!" Geoff wrapped his arms around his freezing bare body as he dashed towards his parked truck, keys hung and jingling in his frozen palm. "Why couldn't Jack give me a shirt too?!"
                          
Awsten laughed as he sprinted by Geoff, already in hot pursuit of the Ford. "Because he said either I could wear it, or you could, and someone wasn't awake to rebuttal my decision." His hand tugged the handle of the car door, whining whenever the door didn't give way. "Geoff, I swear to God, if you don't open this door right now—"
                          
The door jingled with the sound of Geoff climbing inside, leaving the passenger door locked tightly. "Sorry Awsie, I hate to leave you in the cold but—"
                          
"Geoff, open the fucking door before I rip the handle off!" Awsten squealed and continued rattling the handle as Geoff began to start the car. After a few more minutes of suffering, Geoff finally reached over the console and flicked the door lock, releasing the boy from his cold confines. Awsten clawed his way into the now warm truck, glaring over at Geoff and punching his arm surprisingly hard. "You fucking suck sometimes."
                          
Geoff peeled out of Jack's driveway, his shirtless body gleaming in the sunlight of morning. "Don't worry, I made sure the car was nice and warm for you."
                          
After a while of silence, Awsten finally spoke up. "You know—you were right." Awsten's voice was meek and quiet, his fingers smoothing out the t-shirt Jack had given to him. 
                          
"Right about what?" Geoff stole a glance at the boy in his passenger seat, eyebrows knit together in confusion. Awsten's body language was unreadable, and it worried the older boy immensely. 
                          
"I act defensive, it's just an old habit not worth breaking." Awsten wrung his fingers together, watching the skin on his knuckles turn white. "A lot of people fucked me over, Geoff. Hell, even my own fucking family fucked me over, and I guess I'm just guarded because of it." He turned to face the windows, watching houses and grass alike roll by at a seemingly slow pace. 
                          
Geoff's lips sealed. He didn't know what to say. The only thing flashing in his mind was he problems, how his family fucked him over too. "I know how you feel." He croaked finally, but only whenever he pulled up against the curb near Awsten's house. Pushing the gear into park, Geoff let his hands fall into his lap as he glanced over at Awsten, who was staring dead into the distance. "Uh—thanks for taking care of me, by the way." His cheeks tinged pink in embarrassment. "And I'm sorry for puking on you." 
                          
Geoff's charm and easygoing attitude was enough to snap Awsten from his headspace, making him laugh slightly. "You owe me, Gee." He pointed a finger at him and smiled devilishly. "I think I deserve being smoked out."
                          
"We'll see, now get inside. Your mom's probably worried sick." Geoff tilted his head in direction of the door, smiling as Awsten began unbuckling his seatbelt and gathering his belongings. His dirtied sweater was tucked in Geoff's old leather knapsack, tied off with one of Geoff's shoelaces. "If you need something, just text me."
                          
Awsten was almost out of the car before noticing something. "I don't have your number though." 
                          
Geoff thought quickly, grabbing an almost dried out sharpie from the cupholder and extending a hand to the younger boy. "Give me your arm." Once Awsten placed his forearm in Geoff's large palm, the older boy began scrawling his phone number in messy handwriting, hoping it was at least somewhat legible. "Call me if you need anything."
                          
The blue-haired boy's cheeks tinged with pink as he nodded, bidding Geoff goodbye and watching his beat-up red pickup turn the corner. His heart was beating out of his chest as he snuck his way to his bedroom, flopping onto the bed and drifting into a lucid dream about the older boy himself.