Chapter 5

"Nick's still not giving up, then?"

It was closing time, and Kelly was waiting on the last patron to arrive, and the last customer to leave. This is a normal weekday for them. It all started two months ago, when James had finally settled into his new apartment. Peter and Nick's lectures end, then they head to Kelly's diner. They wait on each other, and wait for Kelly to close up shop. They head to one of their apartments, and have dinner together and go home after a good movie. Fridays are different, they usually have sleepovers after dinner.

Peter shakes his head to answer Kelly's question, sipping his milkshake as she wipes the counter they settled in. "I thought they were great together," she says, leaning against the counter. "They were. But Nick just had to screw it up," Pete throws his hands in the air in frustration before leaning back. "What's going on?"

James takes a seat next to Pete, taking off his beanie and ruffling his own hair. "Nick did something stupid, and now he's been sulking the whole afternoon," Kelly replies, pointing towards the topic of their discussion. The man sat with his head in his hands, his black sweatshirt crinkled and his hair is disheveled from all the times he ran his hands through his hair. "Why? What did he do?"

James frowns as Kelly gives him his usual order of coffee milkshake and sour cream fries. Kelly scoffs, wiping her hands with a rag. Pete doesn't know what to tell him. The boy is already dealing with his own stressful life. Pete feels he shouldn't add another to the pile of shit James is already dealing with. "Cheated on his boyfriend," Kelly says, making Pete frown at her. "What? We can't just keep that from James, you know. He's Nick's friend as much as we are," she says, hands on her hip. She had a point, Pete knows that.

The boy didn't like the sound of that, especially after Liam. He doesn't know if he's angry at Nick, but he is very much disappointed. To think that his friend would learn from what happens to people who get cheated on through James. "Why?"

Nicholas couldn't answer that. He didn't know why—it just happened. He wasn't drunk, he wasn't on drugs, he wasn't manipulated or bought into it. All he knows is that he lost control for a moment and it spiraled down and down and down until he was caught red-handed in his apartment. "Okay, since you can't answer that," James goes to sit closer to Nicholas. He doesn't know why but he wants to figure this out. Maybe because he hopes he can find answers as to why Liam cheated on him, too. "Answer me this. Since when and how long?"

"I've been with him since our Senior year. About two years now. The cheating was... it was recent, probably a month or two before we found out about you and Liam," the man replies, shaking his head. James frowns, disappointment finally turning into anger. He tries to calm himself, but he can only imagine what Nick's ex-lover might have felt.

He had it easier, if he's being honest. Liam came clean by himself. It wasn't under the best circumstance, but it was easier, he thinks. He can't imagine catching his ex-lover in their apartment, screwing someone else as James enters the door. It would have been more painful and harder to pick up the pieces. "I see," is the only thing James could say, not really seeing or understanding. But he has sympathy for his friend.

No one speaks. There's no other sound than the sounds from the kitchen, where Kelly's staff are prepping the ingredients for the next day. Weekends are normally busier days for the diner. No one speaks, not even last few customers in the diner with them. No one speaks, and the air feels suffocating to Kelly and Peter, while James frowns, looking everywhere else but the man next to him. What more can you say to a person who cheated when you yourself have been cheated on?

"How about we go out tonight, hm? All four of us," Kelly suggests suddenly, trying to ease the tension in the air. "Hell yeah," Pete jumps in, clearly on board. "Let's go out for once--all we do is stay home, cook, eat, watch TV," he inserts himself between James and Nick, hugging them both by the neck. He doesn't care for comfort of the two, he just wants the tension gone. "And we need to let out some steam. You and I don't have any Master's class tomorrow," he says to Nick before looking at James, "and you'll be cooped up in your house the entire weekend."

James wants to argue that he does not stay cooped up in his house all weekend. But he thinks for a moment--thinks about the art projects he has for the weekend, the list of books he had set up to read, the ungodly amount of indoor gardening projects he had in mind for his new space. He thinks about it, and decides against protesting. If his friend asks what his plans are for the weekend, James will only prove Pete's point.

"Fine, I'll go," he sighs, making Pete give him a big smile and a pinch on the cheek. He couldn't help it, James had a pinchable baby face in his opinion. They both then look at the sulking man. "Nick?"

Nick frowns at them. If he's being honest, he just wants to stay at home and drink his guilt and sorrow away. But the look on Pete and Kelly's face and his indirect guilt towards James make him think twice. He groans, burying his head in his hands. "Fine, fine," he says, "I'm in."

Kelly beams as Pete pats Nick's back. "Atta boy," he says. He stands straight and goes back to his seat.

They wait as the last few customers finish their meal. Once the old man at the corner booth is done, one of the waiters collect his plate and heads into the kitchen. Kelly fixes up the counter and head to the kitchen as well, giving out her last orders for the day. The four of them leave through the entrance and Kelly locks up the front, since her staff leave through the back.

The tension is still thick in the air, but Pete and Kelly hope that changes once they get to wherever they head off to. James takes starts the car engine as everyone hops into the car. "So, where to?"