Morose ✔️

4

I'd barely managed to move my pajama-covered butt to the couch when someone started knocking on the front door. If my place had been just a little bit bigger, I could have ignored it, but the door to the real world was placed just behind the couch, between it and the kitchen island. If you could call it that.

A groan filled with frustration and mostly hopelessness escaped me and I gathered what energy I could to actually go and open it up. With my blanket still around my body, I walked to the door, looked through the peep-hole and saw the top of a blonde head. A tiny bit of relief washed over me as I realized it wasn't my mom or my brother, or— God forbid— Helix. As if he knew where I lived.

I unlocked and opened the door, but didn't stay around to talk, I just turned around and walked back to the couch so I could sit down inside my cozy, little bubble. Jesse walked in, kicked his shoes off and closed the door, before climbing over the back of the couch to sit next to me.

Neither of us said anything as the TV kept playing episodes of some old sit-com, and as much as I'd never admit it, the company made me feel... good. My thoughts weren't as loud with him there, my restlessness was dampened, and that was maybe the worst part of how I was doing; being restless without wanting to, or being able to, do anything about it.

The hours went on— I ended up holding onto Jesse's arm and leaning my head on his shoulder, feeling him shake as he laughed at the TV. I even smiled and chuckled a few times myself, which felt strange, but good. Maybe I didn't have to be alone even though I felt like nothing I ever did was good enough, like my existence was a burden on everyone who knew me. When the last available episode was over, Jesse turned to me and said, "I forgot how much fun that show was."

I nodded along with a small smile. "Yeah, me too."

He lifted his wrist and looked at the time, before smiling at me and getting up from the couch to stretch. He walked around the couch, with me watching him carefully, and into the kitchen. I peeked over the back of the couch to see what he was doing, only to observe as he opened and shut all the cupboards and drawers in there, sighing after the last one and he put his hands up behind his head. He looked thoughtful.

"I'm ordering some pizza, you want in?" He looked at me when he finally said something, lifting his brows.

The request hit me by surprise, and as much as I was definitely satisfied with the instant noodles, my mouth watered a little at the thought of a good, greasy take-away pizza. So I nodded.

He came back to the couch, sat down and scrolled through the menu on his phone, before selecting one, showing it to me, as if asking if I was okay with it, and after reading the word "pepperoni" I nodded again. "Great," he said, smiling my way, "looks like they're having some sort of deal, too, we'll get a free soda with it."

He tapped along on his phone, eventually his screen told him his order was confirmed, and I swallowed the building appetite.

The wait was long.

God, so long...

It was almost like I could smell it from the moment Jesse hit "confirm" on his phone, and my stomach started growling not long after— to which he just laughed and said, "I hope it shows up before you turn into a monster or something."

I pushed him in the shoulder, rolling my eyes at him, before settling back into my warm, comfortable place against the armrest, and sighed. Jesse jumped up instantly when there was a knock on the door again, almost fell over the back of the couch and opened the door.

"Hey," he said in a smooth tone, and I could only imagine his eyebrows raising at the poor delivery person.

"Um, Jesse Stevens' order?" Their voice was slightly confused, probably because his name wasn't on the sign outside, but Jesse didn't seem to mind.