Rest Easy

Original Edition: ii. red and blue

"What happened back there, man?" Tyler asked Dudley as he pulled up outside Tyler's house. He was dreading telling anyone, but he knew that the one person he could trust was his friend.

"I was speaking to Ness."

"Damn. Y'all broke that silent treatment mad quick. How long was that—twenty days?"

Dudley didn't say anything. He sucked in his teeth, shifting around in his seat. Tyler knew all too well what this kind of behaviour signalled: shame. "What were y'all talking about?" Dudley drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. "Spit it out, bruh! My mom's gonna start blowin' up my phone, asking if I've taken the chicken out of the damn refrigerator yet."

"We slept together last night."

Tyler's jaw dropped. Then he started laughing. A hearty, loud, stomach crunching laugh. He threw his head into his hands, still laughing. Dudley felt like a sheepish kid who just made a mortifying admission. "This is worse than I thought," Tyler said. "She's got you cuffed, man. You're the next light-switch couple."

"The next what?"

"On and off, like a switch." Tyler would often pen new witty, yet useless phrases.

"No. No, it's not like that."

"Then what's it like? No feelings? No strings?"

"It was a terrible idea. Everything's still so raw, you know? We shouldn't have done it. And... I know this is super embarrassing, but..." Dudley chewed on the inside of his cheek. "I started crying. I don't even know why," he lied. "I wasn't that drunk. I mean... I was super sad. But I was also horny as fuck. Not a great combination."

Tyler frowned, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I know it must be pretty whack. This is why exes don't get together, man. It's just like a fuck-tonne of baggage. Kinda like an airport with a carousel full of unclaimed suitcases. And it keeps going around and around, never-ending. Damn, that was mad deep. I think I should become a poet or some'n." Dudley almost smiled. "But seriously, this isn't a good situation. For one thing, I'm pretty sure Karina's out there somewhere—"

"Don't bring up her name." The air turned cold for a sliver of a second. Silence ensued.

"Sorry, dude. I just mean—it's kinda awkward. It probably wasn't a wise idea."

Dudley shook his head. "I was just drunk. And I was scrolling through my Instagram timeline, realising that I still followed her. Then I noticed that she'd unfollowed me, and I went through her feed, and saw that she'd taken down all the photos of us. It's like I never existed. And my drunk ass started stalking her on everything, and... I don't know. It didn't feel right just staring at her from my phone screen. I told myself that I just wanted to speak to her, but I was lying. I'm not sure why I thought anything mature and sensible would come out of calling her up."

"Well. I can't relate, but I will say that it took a lot of willpower for Tori to get over her ex, before she got serious with me. It's like a supernatural force, right? It's like you're possessed."

"Something like that. Fuck knows what it is. But listen. I don't want you to get another ass-whooping from Debra, so you can get out." Dudley cracked a smile.

"Shut up. My PTSD's got me in check. Just need a flashback and I turn into a Stepford child."

"You got jokes. See you tomorrow."

Tyler hopped out, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. He turned around. "You'll get over Ness. Trust me. Summer's coming! More free time to find some fire chicks. More parties. You know how it is!" He ran off to his front door.