I was sleeping soundly in bed when the vibrating of my phone awoke me. I squirmed under my covers, trying to block out the annoying sound. I would call back the person who was rude enough to call at -what time was it? Early. But the buzzing still continued. I turned to face my bed stand just as the buzzing ended. I let out a small sigh of relief.

I jumped nearly sky high when it started up again. I grumbled some curses and picked up. "Hello?" I said groggily.

"Hey, why didn't you answer earlier? Wait, crap, you were probably sleeping, weren't you? Sorry, I'll just hang up." I heard a friend's voice say. I still wasn't fully awake yet and my vision was blurry but I knew well enough that it was Karkat.

"No, no! Don't hang up! I've been awake for a full few seconds." I joked. I hoped he got that and didn't take me literally. I couldn't have dealt with that at the moment. "Uh, what is it?" I asked. I moved the clock a bit to see the time. 8 A.M. Great. Mom already left.

"Oh, good." he said, chuckling a bit. "I just needed some advice. I've been up all night thinking about it and I thought that maybe you could help."

I was a bit confused, but answered, "Sure, what is it?" anyways.

"I need help with. . .um, er. . ." he stumbled over his words a bit which made me question what on Earth it could be. "Relationship stuff." He finally stammered. I was so surprised that I sat up and banged my head on the inconveniently shelf that hung above my bed. "What was that?" He asked.

"Ow. . .er-Nothing. I just banged my head into something." I said. "I mean foot!" I added quickly. I forgot for a moment that I had supposedly been up and around the house already and there wasn't really anything that was at my head height. Probably because I'm the tallest guy in our grade.

I rubbed my forehead and swung my feet over the edge of my bed. I hopped down to the ground and stretched a bit, keeping my phone to my ear. "So. . .what relationship advice do you need?" I asked anxiously. I was the school's matchmaker and it was hopefully going to be my career when I got older. I'd already given relationship advice to everyone, except for Karkat. He would deny it if you ever brought it up, but he had a deep passion for romantic books. I knew because I'd caught him reading one a long time ago. He'd kill me if he found out I knew.

I had been awaiting a certain call like this from him. He'd been the only person I hadn't given advice to even though I knew he struggled with that sort of stuff the most. He'd always dreamed of having a relationship like in his stories, but never had the courage to ask anyone he liked to go out with him. It made me sad to see him so depressed about it. I knew he had liked someone in our friend group who I think likes him back. But he's been too ignorant to notice. I'd only imagined the conversation to happen when I was more awake.

I put him on speaker and started listening while choosing my clothes.

"Not much." He said. "I-I just really like this guy."
I nodded a bit and said sarcastically, "Yeah, I kinda got that." I slipped my pants on. "Tell me about him. Does he have a name?"

"Uh, yeah. But I'd rather not say it. . ." I could tell he was sincerely embarrassed about it just by his voice, so I respected him and said, "All right, go on."

"Yeah, so. . .he has really long hair. Actually, it's pretty much the same length as yours." He stammered. I ran my fingers through my hair a bit on instinct. It barely made it past my earlobes and had a sort of white look to it, even though it was mostly a light blond. I'd been growing it out for a few months and everyone was surprised it hadn't grown an inch past my earlobes. I must admit, so was I. I always sort of touched it's tips whenever someone mentioned it. I certainly had gotten a lot of attention since it'd been cut.

There was only one guy that both Karkat and I knew who had hair as short as long as mine. It was a really derpy dude named John, who just so happened to be my best bro. I didn't say anything though, making sure my hypothesis was right. "And he's really tall. Like, so tall that I'd have to climb a ladder just to speak to him face to face. And don't get me started on his behavior. He's so annoying. He can't keep conversation going even in his life depended on it. And he always wears this stupid smile on his face and jumps around making noise, but only when it's just us. If anyone else is around, he tends to snap and get really nasty." I thought for a little while, half listening to what he was saying. John was known to be energetic and pretty short. Karkat sure did like to exaggerate a lot, so maybe. . .

I couldn't help the jealousy that was crawling up my stomach. He did like him. Although I would probably never admit it to his face, I'd had the biggest crush on him for the longest time. I'd always thought that it was cute how he went on long winded rants and would order people around. But hearing him say he liked someone else hurt me a lot. But I shook out my feelings and forced myself to listen again.

I went into my kitchen to prepare breakfast for myself.

"And he doesn't really listen to anyone. He can't be bothered with what anybody tells him to do. Oh, and he's already working even though he's our age. Like, his parents work 24/7 and just leave him at home to do his own thing. They usually go spend it on useless things like alcohol and shit like that. It makes me feel really weak. He's providing for himself and protecting himself from his parents' abuse all on his own." he slowed down near the end.

I slowly munched on my cereal. I had no idea me and John's situations at home were so similar. Of course, it didn't really surprise me. He did do her own thing most of the time. After I'd swallowed, I asked, "Okay, good to know the bad stuff about him. Could you tell me the good stuff? You know, like, the stuff you like about him?"

He sighed deeply and started talking again. But it wasn't the good stuff he liked about her.

"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have come to you about this stuff."

I stopped shoveling cereal into my mouth and said, "Well, who else would you come to?"

"I don't know, but I shouldn't have come to you for it."

I'd tried the entire conversation to conceal the fact that it hurt me to hear him directly say that he liked someone else. But I didn't know how he even knew about my little crush. I decided to play it off like I didn't know what he was talking about. "Karkat, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm pretty much your only friend who can give good advice about this stuff. Tell me why you shouldn't have come to me."

"Dave. You know perfectly well why I shouldn't have." He said. His tone was grim.

I kept my eyes closed. I knew if I opened them the tears would start and nothing could stop them.

"I'm fine Karkat." My voice was unbearably shakey, but I ignored it and hoped he would too. "You like John. I'm okay with that. So, hang up. Call him up and tell him how you feel. And Jayden?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"Promise me we'll still be friends despite my crush." I wanted him to say it. I wanted him to say that we would still be friends no matter what."

He sighed again.

"Please. Promise." I begged. I felt the tears start to trickled from my eyes a bit.

"Dave, I can't promise that. Beca-"

I cut him off. I hung up. I started to cry thick heavy tears. I tried to blink them away but nothing worked. Wet blinks. Dripping from my tears. When my sobs stopped, I stared at my cereal bowl. I pushed it an arms length away. I'd suddenly lost my appetite.