"I think we should really go to sleep now, Greg, it's almost 1 in the morning!" Rowley informed his old/new best friend. He still wasn't sure what to call Greg.
"Yeah, sure, night Rowley," he had said.
Rowley figured the cheese touch was a big enough deal for Greg, and decided to start speaking to him again. Even though Collin was really fun to hang around, he had said some pretty horrible things about Greg during the time that they were friends.
"How were you ever even friends with Greg? He's extremely selfish and rude. No wonder he's so lame and such a wimp!" Collin had laughed at his own comment during one of their weekly sleepovers at his house.
Rowley had looked at Collin in a disapproving manner, but didn't say anything to defend his frien-Greg.
"He was pathetic! Come on Rowley, you gotta agree with me on this!" Collin had pleaded.
"Hey! He isn't that bad!" Rowley had managed to snap at Collin.
Collin gave him a look. "Oh, really? We're talking about the guy who broke your wrist, Rowley. And the one who you said acted like a jerk to you the whole time you guys were friends. When are you gonna learn that Greg Heffley is nothing more than a waste of space?"
Rowley had had enough. He grabbed Collin's sleepover bag and pillow and practically threw it at his face. "I think you should go home now, Collin. You should know where the front door is by now."
Rowley didn't know why he had bothered to defend Greg. Though Collin had no right to say those things about him, he couldn't help but agree with some of the things he said. But definitely not the part about Greg being a waste of space. That was just mean, even for Collin.
He had always been a jerk to him ever since they became friends and Rowley never did anything about it. It was true what Rowley said, though, that Greg wasn't all that bad. He had seen Greg play with Manny on several occasions and even help Rodrick out of a tough situation even though he knew he'd be the one to get the blame.
Rowley remembered the time where he helped him learn to tie his own shoes, when his parents had zero patience for him, Greg was the one who sat with him for four hours one Saturday even though he knew he'd rather play Twisted Wizard.
He also remembered the time when they were getting ice cream and some obnoxious 16 year old teenager had just grabbed Rowley's ice cream and started eating it himself, saying that Rowley "didn't need to eat ice cream anyway". Greg had simply just given his own ice cream cone to Rowley even though that was the last scoop of Greg's favourite flavour.
"Pssst! Rowley! You awake?" Greg had snapped Rowley out of his train of thought and he sat up from his sleeping bag and glanced over at Greg.
"Huh? What's the matter?"
"Uh, nothing, just... nothing." Greg mumbled.
Rowley shook his head. "Greg, I've known you long enough to know when something's up. What is it?"
Rowley noticed Greg had taken a deep breath, like he was trying to prep himself up for something. "I'm... smisdhuhry." He had mumbled the last part.
"What? I couldn't even understand that!"
Another deep breath. "I'm... sorry."
Oh. So that's what he had been trying to say.
This was probably the first time he had seen Greg apologise for anything in his entire life.
"Look, I'm sorry for always being such a jerk to you and I'm sorry for being so selfish all the time, and I'm sorry for breaking your wrist and for letting those guys force you to eat the cheese, I-" Greg had started to breathe heavy while his vision blurred. His emotions that he'd kept bottled up for three months had finally started to come out all at once.
"Greg, it's okay - just calm down! You're working yourself up too much!" Rowley had got kind of scared when he saw Greg start to panic. They were now sitting on Greg's bed as he took deep breaths trying to calm himself down.
A few minutes passed, and Greg seemed to be okay at this point. "I'm sorry, I really am. And I know I can't help it if you don't want to be friends anymore and hang out with Collin instead. I just needed to get it all out even if you - "
"Greg, if I had wanted to still be friends with Collin, do you think I would've come over to your house today at all?"
"... No." Greg answered. He finally looked up from his lap. "I really am sorry for being selfish all the time. Apparently the whole school had picked up on that as well..."
Rowley frowned. He knew Collin had been saying things to people during the three months they hadn't been speaking, but he didn't realise that it was everyone in the school who wouldn't talk to Greg. It must've been hard for him. Even Chirag and Fregley didn't speak to him at all.
"I forgive you, Greg. I appreciate the apology, you know. I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've ever seen you apologiise for anything during the time that we've been friends."
Greg sighed. "Yeah, I know. I... just thought I should say something even after you... ate the cheese. I guess Collin was right about me after all."
Rowley shook his head. "No Greg, Collin is just being mean. You shouldn't pay attention to him. He doesn't know that you apologised for your actions and neither does the rest of the school."
"I guess..." he said in a small voice.
Rowley had never hated anyone in his life, but Collin has come pretty close to that right about now. He could tell Greg was truly sorry for being such a jerk to him all the time, and also for framing him with the kindergarten children. It seemed as though during the three months that they weren't friends, Greg had had plenty of time to think about how he treated the people in his life.
"Come on, we should get some sleep." Rowley had returned to his sleeping bag on the floor and Greg had rolled over and almost instantly fallen asleep.
Rowley smiled at the sleeping form of his best friend. It had been a rather lonely three months of no practical jokes or schemes that would get him into trouble, he knew his parents weren't happy about Greg being back but he didn't care about what they said.
Greg was his best friend and that's all that mattered.