Sal wasn't going to tell his friend the necklace was enchanted.
He never does, Larry wouldn't exactly believe him if he tried to anyway. The crystals or herbs only ever work how people think when a witch has enchanted them. Sal just hoped Larry would continue wearing the necklace like he had asked.
Lately he had been feeling quite unsettled, more than usual. He's been pretty frantic and jumpy, getting less and less sleep each night. Slowly he'd become more paranoid the longer this unsettling feeling remained, his nightmares were worse and he was sure he was seeing things during the day now, so he resorted to protecting his friends as a way to calm down. He didn't care much about himself, even if he could use an enchantment to protect his own life, he'd rather use his energy to keep other people protected, specifically Larry.
They spent most of their time together and Sal was sure that was putting the brunette into danger in some way, but he couldn't just drop his friend suddenly even if he had good intentions. The nightmares, though often blurry and hard to remember, always involved death and Larry was almost always in them.
"I've got another date tonight." Larry's words snapped Sal out of his thoughts and he raised an unseen eyebrow at his friend.
"With Sophie?"
"Nah, Riley. Me and Sophie lasted like 2 days, dude." Sal just rolled his eyes are his friend, turning down the path that lead to the apartments.
"Sorry I can't keep up with all your romantic endeavors. You're with a different girl, like, every other night." He couldn't help the pang of jealousy as he spoke, the words sounding a bit harsher than he had intended.
"Jeez, dude, it's not that bad. I just feel bad turning down most girls when they ask me out because I don't really know them." The brunette crossed his arms with a fake pout. "How am I supposed to know beforehand that I don't like them?"
"All I'm saying is you're gonna get a bad reputation if you keep doing that."
"It's not like I make out with them or anything before I break it off, I don't even kiss most of them and if I do it's because the chick made the move." The two made their way to the rear of the building, entering Larry's room from the back door. "Half the time I try to be annoying enough that they call it off with me."
Larry fell back onto a bean bag while Sal jumped into the brunettes bed, spread out so his finger's touched each edge of the bed. The buckle of the prosthetic dug into the back of his head but he didn't mind, he was too focused on his current untamed emotions. He didn't like Larry going on all these dates, he had no reason, he just didn't like it. It caused what he could only describe as a stabbing feeling in his heart, or maybe like someone had taken a grip on his internal organs. It was stupid, he knew, he couldn't even explain in, but the feeling remained nonetheless.
"How about you just, like, only go out with people you actually like beforehand?" Who did Larry actually like? Sal wasn't exactly sure, the brunette didn't seem to be particularly fond of any girls other than Ash, but they were more like siblings. Maybe Maple? They were closer than Larry typically was with girls at the school but he didn't seem to really fancy her. "You can't force feelings."
Sal could tell Larry was staring at him, but didn't bother to meet his friend's gaze as it didn't really seem like he was trying to make eye contact. "Well it's too late for that, now, are you gonna help me get ready or not?"
Sal sighed over dramatically, throwing his hands up with his loud noise, trying to make it as annoying as humanly possible. "Fiiine!"
Many insults and a load of laundry later, Larry stood in a freshly cleaned band shirt, still warm from the dryer. He wore a simple pair of dark jeans, so it wasn't much different than his normal attire, but he was cleaner looking.
Sal sat on his knees behind him, one of those 'no tears' hair brushes clutched tightly in his grip, pulling it through his friend's long hair.
"Ow, fuck!" Sal ripped through another tangle in Larry's hair and the brunette tensed, reaching a hand up to rub his scalp. "Be gentle."
"Be a man!" Sal retorted, roughly pulling the brush through brown hair again, now finally able to brush fully through without encountering and tangles. "Maybe if you did this everyday, you wouldn't be in so much pain!"
"Don't act like you brush through your hair every day." Larry snorted, looking over his shoulder at his friend's frizzy pigtails.
"I do! Twice a day, in the morning and before bed! My hair's just curly and a mess. Your hair should be really nice and smooth and straight but you don't take care of it, honestly you should just cut it off." He wasn't being series, he liked his friends hair, but he did think if he was going to keep it long he should at least try with it. Larry obviously didn't see it as joking and his hands shot up to grab at his dark hair.
"Fuck no! I've been growing it out for so long, I haven't been to a proper hair place is years."
"Hair place?" Sal laughed. "You mean a barber?"
"Don't laugh at me, fuck-face!" Larry spun so he was now facing the brunette, both seated on the carpet.
Sal mock gasped, bringing a hand to his chest. "Offensive! No one in their right mind would fuck this face."
Larry's first thought was to reply 'I would,' and he almost said it, but that was weird. Instead he just shook his head, standing a bit too quickly and almost loosing his balance. "Well, I better get going."
"But I thought I was gonna do something with your hair." The bluenette pouted behind his prosthetic, not moving from the floor.
"We don't have time, you took too long brushing it." Larry made his way to the door to his room, grabbing some things on the way. When he'd reached the door he turned around with a hand on the door handle. Sal had fallen back and sprawled out on the carpet, his knees still bent like he was going to exercise. "You gonna stay here until I get back? It'll be like two hours."
"Yeah, I'm gonna chill with Lisa until you're done breaking this girl's heart."
Larry just rolled his eyes in response, leaving Sal in silence, laying on the stained carpet.