Sal stared at his phone, his room only lit by the low morning light from the crack in the curtain. Yes, it was early in the morning and yes, he had been up late the previous night. In all truth he hadn't slept at all, he'd just sat in silence until the sun came up, but that really didn't matter. He wasn't expecting a call, or a text, who would expect anything at 6 something in the morning. He'd been weighing his options about what to do, of course, he'd completely ruled out sending pictures of any kind, but he could try and persuade Kaylen by just talking(or, texting), the blonde was desperate for any sort of attention anyway, just like Sally had been. Maybe that's why they'd been drawn to each other, but it was different now.
It was bad enough being on the bad side of the local coven, even if it was small and unofficial, they could be dangerous. They were dangerous, some of them at least, as they had proven in the past. He didn't want them ticked off he'd ruined their little scheme so quickly. He wasn't sure what they'd expected, he could practically read minds, of course, he'd find the car and of course, he'd be able to persuade Kaylen to give him the keys. Even if the 'mind tricks' didn't work on the blonde, he was still a sucker for the blunette.
He was almost tempted to just let them do what they wanted, so he could prove he wasn't to be messed with. He was mad they'd dragged his best friend into this, even if Larry was mostly oblivious, it had caused an argument that had left him feeling guilty and... wrong.
He sighed, opening the old chat to be greeted by all the messages he hadn't bothered to read, he was surprised to see some of them seemed concerned. There were a few messages about the coven, but one, in particular, caught his eye.
From: asshole
They're like, really pissed, you know? I have no idea why, the bitch's like obsessed with you, I swear. They wouldn't do this usually.
[Received May 18th]
This coven was... different. More cult-like. They were unofficial, which meant they weren't in communication with covens in other areas, they also didn't have many rules in the way of not using magic to curse people, which is why Sally had never liked it.
To: asshole
I don't want to deal with this shit, why do you feel a need to bring Larry into this?
[Sent 6:36 AM]
He closed his phone, dropping it at his side to bring his hands to his bare face, flinching at the feeling. He hated that touching his face felt so foreign, he hated how sensitive the scarred skin was, and how he hadn't felt the sun on his face in as long as he could remember.
He stayed like that for a while, ignoring the buzzing of his phone until a loud knock at his bedroom door startled him back to reality.
"Uh, Sal? Are you awake?" It was his dad, he sounded tired, it made sense, he'd gotten home after Sal had, he was also most likely hungover.
"Yeah, what do you need?" He dropped his hands from his face when the door opened, turning to face his father who looked like he'd gotten ready in a hurry. It wasn't hard to notice the brief look of shock on Henry's face, even after all these years he still wasn't used to the look of his son's face, but they both ignored it like they always did.
"I'm heading out to work, I'll be home late. Do you want money for a pizza or are you going to a friend's for dinner?"
"Eating pizza at home alone is sad, Lisa already expects me down there anyway." Sometimes he thought he must be a bother to her, most of his time was spent in the basement apartment, though he tried not to be invasive. He only hung out with Larry when his friend asked him to, to not seem annoying, yet they still ended up together pretty much every day.
"Well, thank her for me." Why did their interactions have to be so awkward? They never made eye contact and Henry always seemed like he'd been forced to have the conversation and Sal hated it, he couldn't remember when they'd last acted like family. Even his father's concern seemed like an act.
"Will do... Bye, dad."
Henry only nodded with a weak smile before leaving, not completely closing the bedroom door, allowing Gizmo to make his way in. The ginger cat meowed lazily at his owner, leaping onto a shelf, knocking random things over in order to curl up in their place.
Sal didn't care, leaving whatever fell on the carpet and opting to just check his phone, he had three new messages, two from Kaylen and one from Ash. He opened the message from his friend first, he felt like he hadn't seen her in forever.
From: Art Nerd
I expected you to text every day, Fisher. I'm disappointed :(
[Received 6:53 AM]
The message made him smile, Ash had gone away somewhere, he couldn't remember, for the majority of the summer, visiting family or something of the sort. Todd was also gone for the summer, he was working at this science camp where he basically had to deal with bratty 5th graders for minimum wage the whole time, what sucked is he even had to stay weekends, because it would take too much time to drive back and forth.
To: Art Nerd
Sorry, I've been busy.
[Sent 7:04 AM]
He went to leave the chat, not expected the reply to be so quick. He assumed the girl was laying bored in bed, she was in a different time zone at the moment, he couldn't remember which one since he couldn't even remember where she's gone, so she had probably been awake a while waiting for an appropriate time to message her friends.
From: Art Nerd
It's only you and Larry there, right? How busy can ya be that you can't tell me you're alive from time to time?
[Received 7:05 AM]
To: Art Nerd
Well, Larry got his car stolen, so things haven't exactly been boring.
[Sent 7:05 AM]
From: Art Nerd
Yeah, he told me late last night.
[Received 7:06 AM]
From: Art Nerd
He said you knew the guy that took it?
[Received 7:06 AM]
Of course, Larry had told their other friends, he surely would have told Todd as well if the redhead had brought his phone to the camp, they told each other everything. Well, the rest of the group told each other everything, Sal was mostly honest but most of his life was a secret to them and he didn't know if they could tell or not. He wasn't sure how much Larry had told the girl, hopefully, he didn't tell much because Sal didn't feel like being interrogated so early in the morning
To: Art Nerd
I recognized him, it's not a big deal. When are you guys getting back me and Larry are gonna get sick of each other soon.
[Sent 7:08 AM]
From: Art Nerd
I'm only here one more week but I think Todd's camp thing runs until the end of summer :(((((
[Received 7:09 AM]
Sal sighed for what felt like the hundredth time just that morning, he sighed too much, he needed to change that. Another buzz from his phone reminded him that he had messages from Kaylen, so he went to the chat to read the messages.
From: asshole
Didn't know it was your boyfriend's car, just following orders sweetheart.
[Received 6:59 AM]
From: asshole
I didn't really want to, ya know, but I owe them and you've been kind of an ass lately.
[Received 7:00 AM]
From: asshole
I could get you on their good side again if you actually do what I say this time.
[Received 7:10 AM]
Fuck him, everything about him annoys Sal now, he didn't know how he used to be able to actually hang out with him.
To: asshole
Larry's not my boyfriend, but he doesn't know about all this shit and doesn't need to know. Tell those assholes to leave me and my friends alone or they'll regret it.
[Sent 7:11 AM]
After the text went through he turned off his phone, throwing it on top of his dresser less than gently. It was early and he was bored, the worst combination as it meant Larry surely wouldn't be awake and everything was weirdly quiet alone. If he fell asleep one of two things would happen, one is he'd sleep too long and not be able to sleep that night and mess up his already wack sleeping schedule, the other is he'd wake up from a nightmare and start his day having to be calmed down like a child. Neither sounded like a good option.
"Gizmo, c'mere." The cat lazily lifted his head, looking annoyed. The orange fluff ball seemed to roll his eyes before hopping off the shelf and making his way over to his owner, rubbing his body against the bluenette's legs with a 'mrow.'
"Don't try and charm me." Nevertheless, he scratched under the cat's chin, enjoying the sound of his purring. "What should we do until Larry calls?"
Some might think it was stupid to ask a cat questions like this, but Gizmo wasn't like any other house cat, though his reply at the moment seemed like it. The orange cat simply yawned, pacing in a circle before curling up on top of Sal's hand to sleep.
The bluenette rolled his eyes, going to the living room to watch crappy TV for a few hours.
He must've fallen asleep at some point, because he jumped up suddenly, awoken by the knocking at the door, loud enough to be too much but not that it was threatening. Gizmo stood irritated on Sal's stomach, hissing at the door before dashing away into the bluenette's room.
"Yo, Sal! I'm bored!" It was Larry, of course, no one else he knew would come pounding at his front door instead of just calling him or assuming he was busy. He was surprised the brunette hadn't just walked in, his dad must've locked the door on his way out.
"Calm your tits." Shouting right after waking up resulted in his voice cracking annoyingly but he didn't care, tiredly making his way to the door. His mind still felt numb, at least he hadn't had a nightmare.
"You didn't answer my ca— oh." The brunette spoke as the door opened, stopping when he made eye contact with his friend. Sal was confused, Larry seemed to be looking over his face... curiously, maybe. Was there something on his prosthetic? Or...
"Shit." Sal quickly turned, lifting his shirt up to cover his bare face quickly, how had he just forgotten, he'd never done that before. He probably freaked Larry out, the brunette was probably gonna leave now, he was gonna hate him. Fuck, why was he so stupid.
He didn't even realize he started tearing up until Larry's hand was on his shoulder and he let out something like a sob.
"Ah, fuck, dude I'm sorry for looking, I— fuck, don't cry, Sal." Now he's gone and made Larry feel guilty, shit. Why couldn't he stop crying, he's such a screw-up, Larry's never gonna wanna be around him again, he's only still here because he feels bad. "Are you worried I don't like how you look? Cuz I think you look cool as fuck, I swear." Sometimes it was like Larry could read people better than he could.
Sal looked up to Larry, the brunette wasn't looking away, he didn't look disgusted at all, he just looked normal. He was looking down at the blunette the same as he did when he was wearing the prosthetic. He didn't seem like he felt obligated to be there and play nice.
Sally pretty much fell into Larry, wrapping his arms around the brunette as he stumbled back a bit. He was trying not to sob, he was trying not to cry and this helped. He barely registered Larry laughing slightly at his childish actions, or how the other's hand ran through his hair which was down for once, he just knew he felt better.
"Don't leave." Larry laughed again, making Sal roll his eyes even if it's not seen.
"I wasn't planning on it, I'm bored and you have to entertain me."