By the time Lister finally made it back to his quarters later that evening, it was fair to say that Alex's plan from the day before - of taking his mind off Rimmer - had succeeded triumphantly. Lister had completely forgotten all about his annoyance with his roommate. So he was actually rather surprised when Rimmer greeted him in a less than friendly fashion. "Where the hell have you been?" he demanded angrily, putting his book down and sitting up in his bunk. Lister was taken aback, "What?"
"The last time I saw you was yesterday morning! Haven't you been home at all since then?"
"Um..." Lister actually had to think about it for a moment. "No. No, I haven't," he replied pleasantly, shrugging.
"Well, where were you?"
"Oh...er...just hanging out with Alex, really."
"All night?!"
"Yeah. We got a bit pissed and ended up passing out back at his place," Lister told him, leaving out one vital piece of information about the evening. "I've been there all day."
"Doing what?"
"You know...watching telly. Playing games. The usual."
Rimmer scowled, "Well, smeg, Lister. I mean, don't feel you have to let me know or anything next time you're going to disappear for two days solid."
"I hardly disappeared, Rimmer!" Lister replied, exasperated; "I'm sure you could have worked out where I was if you'd thought about it for long enough."
"You still could have messaged me and let me know," Rimmer snapped.
"Sorry, Mum. I didn't realise you were waiting up," Lister replied sarcastically. He'd only been in the door two minutes and already he was wishing he'd stayed at Alex's. Rimmer lay down again with a 'hmph' and turned his back to him. Although he was silent, Lister was positive that a weird part of his brain could hear him sulking.
"Urgh! Fine! I'm sorry I didn't tell you where I was! I feel bad! You happy now?"
"You don't feel bad at all," Rimmer muttered, "You couldn't care less. Nobody cares about me." Another day, Lister might have just turned around and stomped off, leaving Rimmer with his misery; but an afternoon of very intense sexual satisfaction had left him in a more forgiving mood. "Oh, come on. If I didn't care, why would I even have bothered apologising?" Rimmer didn't reply, but that same part of Lister's brain could hear him considering. He sat down on the edge of the bed and poked him gently, smiling. "Cheer up, smeghead. I came home to you in the end, didn't I? Don't sulk."
Rimmer rolled over suspiciously, "What are you in such a good mood for?"
"I have a naturally sunny disposition," Lister replied, "Just be grateful one of us does."
"Kriss asked about an hour ago if we wanted to come out for a drink tonight," Rimmer told him, and Lister knew he was forgiven. He pulled a face,
"I can't handle any more alcohol, man, I'm serious. I've been drunk the last two nights in a row. I'm getting too old for it. Let's message her and go see that film instead. The one with the toys we missed the other day."
"You missed it. We went without you," Rimmer said, unapologetically. In hindsight, Lister supposed he didn't really deserve one. He really had been ignoring the posse recently. "Okay, well we'll watch a vid-disc then. Your choice."
"Really?"
"Really. Just nothing with subtitles."
"No Alex?"
"No Alex." He was at work anyway. It was more or less the only reason Lister had come back in the first place.
Rimmer smiled; a rare genuine smile. And Lister decided it had been worth coming back just for that.