Late that night Nico sat on the edge of his bed, his cell phone balanced carefully on his knee. The screen was easily the brightest thing in the room, casting a small crescent of light through the dim space. An alert occupied the screen, cheerily announcing incoming texts from Jason and Will respectively.
He had been sitting in this position for at least an hour, still as marble. He kept seeing Will and Jason behind his eyelids—both of their faces, flickering back and forth until he was dizzy. Within the space of a few weeks he had managed to push his only friend away and somehow tie himself closer to an otherwise complete stranger.
All of it was his fault. His conversation with Jason had made him realize just how bad he truly was. He could've just corrected Jason about Will. Instead he had lost control. Just like he had back in that coffee shop when those girls had mistaken him and Jason for a couple.
Nico let himself fall back against the comforter, his arms spread out across the bed. While a strange and foreign part of him desperately wanted to see Will again, he knew that leading him on would be a mistake. After all, getting to know someone wasn't one-sided. Eventually Will would ask questions and Nico would have no choice but to relinquish his ugly dark secrets. And though he was unsure about a lot of things, he knew that Will was the last person he wanted to drag into the quagmire of his past.
The cell phone buzzed again. Without looking Nico grabbed it and held it up to his face, the brightness of the screen making him wince.
New message: Will Solace
New message: Jason Grace
Nico rolled his thumb over the screen, unconsciously deciding to read the text from Jason first.
Hey man. You've seriously got to stop running away from me. I screwed up, okay? I jumped to a conclusion and it was the wrong one. If it means anything, I was really happy thinking what I thought, because it meant that you might finally be happy. I hope you don't hate me. That'd be lame. Text me back ASAP.
Nico read the text twice, a heavy feeling settling in his gut. How could Jason still want to talk to him? Any reasonable person would have ditched him long ago. Nico had been sure that Jason would finally give up trying to be his friend. But apparently, that was not the case.
He paused for a second, wondering what the message from Will would say.
Hi Nico. It's me, Will. I hope this is the right number and you're not someone else reading this. But if you're not Nico, hello! You're probably confused.
Nico had to stop reading for a moment to roll his eyes, though not out of disgust. He could practically hear Will's voice in his head as he read the message.
Anyway, I just wanted to say that I had a lot of fun when we hung out the other day. Hopefully you feel the same way or this is going to be really awkward ha ha. There's an outdoor ice skating rink near the university and I was wondering if you wanted to go this Saturday? If not that's totally cool. But it would be nice if you did want to go.
The weight in Nico's stomach lifted ever so slightly. This was the first time someone had tried to befriend him since he had left America two years ago. How he had managed not to scare Will away, he wasn't sure. But he couldn't deny the happiness he felt at the prospect of spending more time with Will.
Slowly, hesitantly, Nico began to type a response, his fingers wavering after every few words.
Yes you have the right number. This is Nico. Ice skating sounds fun. What time?
He read the short text over and over, searching for possible errors. It was concise and straight to the point, very unlike Will's message. He hadn't gone ice skating since he was a kid, but he remembered the experience involving a lot of falling and embarrassment. However, he couldn't bring himself to turn down Will's offer. He had considered saying that ice skating sounded dreadful, but he had a feeling that Will might not get the intended sarcasm.
After a moment of hesitation longer he pressed send, hoping that Will wouldn't dissect his words too much. He sighed, wondering when a simple text had started to mean so much.
He couldn't bring himself to answer Jason's text. He read the message once more before turning his phone off, plunging the room into darkness. Nico vowed to answer it in the morning.
With that he rolled onto his side and let his eyes fall closed, utterly exhausted.