Chapter 9 A Little Encouragement

"Oh man!" Roy laughed harder than he had in a while after listening to Sage's joke. "That's hilarious, man! I feel SO bad for that Lakitu!"

"I do too," Sage said before putting on a wicked grin. "Of course, I'd feel even more sorry for him if he hadn't cost me half the money in my savings account."

"Details, details." The boys laughed, giggling like they had inhaled the maximum amount of laughing gas. Roy took off his glasses and dried a tear from his eye. Already, he was growing very fond of Sage Kriptly. He had to be one of the most awesome dudes he had ever ran into. Not counting his family, of course… although, if one were to pit them against each other, it'd be interesting to see how that would pan out.

"I'm glad you like the joke," Sage said. He smiled. "I told it to my dad a few days ago, and he said he didn't like it." Sage blinked, a look of realization appearing on his face. "Hmm… I guess he heard it before…" he stole a glance at the confused Roy before shaking his head. "Thankfully, I had a much better reaction from my girlfriend. She actually spit out the soda she had been drinking."

"Woah, she did a spit take?" Roy gawked at Sage. "I didn't know that people, like, actually did those."

"Oh, they do." Sage giggled again. "Alyssa laughed harder than I've ever seen her laugh. I even think she told the joke to her friends."

Roy smiled. "Man, she sounds like a keeper."

"She is." Sage let out a happy sigh. "She's an amazing girlfriend."

"Uh oh." Roy chuckled uncontrollably. "I hear wedding bells in the future! You need to go buy a ring before some other guy sees her and tries to steal her."

Sage snorted. "Please. Alyssa is very loyal. Even if she was approached by another guy, she wouldn't even be tempted by him. She would come running back to me at high speed; I don't have any doubt about that."

Roy pulled back. "Wow." He smiled. "It must be nice to have a girlfriend like that." He snorted and turned around on the couch, looking down at the floor. "I've only had one girlfriend, and she was… well, my sister told me not to long ago that she was a bitch. And yeah, looking back, I can kinda see it."

"Well, that doesn't have to be the end of the world," Sage said after a moment of hesitation. "You can go find a girl who is significantly less bitchy now that you've washed your hands of that punk." Sage laughed as Roy raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm kidding… kinda." He snorted and shook his head, still smiling. "Any girl would be lucky to have you as their boyfriend, Roy."

Roy felt a pang. "You think so, huh?"

"Yeah, I do. I mean, you're…" Sage paused, all at once looking a little uncertain. "You're a prince, first and foremost. You could provide a girl with a stable future at the very least."

Roy frowned. "And that's the only reason why anyone would go out with me? My net worth?"

"Well…" Sage hesitated before letting out a breath. "No. It's not." He adjusted his position in his seat, looking at Roy with a stern yet genuine leve of seriousness. "You're kind, Roy. You're very kind. You're thoughtful, you're gentle, you think with your heart, and you want what's best for someone else at all times. Just one of those traits would seal the deal, but you have them all. You're one in a million, man."

Roy gawked at Sage. "Wow. You really think that about me?"

"Of course! I mean… you literally just met me, but you've gotta understand that what I'm saying is true. You are very special, Roy."

Roy frowned, looking back down at the floor as he focused on that word. "I'm special, huh? You mean, like, in the 'you need special ed' way?"

"What? No. Of course not, don't put words in my mouth."

"Uh… alright." Roy sighed. "Well, if you really think that about me, well, that's really great. But that doesn't mean I'd be the best boyfriend."

An interesting look flashed across Sage's face. It kinda looked like he was personally offended by those words, almost like they hurt him on a deep and personal level. It looked like those words made him feel sadder than anything else that had ever been said to him.

"Roy…" Sage sighed. "Look, man…" he hesitated, appearing to run through multiple words and word combinations as he tried to think of the perfect response. Roy raised an eyebrow at him before he finally and fully found his voice. "I know it might seem to you that you can't be what a girl needs you to be. But… well, I mean, I kinda felt the same way before I started dating Alyssa." Sage held his hands behind his back. "I mean, Alyssa was just perfect in pretty much every way imaginable. When I was put directly next to her, it was clear that she was out of my league in every possible way. She's beautiful. She's smart. Me? I'm just Sage."

Roy put his hand to his heart, feeling something stir deep within his soul. "You really felt that way?"

"Yep. I did. And, I'll admit, I didn't just wake up one day and decide to push those feelings to the side. I needed help in order to fully banish them."

Roy scooted closer. "And who helped you with that?"

Sage smiled. He looked upon Roy with the warmest feelings of gratitude present in his eyes. "My Dad." Sage chortled. "My Dad knew exactly what I had gone through. He ha gone through pretty much the same thing before he asked out my mom. And… he said this to me." Sage took in a breath. "He said, 'Sage, you can look at yourself and your flaws for hours and hours. You can navel gaze yourself to death, you can work yourself up into a frenzy when you think you just aren't good enough. But trust me when I say this, son. When you find the right girl, none of that will matter. She won't look at you that way, she just won't. She won't care about all the ways you don't stack up. She'll just like that you're here, and she'll like the fact that you help her to feel special. To feel seen.'"

Roy stared at Sage with a dropped jaw. "Wow. Your Dad sounds cool."

Sage laughed. "He is." He smiled. "And the thing is that he was right on the money when he said it. Those words gave me the confidence to ask out Alyssa, and… well, the rest is history. We've been dating for close to two years at this point, and our relationship is still going strong. Like, you would not believe."

"That's so cool," Roy said, admittedly feeling really touched by those words. "And… you think the same could be true for me?"

"Of course!" Sage placed his hand on Roy's shoulder. "I mean… if you love a girl, and a girl loves you, then you can work on the flaws both of you have together. You can constantly improve, becoming better both as people and as a couple." Sage beamed. "I've seen that both with my relationship and with my parent's relationship. And Roy, it is beyond amazing. It's so satisfying in this ultra-specific way, and it just makes me feel… happy."

Roy beamed. "That's so cool, man."

"Yeah." Sage paused. "Do you have a girl who makes you feel happy, Roy?"

Roy paused, turning away from Sage as he looked down into his lap. "Yeah." He whispered that word, but as he continued talking, he spoke louder. "I do. Her name is Celia. Celia Patch." Sage signaled for him to explain with his eyes, a gesture that Roy didn't miss at all. "When I'm around her, everything is… I don't know if this is the right word, but everything is easier. I feel like I can talk to her about anything. I feel like I can laugh with her way more easily than I can with everyone else, even my brother Lemmy. And she just…" Roy put his hand to his heart. "She makes me feel stronger. She respects me; she even respected me before I helped her officially find her dad." The more Roy thought about Celia, the more he smiled. "She makes me feel seen and heard. She makes me think that I can do better, that I can be better."

Sage smiled. "That's really cool, Roy," he said. The quality of his voice was so strange, but not unwelcome.

"Yeah. It is." Roy frowned. "I just…" He sighed. "I don't know if I can ask her out. I would just feel silly doing that, especially after… Judy."

"You mean your old girlfriend?" Roy nodded, so Sage put on a serious face. "Roy, look at me." Roy looked at him, feeling so weird looking into the eyes of his new friend. "Judy is the past. She's gone, she's kablooey, she's kerput."

Roy gasped. "You mean she died? She's dead?"

"What? No, she's not dead." Sage shook his head. "I guess I should phrase this a little better. What I meant to say is that what happened with Judy is over and done with. She's yesterday's news. Celia though? She's the present. She's the present, and if you try hard enough, there's a very strong chance that she could be your future too."

"My future?"

"Oh yeah." Sage smiled. "There's a lot of potential with Celia. There's a life that you can live, a family that you can have, a legacy you can leave. And you can't reach those incredibly wonderful things if you're constantly looking backward. You have a bright future ahead of you, Roy, but you won't see it if you have your head turned to the past."

Roy thought about those words. They were… wow. They had a wow factor that he never knew words could have. He put his hand to his heart, feeling all sorts of emotions. Those words… those words of encouragement… they were tailored-made for his situation, that much was clear. And… they made him feel good. They made him feel like he could climb the highest mountain, that he could cross the largest sea. That he could claim the metaphorical future Sage had essentially promised.

"You're right, Sage. You're absolutely right!" Roy smiled. "Why did I not see that before; you are one hundred percent right!"

Sage actually looked relieved when he heard that. A weird emotion for the situation to be sure, but… eh, it was fine. "Thanks, Roy."

"Thank you, man!" Roy smiled before his face fell a little bit. "But… will Celia even want me though? Will she want me after I turned her down? Do I still have a shot with her?"

"I think you do," Sage said without a minute of hesitation. "I really truly do."

"Yeah, but… that's just your opinion? What about hers? What would she think?"

Sage thought about that question. "Well… there's only one way to find out, isn't there?"

Roy thought about this before nodding. "Right." He stood up. "I'm gonna go talk to her."

"Good!" Sage stood up. "You've got this, Roy? Go get her!"

Nodding and hoping Sage's encouragement could stick with him, Roy made his way toward the door. Before he exited, he stopped and turned back to Sage. "You… wanna come with me?"

"Sure." Sage bounced to his feet. "I don't see why not."

So, with a smile, both boys walked out the door.