"Don't sweat it. Come in," Tim says as opens the door wider for his best friend, Joey.
Joey walks inside Tim's house. He throws his tired body to sit on the couch. From his face, Tim could tell he looked like he hasn't eat well or even get a proper sleep as he walks to approach his friend sitting on the couch. His body might feel tired, but what's more is that his soul feels exhausted.
"Beer?" Tim randomly offers his stressful friend. For a second, the thought of having a friend to drink with him actually came across his mind.
"Sure," Joey answers, of course in a flat tone.
Hearing that, Tim walks over to get a bottle of beer for Joey. He walks back to the living room and hands the beer to his friend, before taking a seat next to him on the couch. Tim watches as Joey opens the bottle of beer, before drinking it.
"So, how's your mom?" Tim asks. He knew well that his friend isn't feeling well just from the look on his face. By that, he thought about asking him a random question.
"Still the same," Joey states, before he takes another sip of his beer.
"Oh," Tim says in a rather awkward tone.
Silence fills the air in a blink of an eye. Tim became silence at the situation, as if he's waiting for Joey to break the silence. He wasn't too surprise when he found his best friend in front of his door tonight, because even though he didn't expected it, deep down he knew that it didn't matter who knocked at his door, since it's not gonna be his parents anyway.
"My dad went back home," Joey says all of a sudden, before taking another sip of his beer. His statement seems to answer Tim's thought of his frustrated face.
"We argued again. I had enough of seeing his face tonight," Joey says with an upset tone.
"Isn't he suppose to be at the hospital?" Tim ask.
"That jerk called my mom, saying he has a lot of work to do," Joey says. "That's why I shouted at him. Damn, he only wanted to relax at home."
"Man, that's bad," Tim says, feeling sorry for his best friend's current situation.
"Things would have ended uglier if my mom's not there," Joey says.
"What do you mean?" Tim asks, as he didn't quite get what Joey meant.
"We could have killed each other, if I didn't have any thoughts on my mom," Joey states. "I still want her to live. I'm only gonna focus on her condition, and not his behaviour."
"I see," Tim says. "But why didn't you tell her about it now?"
"At least, until she gets better. After that I have to be honest with her about him," Joey says. "It's not fair for her to not know the truth."
"You are right," Tim says, agreeing with his best friend's statement. He agreed that Joey's mom needs to know the truth about her husband's behaviour.
The two boys continue to finish their beer, before putting the empty bottles on the table. Not really being tipsy, but still frustrated about life as it is. They thought about continueing whatever talk they had, in an attempt to escape the frustration in their minds. Tim even suggested Joey to stay with him for the night, just so that he could forget about his problems with his dad.
Half an hour passed, and while the boys continue their night time conversation, the sound of knocking coming from the door can suddenly be heard, getting the two boys attention. Tim gets up from his seat and walks over to the door, again to open it. But as he opens the door, he knew well he is more surprised than before.
"Hey," a girl with brunette, shoulder lenght wavy hair says as she stood in front of him with her eyes looking at the ground. A look of awkwardness is visible enough that Tim noticed it.
"Hey. Come in," Tim says as he opens the door. He didn't expect to see Taylor tonight appearing all of a sudden, not that it interrupted him. In fact, he actually felt a sort of good feeling seeing her tonight, for the first time appearing in front of his door alone, and without even telling him before.
As Taylor walks inside the house, she slowly moves her vision from the ground, only to be surprised when her eyes meets Joey, who is also surprised to see the young girl standing alone, looking all surprised. The two's eyes locked with one another, without a single word coming out from their lips. As they get lost with one another with a surprised feeling, Tim enters the living room only to see the two staring at each other.
"A bottle of beer?" Tim asks Taylor, in which his voice catches her attention, breaking her eye contact with Joey as she moves her head to face Tim.
"Oh, sure," Taylor answers. She then walks over to the couch and sit next to Joey. She turns he head to see him staring at the TV which is turned off, while holding an empty beer bottle in his hand. From the side, she could already tell that he still look just as desperate as last night.
"You ok?" Taylor asks Joey. From his face, she guessed that he still hasn't sort out the problem with his dad.
"I'm fine," Joey says, even though his mind feels exhausted while his heart still feels deeply upset.
Hearing his answer, Taylor didn't seem to believe his words since his face shows a different emotion. She wanted to ask him about his parents, but thought that this might not be the right time. In fact, Taylor is starting to think that she came to Tim's place at the wrong time. While she only thought about talking with Tim and maybe fixing their awkward situation, she didn't expect to see Joey tonight which only got her heart feeling more complex.
"Here's the beer," Tim says as he places two bottles of beer on the living room table. One for Taylor, and one for Joey.
"By the way, the guest room is upstair and my parents' room is currently empty," Tim adds.
"It's ok, I'm not here to stay," Taylor says, not wanting the boys to think that she's here to sleep at Tim's house, when she only wanted a to have decent conversation with him.
"Ok. I'll go to sleep first. Can't skip school twice," Joey states as he gets up from the couch, literally ignoring the bottle of beer on the table for him.
"Ok, goodnight," Tim says in a casual manner as Joey walks up to the guest room, leaving Tim and Taylor in the living room together, just like last night.
To be continue...