Page 9 of Seeds of Friendship
“Must be fun.” She's got this smile that suggests she's thinking about exactly what kind of fun. “I bet you have a nice room.”
I'm about to respond with something that'll definitely lead to showing her that room when there's a crash from the living room, followed by retching sounds.
“Shit.” I spot Ethan on his hands and knees by the coffee table. “Hold that thought.”
I push through to find Ethan looking green, Troy already there with paper towels.
“I need pizza.” Ethan moans. “Please. Fast. I'm dying.”
“You're not dying,” Troy says, but he's already pulling out his phone. “Same order as earlier?”
“Extra cheese,” Ethan pleads. “And those breadsticks. The ones with garlic.”
Alfie appears, surveying the damage. “He needs air. And water. And probably a bucket.”
Somehow, we end up manoeuvring Ethan outside to the front steps. Troy's ordered pizza to be delivered ASAP, Alfie'sforced two bottles of water on Ethan, and I'm sitting there making sure he doesn't fall over.
“You guys are good people,” Ethan slurs suddenly.
“You're drunk,” Alfie points out.
“No, I mean it.” Ethan looks at each of us with drunk sincerity. “I was gonna be a football star, you know? Full ride. Then I fucked up my shoulder sophomore year of high school and...” He waves vaguely. “Now I don't know what I'm doing. My dad thinks I'm a failure. Maybe I am. But you guys took me in.”
The silence is awkward as hell.
“You literally had no other housing option,” Alfie says.
“Still.” Ethan nods sagely. “I think I'm in love.”
Troy laughs. “With who? Jessica already?”
“Nah.” Ethan grins sloppily. “With you guys. You're my boys now.”
“Jesus, he's really drunk,” I mutter, but there's something weirdly touching about his drunken confession.
“I mean it,” Ethan continues. “Troy, you're like... organized and shit. And Alfie, you're scary but I think you care deep down—deep, deep down. And Freddie...” He points at me. “You left a hot girl to help me. That's brother behavior.”
“The pizza's almost here,” Troy says, clearly uncomfortable with the emotion. “Just... try not to puke again.”
“No promises.” Ethan leans back against the steps. “This is nice though. Sitting here. With my boys.”
“We're not your boys,” Alfie says, but there's less bite to it than usual.
“You will be,” Ethan says confidently. “Give it time.”
The pizza arrives and we sit on our front steps, four strangers sharing breadsticks while the party continues inside without us. Ethan demolishes three slices and immediately looks better.
“Shit,” I say, remembering. “I left Mia inside.”
“The hot girl?” Troy asks. “She left like ten minutes ago. Said to tell you nice party, though.”
“Fuck.”
“Plenty more where she came from,” Troy assures me. “College is just starting.”
“Besides,” Ethan adds, mouth full of pizza, “bros before hoes.”
“Never say that again. It's so outdated,” Alfie says with genuine disgust.
