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John hisses as he lifts himself up and into Melissa’s window, grateful it’s summer and she left it open for the passing cool breeze. Panting, he kneels on the floor for a moment, trying to catch his breath.
Melissa looks up from her homework when she hears a noise in the room. She sees John kneeling there, obviously in pain. Quickly, she closes her laptop and rushes over to him. “John? Are you okay? We’ve been worried since you texted us you were in the hospital.”
John smiles up at Melissa, but it looks more like a grimace with the pain in his face. He tugs down his shirt collar to show off the bandages. “Had to get stitches this time.”
Melissa doesn’t hesitate and swats him on the back of the head. “And you thought it was a good idea to climb up into my room?”
John smirks as he starts to stand. “I knew you would be worried about me. Dad’s in jail this time and Mom’s out like a light, took her sleeping pills this time. Guess she wants to catch up on sleep until he gets back out.”
“You should too,” a voice says from the other side of the room.
John’s head jerks up and his smile softens when he sees Chris stretched out on the bed, quiet as usual. He’s wearing a soft grey t-shirt, his bottom half obscured by the blankets.
“Hey,” John whispers.
“Hey, yourself,” Chris drawls. “Do you need anything? I can dig through their medicine cabinet to see.”
Melissa rolls her eyes. “Chris, it’s not even your house.”
“I’m just saying...”
John shakes his head, stopping their friendly banter. “They gave me some medicine at the hospital. I just overexerted myself. I’ll be fine.”
“Come on.” Melissa grabs his hand and leads him towards the bed. “It’s a good thing you wore your pajamas over. Get in.” She shoves him on the bed, then lets him go to turn out all the lights.
John crawls under the covers, pressing against Chris and wincing whenever he moves a certain way, pulling at the stitches.
Chris moves to the edge of the bed, making sure there’s plenty of room for all three of them. It’s not the first time they’ve slept like this. It always felt warm and comforting whenever something in life goes wrong. To Chris, it always felt reassuring that his friends have his back.
“I’m glad you’re okay, John. Mostly at least.”
John smiles. “Thank you. I wasn’t expecting you to be here. I’m glad you are though.”
Chris nudges John gently. “Of course I am. I came over as soon as we got your text.”
John makes a happy sound and settles in against Chris.
Once the lights are out, Melissa walks over to the side of the bed. She adjusts the ponytail barely keeping her curls in line before crawling in on the other side of John, bracketing him with Chris. It’s never bothered her sleeping next to two boys like this. Her mother complained a lot and threatened to forbid John and Chris from coming over. She eventually learned she’d never be able to stop them, but that didn’t mean she didn’t give the two boys the evil eye behind Melissa’s back every time they saw her.
Collectively, they all sigh as they lay on their backs, looking up at the poster they struggled to put up when they were thirteen. If you asked John, he still wouldn’t know the dreamy pop star’s name. But they did it because Melissa adored him and Chris and John would do anything for the two of them.
“It was a glass table this time,” John confesses into the dark, after a few minutes of silence. “They said some of it might always be there.”
“John...” Melissa breathes.
John shakes his head, not wanting to discuss it.
Melissa sighs and reluctantly accepts John’s decision. She wants to ask more, wants to comfort John, but she doesn’t press the matter. “We’ll be graduating next year. Don’t you wish we could run away somewhere?”
Chris chuckles. “What? All three of us?”
“Yeah. There’s nothing for us here except annoying families. Mom can’t wait for me to accomplish the American dream - get a college degree, then get married, and pop out two point five kids.”
Chris sobers up. “My dad’s still hassling me about signing up for the Army. Says he’s disappointed I’m not following tradition, that I’m falling behind. I still haven’t told him that I don’t plan on doing ROTC next year.”
“Where would we go? What would we do?” John asks, sounding nervous.
Melissa takes John’s hand, lacing their fingers together. “We could go to LA, New York. Some big city to get lost in. We could find a shitty apartment with a tiny bed and jobs that barely pay minimum wage. I want to be a singer and I hear that makes me a pretty good waitress.”
Chris chuckles and takes John’s other hand. “I want to open a bakery. I’ll probably have to wash dishes for five years first.”
John is glad that the room is dark and his blush isn’t visible to his friends. “I just want to get out.”
“And we want to take care of you,” Melissa says seriously.
John shivers, feeling something in the air change as Melissa leans closer to him. He looks up at her, a stray curl brushing the side of his face. John inhales sharply as she closes the distance between them and presses their lips together. He remembers how to breathe and starts to kiss her back. The kiss is gentle, loving, never going too deep. John couldn’t say if it was two seconds or two hours later when they finally pulled apart. He feels Chris squeeze his hand and he jumps slightly. He nearly forgot his friend was there and suddenly his heart is pounding for another reason, scared that he’s somehow ruined their friendship.
But Chris has a smile on his face when John finally meets his gaze and he doesn’t hesitate to move in and take Melissa’s place. John gasps in surprise, expecting it even less from Chris. It feels slightly different than Melissa - rougher where Chris’ peach fuzz rubs against John’s bare face. But the intent is the same, still careful, like John is something breakable. And John nearly does fall apart underneath them. John feels his body heat up, responding to even the gentle kissing. But when he tries to shift closer to Chris and deepen the touch, his stitches pull again and he jerks away with a hiss of pain.
Chris curls on his side, using his free hand to smooth down John’s chest. “Later. We have all the time in the world.”
Melissa curls in as well, adjusting the blankets over them and smiling as they all move closer to sleep. “We’ll always take care of you, John.”