It had been a while since the start of summer break and the campus had gradually become quieter. Marsha had also gone back to our hometown. She was also thinking of going to England to visit her boyfriend because being a med student, he couldn’t really have vacations.

Poor Kenneth.

Chuck was always busy with his practice from hell, or so he said, and we only see each other every other day because I too, had lotsa things to do.

Allen had been keeping me company when Chuck couldn’t accompany me to have dinner (Marsha called Allen since she figured we can chat about the shoot and whatnot) and he’ll keep me company whenever he was not off doing things with his girlfriend, or the three of us would just hang together so I wouldn’t be lonely.

Not that I was ever that lonely, though. Also not because I didn’t have any other friends besides Marsha and Chuck. I just hadn’t got the chance to actually get close to people, since I ran around so much and not many could keep up with me or had enough patience. So far, Allen has been quite okay with my super busy schedules and just hung out whenever I can.

He was a nice guy. Very reserved and polite. He was very mature because, well, he was older though only by a year. He never hit me, smacked me, pinched me, or flicked my forehead like Chuck did. And he helped out a lot. Not like Chuck and Marsha didn’t, but he was kinda busy himself, you know, being the captain of the basketball team and all, but he still offered me his help whenever he could while Marsha and Chuck usually only let me do things myself and only came helping when I asked or when they saw me starting to spiral out of control. And since Allen and I lived so close to each other, we had been hanging out at each other’s place a lot. Mostly at his place though, because he had more drinks (I mostly only had beers and other alcohol) and more food (my kitchen was only filled with snacks especially when Marsha and Chuck weren’t here to supervise).

Heh heh heh.

“Here,” Allen handed me a can of perfectly cold beer.

“Thanks,” I took it from his hand, sipped it a little then placed it on his living room table.

I was sitting on the floor, Indian style, struggling to fix the snow blowing machine thingy that I borrowed from the drama club to use for the photo shoot. It kept blowing out air instead of artificial snow that had been stored inside the container. I’ve checked the pipe (multiple times) and there was nothing visible that was blocking the way, so I still didn’t know what was wrong with this snow blowing machine thingy (yep, I had to say it like that ’cause I couldn’t really remember the name of that thing).

“Is that blood?” Allen asked, pointing at the hem of my white tank top that had been stained by dried out blood. I looked down, realizing that it indeed was blood, and nodded.

“Uh huh,” I waved my index finger that was cut by the troublesome snow blowing machine thingy. It had stopped bleeding but still kind of reddish.

“Chuck’s right about how you like to get yourself hurt,” he chuckled as he got up.

“He’s a smartass,” I snorted, “Who says I like getting my own self hurt?” I grumbled while making a mental note to kick Chuck’s ass for that comment.

“Then, be more careful,” Allen, who was now sitting beside me, grabbed my hand and started disinfecting my wound.

“There’s no need,” I told him, though I was not struggling. Being with Marsha and Chuck for so long had me getting used to being treated nicely and doted on. “It’ll heal soon.”

“What are you, vampire?” Allen chuckled as I grinned.

“Thanks,” I said when he finally finished and put a plaster on my finger. He smiled back and returned to his place on the couch while I returned to struggling with the ever so persistent snow blowing machine thingy (I’ll keep saying it, deal with it).

I shouldn’t have been a know-it-all this time around and just let the Engineering major fix it when they offered. I was regretting it silently.

I was starting to get frustrated because the next day was the day of the photo shoot and I had to get it working before nine in the morning at the latest. But it was almost midnight and I was tired. I finally sighed in defeat before I grabbed my phone and texted one of the Engineering students who owed me a favor to come help me in the morning.

“You done?” Allen asked, diverting his blue eyes from the TV to me when he saw me putting down my phone and kicking the snow blowing machine thingy (told ya) away from me.

“Gave up,” I sighed, “I’ll just let Marcus fix it tomorrow morning,” I stretched my body and looked up at the clock. 

It was already past midnight. 

“Shit!” I shot up immediately and started collecting my stuff. “Sorry dude,” I said apologetically to the owner of the room.

“Just stay here,” Allen chuckled lightly.

“Dude, I literally live two doors from you,” I rolled my eyes at him. He chuckled pleasantly. I was kinda already used to that sound, hell, I already liked it.

“Whatever,” He chuckled and threw a pair of shorts from his drawers at me.

“What? You lonely?” I teased him and he made a face at me. Poor Allen. His girlfriend had been away to the countryside for a few days now.

“Yes. So, stay,” He grinned and I rolled my eyes at him before going to the bathroom to change. “There’s a spare toothbrush in the shelves below the sink!” he called out to me and I rummaged through the shelves and found one.

I brushed my teeth and washed my face quickly before changing my clothes. I would just take a shower in the morning. It wasn’t that hot in the day and I spent most of the day indoors anyway. I didn’t care if I smell; he was the one begging me to stay so he has to live with it.

Heh heh heh.

“Let me sleep by the wall,” I said to Allen who was already in bed, leaning against the headboard, phone in hands, legs sprawled on the sheet. He scooted over and let me crawl from the foot of the bed and sprawled my own body on the soft mattress. It felt so good to finally lie down and rest.

I laid down on my left side and stared at Allen who was staring at his phone.

“Not sleeping?” I asked him, tilting my head to get a better look of him.

“Hmm? Later,” It seemed that he was very focused on his phone as he answered me absentmindedly.

“Joy?” I asked again. My nosy-me started to crawl out, though I was pretty sleepy myself.

“Uh huh,” Again, absentmindedly, he answered me. Either that or he didn’t want to be bothered, so I stayed quiet. Allen then sighed heavily before setting down his phone on the bedside table. “Sorry,” He said, giving me a little of his smile.

“Why are you apologizing?” I chuckled. “Must be nice to have a girlfriend, huh?” I sighed, propping up my upper body with my elbow.

“Don’t you have one?” he asked, looking down at me.

“Never,” I told him casually.

Don’t pity me. For God’s sake. Relationships aren’t all that.

“Really? Not even once?” he laughed, not mockingly, though, or I would’ve punched him. Well… no, actually, I wouldn’t. He was bigger than me. So I just shook my head.

“I’ve gone on a few dates, of course. But no one seems to stick,” I told him. “Mostly thanks to Marsha and Chuck meddling in everything I do,” I sighed heavily though not with that much scorn.

“What did they do?” Allen asked curiously as he shifted his body so he’s fully facing me.

“Well, in case you haven’t noticed, they treat me like I’m their love child. Or spouse. Or whatever. They’re overprotective of me. Especially Chuck. He’s also very protective of Marsha, but not as much as he is of me. Because they, especially Chuck, think that I’m oblivious of mostly, practically, basically, everything.

“Marsha’s protectiveness is still bearable, except when she starts scolding me. She mostly lets me do anything I want and then she’d just scold me when something happens and make sure that the same thing won’t happen again the second time.

“But Chuck…” I sighed again, “He only lets me do anything I want when he’s around. He chases away people he claims to be suspicious. He nags me all the time. Maybe that’s why the three of us don’t really have any close friends aside from each other. Though Marsha has Kenneth,” I finished my explanation with a shrug.

“He, they, didn’t chase me away though,” Allen stated. Curiosity apparent in his face.

I was wondering about that too, to be honest. Usually by this time, Chuck would’ve complained about Allen as he did other people who spend a little too much time with either me or Marsha.

But both of them practically shoved me to Allen (or Allen to me?) when Marsha said that she’s going home, and Chuck said that he’d be practicing a lot. Maybe they actually thought that Allen was an okay guy.

“Well, so far, you’re an okay guy,” I shrugged. That was probably it. “Cause if Chuck thinks, or just has a slight feeling that you have an ulterior motive or something, he would’ve dragged both me and Marsha by the neck and dragged us away from you as far as the earth goes,” I told him that and he laughed.

I found myself laughing along with him. His laugh was infectious like that.

“What the hell do you mean by ‘ulterior motive’?” he asked.

“How the hell should I know?” I snorted. “His words, not mine. Sometimes, well, most of the time, I don’t quite get what goes on in the buzz-cut head of his,” I shook my head exasperatedly.

I was so gonna get slammed if Chuck finds out that I was saying all this crap about him.

“Don’t tell him I said that, ‘k? He’s gonna kick my ass,” I warned Allen.

“And in return? What do I get?” Allen grinned and I threw a pillow at his face.

“You blackmailing me?” I growled at him as he picked up the pillow that had landed on the floor and was about to throw it back at me. But I immediately dodged as I’m backing down.

Wrong move.

I heard a loud thud before I felt the pain stinging my eyes after I slammed the back of my head to the wall behind me.

“Shit!” Allen and I both cursed. I clutched the back of my head and I could feel Allen’s hand landing on top of mine.

“I’m so sorry,” he apologized. The worry in his voice was so apparent I almost laughed if it didn’t hurt like a bitch this way. I sat up straight, facing Allen who was still staring worriedly at my head.

“I’m fine. It doesn’t bleed. And it’s not your fault,” I showed my hand to him, reassuring him but the concern was still there.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated himself as he reached out his hand and gently caressed the back of my head. He sighed, “Now Chuck’s gonna kick my ass.”

Dramatic much?

“I won’t tell if you won’t,” I grinned, making him an offer.

He finally laughed.

Good.

“Sure,” he said, then smiled at me. “Let’s sleep.”

I agreed immediately by lying back down on my back and closing my eyes.

“Sorry,” Allen whispered another apology as he laid down beside me. I pat his hand without opening my eyes to let him know that I was fine. I left my hand on top of his as sleep soon overtook me.