Salubrious part 13

Allan looked so annoyed and upset but didn’t say anything, but as Mr. landlord was making a stabbing motion in the air, everyone drew back. Allan was standing in front of Charlie and Pim, who were all huddled together in a tight circle.

“Now you have to hang out with me Allan! You have no choice!” The landlord exclaimed.

Charlie raised his brow. “Why is that?”

“Well, uh, you didn’t actually kill the real sock goblin! Agaha, so if you hang out with me, I’ll show you where he is!”

Allan gave him a ridiculing look, “Uh I don’t care about the sock goblin anymore, I already made Charlie smole…eh, I mean smile-ahh…”

That seemed to really make the landlord furious. “Charlie! That’s the problem, isn’t it? Isn’t it?” He was foaming at the mouth from how angry he was. He started moving dangerously close toward the friend group, trying to find a way to attack Charlie from the side.

“Ah, Charlie, stay behind me!” Pim said, almost crying from fear. Charlie was a bit nervous about how unhinged this guy was but really was more concerned about Allan and Pim’s welfare.

Pim had covered his eyes, saying dramatically, “Stay close, Charlie!” Making Charlie whisper to Pim, “Dude I’m literally next to you.”

Allan took a dangerous step forward, looking completely fed up, “How many times do you have to die before you actually.. ugh, really die!”

“If you don’t hang out with me I’ll kill Charlie. I’ll only stop if you promise to play Burnout Revenge for the PS2 with me, smoke weed and fill our bellies with diet soda…”

Allan scoffed. “You’re really ruining everything, Mr. Landlord! I won’t let you hurt my boyfr-I mean, you won’t hurt my friends.”

Charlie gulped hearing the slip up, feeling incredibly guilty for the earlier flinch when Allan tried to kiss his cheek.

“Don’t hurt us Mr. Landlord, please! Don’t hurt Charlie or Allan! They’re my best friends!” Pim started sobbing, and Charlie patted Pim on the back.

“Don’t worry about him, Pim. He’s just a big pussy that likes to blow smoke up his own ass,..” Charlie snorted, laughing. Pim giggled a little, feeling a little better.

Allan looked back at Charlie quickly, irritation and frustration clearly evident but there was a softer look there he couldn’t quite place.

“He’s just frontin’ and shit,” Charlie said with a charged sarcastic tone. Allan looked at him again saying, “Stop, Charlie,” in a terse whisper.

Charlie rolled his eyes. Allan gave him the middle finger. Charlie felt the heat rise to his neck and face, realizing the impact of everything was coming to a head.

“Why protect this dumb Charlie fool anyway? He disguises his lack of intelligence with stupid gourmet cheese that aren’t that good to begin with!” The Landlord gauged the reaction of Allan, who looked angry. The anger melted at the mention of Charlie, looking flustered and something softly indiscernible.

Allan glanced over at Charlie for a brief second. The look tore into Charlie’s hardened persona, making the guilt sit in his stomach like spoiled milk.

Charlie decidedly had had enough, getting in front of Allan. “You know what? I’ve had enough—enough of your crap, dude. You need to get a life. Get a woman. Get some friends. Christ!”

Allan gently moved Charlie aside, whispering, “Charlie, take Pim out of here.”

“Must have struck a nerve, hahaha!” Mr. Landlord laughed at Charlie.

Charlie grimaced, trying to ignore the jabs, “What? No, dude, I won’t just leave you here.”

“He once had a bomb attached to his chest just to play video games with me. This guy won’t stop,” Allan tersely responses, gritting his teeth.

Charlie felt hopelessly stuck between wanting to save Allan but also wanting to trust Allan.

“Dude, I can’t leave you,” Charlie said in a much more vulnerable way, touching Allan’s shoulder.

Allan nodded, “I know.”

There was a quiet hysteria at the other end of the room that felt like a fun house mirror showing a distorted image of reality, wherein Allan and Charlie finally have their eyes meet past all the noise on the other side. It’s so quick it barely could have been said to have happened. But time stopped. Gravity pulled them apart and grabbed them back together. A new understanding was reached.

“Charlie…” Allan said it with such a calm tone it chilled the room.

Allan wasn’t looking at anyone or anything but Charlie, making him feel hot and cold at the same time. He really wanted to grab Allan and Pim to forcibly leave this area, but he knew Allan wouldn’t want that. It made him want to vomit, leaving Allan with this psycho.

Charlie suddenly grabbed Pim, running out of the room.

He heard a loud bang, yells and a scream.

Charlie ran with a crying Pim until they reached the street. Charlie is now hunched over Pim, making sobbing noises that sound muffled.

“Are-are you crying?” Pim asked, trying to comfort him.

“No. I hit my nose on something when I ran out here.”

“I love him too. Well… Not like you do. But I love him and I love you,” Pim said quietly.

“Ah, God Pim, stop being gay,” Charlie said with no bite.

There is a short silence.

“I love you too,” Charlie said quickly, covering his tear stained face.