Saturday, October 20th

     Jesse watched while Loek was getting dressed for work. He was kind of amazed by how unorganised Loek actually was. He had been staying with him and his brother for four days, and ever since Jesse came home crying the day before, Mees had changed his behaviour towards him drastically.

In a good way.

Loek was running around the apartment grabbing stuff like clothes and wax to fix his hair. In the meantime, he was searching for his wallet.

At the same time, Jesse—who was already dressed to go out later—and Mees were laying on the couches with popcorn, watching him run around.

“I bet you five bucks his wallet is still in his soccer bag,” Jesse told Mees without looking at him. His eyes just had to follow Loek because it was too amusing not to watch.

“Five bucks it’s in the office.” Mees held out his hand, and Jesse slapped it to tell him the bet was on.

They both kept silent while watching Loek searching a drawer—in which Jesse had never seen him put any stuff in the past four days—before he shoved it shut quite hard.

“Where the hell is my wallet?” he mumbled, annoyed. “Mees, have you seen it?”

“Nope,” Mees answered before throwing popcorn in his mouth. When Loek left, he threw a bit towards Jesse to gain his attention. “You’re going to lose.”

“No, I’m not.” Jesse shook his head, but kept his eyes on Loek, who came back from the office empty-handed.

“Isn’t it in the office?” Mees asked, sounding slightly confused.

“Soccer bag,” Jesse told them both. “I’m telling you.”

And Jesse smiled slightly when he saw Loek heading towards the bag instead of the office. For some reason, he listened to Jesse better, even if they hadn’t known each other for that long.

A week, really. Jesse thought while pushing himself up from the couch too, stretching out his hand towards Mees as soon as Loek fished his wallet out of the bag. “I believe you owe me five bucks.”

“Damn it.” Mees rolled his eyes, handing Jesse five bucks while Loek sat down next to him to tie his shoelaces.

“You guys put a bet on it?” He chuckled nonetheless. “Are you coming to Unity tonight?” he turned to Jesse with a smile.

Jesse shrugged. He was unsure if he was going to Unity. He really just wanted to hang out with his friends and have some fun. With everything that’d happened in the past week, he felt on edge.

“I’m not sure. Depends on what my friends are doing. If they get annoying, I might visit you at work.”

“Don’t expect a lot of free drunks, though,” Loek told him before chuckling. “My boss wasn’t really pleased since you drank a lot.”

“I’m known for drinking a lot,” Jesse said, nodding in agreement and smirking. “Don’t worry, I’ll bring some money with me when I decide on visiting you.”

Loek patted his shoulder, and then used his shoulder to push himself up from the couch. “I’m off. See you when I see you.” He waved at Jesse, then at Mees, and left without another word.

Jesse had noticed Mees was sending him looks again. Not the same kind as he had done two days ago. No, he looked like he was trying to solve a difficult riddle.

“What?”

“How do you actually get money?” he asked eventually, sitting down on the other couch again. “I mean, besides winning nearly every bet we make.”

“Oh, eh, in multiple ways, actually. I’m good with cameras, like taking pictures, or shooting videos. So whenever I have enough time, I offer my services at parties and such. During the summer, I work in a place that sells ice cream, and I sell pictures on the internet. It isn’t getting me much, but enough to get around.”

“No work during winter, though?”

“Not really, no. Though around Christmas I get booked for parties. I’ve been doing it for two years now and a few people always contact me whenever they need pictures taken.” Jesse made himself comfortable on the couch with a small smile lingering in the corner of his lips.

“Ah, cool. I figured you didn’t have much money. So, I can start asking for rent?”

Jesse shrugged a shoulder. “If you want me to pay, just tell me and I’ll make sure to make enough money.”

“Nah, dude. It’s fine. Rent isn’t high and we’re fine. But there’s one rule. If you break it, you’re out no matter what.”

“Which is?” Jesse felt a bit nervous.

“If you ever hurt my little brother, you’re out, and I will possibly kill you,” Mees told him seriously. And Jesse believed he would actually try to kill him if he would ever hurt Loek. Mees wasn’t joking when it came to protecting his brother.

But Jesse wasn’t planning on hurting Loek, at all. On the contrary, he really liked Loek and appreciated everything he had done for him. He appreciated Mees too, for giving him a place to stay and giving him a chance to prove he deserved their help. But with Loek… things were different.

Jesse just didn’t know why it was different when it came to Loek.

     As soon as Jesse entered Gringo’s, he was met with most of his friends, and presented with a lot of alcohol. He wouldn’t say no to getting drunk and forgetting about everything that was going on. He needed distraction, and he found it in the form of downing a few shots with Axel.

Axel had been awfully quiet for most of the night, and Jesse worried about him and his obsession to get back with Donna. Twice, he had nearly blurted out how Donna wasn’t ever going to take him back because he wasn’t the right gender.

He refrained from saying it by drinking more, which he really shouldn’t be doing. Eventually, he reluctantly allowed Calix to pull him outside. He was swaying on his feet a bit, trying to light a cigarette, while Calix was laughing at his clumsy attempt.

“Maybe you should drink less,” Calix told him, still chuckling.

“I’m good,” Jesse murmured, glad he finally managed to light his cigarette. “I’m all good.”

“Are you really, though?” Calix asked while taking a seat on a stone bench on the side of the street. He kept his eyes on Gringo’s, taking a drag from his own cigarette every so often.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Jesse knew he was slurring his words a bit, but not bad enough that Calix didn’t understand him.

“Because you’ve been drinking a lot more than you usually do for the past few weeks,” Calix answered with a calm voice. “You don’t seem to enjoy soccer as much anymore, you seem more absent-minded than ever before,” he summed up, counting on his fingers. “And who is that Loek you’ve been hanging out with a lot in the past week?”

“Am I not allowed to make new friends? You know Loek just as much as I do. I saw you talking to him after practice,” Jesse knew he sounded annoyed, but he was getting tired of Calix trying to pry the truth out of him. “I’m fine—”

“There’s that idiot again.” Calix sounded a bit angry, while he pushed himself up from his seat again. He pointed to a place behind Jesse, who turned around to see who he meant.

His eyes found Yoni and a guy he had never seen before on another bench. They were laughing at something, and Yoni had her hand on his lower arm as if she was using him to not fall over during her fit of laughter.

“That’s Arnold.” Calix gestured at them. “Are you just letting him flirt with your girlfriend?”

“What?” Jesse frowned, pulling Calix back as soon as he started walking in their direction. “They’re just talking.” Jesse waved an uncoordinated hand in their direction.

“Jesse, last week I saw them leave Gringo’s together.” Calix shook his hand off his arm. “After they danced together while you were downing those shots with Axel. I know you didn’t go home with her, because they left way before you did.”

“They’re just friends, Calix.” Jesse rolled his eyes, and again, wanted to prevent Calix from heading over to them, but he was a bit too intoxicated to really succeed. Calix was in front of them before Jesse could blink his eyes.

“How can you be so disrespectful to Jesse?” Calix asked Yoni, his tone telling her he demanded her to answer. “Your fucking boyfriend is right there and here you are, sitting with him again.”

“We’re just talking.” Yoni sounded confused, and when her eyes found Jesse, she sent him a questioning look. “Arnold is just a friend, I told you already.”

“You left with Arnold last week. I saw you two leave.” Calix gestured towards Jesse, who had caught up with him, trying to push him away from Yoni and Arnold.

“Calix, stop it. I know about their friendship—”

“You know she’s got a boyfriend, right?” Calix now turned to Arnold, who opened his mouth to answer, but Calix cut him short. “Just get lost and leave her alone.”

“Calix, what the fuck?” Jesse felt angry, mostly because Yoni seemed really upset by Calix throwing a scene in the middle of the street. People were starting to stare, and Jesse was highly aware of the audience that was growing. “Leave her alone.”

“You just gonna let her cheat on you?” Calix exclaimed in anger. “What the fuck right back at you, Jesse!”

“Cal, shut the fuck up. You’re making a scene,” Jesse grumbled, now standing in front of Yoni and Arnold, facing Calix. “What the hell is your problem? Who the fuck gave you the audacity to talk to my girlfriend like that?”

“You can’t seriously be angry at me and not at her.” Calix gestured at Yoni, squinting his eyes angrily. “Are you seriously hugging her right now!?”

Jesse turned his head, noticing Arnold held his arms around Yoni protectively. “Cal, seriously, fuck off. Leave them alone.” He pushed Calix away when he made a move towards Arnold.

“You’re just gonna let them?” Calix’ shoulders slumped a bit, and his brows furrowed confused. “You’re accepting it?”

“It’s none of your business, Cal.” Jesse snapped at him. “It’s none of your business why I’m drinking as much as I do, it’s none of your business why I hang out with Loek, it’s none of your business that Yoni and Arnold are close. Stop meddling in my life, it’s fucking annoying.”

“I’m just worried!” Calix called out. “I care about you, Jesse. But if you’re going to snap at me like that, when I’m just trying to help, then fuck this shit.”

“You’re really not helping by picking a fight with my girlfriend!” Jesse called out while Calix pushed himself through the crowd, away from them.

What the hell just happened?