Yohan sighed as he sat down on his bed, towel-drying his hair, when his phone buzzed on his desk. With a groan, the author hauled himself up from his seat and picked up his phone, already knowing who was calling him so late at night. He rolled his eyes upon confirming the caller ID—did he really need to call him so late? It was already 12 am!

“What?” Yohan asked, annoyed, as he padded down the hall towards the stairway for a glass of water in the kitchen.

“Sooo, how was yesterday? Did you make a new friend? What happened?” Eddie asked, his voice full of glee and curiosity.

Yohan rolled his eyes as he set his towel down on the dining table, “What do you mean, ‘what happened’? Did you want something to happen?”

“Well, yeah? Why else would I leave y’all together?”

Yohan spit out his water, coughing mid-swallow, “You what?! Eddie, you little—”

“Hey, I gotta play the wingman… Or does that not make sense in this situation…? Anyways, you need more friends, dude. Stop being a hermit and go out there and make some acquaintances! You never know if they’ll help you out in the future…”

“Ugh, I should have known when you abruptly said you had an ‘emergency patient’… Do you know what happened yesterday?!”

“No, I don’t know…? Which is why I’m calling you—”

“Stop being such a smartass. Ha… Some Karen thought I was gay… Like, what the hell? Do I look gay?” Yohan asked, contorting his face into a slight frown. 

He still couldn’t believe he was mistaken to be gay. Not that it was a bad thing to be called a gay man, but… it was surprising. Yohan had always considered himself to be straight. He never felt anything for the same sex… Why wasn’t this idiot saying anything?

“…” Eddie was still silent as Yohan raised an eyebrow, pulling the phone away from him to check if he was still on the call. 

“Hello? Eddie? You still there?”

“… Pfft. She thought you were gay?! OMG. Hahaha! That’s the best thing I’ve heard all week!” Eddie busted out laughing, ignoring Yohan’s low growl of irritation.

“… Laugh all you want, buddy. I’ll just tell that pretty nurse you’ve been crushing on that you’re still into watching—”

“Stop right there! You promised not to talk about it, you idiot!” Eddie groaned, embarrassed that he had been caught by Yohan.

“… Bro… You’re almost thirty and you still watch… Elmo? What was it called again, something street…”

“Will you shut up?! Elmo is cute, okay?! And it’s not like I was watching it for my enjoyment, I was watching it with my three-year-old niece!”

“… Your niece was sleeping—”

“Not another word!”

“… Anyways. Do I look gay? Is it my bleached hair? Ugh this is affecting me more than it should, man.”

“Hmm. I doubt it. Maybe she’s the type to think that guys hanging out at a beach are automatically gay? Don’t worry about it; like you said, she was a Karen, right?” Eddie reassured him… though, his tone of voice was quite questionable as it didn’t match what he was saying. Was he doubting his own words…? Yohan couldn’t quite tell through the phone.

“…Guess? Ha… We done, now? Can I go to sleep?”

“Huh?! You didn’t even tell me the most important part! Are you friends with him or not?”

“Friends? Who? Me and the editor?!”

“No, shit, Sherlock. So, are you?” Eddie asked, annoyed.

“Hell no! I’m not planning on becoming ‘friends’ with him any time soon! Don’t even think about convincing me otherwise! I don’t like him one bit—he’s… He’s freaking annoying!” Yohan warned, peeved that his “best friend” of almost 25 years had left him alone with a complete stranger so he could make friends. Eddie was probably the only person in the world who would think of something so ridiculous!

“Geez, okay, calm down. So…  it’s okay as long as y’all aren’t friends?” he asked, mischievously. Yohan could practically imagine that cheeky smile of his from the opposite line.

“… What are you planning now…?”

“Nothing, nothing. Don’t worry about it.” Eddie said with a light laugh, clearly enjoying teasing Yohan of his encounter with his new editor. 

“You say that, but you’re making it painfully obvious that you’re up to something. What is it?! Spit it out, doofus!” Yohan growled, forgetting about his glass of water as he rubbed his temples in frustration. What in the world was this idiot up to now?!

“Nothin’! Go sleep, it’s past your bedtime, child.”

“I wonder who the real child is in this friendship… At least I ain’t obsessed with Sesame Street…” Yohan said dryly, hanging up on Eddie’s stuttered protests.

Yohan smiled as he hung up, smug with his snarky comment. Finally, a win for the author! Chuckling to himself, Yohan picked up the glass of water, wiping down the counter before he turned off the lights of the kitchen. Satisfied, he headed back up to his bedroom, trudging up the stairs as he checked his phone for any messages from his editor or Sharon. 

Thankfully there were none as he set his glass of water on his nightstand. Getting into bed, Yohan began to look up ways on how to “piss someone off”— reading articles upon articles until it was way past 2 am.

Yawning, Yohan set his phone down next to his bed, ready to go to sleep. He couldn’t find anything useful, but he still had another day to figure it out until… The author groaned at the upcoming meeting he had with his editor on Tuesday. What a great way to start the week! Grumbling to himself, Yohan brought his covers over his head, wanting to forget that embarrassing incident from yesterday. If he had to work with that editor for a whole year, he was going to lose it! 

His cheeks became red at the thought of the editor’s shocked face when the author had landed on top of him. Damn, it was going to be such an embarrassing and awkward meeting! Yohan flailed around his bed, irritated that he just had to think about that stupid man right before he had to sleep. 

Why did the human brain have to always bring up the most embarrassing memories at the worst possible times? Just why? Yohan just wanted to go to bed peacefully without having to be reminded of that annoying editor! 

Yanking his covers off, Yohan groaned as he stared up at the ceiling, peeved with his thoughts of the editor, “… Ugh, this is such a pain…! Why am I the one being frustrated with this new change? Dammit…!”

**NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.**