Bad's house smelled like a bakery. It was a mixed aroma of baked bread and melted chocolate. House plants hung from the ceiling and their long vines flowed from the pots. It was almost like a tropical forest. Walking through his house was like walking through every pleasant cottage experience possible. It was a far more put together and clean version of Dream's house. The walls of the living room were actually painted. It was beige, but at least it was decorated with abstract paintings.

He had a soft couch where his dog slept. She actually slept in the same corner of the couch as Patches did. The kitchen had more hanging plants and an actual table to sit at. It was all so clean as if it was all left untouched.

"George can get the guest room," Bad said.
"What? But I want the bed," Sapnap pouted.

"You guys can just share the bed. Or he could sleep with me. Either way is fine."

I stared blankly at the two of them.

"I also have a cot in my closet that George can sleep on," He later added a few seconds later. "How does that sound?"

"Fine," I shrugged.

Bad smiled, "Great! Sapnap, take him to the room and I'll grab the cot."

The three of us went up the stairs. I lagged behind as I had to carry my luggage all the way up. The hallway was the plainest part of his house. All it was, was an alley of just a beige wall.

The guest room was still well decorated for a mainly vacant room. There was a plant hanging by the window and nice paintings of dogs across the walls. My stuffed Panda sat in the corner of the room. Somebody had put a sweater on him. My first assumption was Bad, but it honestly could have been either of them.

Sapnap closed the door behind me. "Alright, George. You've been quiet the entire ride home. What happened and why are you sleeping with us now?" He walked past me and sat down on the bed.

I shrugged. "The wedding's off. Dream doesn't want to get married anymore."

"George, he was looking forward to the wedding way more than you were, I can guarantee it."

"Hey, he's the one who refused to sign the license, not me. I'm not at fault this time." I shook my head. "It's fine, really. He gave me money to buy a ticket back home."

"Are you sure you want to go back? Once you leave, you can't come back."

I nodded despite everything in my body trying to tell me not to. "What's the point in fighting anymore? He literally kicked me out of his house. He offered to buy my plane ticket. It's over."

I got back up and grabbed my luggage. If there was anything I wanted to do, it was get out of my uncomfortable suit. It was tainted now. Every second in it was absolutely suffocating.

"I honestly didn't think he'd go this far," Sapnap pressed on.

"Neither did I, but he's just full of surprises, isn't he?"

He smiled softly. There was nothing worse than being in the pit of your own misery, and your own best friend smiles at you. "Yeah, but he's so fucking in love with you, man. I thought he'd be the one to fight for this relationship."

"You don't need to remind me, Sapnap. I know."

"Has he ever told you?"

"He didn't have to."

I rummaged through my luggage, hoping that he'd just drop the conversation. I couldn't even remember a day where I wasn't bombarded with teasing remarks about me and Dream. Or dirty jokes despite the fact that nothing further ever happened. And now all anybody ever talked about was the marriage. I did not want to marry for love, but everybody thought I did.

"How do you feel?"

"Like total crap."

He chuckled, "You know that's not what I meant."

I huffed heavily. "You wanna know what I don't feel like? Talking about this right now." I pulled out the first two pieces of clothing I could get my hands on. "I would like to go five solid minutes without having to talk about Dream, his feelings, my feelings, or marriage."

"Why? You never talk about it."

"But everybody else does! And now more than ever I would just like to talk about something else. Please."

"Alright, fine," Sapnap sighed. "What's the plan now, then? When are you leaving?"

"As soon as possible..." My voice trailed off.

"What?"

The bottom of my luggage. Underneath the total catastrophe of my clothes that I didn't even bother folding— a small, stuffed blue alpaca. I pulled it out, and Sapnap smiled.
"I remember that day," He said. "We got to spend Dream's jackpot."

"It doesn't even feel that long ago." I ran my hands through the alpaca. I didn't even remember what I named it. It was one of those things that I just brushed off. Like it was just one of those things Dream did just to do.

"That was a good day," He nodded.
“Yeah, things were a lot better then than they are now." I tossed the alpaca aside and grabbed the two articles of clothing I had pulled out. Despite that, My eyes kept shooting to the alpaca whether I liked it or not.

41

As I shut my luggage and zipped it up, Sapnap said, "You know, that's the day he told me he liked you."

25

I guess the conversation was unavoidable. "Yeah? So he liked me since I got here?"

1

"No, long before that."

I glanced up at him and asked slowly, "How long?"

"Years. Like before you guys even met up."

I snickered, "Why?"

"What do you mean why? You're George, that's why."

"I mean, you're Sapnap. Why isn't he in love with you? Or Wilbur? He's British."

"Look, he didn't tell me why, he just told me he did. And that's why he even agreed to marry you."

I scoffed. "Oh I see, so this whole thing was just an elaborate plan to get me to fall in love with him?"

"I mean, did it work?"

I glanced up at him. My heart ached before I turned away. "Was any of this ever actually about the green card?"

"Yeah. At first it was, anyway. Dream always plans ahead, but I don't think he planned any of this to happen."

I couldn't bring myself to say more. It was like I was standing at the edge, and opening my mouth and saying something would only cause me to fall. The door opened behind me, and Bad walked in with a cot.

"I found it!" He said.

"Why do you even have that?" Sapnap asked.

"I had money issues a few years ago." He set it up next to the bed. It was small, and I wondered how Bad managed to get himself to fit in it just years ago.

"George and I can take turns every night." He looked at me. "How's that sound?"

"Fine. Thanks."

Bad gazed at me with a look that somehow matched exactly how I felt. As if his eyes were a mirror. They were darker, and yet it still spewed sympathy. "Are you okay, George?"

That was always their go-to question. They never asked me exactly what I needed. What I needed was to be alone. To actually process everything that had happened in the last few days. But of course, they asked if I was okay. The same question that clearly was not working.

"Of course I am. It's not like my best friend just completely cut me out of his life. No, everything's fine. Everything is fine." The more I said it, the less fine everything became. They both looked at me like they could see right through me. Like I could no longer hide behind my words.

"What were you two talking about in his car?"

I smiled, and it hurt. They didn't quite get the hint that I didn't want to relive that moment. It was bad enough having Dream's cold glare glued to my brain, and his yelling echoing in my ears.

"Dream wants me gone. And that's what I'm doing, okay? Now drop it." I grabbed my clothes, and the blue alpaca before leaving the room. All I wanted to do was get out of this suffocating suit. All it did now was act as a constant reminder of what happened, and I was getting claustrophobic. I locked myself into the bathroom and immediately started unbuttoning my coat.

As I untied my tie, all I could think about was how just a few days ago Dream was tying it for me. It was mind-boggling how quickly everything changed. Just a few days ago Dream was draped over my lap asleep. Just a few days ago he was giving me all his blue Sour Patch Kids because he knew those were my favorite.

And now he wanted nothing to do with me. Nor did I think he'd ever want anything to do with me again.

I dropped the coat and tie right on top of the blue alpaca. I didn't even want it anymore. All it reminded me of was him, and he was the last person I wanted to be thinking about. Maybe I'd trade it for Checkers back.

When I left the bathroom, Bad and Sapnap had changed out of their suits and back into their pajamas. Sapnap had on his shirt and basketball shorts, Bad had his black hoodie and black sweatpants. They were both in the guest room. I was really hoping they weren't waiting for me
I dropped my suit lazily into my bag, and the noise drew them both off their phones. My grip around my alpaca tightened.

"We were thinking about ordering pizza," Bad said. "What do you think?"
I shrugged. "It really doesn't matter."

"Any toppings?"

"Pepperoni!" Sapnap exclaimed.

"George?"

Eating was the last thing on my mind. "Just get pepperoni."