Chapter 9
Barty wakes up with an incessant pounding in his head, which makes it feel like his brain is on fire. He wasn’t in his room; his clothes didn’t smell like his own, his room definitely wasn’t this decorated, and he was twisted in sheets that weren’t his. The warmth next to him was completely unfamiliar, because he always ran cold. He jerked awake, getting dizzy almost immediately. He held onto his head, as if it would magically make it alright. He slowly opened his eyes, turning to his left.
Evan was asleep, limbs strewn haphazardly. Barty let out a breath, and lay back down. He turned to the nightstand, to see a water bottle and a strip of painkillers sitting there with his phone. A Post-It was stuck on the wood saying ‘good morning’. He smiled, picking up the water and painkillers. He downed a pill quickly, following it with another one. He took his phone, and lay back down, turning away from Evan.
There were a few condescending messages from his father, which he promptly ignored, and a couple of notifications from his friends tagging him in their stories. He opened one up, immediately being almost flash-banged by the image of Evan and him lost within each other at the pool. He could see Regulus looking at them, while James looked away. Barty smiled.
He wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but Barty and Evan made a very, very attractive couple.
‘What are you looking at?’ Evan croaked from beside him.
‘Oh, hey. Good morning.’
‘Morning.’ Evan stretched, muscles rippling as he lifted his hands above his head. ‘You didn’t answer my question.’
‘Hmm? Oh, I was looking at a picture.’
‘Of us?’ A beat.
‘…Yeah.’
‘Show it to me too.’ Barty handed his phone to Evan, who tried to zoom into the picture. The proximity between them hadn’t registered fully until now. Evan was warm and inviting, like a hot breakfast on Sunday morning. ‘Is it bad to say that this is hot?’
‘It’s us, so no.’ Barty internally agreed with Evan. ‘I kinda blacked out after this.’
‘You said some real funny shit.’ Evan handed the phone back, sitting up. The blanket pooled around his waist. Evan’s tee had rolled up and Barty’s attention was trained on that strip of skin.
‘Yeah? Like what?’ Evan snorted a laugh.
‘You all but declared that you wanted to fuck me.’ Barty’s jaw unhinged.
‘What the fuck? I did not.’
‘You did. Swear on my mum.’ Barty buried his face under the blanket. ‘It’s not a big deal. I don’t care if you don’t care.’ Evan pulled the covers off of him, leaning over him to see his face.
‘Come on, Bats. It was funny. You were drunk.’
‘Yeah, whatever. Get out of my face.’
‘You can’t possibly be angry at me for what you said? That makes no sense.’ Evan’s bones were digging into Barty’s side, but rather than being painful, it felt like a weighted blanket putting him to sleep.
‘I’m not angry, okay? I’m hungry.’ Finally, Evan peeled himself off of Barty, standing up in one smooth movement.
‘Alright, get dressed. We’ll get breakfast from somewhere.’
‘What about Pandora?’ Barty got up too, stumbling a little as his vision blackened at the corners.
‘Oh, she’s probably with Lily in her room right now. I don’t think she's going to be hungry for a while, if you catch my drift.’
‘Ew. Do you have to be so crude?’ Barty wrinkled his nose, trying to get the mental image out of his head.
‘Didn’t see you complaining yesterday.’
‘Fuck you.’ Evan was about to make a smart retort, but Barty cut him off with a flying pillow to the face.
‘Message received. I’ll be downstairs when you’re ready.’ The door clicked shut behind Evan.
——-
In front of Barty lay a crispy-looking croissant sandwich and a tall vanilla milkshake. He was ready to absolutely inhale it all within record time. Evan had ordered a shake too, but a chocolate one instead, accompanied by a cheese-and-ham sandwich. Barty had taken a sip of his own shake, as did Evan. Immediately after, he looked at Evan’s glass, picking it up. Evan did the same, taking a long sip. They both looked up at each other. The chocolate milkshake was fucking delicious.
‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’ Evan asked.
‘Fuck yeah,’ They switched their glasses. Barty slurped loudly and happily through the straw.
‘So, I was thinking.’
‘That’s new,’ Barty retorted, biting into his croissant.
‘Piss off. I was thinking, since Regulus spends so much time at the library… maybe we should too?’ Evan was tentative.
‘We could, but I don’t read and will never read.’
‘Good God. I meant to, you know.’ Evan gestured vaguely.
‘Oh! Er, yeah, that’s fine.’
‘Great.’ Silence fell over them, the only sounds coming from the diner.
‘What’s the last book you ever read?’ Evan asks.
‘You’re still stuck on that?’
‘Answer the question, Bats.’
‘Fine. Hunger Games in the sixth grade.’ Evan’s jaw dropped.
‘What? You picked up a book almost six years ago? How is that even possible?’
‘In my defence, it was very good.’ Evan rolled his eyes.
‘Unbelievable.’