Worry
You looked over at Chris sitting on your couch a slight bit away from you. You had one foot pulled up on the couch, your chin resting on your hands on top of your knee. His face was glowing in the light of the TV in the dark as he stared at it, beer in one hand between his relaxed legs, which he sipped from every few minutes. You felt the knot coming up in your stomach. 'How am I going to say it?', you thought to yourself, feeling your breath quicken.
"I lost my job today.", you blurted out.
He snapped his head to look at you, his eyebrows shot up in surprise, then furrowed in concern. He set his beer on the coffee table in front of you both and turned his body toward you, "What? What happened?", he asks while placing a hand lightly on the back of your arm.
"I-", you let out a heavy sigh. "I wasn't getting enough appointments to make my booth rental and they had to let me go."
The salon you had been doing nails for was suffering a unidentifiable dip in customers over the last several months and you were suffering for it. You had been looking for another job for a 2 months already with no results. You hadn't told your friend that things had been difficult lately because you didn't want to worry him until you were sure things were not going to get better-- and there's no mistake now that they aren't going to. You hadn't told anyone, actually.
His blue eyes seemed to sink even deeper into worry as he searched your face to feel out what to say next, "Oh, sweetheart... Do you need help? What can I do?"
You don't want to ask for or even accept help, but if you don't, you very well could end up homeless. You let out another sigh and put your forehead down on your hands and knee, tears starting to burn behind your (e/c) eyes. "I don't know, Chris. I'm not really sure what to do. I have to give my 30 day notice on my apartment this week... And then I don't know what after that. I have to keep looking for another job for sure. But, I'm not sure it's going to do any good right now; I already used up my savings to supplement what I wasn't making and living from paycheck to paycheck."
If you had been looking at him, you would have seen that his face was twisted up in hurt for what was happening to you. You felt him shift and move closer to you and wrap his arms around you, his cheek coming to rest lightly on your head as you blinked and felt a tear fall onto your leg.
You dropped your folded leg down and turned into Chris's embrace, resting you head against his shoulder. Now holding back the sobs that wanted to burst out of you, you took deep, shaky breaths. The tears couldn't be helped though, they flowed freely down your cheek, seeping into his shirt. Being a grown up was damn scary sometimes.
"You should come live with us.", he murmured softly, stroking your back with a thumb while his hand rested there.
You pulled back to look at him, your hair stuck in his beard and you half chuckled as your swiped a hand over it to release it and he huffed a small laugh. Your eyebrows pulled together in a questioning look while you wiped the tears off your face with flat fingers, "Well-- Don't you think you should talk to Seb before you offer that?"
"Well, it is MY house. I will ask him about it out of consideration since he lives there too, but I really don't see him saying no.", he smiled reassuringly. "We'll talk to him about it when he gets back from his parents'. Now, let's finish our movie." He sat back and pulled you up against his side, arm around your back and his hand resting lazily on your hip.
The anxiety wheels started turning in your head, "But, I don't have any money. I will get a job as soon as I can, even one not in my field.", you started off, your cadence building speed as you went on, "But, I don't know how long that will be and I don't want to be a burd--"
"(Y/N)!" He boomed and then laughed. "It's gonna be fine. Friends help each other. I know you'll do your best to get on your feet again. I don't have any doubt about that."
You half smiled, still feeling like the offer was too much. You whipsered, "Thank you." You were so grateful to have this guy in your corner.
He gave you a squeeze, a quick kiss on the head and a smile, then turned his attention back to the TV. "Shit. We missed a lot.", he mumbled, reaching for the remote. "Gotta rewind it."