Simon looked at the other and nodded. “Yeah–” His voice caught in his throat, before gulping it back into place. “Yeah. This is your house, anyway.” Gesturing to the bed, allowing her to take a seat. This room felt so full of character. Simon was soaking it all in. He should feel terrible. It was a horrible thing to do. Lie about knowing someone, after they’ve passed. But he never meant to push it this far! When her parents approached him, he tried to correct them. Now he was known as Dougie’s best friend.
As much as he wanted to avoid lying, he had gotten scarily good at it. “I’ve only ever been here twice.” He lied. “Because, you know, we hung out outside a lot. I wonder what he did in here, you know?” Looking back at her, he could feel her pain. He felt pain, for her. For so long, he wanted her to notice him. She was always that girl that he knew was just out of reach for him, but now she was here! Right in front of him. Unfortunately there was this barrier. This wall that he had built up between them. The wall of lies had gotten so thick and so big that he was scared that if she had the insight or resilience to break it down, she would see who he really was on the other side.
A nobody. A loser. Some kid who had fantasized about being her boyfriend for so long and had now lied about being best friends with her brother. “Your rooms are pretty far apart.” He randomly commented. His home wasn’t the tiniest, but seeing it in comparison to theirs, made his mother and his two bedroom apartment look like a homeless shelter. “It’d probably be nicer if they were closer, you know? Siblings should be able to be closer–” He stopped in his tracks. His mindless ramblings have gone too far and too casual. “At least, that’s what he would say. He always did wish you and he were closer.”
Her eyes took in her surroundings as she made her way over to the bed. This room had always felt forbidden somehow, and she only ever caught it in quick glances whenever Dougie opened the door as she was passing by. It always seemed more dark and cramped in her mind’s eye, but without her brother’s looming, sullen presence, it only felt like.. just another room.
She didn’t know the person who had lived here - not really. The posters on his walls supported bands she’d never heard of (though she imagined it was their music he had blasted well into the middle of the night) and video games she never even knew he liked. His bed was neatly made with grey sheets and a solid, navy blue comforter, and while she was inclined to assume her mother had made his bed in the days after his death, Joey really couldn’t say for sure. Was Dougie the type to make his bed? Had he just done it that morning, knowing what he planned to do, and thinking of it as one less thing his family would have to deal with afterward?
Dougie was a stranger, and as soon as Simon mentioned something he had said, her eyes flicked up in interest. He always did wish you and he were closer... “We used to be close,” she nodded sadly. “When we were little, he used to be my best friend. Everyone else treated me like a baby, but not Dougie...” She couldn’t say for certain when that had changed - it all happened so gradually there was no moment she could pinpoint. He just... slipped away from her, and then he slipped away from everything. “What else did he say about me?” she asked, curiosity burning in her gut and destroying any sense of tact she had. “I mean, did he- did he talk about me often?”
