"I totally fucked Jeremy!" I yelled out.

I stumbled through the doorway and dumped my gym bag on the floor, giggling to myself the whole time. After the gym, I had ended up hanging out at Jeremy's place for hours, playing video games, drinking and eating an insane amount of shitty food. Usually I only ate junk food on special occasions, but this WAS a special occasion. I made a new friend! And I fucken destroyed him in like eight different games!

I turned around and saw Adam sitting on the futon, hastily fumbling with the remote.

"You did what?"

"I totally fucked him dude!" I laughed, "We were playing Burnout, or, or Slipstream, I don't remember, but I hit the side of his car, like BAM, and he totally spun out, and I dropped a fricken plane on him! It was so funny!"

What I didn't mention was that the reason I took Jeremy out so bad is because he was on the phone, making plans with Ashanti. But I wanted to keep that a surprise...

I wobbled over to the futon and collapsed into Adam's side. He felt really strong and warm and nice to snuggle up into. I sighed happily. Adam sniffed.

"You smell really drunk, dude," he said.

"Just a little," I giggled, "Your nose is strong too. Hahaha."

Adam leaned forward and I immediately fell over into the gap between him and the back of the futon. I squealed muffled-ly into the cushions. Adam ignored me and started doing something on the floor. Aww! He was packing up my games and stuff so I could do aerobics. But I wasn't gonna do aerobics tonight! Too dizzy. And... I didn't play games today either? Except at Jeremy's place. Maybe Adam was packing up my games at Jeremy's place. Wait. No. Adam was here. I laughed to myself.

Adam finished packing up and turned around. He sighed when he saw me squished into the futon.

"Come on, dude," he said, "Let's get you to bed."

I raised my arms, "Carry me bro!"

Adam cracked a smile and kneeled down on the futon to wrestle me into a sitting position. I instinctively wrapped my arms around his shoulders.

"I had a really fun day today," I said dreamily, "Did you have fun with your gym bros?"

"Yeah, kind of," he said, "It woulda been better if you stuck around, dude."

"Aww!" I pouted, "But I'm not good at gym."

"Dude..." Adam looked frustrated, like he wasn't sure how to put his thoughts into words. I rubbed his shoulders and he sighed, "I was just really looking forward to us working out together. Even though you're not, y'know, at my level yet. I wanna GET you there, bro."

He looked really bummed. I felt bad, and on a whim, I just leaned forward and kissed him softly on the lips. He tensed up for a second, then relaxed and kissed me back. I squeezed his shoulders, then let the kiss finish.

"Maybe I don't needa be on your level," I murmured.

Adam stared at me, "What?"

I shrugged lopsidedly, "I don't needa be muscly. Maybe you can be muscly and I can be... something different? I don't wanna be really fat again but... Jeremy's not big and muscly and he's really cool."

Adam pulled back, "So you wanna just, like, play games with Jeremy instead of working out with me?"

"Yeah," I smiled, "Maybe I can do aerobics at the gym instead? They have classes..."

Adam stood up, "Great. That sounds fucking awesome. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Huh?"

Adam shook his head and walked straight to his room. I heard the door slam and slumped back on the futon, totally confused. I thought he would be happy I still wanted to go to the gym? Was he seriously that obsessed with me lifting weights? Obviously I wasn't good at it! And I really didn't care that much about getting super ripped like Adam. I looked... I didn't look that bad, right now! Even Jeremy noticed my hair, and my legs, and he said I looked like a personal trainer already!

I mean, okay, admittedly he also thought I was a girl. But... whatever, right? The important thing was I looked good! And I felt good, when Adam wasn't making me embarrass myself in front of all his friends! Dick!

I grumbled to myself, then saw the remote sitting on the TV stand. Curiously, I turned the TV on to see what Adam had been watching.

On the screen, in big letters, were the words YOU DIED.

I blinked. Dark Souls? I hadn't played Dark Souls in, like, ages. Still puzzled, but slowly sobering up, I reloaded and played for a few minutes. I was only about ten minutes into the game. But I hadn't even been playing...

But Adam had, I realised. Even though he never played video games. He had been playing, to get better at video games, so that we could play together.

My happy drunken buzz drained away and suddenly I felt really guilty. Today must have been a really shit day for Adam. First he wasted a bunch of money on clothes I was never gonna wear because he was so awkward around girls, and then I made fun of him for it, and then when he got excited about having a new workout buddy, I abandoned him to hang out with somebody else.

And all he did was try and find another way to connect with me.

God, why was he such a good friend when I never did anything to deserve it?

(And why the fuck would he pick DARK SOULS as his FIRST game?)

I switched off the TV and wandered back to my bedroom. The bags full of useless clothes were still sitting in my wardrobe. I looked at them and sighed. Maybe there was a way I could cheer Adam up.