“I know I did!”
His voice has been creeping up in volume for a while and now crests into something approaching a real bellow. That’s no good, though. This isn’t an empty mansion with nobody around for miles. This is thin walls and anonymous neighbors probably standing with their ears to them, and the last thing Near needs is somebody lodging a noise complaint. He slams the glass down on the counter, the contents erupting in a little geyser.
For a few seconds after, he doesn’t say anything, just glares at the water spattered across the stretch of abused laminate and works on getting his voice tamped down. Then,
“I didn’t think you’d ever actually show up.” The truth, and probably confirmation of all accusations of him being an idiot, he guesses, if nothing else is, but he’s not about to try to justify his idiotic hobby to Jude. “And on the off-chance that you did show up, I thought you’d want to do something. Or that you’d want something. I don’t even know. I didn’t think you’d come just to sit on my couch and tell me you’ve got it all figured out, okay?” He leaves the boyfriend comment pointedly unaddressed, though the twelve year old boy in him itches to inquire on Jude’s own relationship situation, if he’s picked himself out a sugar daddy from among all these very important people he’s been hanging around with.
His voice has been creeping up in volume for a while and now crests into something approaching a real bellow. That’s no good, though. This isn’t an empty mansion with nobody around for miles. This is thin walls and anonymous neighbors probably standing with their ears to them, and the last thing Near needs is somebody lodging a noise complaint. He slams the glass down on the counter, the contents erupting in a little geyser.
For a few seconds after, he doesn’t say anything, just glares at the water spattered across the stretch of abused laminate and works on getting his voice tamped down. Then,
“I didn’t think you’d ever actually show up.” The truth, and probably confirmation of all accusations of him being an idiot, he guesses, if nothing else is, but he’s not about to try to justify his idiotic hobby to Jude. “And on the off-chance that you did show up, I thought you’d want to do something. Or that you’d want something. I don’t even know. I didn’t think you’d come just to sit on my couch and tell me you’ve got it all figured out, okay?” He leaves the boyfriend comment pointedly unaddressed, though the twelve year old boy in him itches to inquire on Jude’s own relationship situation, if he’s picked himself out a sugar daddy from among all these very important people he’s been hanging around with.