Monochrome: 38

Kieran woke up with his face buried in the couch cushion. He groaned sleepily as he rubbed at his face, feeling the imprint of the fabric on his skin. He could hear voices in his apartment as he slowly lifted his body off of the couch.

“Hey Kieran,” one of the voices said. He realized it was Devlin.

“What are you doing here?”

“Liadan let me in. How long have you been passed out on the couch?”

“I don’t know.”

“It’s around 3, I think,” Devlin said.

“3:12!” the other voice said. A girl with purple hair sat next to Devlin.

“Who the hell…”

“Oh, yeah, this is my friend, Tabbi.”

“Hello, Mr. Sullivan!” the girl said, waving.

“…why did you bring your friend?”

“We’re just stopping by for a moment; we came to check out the city a bit. She wanted to meet you, for some reason.”

“Err… hi, I guess.”

“Hi! Devlin talks about you a lot, and I know how much she worries about you. I thought it would be cool to meet you.”

“What--”

“And she said you’re a really good painter, and I really want to see some of your paintings,” Tabbi said, smiling as she sipped from a juice box. "I love art. I do fashion, and I get a lot of inspiration from art... like nouveau and deco!" Kieran stared in a mixture of disbelief and horror.

“…Devlin, why are you talking about me with your friends?” he asked.

“Oh, Mr. Sullivan,” Tabbi started. He winced at being called ‘mister’. “She was just stressed out. And then I kept bugging her about you! It’s not her fault.”

“Sorry, Kieran.”

“Eh… it’s fine. Just… unexpected.”

“Oh! Good luck with your neighbor!”

Kieran froze for a moment.

“What?!” he shouted.

“Errr… yeah, I’m sorry--”

“Why does everyone have such a great time talking about my personal life?”

“Kieran, relax.”

“How am I supposed to relax when I tell someone something that’s SUPPOSED to be a secret, and then, of course, they tell all their friends?!” Kieran shouted, panicking.

“Whoah. Okay. Calm down. Tabbi’s not gonna do or say anything to embarrass you, okay?”

“What--?” Kieran began. He stopped as he heard a knock at the door. He looked at Devlin and Tabbi, then walked to the door, opening it.

“Uhhh, hey,” Finn said, standing at the door.

“Hey. What’s up?” Kieran asked, still sounding agitated.

“I wanted to know if we were still catching the game later with Liadan?”

“Oh, shit, yeah, I forgot about that.”

“Is that his neighbor?” Tabbi asked in the background. Kieran’s thoughts went back to his previous problem.

“You know what, let’s go,” Kieran said, pushing Finn out the door.

“What? Where? You don’t have any shoes or a coat.”

Kieran quickly turned around, grabbing his coat off of the hook and putting his shoes on his feet.

“There.”

“Err, alright, where are we going?”

“I don’t know.”

“Okay…?”

“Devlin, I’m heading out. Lock the door when you leave.”

“Alright.”

“Have a nice day, you two!” Tabbi called.

“Urghh…” Kieran grumbled, shutting the door behind him.

“Who was that?” Finn asked.

“Just Devlin’s friend.”