In the middle of the night, Tristan’s phone goes off indicating a Discord call. He answers it sleepily but sees Banjo’s ID come up.
Tristan: Banjo it’s the middle of the night here. What are you doing?
Banjo: Tristan, I made a terrible mistake. I love you. Please get back together with me.” He’s sobbing through the whole sentence.
Tristan is a little affected by the sobbing and the words “I don’t even know what to say. Listen I want to talk about this more but dude I was asleep. Can we talk tomorrow, my tomorrow.”
Banjo “Tristan, I love you. Do you still love me?”
Tristan sighs “I don’t think so Banjo. I’m sorry….I’ve had some time to get over it with you not talking to me before you finally broke up with me. To be honest I’m not sure what we had was love for me. It was all new….... my parents are going to hear us talking....
Banjo “We have a little hiccup and now you never loved me?” He says it with a tone.
“Whoah what the fuck Banjo. That was not some hiccup. You fuckin ghosted me for over a month. After I told you I wasn’t ready to take things further...”
Now Banjo really starts crying “I know. You told me you weren’t ready and I did something stupid.”
Tristan sighs “OK you have regrets about how we ended…..I appreciate that I guess... let’s talk about this in the...”
Banjo interrupts “ No before that. I slept with someone else...a little over a month ago. That’s why I stopped talking to you. I was lonely and I felt rejected by you. But then I felt horrible. I felt like I didn’t deserve you. I’m so sorry.” He’s sobbing again.
Now Tristan’s jaw drops “ You what?!” His breath becomes audible like he’s near hyperventilating but then he intentionally slows it “Well then you were right. You don’t. Was this online or in person?”
Banjo just sobs harder and doesn’t answer.
Tristan sets down his phone for a moment and shoves his hands in his hair and then slowly picks it up again “In person? During a pandemic? Did you at least know him enough to know if he’s safe?”
“Her...I’m sorry. It’s so easy with girls sometimes. …...and no…” He breaks down again “I really fucked things up….Tristan I don’t know what to do….please help me…”
Tristan looks stricken “Do you have Covid? How could you put your whole family at risk like that….sorry Banjo but you’re a fucking idiot.”
Banjo sniffs “I know. And no it’s not Covid, but that was stupid too. Tristan…..she’s pregnant.”
Tristan holds out his phone and just stares at it in his hand.
“Tristan are you there?” He can hear weakly through the receiver. “Tristan?”
Tristan pulls the phone back and sighs into it “Banjo what the fuck…”
Banjo is crying again “I know...I know…..I fucked up my whole life...and hers..I should have stayed with you, waited for you to be ready. Not been a stupid selfish reckless fuck.”
Tristan nods “Glad you said it….because yeah. Banjo I don’t know how to help you with this. I’m not sure I’m even the right person for you to be talking to be honest. Do you have friends there you can talk to? What about your sister?”
Banjo broke down again and it took awhile for him to talk “But I want it to be you. Tristan, I want you back...I know it’s fucked up but give me another chance please?”
Tristan rolled his head back “No...I’m sorry. First of all we’re done. I’ve mourned you. I’ve moved on. Second of all your life is a mess. You don’t need a boyfriend. You might need a counsellor…”
“You’ve moved on?! To who? That was fucking fast…” Banjo spits at him.
Tristan groans “I didn’t mean I was seeing someone else. But that’s none of your business at this point. Look I have to go. I really hope you have someone to talk to there. I’m not that person for you. Maybe in time we can be friends ...you know in the game …..but we need some space….and you need to sort your life out...seriously. Goodbye Banjo, and good luck with it all.”
Tristan hangs up and then lies down to go back to sleep but is of course wide awake after that conversation. He opens his Discord again and contemplates deleting Banjo from his contacts but takes a breath and stays his finger from the click. Then he opens his group chat with Tony. Mason and Rene. He doesn’t want to wake up his friends in the middle of the night but he really needs to tell them about this. He’s hoping their message chimes are either off or they sleep though it but he sends the group a message.
Please ignore me if you’re sleeping. Sleep is more important than this shit. But I finally got an explanation from Banjo on why he ghosted me.He just called me in the middle of the night. I just needed to unload this somewhere and really it’s the final nail in the coffin to get me over him. So I can’t remember if I told all of you this but Banjo was pushing me to go further with him. Like cyber stuff...cybersex stuff I guess. I said no. I wasn’t ready even as avatars or in text or pictures even though he sent me a few I had to delete right away. My Dad’s a cop for chrisakes and we’re underage. So after I “rejected him” because he used those words, he went out and slept with someone to make himself feel better, in person, during Covid….a girl. I don’t actually care that it was a girl. It was a stranger during a pandemic and he’s a fucking tool for risking his whole family. So he doesn’t have Covid, but it turns out the girl is pregnant. Then he begged me to get back together after he told me all that. Hard no. I wish I was making this all up. I think that’s all I ever need to say about him now. Done and done. I was already pretty much over him but oddly, after getting over the shock, this helped bring it to a close. Rant off. Sorry for the time of night. I’m hoping chimes are off honestly. I just needed to get this out of my head. Thanks for reading dudes. I’m ok, more than ok finally.
Rene didn’t move when Sasha came in. He just waited for the sounds of his brother going to sleep and then he got up to use the bathroom. When he came back, he checked his phone for the time. 3:42 a.m. He also noticed that there was a notification from Discord. He read it sleepily, but woke as he read. “Jesus…” he whispered. He tiptoed to the window and looked out at the trees in the back yard. He wouldn’t have been able to see Tristan’s house even if his bedroom had been in the front of the house. Tristan said it was the final nail. Could he move on after all of it? And If he could … would he want someone new in his life? Someone his own age, not older like Banjo? He rolled his eyes at himself and, by 3:54 was typing in a reply;
Fuck! That’s messed up! Not just Covid but there are still diseases out there, too! But to be honest it's you I worry about not him. I know I’m a new friend but I really hope you’re going to be alright. I’m up because my bro came home late again, so you didn't wake me. I’m here if you need me.
Mason woke at 8 in the morning, rolled over and reached for his phone. He saw Tristan’s message, followed by Rene’s reply. He snorted and sent his own reply;
Fuck Banjo! No. Don’t! I’m here if you need me and so are the other guys!
Tony woke at 7:30 to the smell of lovely breakfast foods. He wandered out to find Addison had made breakfast of pancakes, scrambled eggs and sausage so it was a while before he even cared there was an outside world. But finally he went into his room to get ready for the day and found the Discord notes. In his turn, he replied;
Definitely don’t fuck Banjo! Who knows what he’ll give you. You guys want to hit Perk later today and then maybe a swim in the inlet?
Tristan still couldn’t settle after sending the message so he quietly used the bathroom and then went to the kitchen to make himself a cup of chamomile tea. His mother always made him some when he had trouble sleeping and it usually worked. When he went back to his room with the tea he saw a notification on his Discord app and checked it. Rene was up and had replied already. His reply was heartwarming. Rene was heartwarming. Or heart something. He definitely felt things happening in his heart rereading Rene’s words. Tristan drank the tea and considered whether he should reply in the group or send Rene a private message. The tea and the words of comfort though did make him relax. He lay down with his phone and fell asleep with it dropping out of his hand. When he opened his eyes again it was 9:47 am. He could hear his parents talking and laughing in the kitchen. He picked up his phone from the bed and read the other two replies and laughed. Then he sent a reply to the group:
You guys are all the best. I’m feeling good this morning, and no I have no plans to fuck Banjo, or really even talk to the guy if i can avoid it forever. Yes to the Perk and a swim. I’ll bring my skim board.
Tristan found himself hovering over Rene’s name and then sent him a private message as well:
Hey, thank you especially. I know you have a shit ton of stuff going on right now too and I really appreciate you still being there for me too. See you later:) hug emoji
Tristan swung his legs out of bed and headed for the kitchen and the start of his day because today was going to be a good one with good friends.
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