The whole helping Nick apply the ointment thing was supposed to be cute, yet it turned into a hilariously chaotic event in no time.

"Ouch! Stop!" Nick was flinching with Clay's every single touch.

But Clay never stopped. And I could see it in his maniacal face expression that he was pushing too hard on the bruises on purpose - enough to get a reaction out of Nick.

"You need to rub it in deeply so it gets absorbed. The doctor said it, not me." Clay lied to his face, continuing the torturous massage.

I'd stop Clay in every other circumstance, but now seeing Nick let go of high-pitched screams was very satisfying and entertaining.

But things got out of hand again, as the painful massage turned into literal torture for Nick.

I had to sit through a disturbing amount of him moaning and Clay groaning whenever he had to apply a bit of force on a spot.

I slowly took out my phone and started recording the noises they made so that I could send it to George without context.

And just as I started recording, the best possible scenario of their interaction happened.

"Agh, it hurts!"

I had to slap my hand to my mouth to not make a noise when Clay groaned on top of Nick's already suspicious words.

"It'll get better once we're done." As Clay spoke I squeezed my nose to not laugh and ruin the recording.

"At least don't go that hard- fuck."

And I lost it right there, snorting before pressing the button to finish the recording. But I guess I can cut that part out before sending to George.

And that's exactly what I did, ignoring their judgemental looks that followed my laugh. They had no idea what I was up to though, which is a win for me.

I had never waited for George to text back so desperately before. I guess he could be asleep though. But he had to pack and get ready for the flight too, which meant he could also be busy. So I had to abandon my phone until he'd text.

"I'm starting to think you're doing this on purpose." Nick whined when Clay purposefully pushed on the very prominent bruise.

Clay's lips crooked into a half-smirk. And Nick caught it through the mirror.

"Wait.. you are?" He turned around quickly from Clay's reaction, kind of escaping from his touch now that he knew there was something off.

"Hm.. maybe." Clay's face expression was barely there, yet it looked evil.

"Why would you do that?" Nick sounded sad as he backed away.

"Why not?"

Nick was so confused by Clay's change of behavior that he had to think for a bit before answering.

"I.. we're friends, you're not supposed to-"

"Friends aren't supposed to hurt each other, right?" And there he goes. I knew he's not the type to forgive and forget.

I also knew I had to step in soon, cause things were getting too intense for my liking.

Nick's face dropped. I could understand his disappointment. From Clay's actions I thought he forgave everything and was just being playful. I didn't think he purposefully went there to hurt Nick.

"I don't know why I did what I did, I'm better now, I promise." Nick sighed.

"No, Nick, you don't get it," Clay shook his head, moving forward a bit, "I'm not talking about myself. I don't care about what you did to me."

There was a pause after those words before he spoke again.

"I don't care that you punched me and pushed me. That's not my concern," I held my breath knowing where Clay's words were going, "I'm just mad that all you've been addressing so far is the part where you hurt me physically.. But you hurt her more, Nick."

I hung my head when both of them turned to look at me. I hated where this was going and didn't want to be a part of it. But there was no turning back anymore.

"All I care about is what he did to you," I finally spoke, looking at Clay, "if you can forgive him for that, I don't need an apology for my part."

They both looked surprised from my words. And even though I was really hurt, even though there were some events Clay didn't even know about that happened and haunted me, I decided to be a bigger person and just swallow all of it up.

"No, Liz, I'm sor-"

"It's okay, Nick. Apologize to Clay." That sentence hurt me physically to say. I had to swallow my pride and take a step back. If I didn't do it, their relationship would never recover.

I got up and went to the room with those words, as both their gazes followed my footsteps. Before I could disappear from their range of vision, I stopped and looked back at Nick.

"But maybe apologize to him sometime later."

I was trying to remind him that Clay's health was in a vulnerable state. To be fair I did tell him that way too many times already, and it would be stupid for him to hold a discussion now after all of my warnings. But it's Nick, you never know what to expect, so an extra warning is always helpful.

Going back to the room I started getting ready to shower. However, I almost forgot the message I had sent to George earlier. The incident that started out as something I was joking about turned into a serious conversation, and looking at it the way I did while sending the recording to George was a bit of a tough task.

???

WHAT

I WAS GETTING READY FOR MY FLIGHT WTF IS THIS

Who am I kidding, this is hilarious.

are you coming already?

As George started typing (probably answering my question) I sent another text to gross him out even more.

not to america😩

I already knew he was about to call when the typing stopped suddenly. And when he called I knew he was about to scream at me. And when he was done screaming, I knew he was about to ask for explanations.

I know him too well.

"What was that!?" He was still too loud for my ears to feel comfortable.

I was so done with all the drama going on here that my stupid brain decided to have some fun and lie to George.

"I don't know, I heard them through the door and decided to record." I was smiling to myself when George went silent.

"What the fuck is going on there?" He sounded terrified, which was all I needed to lighten up my mood.

"I don't even know, man.. ask them."

And that's how I thought I'm making a small joke that is going to help me with my shitty mood. Little did I know George was so uninformed about everything that he took all of it way too seriously.