Julien shook his head in protest, toeing off his own shoes and tucking them neatly away in a corner near the overnight bag he'd brought before standing there looking a little lost. "You're not a mess, and even if you were it's just a case of finding the right broom, right?" Or something. He didn't say anything else because seriously, he'd had enough of sounding like a complete moron in front of Alfie all the time.
He didn't stop to wonder why it bothered him with this boy in particular, but probably would have put it down to the fact that he didn't have very many (any) other friends and he didn't want to lose this one.