Rick went down the stairs two at a time. There was supposed to be an elevator system, but as with many of these old apartments, it never worked. And that was fine, seeing as he only lived two flight of stairs. His heart was pounding in his chest, nervous energy running through his body, making him tighten up with tension, but he knew things would be fine.
Finally getting down to the last step of stairs, he slowed down and stopped at the last five steps, looking around the lobby and seeing...that sick, pale person couldn't be Alex, right? He had a sinking feeling in his stomach that it was.
He cleared his throat, trying to find the words before finally able to speak above a whisper.
"You know, I was gonna go pick you up," he said, making a joke, something he did when nervous or scared. He slowly went down the last few steps and then rushed to the other boy. He leaned down onto the floor and rested his trembling head on the others knee.
"You look horrible you know," he said softly, holding onto him tightly.