Dusk (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 5 - Overthinking

I grabbed the remote from him and flipped it to a nature documentary before I faded into sleep on the couch.

***

The next day went by quickly. I'd mowed the lawn for my dad and reorganized my room, tossing all my old school binders and papers away. My parents had been at work for the first half of the day but made sure to smother me with attention when they got back. If this was what the next two years would be like, I wasn't sure I'd make it.

Saturday I woke up to a large brunch that I was sure my mom had spent at least an hour on. She squealed happily when I walked down the stairs and my dad calmly read the newspaper at the other side of the table, as if it still contained anything other than advertisements.

I made small talk with them, my mom continuously asking me if I'd ask Lucy out before she went away to college. I kept telling her we were just friends but she refused to believe me. Lucy was her favorite of my friends, but the thought just made me uncomfortable. She was like my sister.

After breakfast, I went to my room and spent time on my computer scrolling through Rowan's social media accounts. His latest photo was from a year ago, and just had been of him playing basketball. I searched through his friends list and found Ben. Curiously clicking his username, I looked through his photos.

Almost every single one of them had been taken at a party. I scrolled to a few years back, browsing through the photos until I spotted one with Madison in the background. Looking behind the drunken stupid expression on Ben's face, I saw that Madison was speaking to someone in the photo. I concluded that it was Lucy after zooming in closely and catching sight of a bit of short, blonde hair.

My door busted open and I jumped, cursing loudly and shutting my computer. It was Alex, he had a mischievous grin on his face.

"Dude, were you watching porn? You know what, don't tell me, I don't wanna know." I denied it but he wasn't listening to me, as he shut the door and pulled a large bag full of weed from his backpack, dangling it in front of my face.

"You ready for Erik's party?"

***

I had a Heineken in my hand, nodding along to some story Madison was telling me, Lucy and another girl about her first piercing. Alex was outside smoking another joint. My eyes were drooping, I was baked. I watched Madison expressively moving her arms to her story, her now blue hair had been messily tied up in a bun.

My eyes trailed to her ears, she was wearing a pair of dangling earrings that were a shade of blue identical to that of her new hairstyle. Lucy and the other girl laughed next to me as Madison reached a pivotal moment in her story.

I looked at them and back at her, quickly laughing along. I hoped she wouldn't notice that I hadn't focused on a single word. She continued, and I saw Erik out of the corner of my eye walking down the stairs. I stood up letting the others know I was heading to the restroom.

"Hey Erik, where's the bathroom? Your house is like a maze." I said, reaching him. It really wasn't, but the sole fact that it had two floors would throw me off when I was that high. He laughed and pointed,

"Up the stairs, second door on the left." I nodded and followed his instructions.

***

I stared at myself in the mirror. My eyes were half open, their usually light green looking dull, distant and removed. It felt like there was a different person on the other side of the glass. I opened the tap and splashed my face with cold water before shaking my head to try and focus. That just made my head spin so I stopped, staying still for a moment.