Roomies (boyxboy)

12:01 am

12:01 am

(Be warned, read at your own risk)

Cameron woke up. It was dark. At first he was disoriented. But then everything slowly came back to him. He looked over and saw Ryan asleep on his own bed. He waited a few minutes, listening to his roommate breathe. For sure asleep.

He carefully sat up, trying very very hard to not make any noise. He slipped from the room, and tiptoed downstairs. The house was dark, cold, silent. Like this evening but more so. Cameron almost never left his room at nighttime. He would never tell anyone, but he was sometimes afraid at night. Never in his own room. In his own room, surrounded by his blankets with his books, he was secure and safe. But in the dark, the living room and kitchen seemed unfamiliar and slightly off, like a stranger's face when you expect to see someone you know.

But he'd had an idea. And he needed to follow through immediately.

His mom always plugged in her phone at night on the kitchen counter next to the toaster. She said it was because when she went to bed, she was always tempted to keep checking her phone, answering late night parent texts or emails. She never locked it, because she didn't know how.

He opened up to recent calls and there it was...Jason's number.

Was he really going to do this? What if he made things worse? But he thought of Jason's face in the kitchen doorway when Ryan almost kissed him, thought of how hurt he sounded when he told Cameron to back off.

He pushed redial.

"Hello, Jess? Is there something new?" Jason's voice sounded hoarse and exhausted.

Cameron bit his lip trying desperately not to cry. Scrambling to think what he could say.

Long moments.

"...........Cameron, is that you?"

Cameron nodded at the phone. Then squeezed his eyes shut in embarrassment.

"Yes." he said in a whisper.

"I can't talk to you."

"Ok." Cameron was about to hit the end call icon.

"I shouldn't talk to you," Jason said, "But I guess I'm kind of stupid."

Long pause.

"You still there, Cameron?"

"I'm so sorry, Jason." Cameron squeezed the words out.

Jason sighed into the phone.

"Yeah. Me too. This is pretty fucked up." He laughed sardonically.

"Totally."

"You know what makes me mad?" Jason continued. "We didn't even really do anything wrong. I'm getting punished and I didn't get to enjoy breaking the rules yet."

"Shhhhhhh, you probably shouldn't say that." Cameron laughed through his tears.

"I know. But..." he trailed off. "Maybe it's for the better anyway. Looks like I walked into more drama than I wanted. Not your brother, right? Or your cousin?"

"No," Cameron said sadly. "He my stupid asshole fuckface."

"Ahhhhh....." Jason sniggered. "I've had a few of those in my past."

"What are you going to do?" Cameron sat cross legged on the couch, watching the moonlight slowly shine through the curtains.

"You know, right before I met you, I was going to quit. I really was. I was convinced teaching wasn't for me."