until he left // luke hemmings

03 - Hello, I Love You

"H-Hi! Uhmmm..." I couldn't find the words. He seemed intimidating to me but I wasn't scared. My fear of pierced people was long gone but then I couldn't help but think that it might take a while for me to be close friends with him.

Befriending people had always been my problem. I was a perfectionist and choosy when it comes to having friends and it got out of control when I was in high school that's why I never really had any real friends even when I was in college, I guess I just got used to be with myself. I don't even know where or how to start. I just got lucky I pulled out a proper conversation with Ashton and Calum earlier. I'm not the only one under my grandfather's care and I believed that it's necessary for me to get closer to them. We all live under the same roof anyway.

He flashed me a crooked smile. "So... how do you feel?"

I stared at him in confusion. "I-I'm okay, I guess." I started to smile. "You seemed pretty comfortable sleeping on my bed."

He scratched the back of his neck as he stared at the ground with a smile as if he was embarrassed. "Oh.... Uhmmm... I just needed to deliver the letter to you and I figured you weren't home yet so I sort of rested."

I nodded while laughing lightly and looked away.

"About the letter..." he started which caused me to turn my attention back to him. "What are you feeling right now? What are you going to do about it?"

He was nodding towards something behind me.

I sighed realizing that there's no point in hiding the piece of paper. I stared at the bottom right of the letter where the two initials of the sender are written.

R.H.

I looked at the boy standing near the edge of my bed. "I... I don't really know. This..." I looked at the words written on the piece of paper and exhaled. "...I have never received something like this...in my whole life."

He chuckled. I looked at him and he looked at me. He leaned down not taking his eyes off me and placed his palms on the mattress for support. He then started crawling towards me and I couldn't help but imagine the scene in the movie called Fifty Shades of Grey where Ana was eating toast and Christian started crawling towards her and then he took a bite of the toasted bread in the sexiest way that I thought he was going to kiss her...

...Except that the boy in front of me wasn't crawling towards me to take a bite of something but simply because he wanted to introduce himself to me. His green eyes somehow turned dark and he leaned in only to whisper, "I'm Michael Clifford... and I'm drowning."

He leaned away but his face was still close to mine and I swear it made me feel really uncomfortable. "W-What do you mean? Was that s-symbolism or something?"

He smiled and his eyes turned back to its original color. I wanted to sigh in relief because of that. "Are you always like that, Audrin?"

"Always like what?" I asked him, determining what's possibly inside his mind.

His eyes left my face for a moment and then his gaze met mine again. "Do you always look at or interpret things figuratively?"

Yes. Most of the time but I also took most things literally. It depends on the situation... but I didn't tell him that.

I stared at him and didn't speak so he continued. "I'm drowning, Audrin."

"What are you trying to say, Michael?" I demanded. He didn't answer so I glued my eyes on the piece of paper in my hands. My eyes widened when I saw the two words written before the sender's initials.

Deeply drowning,

I stared at him in shock. "You are R.H." I told him in a whisper as if I was scared that someone could hear. It didn't come out as a question. It came out as if I was sure of what I was saying.