Contrast

37

When I finally take in the appearance of his room, the first thing I notice is that it is twice the size of mine and is surprisingly clean.

The walls are a light shade of grey, extremely similar to the shade of my eyes.

Decorating the walls are 10 NFL quarterback jerseys. I squint to examine them and notice they are all signed by the player who wears them. My jaw drops in shock when I remember that these signed jerseys can easily be over 3000$ to buy, and he has 10 of them.

I turn my attention to the furniture in the room. He has a king-sized bed with all-black sheets and a matching black comforter. It looks ridiculously comfy, I might need to try it out before leaving.

On his wooden nightstand, he has a massive lamp, some scattered batteries, eyedrops, and an empty bottle of whiskey. I step further into his room to take in more.

I now spot his massive dresser, it has a big mirror behind it too. The top of the dresser is littered with random personal items. I notice his small collection of rings sitting in a little bowl as well as some spare razor heads, deodorant, cologne, and a laptop.

It's surprising to see how his room looks like the average college student's room, for some reason, I was expecting something crazy.

In the corner of his room, he has some 20LB dumbells which also sit next to a massive stereo. He told me before he likes to work out a lot, so I imagine this is where he does that.

I quickly walk closer to the dresser after noticing there are a bunch of pictures stuck into the side of the mirror behind it.

I smile as I examine the pictures to see that they're all of him and Noah. There are a few recent ones, but most of them are from when they were in high school. There is even one of them on the field in all their Miami football gear, they both look so little and adorable.

Finally seeing someone else other than Noah's family in a picture, I look closely at one of him and James. James has his arm around his shoulder and they're both smiling, Blake holding up a football proudly.

If I am correct, based on the background, I think that this picture with James is from the first college game he ever played in. Despite knowing him then but never talking to him much, I forgot how short his brown curls used to be.

I spot one picture that looks like it was taken at a beach in Miami with Noah and both of his parents. I instantly notice that the scar on Blake's left arm is much darker in the picture than it is now. He must've gotten it not long before this was taken.

I reach up and take it off of the mirror to look closer, and when I do, another picture that I didn't see before falls out from behind it.

It lands on top of the dresser upside down. As I flip it over curiously, my heart immediately sinks to the bottom of my stomach.

Looking back at me is what appears to be a little girl no older than Lily, smiling from ear to ear. She has beautiful chocolate brown curls and her bottom teeth are missing. She is holding up a half-eaten ice cream cone, evidence of it spread all around her lips.

Despite the low quality of the picture, the striking gray eyes staring back at me are unmistakable.

This is his sister.

I suddenly feel incredibly sick to my stomach, immediately putting the picture down.

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

Even though my intentions were completely innocent in the sense that I just wanted to see what Blake's room looked like, I know I wasn't supposed to see this picture.