Anything But Neutral (House of Gold mock-up)

6

Danny woke up leaning off one side of the bed. His arm ached from having slept on it. He felt heat radiating off his phone next to his thigh. Reaching under the covers, he remembered he had forgotten to charge it the night before. Danny turned slightly to look behind him, and saw Drew's hair peeking out from under the covers. Danny opened his phone and saw a slurry of text messages and phone calls. It was 10:44. Danny rolled over in bed and stared at Drew. He pushed himself backward onto the floor and felt the carpet between his toes. The door creaked and Drew moved slightly. Danny walked down the hall and into the bathroom, where he then took off his underwear and got in the shower. It smelled heavily of a particular cologne, but Danny couldn't tell if it was his or Drew's. He was scrubbing his scalp with his fingertips when realized he'd forgotten all of his toiletries in the bag he'd left in the other bedroom. He huffed, turned the shower off, and wrapped a towel around his waist before shaking his hair off, opening the shower door, and walking down the hall to the other room. It was very cold, and Danny shivered as he bent down to grab the bag, dripping water everywhere.

"Hey," he heard Drew's groggy voice behind him. He picked the bag up and looked over at him.

"Morning," he said softly. He held the bag in front of his pelvis with both hands. Drew exhaled in a soft laugh and rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"I was gonna..." he gestured towards the bathroom.

"Oh, no I was already showering." Drew nodded.

"I can see that," he folded his arms over each other. Danny walked around him and stepped into the bathroom, wet from his hair having dripped everywhere.

"Your mom kept calling me," Danny cleared his throat, facing away from Drew.

"Oh," Drew moved his hands down.

"Did you answer?" Danny shook his head and looked at his feet on the cold tile.

"Do you think I should call her?" Drew asked after several seconds. Danny turned around, still holding the bag in front of himself, and looked at him.

"Yeah," Drew's mouth twitched and he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Alright." He nodded before walking backwards into the bedroom.

"Can I use your phone?" Danny nodded and closed the door behind him. Danny deeply exhaled and turned the fan on. It was loud enough to drown out any outside noise. He locked the door and dropped his towel, pulling out the necessary toiletries from the bag and stepping back in the shower. He kept thinking about the letter, it was his mind's main priority. Even last night's rendezvous was put on the back burner. Danny turned the shower off, got out, and plugged an old, metal hair dryer he'd found in the cabinet into an outlet next to the sink. It was one of the outlets where you had to press two buttons; a yellow "test" and a red "on", but there must have been water damage in the outlet because when he pressed the "test" button he heard a sharp buzzing sound and the hairdryer didn't turn on. He sighed and unplugged it, opting to instead dry his hair with the wet t-shirt sitting on the toilet - it was Drew's, he presumed. This was a trick Amanda had taught him. He and Amanda did not get along as well as Drew had hoped, though they were able to bond over small factors of life like wavy hair, among others.

"Fuck," Danny sighed under his breath before opening the door a crack and looking down the hall.

"Drew," he called out. Drew didn't answer. Danny closed his eyes and exhaled - he had forgotten to bring clothes in the bathroom with him. He once again pulled the now-soaking towel around his waist and walked down the hall, pushing open the door to the bedroom. Drew was gripping his forehead, holding his phone up to his ear as if listening to something. He turned around and looked at Danny before putting the phone down on the bed.