This Doesn't Happen in Real Life

Chapter 14: A Whole New World...of Awkward

I knocked on the door to Colin's flat. No answer. I stood there feeling slightly awkward for about half a minute before I knocked again. I quickly checked my phone to see if I'd gotten the time right, I had. Bradley had told me where the spare key was but I didn't want to barge in....  

I debated with myself for another few seconds.  

"Colin?"  

I hadn't really talked to him since my first night in London; it'd be completely awkward to explain myself if I walked in. But he'd asked me to come I thought, that's what that note had said I thought... Argh boys were so confusing.  

"Maybe he fell asleep on the couch or something and can't hear me through his dreams..." I thought to myself.  

The hallway was stifling even though it was fall and I wiped my brow. Maybe someone had turned the heat on forgetting it wasn't that cold yet.  

Colin's flat would probably be air conditioned. I gave in to my poor heat resistant skin and got the spare key from the potted plant a few feet away from the door. It was exactly where Bradley said it'd be.  

I opened the door cautiously and just peeked through at first, not even putting my head through the opening. The light was on but I didn't see Colin anywhere. To my skin's delight I felt a whiff of cool air from the room light upon my skin and I stepped in (albeit hesitantly) and looked around.  

I was looking at the living room area and off to my right there was the kitchen/ dining room. I saw one door immediately off to my left, probably the bathroom. There were two doors down at the far end of the room; one was probably Colin's room. The other room was possibly a study, I didn't know.  

It was surprisingly neat considering a single guy in his 20's was living there. I'd seen my half brother's apartment last spring when I went to visit NYC for a week. Being able to find a place to sit or even see the floor was a good day. Then again I knew not /all/ guys were like Kaleb but even so I wasn't expecting it to be so clean.  

The only things I saw lying around seemingly unkempt were books, large stacks of papers that were probably scripts, and a glass of ice water on the coffee table. Everything else seemed well kept.  

And there was a book lying open on the coffee table as well. I wondered what he'd been reading (as an avid reader I would often ask this of my friends) . I walked over and saw that the rather thick book was in fact a journal as the page was handwritten and a pen lay next to the book.  

I wouldn't have read it, I definitely shouldn't have read it.... But I saw my name.  

Curiosity moved me to sit down and pick up the journal. The sentence which had first caught my eye said "Callia probably has no idea why I haven't really talked to her recently; I feel a bit guilty."  

Quickly my eyes jumped up to the top of the page. It was dated for that day. It read as so.  

"I believe I'm possibly the biggest idiot in the history of the UK. I can not seem to do anything without being wrong recently. So I've been basically mute for the past few weeks.  

Callia probably has no idea why I haven't really talked to her recently; I feel a bit guilty. It probably was wrong not to speak to her at all. She's a really sweet girl. If I had a little sister that's probably what she'd be like. It's just hard to look at her now after what Eoin kept saying (and Bradley kept implying)."  

I stopped reading.... What on earth had they said to make it hard to look at me?  

I flipped back a few pages to see if I could see anything from the time around my first night in London. Colin didn't write very often that I saw as I scanned the dates. Although I was mildly surprised he had a journal at all. Not that journaling is a female only realm, but most men don't journal that I know of. Maybe they're just better at hiding theirs (exceptions are pasty Irish boys living in London who leave them lying open on coffee tables).