The Truth

The Memories

We both agree to not use the car at all tonight. Colby has this weird notion that if we overexert the car, it will explode with us inside it. I get a text from him in the laundryroom, asking how we should wash our clothes. Why did he want to wash his clothes so fast without knowing how to do laundry? "I'll be right there," I text him back. Sam saving the day, again. I get down to the main floor of the apartment complex and realize how dark it is outside. It's only 9.

"Hey, it's over here," I hear Colby's deep voice call.

"Okay man. So you put them all in one load?" I ask.

"Yeah. . . Isn't that what you're supposed to do?" I look at his face, he looks confused.

"Uh, I think I've seen my mom separate them before," I try to remember.

"That's what I thought at first but we only have a little bit to wash, we don't need to waste money assorting them. I need my star hoodie!" he starts to get loud.

"Okay well maybe put it to cold. . ." I turn the knob to COLD. "And then set it to SMALL and REGULAR."

"Okay, and the detergent is already in there. It should be good to goooooo," he presses the START button and his body language looks more relaxed.

"Alright, so you wanna see that hot tub tonight after the clothes dry?" I ask him.

"Man, that sounds so awesome. That would feel great," he smiles and starts making his way up the stairs. "I hope there's no one else there. I'd like to explore the entire building, actually. Do you want to see if there's a rooftop or something?"

"Sure, man. Let's go," I say.

We go up the stairs past our apartment and up more flights of stairs. We get to a door and Colby opens it. "Dude, I thought it would have an alarm built in it or something," he says excitedly.

"Yay, it's great to know what we're doing isn't illegal," I laugh and he pulls out his phone for light. We look around the rooftop. There's a ledge on all 4 sides and Colby sits down and looks at the skyline. "Wow, it's beautiful up here. . ." He says softly. I admire Colby's face as he looks out at the view. He looks very sober and content. He is rarely this. . . serious-looking. His attention is fully on what's happening down below. I can't stop staring at how perfect he is. The wind is blowing heavily on the roof but his hair is looking gorgeous. His scent is wavering over to me and I breathe it in. It's immediately calming me.

On the edge of the building there are trees that frame the outline of a busy LA street. All of the lights are lit up below us and there are few cars illuminating the roads right now. They pass quickly and the lights are almost blurred because of their speed.

"It's so peaceful," he glances over at me and motions me to sit next to him. I sit less than a foot away from him and listen to the natural ambiance of crickets and the steady melodic sound of cars whizzing by. It is very quiet for LA.

"I always thought LA would be very loud and busy at night. The passing of cars sounds really cool up here," I say.

"It also looks really cool. Like a video game," he tries to take a picture with his phone. It doesn't look nearly as good as the real thing. He is entranced by the scenery. We stay there in silence for about 5 minutes. Then Colby gets bored and pulls out his phone again and beams a light down on the rooftop floor. He finds a rock and starts to etch something onto the floor.

"What is that?" I ask.

"I'm going to draw a Squidward," he says nonchalantly, as if I've known that was his intentions the entire time.