Overlap

Light and Dark

James was all smiles as he got out of the car and walked to his house. Grinning, he leaned back against his front door as he thought of his day and more specifically, his moments with Nadine.

He wondered if it were morally wrong for him to be as happy as he was

Who was he kidding? Something was probably off. She had a boyfriend and he was just her best friend. But objectively speaking, everything they did that day resembled that of a couple. The teasing, hugs, hand holding, caresses, even the accidentally falling asleep on each other--one would assume they were together with how sweet their actions were. Throw in his own romantic feelings that, no matter how much he tries to fight them, still linger--it was difficult to not be even a little satisfied with everything.

But they were just friends and on her part, everything was friendly.

"If only she knew," James said aloud to himself as he looked up at the full moon. "If only she knew how much it all meant to me." Turning around, he enclosed his hand over the door knob. Slightly twisting it, he jumped as the door suddenly opened. His sister, Lauren, smirked at his reaction.

"Are you going to come inside or keep fantasizing about Nadine?" she teased before letting out a chuckle. James shoved his hands into his pocket consciously and looked downward.

Lauren stopped laughing. "I was just playing. Come inside, you're probably so hungry," she said, motioning him to enter.

Closing the door behind him, James then let out a yawn whilst stretching his arms in exhaustion.

Lauren uncovered his food and placed it in the microwave to warm up. She noticed he still seemed somewhat aloof--signaling to her that something happened.

"It's pretty late, what happened?" Lauren asked, her fingers tapping the granite counter behind her.

"Nadine and I fell asleep on the train and missed the stop. We ended up going all the way to Harlem instead," James answered, which immediately prompted Lauren's eyes to widen.

"How did that happen?!" she asked worriedly.

"A lot happened, Lauren," James responded before letting out a sigh. "We were so sweet today, you would've thought that I was her boyfriend and not Diego."

Lauren opened her mouth to speak but before she could respond, the microwave sounded off, signaling the food was ready. Turning around, Lauren took the pasta out and placed it on their table. James went by the sink to grab a fork before walking to the table and taking a seat, his mouth watering at the sight of his sister's homemade pasta.

"I left some at Nadine's place too," Lauren said, breaking the silence.

The corners of James' mouth curved into a smile. "That was kind of you, thanks Lau," he said before rolling some pasta onto his fork and taking a bite. "Mhmm, this tastes great," he said in between chewing.

"She's my friend too. Not to mention I know she barely cooks and mostly eats instant ramen," Lauren said with a sigh. "It's hard when someone is living alone."

James nodded as he swallowed his pasta. "She's by herself in that big house. I can't help but worry that something could happen to her."

"It's not safe nor is this ideal. Like you said, it's a large house and it's a lot to clean. She's a student so she has to balance school as well so she barely cooks and probably doesn't eat much seeing as she's the only one providing for herself financially. And like you said, she's alone. Someone could rob her and she could easily be out numbered or if someone sees she's alone, they could devise some plan to attack and do god knows what," Lauren immediately shook her head in disgust, shuddering at the thought of what could happen.