Boy Across The Hall

Chapter 5

❝A silent night. - the most eloquent poem I have ever read.❞

ㄧ Sanober Khan

           I was in bed, unable to sleep. The thought of being there alone, and in the dark, was frightening. I was usually never left home alone overnight, but when I was, there was always light coming from outside. Now, it was just plain darkness.

           I suddenly heard someone knocking at my door. I went to go check it out.

          "Hey! Sorry... Did I wake you?" It was Matt. He looked frightened but trying to play it cool. It didn't fool me.

           "No, I couldn't sleep. What's up?"

           "Not much... just thought maybe we could just stay together... My father also texted me. He said he won't be able to make it. He is staying at a hotel." He looked genuinely scared. Poor guy...

           "Definitely. No problem. Which place is it gonna be? Yours or mine?" I asked.

           "I don't want to intrude, but can it be your place? My toilet kinda stopped working..." This made me laugh so hard, I had to apologize.

           "I'm sorry. You just brought back the funniest memory."

           "It's okay. You can laugh at my struggles, I won't get mad..." He said with a half sarcastic voice. I let him in, showing him to my bathroom.

           "Are you hungry? I can cook some instant noodles on my stove." Our building had gas stoves, so they worked without electricity. I used to absolutely hate the smell, and my dad always complained about its cost, but now I appreciate that we can use it instead of starving to death.

           "Totally up to you. I'll eat if you will." I took a pot out of the cupboard, filled it with water and set in on the stove. It took about ten minutes for everything to be ready, and we sat at the table and ate.

           "This is awesome. I never knew that ramen could be so delicious." He said, slurping up the last noodle.

           "You're probably just extremely hungry. It doesn't taste that great to me... So what do you want to do?" It got really hot really fast since the AC shut down. We both started to sweat like pigs.

           "I just had the greatest idea. How about we build a fort on the balcony. It's still warm outside, but at least there will be a tiny breeze." He said enthusiastically. What could I say? It was indeed a great idea. We took all the pillows and sheets that were in my apartment and set up an old tent that could barely fit 3 people on the balcony. I brought a giant camping flashlight and hung in on a hook off the 'roof' of the tent. This is gonna be awesome.

           We talked for a while, telling each other childhood stories and funny memories. He told me that his father still had occasional breakdowns, and I told him that mine did too, but not to such an extent. Matt ended up taking his shirt off because of the extreme heat, even though it was nighttime, and I couldn't help but notice a big scar line on his left shoulder blade. He explained that it happened during a fight he had with his dad while he was drunk. He threw a bottle of vodka at him, and it somehow ended up impaling him deep into his skin. Poor guy. I wonder what it must feel like to have a father like that. I've never even argued with my dad before...

           After a couple of trips back to the kitchen to get snacks and water, we started to get extremely tired, so we turned off the flashlight, and both fell sound asleep.

           I woke up to the sound of birds chirping. It was amazing. Here in the city, you usually wake up to the sound of traffic and screams outside your window, but nobody was driving, and nobody was outside either. I realized that he was spooning me from behind. How did this happen? Did we fall asleep like this? I wiggled out of his tight embrace, and lightly placed a kiss on his cheek. Why did I do that? He was simply way too cute. I went to the washroom to freshen up, getting ready to cook something that could be decent enough to call 'breakfast'. But when I walked out of the bathroom, he was already standing at the fridge, looking for something.

           "Whatchya lookin' for there?" I asked, trying to stop my face from turning bright red. The way his back was straight, and his muscles were toned was perfect. It made me wonder how such a nice and extremely good-looking guy could even talk to me, let alone stay the night with me and hug me through to the whole night.

           "Oh, nothing much, just something I can cook with." He said, pulling out a carton of eggs and some bacon. Of course. That was probably the only thing we even had in our fridge, considering that that's basically the only thing my family ate every day.

           "Nice choice. That's all you need for a perfect breakfast." He looked at me with an adorable smile.

           "I know right... If only I knew how to cook it though." His face changed to a disappointed one quickly.

           "I can definitely teach you. Here. Let me help you." I placed an egg in his right hand.

           "Crack the shell on this pan." I said, pointing to the rim of a pan that was already on the stovetop. He gently hit the egg, making a crack form in the egg.

           "Great! Now, but the edges of your thumbs in that crack, and pull out the edges as hard as you can. Like this..." I put my hands over him, placing his thumbs in the correct place, and showing him the motion at which he had to pull to fully open the egg. He successfully cracked the egg open and plopped it into the pan.

           "Now, do that three more times." He cracked three more eggs and plopped them all into the pan. He then carefully placed four strips of bacon, closed the lid, and turned the stove on.

           "I'm sorry. I'm just so used to either having food made for me or buying it at some restaurant. Thanks for not laughing at me.

           "I would never laugh at you. Nobody's perfect." I said, reassuring him that everything was fine. We ate breakfast, and suddenly all the lights turned back on.

           "WHOO! We survived a city-wide blackout!" He screamed, standing up, and giving me a big hug. Damn, he was strong.

           "Well, now that the electricity works again, I'll help you clean up the balcony and I will go back to my place." We gathered the mess in the backyard and put it all back into the main closet. He left, thanking me for spending the night with him, and promising that he will call sometime soon. Oh, my God. This has definitely become my favorite day ever.