The Place To Be ✔️

chapter 6

September 6th 2016

John's POV:

As soon as we returned from the art store, I immediately sat down at my desk and grabbed my pouch of expensive pencils. Alex had just headed to have a shower and said that he might be a while, he was testing some new hair care treatment, or something like that. I didn't care, I was relieved, in fact. Him being around me whilst I draw a picture of him just seemed quite weird honestly.

I pulled out my phone and opened it to the photos I took of him at the art store. I'd told him we should take a selfie, but also managed to sneakily snap a few decent photos to use as reference afterwards, ones of him looking at the sketchbooks, his thoughts too focused on the books than whatever I was doing. After much contemplation, I found the best picture and started to lightly sketch his proportions out on the first page of my new book.
A few moments later, whilst adding in more refined features to his face, I realised how perfect his skin is. It seems so soft and full of life, he was the human embodiment of perfection. I wished I could reach through the screen and stroke his cheek, tell him how much he means to me, despite us meeting less than a day ago, how it felt like magic when our hands brushed together this morning. I want to hug him tightly and run my fingers through his long hair and talk about our days during lectures. I want to one day be able to tell him that I love him, and be able to call him mine.

I tried not to get lost in my thoughts, as I knew that Alex would be getting out of the shower soon. Speaking of which, I didn't hear it running anymore, but could see from the corner of my eye that the light was switched off and the door was open. Huh, where did he g-
Oh no.
I felt a drip of water on my neck, causing me to gulp. I swivelled my chair around and was faced with Alex, blushing as he stood over me with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist.
"Is that me?" He asked, pointing a pruned finger towards my drawing.
I felt my cheeks get warm and stared to mutter out some half assed excuse.
"Uh, I-I'm sorry, yeah, but i-it's not in a c-creepy way, I promise, I, uh, I just... fuck.", I realised that I'd really messed up by not concentrating and by letting him see. I buried my face in my hands to hide from the embarrassment of facing Alex.
"Hey, John, be more chill. I was just going to say that it's really good. Feel free to use me as your artistic muse anytime" he said, saying the last part in a jokey-type way that made me sink into my chair and melt. "Actually, it's amazing. Is art your major? Because damn, I was only gone for like, fifteen minutes and, wow."

He kept on rambling about my drawing, which made me blush and want to slam my head on the table. Yeah, he liked it, but it's still embarrassing. I'm just glad that he didn't take it weirdly like I'd expected him to do.

He left the room after a minute to dry his hair and get changed in the bathroom, giving me more time to spend on this drawing, making it more detailed than I needed to, but in the back of my mind remembering that it was worth it for myself and Alex, but mainly Alex.

Alex's POV:

After I dried off and slipped on some more comfortable clothes, I emerged from the bathroom and saw John still working on the drawing. As he couldn't see me at the moment, I stood in the doorway and observed him in this moment-
As his eyes flicked up and down from the photo on his phone, he was often tucking away the curls that gently cascaded from the loose grip of his hair band every once in a while. I saw him furrow his eyebrows and reach for his eraser when he makes a mistake, saw him smile as he works and when the reality of his art matched the photo.
He had his headphones plugged into his ears, and I could hear them blasting music, probably still his playlist that he was playing in the car earlier, which he seemed really enthusiastic about. I could tell from the glint of happiness in his eyes that this was some of his best work, and honestly, it was brilliant.
Earlier, I could see that he was almost upset that I'd seen him doing this drawing, but I was ecstatic. Could this mean that he is feeling what I'm feeling too? Would he be drawing me otherwise? Or did he just need someone to draw for his art course? I frowned slightly, with my heart dropping a bit in my chest and walked over to my bed, which made John notice my presence in the room. He looked at me with that same glint in his eyes, which quickly faded as he looked into my slightly clouded ones.

"Alex, are you alright?" he asked, with his smile that he previously wore dropping into a less enthusiastic, almost sympathetic one.
"Yeah, ​I guess. I was just thinking about some stuff."
Honestly, I was the stupid one. John never said any of that; I made it all up in my own mind. I have no clue what's going on in his mind. I really have no clue of anything about him, and I want to know all about him.
"Okay, let me know if you need anything." He said with a smile, as he swivelled back around in his chair.
"Actually, I do need something." I said quickly and without thinking. John turned back around in his chair and raised an eyebrow at me. "Lets play a game, truth or dares, or just truths; I want to get to know you, like a random trivia game." I immediately regretted saying that and thought he would just diss it like it was a stupid idea.
"Sure, why not. We might as well get to know each other, we do have to live together for the next year." He responded, laughing and squinting his eyes slightly, which I thought was adorable.
"Okay then! Where shall we start...?"
We went back and forth for a few minutes, asked a few questions, laughed a bit, and I asked, "So, what's your favourite animal?". His eyes lit up as I asked this and he ran back over to his desk and grabbed his slim laptop and joined me back on the floor in between our beds. He typed his password in faster than I've ever seen anyone type before and flicked through his desktops to- wait a minute. As he was swiping I swear that one of the backgrounds was a gay pride flag? My heart fluttered and time un-paused as he was going through to show me his background of a... turtle? I pulled myself back into reality and lessened my huge grin to a more ordinary one.
"Isn't she beautiful?" he said to me, tears almost forming in his eyes.
"Uh... stunning." I responded, a small chuckle present in my words. He sighed-
"She belongs to my friend, Peggy. We should visit her sometime; I've missed her and her sisters, Angelica and Eliza. And Tobillo, of course."
"Why is the turtle called 'Ankle' in Spanish?" I questioned.
"Beats me." he said back, shrugging his shoulders.
I avoided asking the question of if he was gay, thinking that it might make things awkward, until he asked it-
"Sexuality?" he looked up at me with those eyes, damn those eyes. Hazel eyes had always been a weakness of mine, I don't know why, but was the human version all of my weaknesses, so living with him without trying to- you know- was going to be hard.
"Bi," I said, trying my best not to stammer' "how about you?" I tried to act cool whilst also trying not to shake as I anticipated his response.
"Gay." He responded proudly. I smiled and let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding in, which made John chuckle.
"Yeah, I thought so," I muttered, providing no explanation to John, who had now tilted his head, clearly confused as to why I thought he was gay, "I saw one of your desktop backgrounds was a gay pride flag." I explained, causing him to display an understanding facial expression. As he went to speak again I hoped he couldn't see the blush rising on my cheeks.

We decided to wrap up our game, and I think that I can speak for both of us by saying that we are glad we know more about each other, especially the last question. A few minutes ago the rumbling in our stomachs became very prominent, so we thought we should get some pizza before we starved to death.
Luckily, we had very similar views about what should and shouldn't be on pizza (we both thought pineapple doesn't deserve to ruin something as glorious as pizza) and decided to order a large 'meat feast' one, and also decided that John would pay for it, after much argument from me saying we should split it (but I gave in when he stared into my eyes and told me firmly that he was paying.)

After we ate, we watched the first episode of Breaking Bad on Alex's bed, neither of us minding that we were quite close, with our shoulders were pressed together, and afterwards we separated, brushed our teeth and fell asleep quickly.

2nd July 2017