Hello? Hi.

29

Aden woke up in an unfamiliar place with a stinging pain in his wrists. It hurt to move, but he rubbed his irritated eyes so he could process who he was, where he was, and why he was here. He couldn't figure it out, his mind was foggy and blank. 

'Was I drunk last night? Did I smoke weed? But I don't drink or smoke...' Aden rubbed his eyes again and stretched his arms apart as he crinkled his face. He tried to sit up on the bed but cringed at the pain his wrists and back gave him when he did. He only then realized that his wrists were bandaged and that he was still wearing the same outfit he was wearing yesterday. All of a sudden, Aden got a pang of fear. Where was he?

His scars had little Marvel Superhero Band-Aids on. Aden couldn't help but think about how embarrassing it was that someone saw them. He shifted uncomfortably. The Band-Aids were cool though, and he felt like a geek for thinking that. Maybe he put them on himself.

He looked around, laying on the bed. It was a small room. The walls were filled with posters from different fandoms and blurry pictures of people. Aden couldn't make up who those people were. There was also a bookshelf filled with books, DVDs, and even CDs.

'Who still owns CDs?' Aden whispered aloud to himself. He looked at the bed. Green bed sheets, nothing special. 

'Wait. Why am I still wearing the clothes I was wearing yesterday?' And then he suddenly remembered Noah. He was in Noah's room.

Aden started to internally panic. 'What the hell happened last night after we left the house? I can't remember. Did we kiss? Did he sleep in this bed with me? Did he sleep with me??' All his fidgeting caused the bed to squeak and Aden froze. 

No. He couldn't be here. He didn't socialize with people well in person. Sure, he joked about meeting Noah, but now he didn't even have anything prepared! No slick jokes, funny puns, nothing. No one really liked Aden and he didn't want to ruin the text 'relationship' that the two shared. It wasn't anything too special, but Aden liked it that way. He liked being the outgoing one. He liked not being able to get hurt.

Aden heard footsteps outside the closed bedroom door. He stopped panicking in his tracks and calmed down after hearing the footsteps because he knew Noah was probably more nervous than he was. Much more nervous. After awhile, the footsteps quietly and slowly came closer to the room's door.

A soft, almost inexistent knock sounded a second later. Aden said nothing. Should he pretend to sleep?  He quickly shut his eyes as the door slowly opened with a squeak and Noah popped his head in. Aden opened his eyes and there staring right at him was the pale, shy boy.

So pretty.

"O-oh. Did I wake you up? You don't have to wake up, you can sleep. You should sleep." Noah said tongue-tied. He awkwardly popped his head out to close the door in a panic.

Aden forced himself to sit upright, biting his lip to the pain. "Noah. Wait." Aden said, everything about this place and this boy seemed so unreal. The only thing making him believe this wasn't just a vivid dream was the pain. 

He didn't want Noah to leave. Everything was happening way too fast, his brain and his heart couldn't catch up. Noah popped his head back into the room.

"I just wanted to see if you were awake," Noah said nervously, anxiously scratching the back of his head with his arm. He smiled a shy smile. "I-I guess you are." His pale skin turned pink.

"Hi," Aden said with a small smile.

"Hi," Noah responded.

There was a silence. Not an awkward silence. A settling silence as Noah stared at his feet and Aden got in a criss-cross applesauce sitting position on the bed. Aden caught a glance at Noah, his black hair covering his eyes as he looked down and his cheeks painted softly pink behind a couple of freckles. He wanted to tell him how beautiful he was, but it was much harder without a screen to protect him from embarrassment if he got rejected, so he kept the compliment floating in his head.