Drown

Chapter 1

"I'm leaving in two days."  

I was sitting on my bed, mindlessly watching the tv screen, when the words were said.  My best friend, and roommate, Aaron, sat beside me with a sad look on his face.

"I'm sorry I didn't give you much warning.  I only found out today."

Aaron was headed into the army.  He was a big guy, built just right for that kind of thing.  It's all he'd ever wanted to do, and I'd always supported it.  But now it was actually happening.  He was moving out of our shared apartment and leaving me all alone.

"What am I suppoesed to do?"  I asked him. "I can't afford this place by myself, and I don't have time to find a new roommate.  I'm going to end up homeless!"

"No you won't.  I found you another roommate already.  I mean, if you want him."  

"Who is he?"  

"You know my cousin, Greyson?"  He asked.

"I think you've mentioned him before.  But we've never met."

"Well he lived in England for most of his life.  So I guess you had no reason to meet him."  Aaron began, "Anyway, he needs a place to live.  He's been living an hour outside the city with his friend for a while.  It kind of sucks for him to have to travel so far to get to school everyday.  Plus, his friend's boyfriend is moving in, and they hate each other."

"Where does he go to school?"  I asked.

"With you, actually.  He said he's seen you before.  You had your last math class with him.  Plus, he's taking the writing class that you are when Winter Break is over.

"So he knows who I am but he's never said hi?" 

"He didn't say he knew who you were.  He just recognized you.  I sent him a picture."

I let out a deep breath and fell back on the bed.  It was comforting to know that my sudden new roommate was of the same blood as my best friend, but it didn't change the fact that I hardly knew anything about this guy.

"So you said he goes to school with me.  Does that make him an art student?"  I asked.

Aaron looked confused, and I understood why.  But I waited to see if he understood what I meant.

"Well, aren't you an art student?"  he asked.

"Technically, yes." I began. "I'm a student, and I study art.  But that's not what I meant.  I mean is he one of the typical egotistical, over confident, art students who thinks that they're some kind of god because they can handle a paintbrush.  The ones who make me want to rip my eyes out?"

"No, Luca.  I wish you could have met him first, but he's cool, I swear.  You guys have a lot in common, actually."

"Like what?"  I asked.

"Well, a lot of things.  Neither of you eat meat, you both like depressing music, you're both gay, you're both obsessed with your hair..."

"I love how you just tried to slip that gay thing by me."  I laughed.

"Well, what do you expect?"  Aaron sighed. "I mean, I'm not going to be like, 'Hey, Luca, best friend since age four, heres my cousin, please have sex with him.'"

"Would it really bother you that badly?"

Aaron shot me a look that told me that it really would.  

"I will not hook up with your cousin."  I smiled. "I swear."

"Great."  He smiled, then looked away for a second.

Aaron looked like he'd just remembered something important.  I could see fear in his eyes.

"Aaron, what's up?" I asked. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Well, Greyson is really cool, most of the time.  I mean, during the day he's all talkative and outgoing and he's nice to everyone.  He's like, super intelligent, and interesting, and you would never guess that something was wrong with him."

I raised my eyebrows and gave Aaron a look.  What kind of person was he making me live with?

"You know how sometimes at night, when you get in bed and try to go to sleep, and your mind decides to wake up and go crazy?"  Aaron asked.

"Yeah, and?"

"Well, that happens to Greyson, but on a much bigger scale.  At night he gets all quiet, and his mind kind of takes over.  Like, you could just be sitting on the couch, and he's all there one second, but then you go to say something to him and he's gone.  He can hear you, but he's so caught in his own head that he can't usually make himself respond.  And he knows that there's something wrong with him, but he can't really do anything about it."

"So you're saying that he basically shuts off after a certain hour?"  I asked.

"Sort of, but it doesn't happen as easily if he's distracted.  Like, for instance, if he's sitting by himself watching tv, it happens really easily as soon as it turns like, nine oclock.  But if you're talking to him and he's interested in the conversation, he can usually hold it off for a while.  But it does happen eventually."

"When it happens, does he just freeze?"

"Well, for a while.  But he does things.  He just won't talk to you unless you pull him back somehow."

"And how do I do that?"  

"Well, I've never successfully done it.  What I've seen other people do usually involves hurting him, and I don't want to do that.  But his mom used to walk him to the stove and put his hand on one of the burners to wake him up."

"So, you're having me room with your crazy cousin?"

"He isn't crazy.  He's great.  He's just a little off sometimes."

"Great." I sighed.  "I'm ready when you are."

Aaron called Greyson, and within the hour we were in my car, driving to go get him.  We pulled up to a little blue house at around four o'clock.  Aaron got out of the car and went to knock on the front door.  I watched from the car as a tiny girl opened the door, and let him in.   Ten minutes later, Aaron came outside carrying a box.  Behind him came Greyson.  

"Oh no."  I said to myself.

Aaron never said anything about Greyson being that beautiful, but he was.  My god, he was.  He stood just about six feet tall, maybe a little shorter than me.  His hair was black and messy, and his eyes were the nicest shade light of blue I'd ever seen.  Pale skin, freckles, and a lean body.  

Aaron put the box in the back of my car, then got back into the passenger's seat.  I watched Greyson walk down the sidewalk towards the car.  I counted the seconds until he got in the back seat.  The only seconds I had to have him just be a pretty face, instead of a person.  

He opened the door, and tossed his bag into the empty seat, then he sat down, leaning into the front of the car to introduce himself.

"Hello."  he smiled, "I'm Greyson."

"Luca."  I said, trying to smile back.

I didn't want to look like some kind of jerk.  But I was finding it hard to do anything but stare at him.  He was beautiful, yes, but something else was happening to me.  There was something more than just a good looking guy here.  And I was just hoping that he felt it too.