Tiny - Tomatt

Night

All was quiet inside the apartment. Outside the open window, the surroundings were obscured by the dark haze of night time. The stars were blotted out by the artificial glow of the city below them, and the moon's light occasionally became muted by quiet clouds that drifted over it.

Gray curtains swayed loosely over the open window. The screen in the window let in the cool, almost chilly wind and sounds of nocturnal crickets. Late night drivers in their cars caused white noise and their headlights created white, square shaped patterns that drifted across the walls and the ceiling.

Inside, the living room was near pitch-black. Just the way Tom liked it. The only light emanated from the minimal ambient moonlight that glowed, dull, through the window, and from the screen of Tom's cell phone.

Though the brightness of the screen was set to be relatively dim, the light emitted still contrasted blindingly with the dull, hazy gloom of the room. However, while the luminosity would have made any other person's eyes sting, Tom's dark sockets remained unaffected.

He lay long ways on his sofa, back resting on one arm of the couch, feet propped up on the other. His thumb flicked up and down over the screen as he browsed through various apps and webpages. It displayed the time: 11:25 P.M. His keyboard, as he typed on it, created barely audible clicks.

'Quiz,' he typed into the search bar, pursing his lips shamefully, 'does my friend like me?'

After the results popped up, he scrolled down and clicked on the first link that appeared: "Does your friend like you? Quiz!"

The page loaded. Tom was met with a photo of a young man and woman. The man was obviously in love with the woman from the way he looked at her. Something in Tom felt weird about it - the situation with Matt was out of the ordinary because they were both males. Maybe... Maybe I'm acting crazy... Maybe none of this is right...

He shook his head and drew his knees up to his chest. He scrolled down the page a bit and read the description: "Girls only!!!!!" He rolled his empty eyes in annoyance, but it got him thinking...

I'm acting like a confused middle schooler, he thought, irritation levels swelling. He lowered his phone to his lap and looked up at the ceiling. This is such a juvenile way for me to be spending my time right now.

Tom was too deep in thought to hear the approaching footsteps from behind the door, or the light knock, or the creak of the handle turning. His front door burst open suddenly, startling him nearly enough to make him scream, letting in bright light from the hallway and exposing the silhouette of a person.

Matt furrowed his brow, interested, at the sight before him. There was Tom, sitting all alone on his couch in the middle of a darkened room and staring at him. Why would someone willingly do that? Matt wondered. The light's far better.

"What are you," Matt laughed, "a vampire?"

"No," Tom grumbled. He hurriedly hit the home button on his phone to switch away from the quiz. "What are you, a night owl?" Though it was a disturbance to be visited at this late of an hour, he couldn't help but feel glad and somewhat flattered that he was there of all places. What would Matt want from me this late at night?

"If I'm a night owl," Matt stated, "you're a night owl too, since you're on your cell phone instead of sleeping." Matt made his way inside and hit the light switch. The entire room lit up with a blazing yellowish glow. Matt shielded his eyes.

"Don't you need your beauty sleep? ...Or something?" Tom asked in a low voice, putting his phone down. "What are you doing up this late? Do you want something from me?"