In Another Universe

Friday 13:01 Brighton

 He never noticed how white the ceiling was. Just plain white. Maybe he had noticed it before and forgot, it's not like it's the first time he just lays there and stare at the ceiling. Had he done that before in this place? Probably. Back in Australia, until last year, his ceiling was dark blue. His dad painted it that way and stuck small white leds on it to represent a starry night. Most nights, he missed that ceiling. Every night, the stars seemed so close, like he could almost touch them. Like he could just close his eyes and be away from everything, be in space where there is no chaos, because there are no feelings in space. Nothing stupid to distract you from the beauty of the stars.

Right now, in front of that white ceiling, the stars felt quite far.

He straightened up and grabbed his computer. After opening YouTube, he typed once again Isaac's name. He then leaned against the wall, a pillow behind his back, and put the laptop on his legs. As he was about to click on another cover, he noticed the introduction video to the channel. A simple "Welcome to my channel", on which Charlie's mouse ended up.

Isaac appeared on his screen, his face brightened by a large smile. His tousled, curly hair was longer than it was when Charlie last saw him, coming to his eyebrows and curling up behind his ears. He was fidgeting with the thin, black bracelet on his wrist, but his voice sounded confident.

"Hello? Hi? Nice to meet you, I'm Isaac and I'm a singer. On here I will post covers, and maybe an original song, who knows? I hope you like it and you know, if you do, don't hesitate to subscribe and let's keep in touch! See you all soon and thank you!"

He waved and Charlie's cheeks dimpled. Isaac put his hand in front the camera and it cut to the auto-play of the next video, which Charlie didn't stop. He pushed his laptop to the end of the bed and laid down on the blanket to watch the covers on Isaac's channel. It said that he started it about six months ago, hence the different haircut, so there were not that many videos on there. Mostly covers of different pop and indie songs that he played on the guitar and sometimes on the piano.

But Charlie's favourite video was probably Isaac's first and only attempt as vlogging. Too weirded out by talking to a camera in public, like he explains at the beginning, it ended up being just footage of Isaac in different places in Brighton. Having a coffee sitting next to a window in Cloud 9 cafe. Walking around in Snoopers Paradise, trying on dungarees and a pair of old glasses, and taking a few pictures with different props in their old photomatic, to which Charlie couldn't help but laugh. Sitting in front of the Royal Pavilion and throwing little pieces of old bread to the seagulls. Wandering on the pier and between the games in the Palace Pier. In the end, resting on the beach, playing in the pebbles, looking more towards the sea than at the camera until he seemed to remember what he was here for and whispered a little goodbye with a little wave.

Once the video stopped, Charlie closed his laptop and turned around to look at the ceiling once more, feeling much more at peace than when he did that fifteen minutes ago. He sighed, thoughtful, before nervously biting his lower lip. He looked at his phone on the nightstand, and after a rather long hesitation, he grabbed it. Opening the App store, he typed, after another sigh, "gay chat". One touch on the search button and he was quite ready to put the phone down, but he clicked on the first one that appeared. Almost reluctantly, he created an account, without putting down any kind of name or picture, he just couldn't. Slowly, he started swiping on profile pictures, most of which happened to be topless, or in suggestive poses, and to all of which he swiped left, hitting every time the little red cross. He then decided to look at the bios, but all the "horny?", "top or bottom?" and other things he wasn't sure to totally understand made him close the app.

So he decided to just go back at staring at the ceiling and wonder how close the stars were.