In Another Universe

Saturday 15:10 Nowhere To Be Found

A bright ray of sun beamed into the bedroom through the open curtains, providing the only source of light in the dim room. A few hours earlier, it had already woken up Charlie, used to sleep in complete darkness. Last night, when they arrived at the flat, Isaac had insisted that they keep the curtains open. Charlie had jokingly asked if he was scared of the dark but Isaac had answered in a serious tone that all kind of things are lying in the dark and that no, he wasn't scared of the dark, but of those things which he knew nothing about. Afraid of the unknown if you will, and Charlie couldn't help but wonder if he had made a mistake by not fearing the dark.

However, at 7 am when the light first hit his bed, he understood why he didn't really care for the dark and all its creature as long as it allowed him to have a lie in on a Saturday morning. He had never been an early riser. He was more the kind of person who would press snooze a bunch of times until he either realises he's late or gets too hungry to stay in bed.

But that time, he didn't mind waking up that early. Isaac was still fast asleep, clearly used to sleeping through light changes. And honestly, that was a spectacle that Charlie was glad he didn't miss.

The night before, their kiss, was still somewhat of a blurry thing in that he still wasn't sure he didn't dream it. But the fact that Isaac was here, sleeping like a little angel in his bed, was proof that it happened. They kissed. They really did. What did that mean? He didn't know. They still hadn't talk about it. They just kissed more.

Charlie fell back asleep while playing with Isaac's curls and woke up only hours later under Isaac's kisses on his face. Laughing, they spent the rest of the morning barely talking, just kissing, cuddling, and exploring each other's faces with a smile before dozing off again.None of them wanted to think of the outside world, other than the cups of tea and some biscuits that Charlie snatched from the kitchen before quickly going back to his bedroom.

"I like words," Isaac said, flipping through a book he found on Charlie's bedside table. "They're a bit like music, you know? Good paragraphs, sentences, and all that. When it's well done, when it works, well... that's just like music."

"I don't know enough about either to tell you... I'm the kid in class that reads poetry and makes it the most boring and gross groupement of words ever."

"Ouh..." Isaac said, shaking his head in disapproval. He put the book down and looked at Charlie. "Don't know if we can really be together if you say things like this. But... let me think. Physics's your thing, right?"

"Yeah... especially astrology."

"Well, think of it like that. Each word is a star. Each sentence, a constellation. Each paragraph, a galaxy. That does that makes the book? It's its own little universe."

"So there's a much universes as there are books?" Charlie asked, nestling against him, smiling at the smell of lemongrass.

"No! There are way more than that. All the books that are, and the worlds in poems and songs, and movies... And I'm not even talking about the books in other universes. All the little stars we can't see because they're ever so slightly different from the ones we have.

"Parallel universes?" Charlie looked at him with a smile. There was something he could get on board with.

"Yup. Don't you ever think of those?"

"I do, actually. Like... quite a lot... I like to wonder what the infinity of little mes are doing. Some of them are richer than Bill Gates. Some of them are friends with Gandalf. I mean... most of them are living their best lives. And them the others are the one died when instead of just getting out of the shower, I cracked my head open on every single thing in the bathroom."

"Oh... Jeez.... Poor them."

"Yeah but... Okay, there's actually quite a lot of them but the others are find. And like... there's probably some of me everywhere in the world. I haven't seen much of the world but with all the alternate me, we've collectively seen everything."

"Oddly uplifting," Isaac said with a smile. "I think in a way, I do that too. I'm adventurous but... In books. When I read, it's like I'm living the story. So... I guess there are little me in books everywhere. And in my music."

"Hm... All those universes... Do you think there are other us in your books?"

"Maybe. Maybe not even books. Did you imagine how we could both die in this exact situation or are all our alternative selves safe here?"

Charlie laughed.

"I didn't, but I could start right now."

"Well, I don't want to know." He laughed with him. "It's too scary to think about all those little us who aren't happy."

"Yeah b--"

A knock on the door interrupted their discussion.

"Hey, man. Stay in your room if you want but like... are you eating anything? I wouldn't want you to starve to death," Evie's voice said from the other side of the door.

"Uh yeah... I took food from the kitchen." Charlie looked at Isaac, half amused and half annoyed.

They heard Evie's mumble fade and disappear.

"Where do you know her from?" Isaac asked.

"We met... well hm... a few months ago... She defended me from a bunch of guys who just... well they just weren't really nice. So, she faced them and confronted them until they left. She always says she's sad there was no fight involved." Isaac tilted his head and Charlie felt compelled to add something. "I know she's not exactly Hulk so you might ask how she made a bunch of guys leave... well, she's been doing some kind of boxing and stuff so..."

"So you moved in with here?"

"Well, people you live with are hopefully a support for you; right? And she's much more that than my parents are at the moment. Especially my dad. So, yeah. I did."

"Sounds like a feel good movie to be honest. But like... probably written by straights so you'd end up with her in the end."

"It could be one of your books."

Isaac laughed like he had heard the most stupid thing.

"Movie. Definitely movie. It would be called... The Boy Who Didn't Know The Sea. It's a good title. Sounds deep, and yet, it actually just means you're a dumbass."

With protests, Charlie ended up laughing with Isaac. To be fair, he wasn't wrong so he couldn't hold that against him.

"I know the sea, I just didn't know where it was."

"It's worst. And not a good title."

Isaac's phone started vibrating but he just pushed it from the bed like he wanted to forget it ever existed. Eventually, it stopped. Isaac didn't say anything but knew it was most likely Emily, probably worried and quite pissed. And he knew that his phone was probably also a warzone by now, bombarded with angry DMs from littleleaofbrighton.

"Let's just write the movie then. And add your character." Charlie said.

"I can be in your movie?"

"You have to. Love interest."

They both laughed, smiling at each other, before going back to their kisses, and once again, they were inseparable.