How We End

Chapter 1

Chapter 01

"Ow!" I winced, rubbing the back of my head to relieve the pain, cursing under my breath. "Remind me to lower my head every time I pass there."

Christian looked at me and let out a dramatic laugh.

I glared at him, "Yeah, real funny."

"Sorry, sorry." He slowly broke his laughter.

"Stop sitting there like a big pile of nothing and start unpacking." I said sternly.

"All right, all right." He got himself up, made his way to the boxes and began to help me.

It wasn't long after we began unpacking. Box after box, we fixed everything in their designated places. I don't know how long for, but the hours felt like days and in time, we were done.

I headed to the living room and sank into the couch. My back hurt from all the work I had to do and I was honestly exhausted. I turned on the TV, searching for any meaningful thing I could watch.

Chris made his way toward me with two bottles of root beer in his hands. He handed me a bottle and sat down on the couch with his legs carefully crossed.

"So, uh, have you spoken to your parents since?" I asked, not looking at him.

"Nope." He said like it was no big deal.

Christian Walker was my best friend. He had been my best friend since junior year, although it felt like we had been in each other's lives forever. Back in high school, I didn't exactly have a lot of 'friends' because for some reason, everyone thought of me as mean but Chris wasn't one of them.

Chris was in my biology class and he wasn't exactly in the closet; people knew that he was gay. But over and over, I kept seeing people make fun of him because of who he was, so one day I got fed up and told them to piss off. Not that I liked him or had any intentions of being his friend, I simply hated the fact that he had to be treated differently because of his sexuality.

Gradually, we became friends. Then, we became best friends. When we graduated from senior year, I got admitted into Stanford and so did Chris, so we rented the closest house to campus we could find; which was a rough eight minute drive.

"Chris-"

"Grace, I don't wanna talk about it." He inhaled a deep breath.

"Okay, okay."

Chris' parents had always been so cultured and God fearing. When they found out that he was gay, they threw him out of their home, not even caring where he would go to or stay. I had begged my mom and dad to let him stay at our place for a while. Then Chris' uncle, Stanley, heard of everything and took him in. He had been the one taking care of him ever since. It was like his parents didn't even care if he was alive.

"I mean, who cares, right? You don't need them, they're assholes." I said, trying to lighten the mood which I may have ruined.

"I know, right?" He tried to laugh it off but I could still see the hint of sadness in his eyes. "So, you wanna grab dinner somewhere? I know none of us have the strength to fix something up right now."

"Yeah, okay. I'll grab my jacket."

That night, Chris and I went out for dinner at a diner nearby and their food was pretty good. By the time we got back, Chris was tired and he headed straight to his room to get some sleep.

I stepped into my room and looked around before sitting on my bed as my mind began to wander.

New life.

I had to adjust to this whole new life. Back in high school, it was my parents taking care of me and now it seemed like I had stepped into this whole new world where I was responsible for that.