Feels Like Home

      Keelin slowly moved the sleeping man's hairy arm off of his bare chest. As Keelin got out of the bed and began putting his clothes, he heard the grown man stir in the bed. He turned on his heels to not make any noise and he saw the man rubbing his eyes and groaning.

     "Where are you trying to sneak off to?"

      "Uh," Keelin glanced around the room and bit his lip trying to hide that he was in fact trying to sneak out. "Just to the bathroom." Keelin lied letting out a small laugh at the end. The man mumbled an "Okay, hurry back," as he closed his eyes. Keelin quickly put on his pants and shoes, grabbed the rest of his stuff, and silently bolted out of the house. After he was a safe distance away from the house, he put the rest of his clothes back on, put one earbud in, and pulled his phone out.

     He navigated his way through the millions of apps in the folder hiding the familiar black and orange app. He clicked on the hook and the chat screen appeared. Scrolling through past the "9 new messages" notification. Keelin found the man's profile and clicked the block button, then put his music on, came on. He let the lyrics wash over him, cleansing the night's events from his mind. He sang along waiting for the crosswalk light to change from orange to white and when it did he stepped off the curb a car sped by almost hitting him but someone pushed him onto the wet grass. He looked up to see his rescuer but whoever it was, wasn't still standing. Keelin heard groaning coming from his left and he recognized Emerson Grossman, a classmate, on the pavement.

     "Are you okay?" Keelin asked, rushing to Emerson's side.

     "I should be asking you that." Emerson chuckled, "But, yeah I'm good just a little scratched up." He says gesturing to his arms and legs. "Are you okay? I mean you're the one that almost got hit by a car." Keelin nods before taking his drawstring off his back and pulling out peroxide, cotton balls, and band-aids. Emerson looks at Keelin with a confused but grateful look.

     "I" Keelin holds the 'I' longer than normal, "Am really clumsy, so I carry these around everywhere I go." He explains as Emerson nods a smile forming from the corner of his lips and reaching his eyes,

     "Always good to be prepared." Emerson chuckles. Keelin looks up at him and returns the smile.

     "True." Keelin says before adding, "So, where did you cut yourself?" Emerson shows Keelin the shallow cuts. Keelin holds the cotton ball as he uncaps the peroxide.

     "Okay, this is gonna sting a little." Dabbing the peroxide soaked cotton ball on Emerson's cuts and can hear a wince with every touch. Keelin looks at Emerson putting the last band-aid on his arm and sees Emerson still grimacing,

     "Are you done?" Emerson asks, eyes closed.

     "Almost there, you big baby." Keelin jokes as he starts dabbing a new cotton ball over the cut above one of Emerson's eyebrows.

     "Hey, hey, hey. This 'big baby' just saved your life."

     "Mmmhm, is that what we're calling it? Well, your problem is pretty much solved after," He pauses to put the last band-aid on, "This. Whereas my shirt is still sopping wet." Emerson sucks in some air.

     "Ooh yeah sorry about that. I think I have a t-shirt you can wear." He says tossing the cotton balls and band-aid wrappers in the nearest trash can then heading towards his car. Keelin puts everything back in his bag and stands waiting on the curb for Emerson to come back. Emerson turns and waves Keelin towards him,

     "Are you coming?"

     "Oh, yeah." Keelin says walking to catch up with him. Emerson tosses him a lacrosse jersey,