Intoxication, Paranoia & A lot of Fame

"Do you guys know each other?"

I must've been too deep in my sleep to hear anyone come in because the next thing I knew I was being woken up by a couple of loud voices. The lights were being flicked on, blinding me in the process and I was suddenly face to face with a man drenched in tattoos and piercings. It took me a while but after blinking a few times and sitting up, the strangers words began to process in my head.

"Who the fuck are you and what are you doing in my apartment?" the man asked with a puzzled look on his face. Luckily for me, he was more confused than angry, but nevertheless very intimidating.

"I uh- uh, well I -," was all that could come out of my mouth with the tall man standing over me.

Luckily Justin must've heard people come in, because moments later he sleepily walked into the living room.

"Mikey! Surprised to see you home," he said causally while fist bumping the man. "This is Kellin; he's new around here. He'll be.... staying with us for a while," he said with a smirk.

Mike must've caught on to whatever Justin was insinuating because he nodded back and looked at me as if he was considering something. He gave me one last look before he left his position towering over me and walked to the kitchen. I could've sworn I've seen those tattoos somewhere... I shook away those thoughts and faced the kitchen to see who the other person was that entered the room and boy was I surprised. My eyes landed on those same beautiful, brown curls and big brown eyes and that's when everything clicked. Hell no. He must've felt the same way seeing me, as his shocked facial expression mirrored mine.

"Uhhhh do you guys know each other," the man named Mike asked as he stood in between me on the couch and the other man in the kitchen.

Snapping out of his trance and clearing his throat, the other man shook his head. I could sense that same asshole personality from the plane as he walked over to me.

"You know what, I actually do think I've seen you before. Hmmm, but I can't think of where," he said with a sarcastic tone that I found incredibly annoying.

"Oh really?" I retorted, mimicking his tone. "Because I don't seem to remember ever seeing a sarcastic ass Mexican like you anywhere."

With that, the smirk on his face dropped and was replaced with one of anger, right before his fist collided with my cheek. Ouch.

***

My eyes fluttered open as I rolled onto my back. I can tell I'm lying on the floor as I squint up at the ceiling above me. Why does everything look and sound so fuzzy? Did I black out?

"Hey man, wake up," I finally hear Justin say clearly.

He helps me up and sits me on the couch right next to where I must've fallen. Realization of what happened hit me and I spin around to look into the now empty kitchen.

"Are Mike and that other guy still here?" I ask Justin, still fuming over that short, extremely attractive guy. Wait.

"Nah they just stopped in to grab a few things. Like I said they're basically never here, so they came as a surprise to me too," he confesses as he shrugs his shoulders and heads towards the kitchen. "My shift starts in about an hour by the way, and you're coming with me again," he mentions as he takes a sip of coffee.

He was already dressed and everything, leaving me wondering how long I had been out. I open my mouth to ask where his bathroom is, but I notice he's already pointing to his room in the back of the apartment.

"It's on the other side of my room; you can't miss it. There's towels underneath the sink and makeup in the medicine cabinet from previous girlfriends who've left it here," he says.

Why would I need makeup? I just nod and head towards his room with my duffle bag.

His room is enormous. His comfortable looking bed was situated right in the middle with a huge closet to the left and a door in the back of his room on the right. I assume that's the bathroom and I head over there being careful not to step on the heaps of clothes left everywhere.

As I step into the bathroom the cool tiles on the floor send shivers up my spine. I find no need to turn on the light with all the natural light pouring in from the enormous window that makes up the entire back wall. Seeing as this apartment is on the top floor, so high above the everything, I guess it's possible that no one could see in, but I still find the fact that the shower is overlooking the city a bit creepy.

Eager to get showered, I undress myself and turn the water on hot, letting the steam fill the room and fog the mirrors. I step under the water and close the tinted glass shower door behind me. As I let the water soak my hair and run down my aching body, I take a deep breath and look to my left. I focus my eyes onto the ocean that lie just beyond the city. The sun had already risen and was high in the sky; I could only imagine how pretty the sunset would be from here at night. Next, I find myself peering down at the city below through the glass wall. From this high up, all the people look like ants. My eyes go wide and I take a step away from the glass wall with the realization that anyone can probably see me naked right now and quite honestly, I'm really self conscious about stuff like that.

I close my eyes and face forward, attempting to let my muscles relax under the steaming water. I soon find myself thinking about that short, attractive Mexican man from earlier. Although he was skinny, his tight shirt outlined the muscle that lay beneath it. All I wanted to do was walk right up to him and tear that thing off and put those strong arms and amazing body to good use. Unfortunately for me, I would never have enough confidence to do such things. I don't know why this man is having such an affect on me. Am I even gay? I've never really had any thoughts about my sexuality before that. I guess I never really had sexual thoughts at all, not that I could living in constant fear my entire life with my father.

I mentally slap myself as I realize how long I had been thinking about the Mexican man. He's the one who punched me for Christ's sake. I'm supposed to hate him right now.

After a few minutes I open my eyes and shake away any thoughts of him completely. I decide to examine my bruises from home to distract me. Frantically I look around for them on my legs and arms, but find myself unable to detect them. Pleasantly surprised, I turn the water off and grab the towel that I hanged next to the shower. I dry myself off and check again. Nothing. I wrap the towel around my waist and step in front of the mirror. Fogged from the heat of my shower, I use my hand to clear a section of the mirror and I practically stumble back from what I saw next. The entire area around my eye and cheek was a nasty shade of black and blue. Oh and did I mention it was swollen as well? Not too bad though. I could still see fine, but just enough to make it look like it hurts way more than it does. It was then I realized why Justin told me where the makeup was. I decided to not even bother trying to cover this up.

***

"It's about time you fucking princess," Justin laughs as he opens the door to the apartment for me so we could head to work. "Enjoying the view I presume?"

I pause for a moment as we head towards the elevators. "Yeah... of course, it's amazing. I can only imagine what the sunset looks like," I lie as I think back to my thoughts of that Mexican man in the shower.

"No you silly goose," Justin says as he stifles his chuckles. "I meant the view of your nasty eye from the mirror," he finally laughs.

I roll my eyes and step past him off the elevator and toward the front of the building, smiling at how light hearted Justin is. The dude really knows how to turn a shitty situation, in this case my black eye, into a laughable one. As we head out of the building and onto the streets, Justin fills my head with everything that he wants to show me in the city. The beach, the zoo, the malls, the restaurants, you name it, he wants me to see it. As he talks, I can't help but appreciate how good of a friend he's been to me and how lucky I am to be able to call him that after only a day of knowing him. I feel like I've known him forever, I just wish everyone I met here could be like that...