Hey Stranger

Zaid’s POV

I sat back on my bed flipping through the pages of one of Adem Warvich’s journals. I’d actually found out a lot about Adem from reading and seeing what he drew and wrote. He was incredibly deep and something about him reminded me so much of Arden. Both of them were so passionate and observant …it was amazing…and even more to the point they were so pushy and hard headed. I smiled softly at the thought and then I heard the shower in the bathroom shut off.

A few moments later Arden opened the bathroom door and stepped into my room. A black towel was slung low on his hips and it only slipped lower as he walked to the bed and flopped on it, face first. I chuckled at him and he mumbled something into the bed. “What?” I asked setting the journal aside. .

“Ai sted, meh han urt reedy dad…rrr yew dep…” He mumbled again and this time I couldn’t stop from laughing so hard my ribs hurt. Finally he looked up at me one perfect eyebrow raised.

“What?” he asked and I only laughed harder. He stuck his tongue out at me and I grinned before I grabbed him and dragged him up the bed so that he lay on his side next to me.

I rolled to face him and he smiled at me. I’d always thought he was beautiful but I wanted to remember him like that forever. “Okay, don’t move and don’t stop drop that smile…” I said and giggled.

“You’re so weird you know that?” He said as I reached behind me and felt around for my camera on the bedside table.

“Yep…” My fingers curled around the little red digital and started to pick my settings. “But you love me…” I said as I got ready to take his picture.

“I do love you.” He smiled and his eyes sparkled and snapped the picture. It was a little close, almost like he’d taken it himself, but it turned out really well with his hair curling around his ears and his body in perfect line in the shot. I leaned in to place a kiss on his lips and tell him I loved him too when my phone rang in my pocket. As Fireflies by Owl City filled the room I cursed and picked it up.

“What’s up Mikey?” I answered and Arden sighed and rolled onto his back staring up at the ceiling

“Hey man, so we took Jimmy to the hospital…” he said in that soft spoken tone of his.

“Okay…” was my only reply this wasn’t going to be good, I thought and sat up leaning against the head board.

“Yeah um…he’s pretty fucked man…”

“Oh? I hadn’t noticed…” I said sarcastically. He chuckled and then got quiet for a moment. “Well what’s the damage?”

“Um…well you’re cute little boyfriend managed to a give Jimmy a mild concussion and…” He paused and sighed.

“And what, man?”

“Oh I was just taking a breath before I spat out the whole list. Like I said he’s fucked up.”

“It’s that bad?” I asked my eyes widening a little at Arden who had slid off the bed and started to dress.

“Zaid…I think it’s worse than just ‘that bad’” Mike told me and I swallowed hard.

“Okay what’s all wrong with him?” I asked timidly not really sure I wanted to hear this because I’d have to tell Arden and I already knew he’d flip shit.

“Okay…Jimmy’s nose is broken, both his cheek bones are fractured, his shoulder and jaw are dislocated…well were until they fixed that…and his wrist is fractured.” Mike said and I damn near died from shock and it wasn’t because Arden had chose to drop his towel at the moment and stood there completely naked.

“Arden did all that?” I asked a little dumb founded and Arden looked at me cocking an eyebrow as he slid on his boxers and a pair of my sweats which were too long.

“Uh yeah…I don’t think Jimmy’s going to be able to finish the season…”

“Ya think?” I asked, the sarcasm was dripping off those two words as I said them.

Mike sighed softly. “Look Zaid, I just got to Tommi’s house and um…I should probably let you go. I just wanted to let you know what was going on because none of the other guys have the balls to piss you off.” I just chuckled.

“Alright man thanks…wait…whose Tommi?” I asked, I’d never heard Mike mention that name before and I talked to him almost every day.

“He’s my boyfri…” he started and cut himself off but I heard what he was going to say. “He’s my good friend…I um will talk to later. Tell Arden I say hi. Laters!” He said quickly and then hung up. I would have laughed at the fact that Mike had just accidently come out of the closet if Arden hadn’t crawled up on the bed with me looking sad.

“What’s wrong baby?” I asked softly as I pulled him into my lap, he was still shirtless and he shivered as I traced my finger tips over his spine.

He sighed softly and put his head on my shoulder, slumping against my chest. “How bad did I hurt him?” He mumbled into my shoulder.

I wrapped my arms around him trying to figure out the best way to tell him. As if Arden had read my mind he cut into my thoughts. “Just be honest, how bad is it?”

I swallowed hard and sighed. “You pretty much broke his face, his cheek bones are broken as well as his nose…” I heard Arden gasp against my neck. “And his jaw and shoulder were dislocated and um…you broke his wrist with that arm lock you pulled. He’s not gunna be able to play on the team for the rest of the season…” I heard a soft sob leave Arden as his entire body started to shake and his arms wrapped tightly around my shoulders with.

“How could I have done that?” He asked and he sounded so helpless. “He’s got like 60 pounds on me…I shouldn’t have been capable of doing that kind of damage. I don’t even know how I knew how to hit him…I’ve never hit anybody before today…”

I didn’t know what to tell him to make him feel better…How could I explain something that I myself knew nothing about, because as far as I knew Jimmy should have been able to take Arden on. I sighed softly, holding Arden closer as he continued to cry with each sob my heart broke a little more. He felt so guilty and I could tell he was just as confused as I was, if not more.

I swallowed hard as Arden suddenly pulled away from me and slid off of the bed and didn’t say a word as he grabbed his little make up bag off the floor by his stuff and closed the bathroom door behind him. I shook my head and got up starting to pace the carpet of my room.

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Arden’s POV

As soon as I closed the door behind me I set my bag on the counter and dug through it looking for the clear baggy filled with little white pills. Oxycotton had become my new best friend, I really loved the shit and it helped when I was stressed out. I’d been taking it for a while now keeping it from Zaid…which was going to be harder now that I was going to be living with him.

I set the baggy down as I pulled out my I.D. and the little cut down straw I keep in my bag with the pills. I took out three tabs from the baggy and placed them on the counter in front of me before I grabbed the glass off the sink and crushed each tab before using the card to make three perfect lines. I picked up the straw and snorted all three.

When I was done I cleaned up then leaned on the counter with my head back swallowing every so often to get rid of the nasty taste in the back of my throat and the burn that had started in my nose. That was the only thing I didn’t like about doing oxys they burned like hell and tasted like shit. But hey, the high was definitely awesome.

After a while I heard a knock on the door fallowed by Zaid’s voice. “Skinny, are you okay?”
He’d taken to calling me Skinny whenever he was worried about me. I thought it was cute.

“Yup…” I said swinging the door open and looked up at him. “I’m good.” I said smiling at him. I wasn’t lying either I felt amazing. Just like I always did after I did my lines. He frowned at me for a moment.

“Are you sure?” He asked raising an eyebrow at me.

I just nodded and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. “Yeah, of course.” He frowned at me probably thinking that it was weird that I had been crying a moment before but now I was all happy and chipper.

“Fuck Jimmy…He deserved it…” I said and kissed Zaid quickly before I went over the bed and lay back on the pillows. I felt so amazing, like I was flying and there was this soft tingle all over my skin. I’d never been this high before and I wanted to feel like this forever.

After a moment Zaid climbed on the bed with me curling into my side. I wrapped my arms around him. “You tell me if there was something wrong, right?” He asked after a long silence.

“Yeah I would, I tell you everything.” I said honestly…well I tell him almost everything.
“So you’d tell me if you were doing drugs?” He asked and my heart dropped through my stomach.

“I’m not doing drugs Zaid.” I said hoping I sounded sincere. I was a little out of it at the moment.

“You promise?” He asked said looking up at me. “You promise on that scar on your wrist?” he asked and naturally I gave the only reply I could come up with.

“Yes, I promise Zaid.” I said and he nodded before he leaned up and placed a kiss on my lips before putting his head back down on my chest.

“I love you, Skinny.” He said softly.

“I love you too, Z.” I sighed.

Shit