James

It was Saturday morning. James stretched under the covers and rolled over. To his surprise, he felt a reason to get out of bed today. Like his near-constant low was lifting. He didn’t smile, but he got close. James sighed and rolled out of bed.

As the warm shower water rolled down his body, he took a deep breath and allowed himself to relax. He had made plans to see Oliver today, and it was the first time he’d seen a friend outside of school since Primary school. He turned off the water and wiped condensation off the mirror; then pushed his raven-dark hair from his eyes, and went to get dressed.

James sat at the table, finishing his tea when he heard a knock at the door.

“Hey, Oliver!”

“Hi, James, what’s up?”

“Nothing much…”

“Cool.”

They stood there awkwardly for a minute before James opened the door all the way to let Oliver in.

“What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know...Wanna just hang out and talk or whatever?”

“Oh, yeah...Sure.”

James and Oliver walked upstairs to James’ room.

“It’s not much, sorry…” James mumbled

“No way! Dude, cool poster!” Oliver said, pointing to the “My Chemical Romance” poster that hung over James’ desk.

“You like MCR?” James asked.

“Hell yeah!”

“Cool, I’m not the only one in the city now,” James joked, glad they had something to talk about.

“Hey, James?”

“Yeah?”

“How are you really? You can talk to me. I am your friend, you know.” James was surprised but grateful that his friend was so open.

“I don’t know… I’ve been having a rough time I guess… Wondering what the point is and stuff,” James mumbled

“I totally get it, I’ve felt the same way…”

“It helps to have a friend though,” James said.

“Yeah, it really does. Thanks, man,” James looked up at Oliver, to see that Oliver was smiling at him. Smiling a true smile, all the way through his amber eyes.