The following weekend, as I’m lazily lying on the ground with the latest of Nicholas Spark’s novel and a few snacks, my phone chimes.

[Nicholas] ( 13:02 PM) : Hey I’m kinda on my way to your place.

[Nicholas] ( 13:03 PM) : Coming over to study. I’ll be there in five! :p

That dumbass, barely even telling me beforehand that he’s going to come. I don’t bother replying, as I know he’ll come in whether I want it or not. Not that I really care having him there, though…

I glance around my messy room. I give up on cleaning up before he arrives, except for a few cups and a bowl that I toss into the sink.

Nick comes in without even knocking because that’s just the way he always is around me. I’ve gotten used to him staying here in the weekends anyways, as it’s also been like that for the past two weeks. Looking around, without bothering to say hello, he already teases me:

"Damn, entropy sure did its thing around here, huh?"

"You have no idea how much I hate you right now", I say as I finally manage to stop laughing. "But defying entropy… isn’t it what we’re always trying to do?" I go on with some kind of an attempt at a serious face. "We classify, put things in order, when in fact nature's way happier in a messy space!"

He looks at me with the word discouragement practically written on his forehead. His smile isn’t merely gone though, and he sits in the middle of my undone bed.

"Why did you even come here instead of your own apartment?" I complain, trying to act as if I was bothered with his presence.

"Your place is closer to campus than mine. Besides, I kinda wanted to see you", he says without an ounce of embarrassment.

My cheeks a little red, I resume to my reading as he makes himself comfortable on my bed, some calculus manual stuck in his hands and one of my pillows behind his back.

We stay like this until the shadows lengthen, just being comfortable in the silence with each other’s presence. Nick lets out a contagious yawn, and I get up to cook a little something to eat.

•••

Once we finish our quick supper, I grab both of our coats and I hurry him behind me. Without even thinking, I grab his hand and run up the stairs until we both reach the rooftop, panting and laughing without a single care for the world. He gives me a confused look, but I just stand there in the remaining layer of snow, grinning until a dazzling orange spreads from the sun to the horizon.

Street lamps light up one by one below our feet as the sun is dying down. The bright colors are soon to submerge us, to create a little space where only Nick and I belong. I come to the realization that we’re just two little lost boys, looking at the sky as if it held our future. We’re breathing the cold air, exhaling little clouds, still holding each other’s hand until the sun is nowhere to be seen.

The darkness slowly sets, a few sleepy stars take the sun’s place. The moon’s crescent rivals with the city lights, and we gently release each other’s hand as if we weren’t just gripping on one another. The vivid scenery impregnated my pupils, and I hope the intense feelings that accompanied my senses won’t ever subside. The temperature slowly drops and a cold breeze suddenly bites us both. Resigned, we get back inside.

I’m already missing the warmth of his hand in mine.