"How are we going to do this?" I asked the pale boy in front of me. He ruffled his light brown hair with his hands, pacing around my room. I had realized I agreed to do something that was not only stupidly dangerous, but completely out of our league. I mean, at least mine. He gathered an idea in his head, placing himself on my bed and looking intently at me.

"We should obviously start with the gangs. Your school is recruit ground for those guys.." His icy gaze floated around the room, his own thoughts rattling inside his brain. "..watch and listen from a distance, though. It could get dangerous." 

"That's not reassuring." I mumbled with a smirk. 

"I'll look into Poison.. I don't think the Beasts would do something like this. I could be wrong though." Every moment he mentioned the Beasts his eyes flashed a different expression. Some sort of sadness, or baggage flickered at even the thought of it. Something had happened with the Beasts.. their leader, Lynx had some sort of thing with him. He never wanted to talk about it, and I didn't want to make him uncomfortable. I wished he would open up to me, I couldn't imagine the amount of stuff he had to hold in by himself. I always tried to make sure he knew I was there for him, but my efforts in getting him to open up were fruitless.

"Be safe, okay?" He scoffed at this, waving his hand nonchalantly.

"I'll be fine, Potato Chip. You're the one who needs to focus on being safe." 

"I'm not as fragile as you think I am." I said in a hushed voice. Sometimes it seemed like he treated me like a baby. I felt something knock against my chest. I looked down to see a pair of crystal eyes looking back at me, with a smug expression painted on the boy they belonged to. 

"I know... You're just too important to break." He retorted. I felt a smile creep across my face. 

"Did you just call me important?" I teased. He lifted his head and scooted away from me. 

"Don't make it weird. I can take it back." His face looked flushed, causing me to laugh and tease more. 

"You can't take it back!" I shuffled over to him and began to prod at him. "You think I'm important!~" I teased in a sing-song voice.

"Shut up!" 

The lights around the town began to fade away, disappearing into the night with flickers of exhaustion. The whole place seemed to sigh and rest into darkness. The night air had become colder, biting the end of my nose as I sat on the porch of our small home. The wooden boards creaked with the wind. I sat quietly playing my guitar, the notes drifting through the wind. I heard the door gently swing open, quiet footsteps ruined by the creak and squeaks of the boards. Rowen appeared next to me, sitting down with his arm resting on his knee. 

"Heading out?" I asked, continuing to softly play. 

"No.. If it's okay with you I'd like to stay tonight." I abruptly stopped, not believing the words coming out of his mouth. 

"What?" I said in denial, trying to not let a hopeful smile grow across my face. 

"Yeah." He shortly mumbled. I put down the instrument and wrapped my arms around him. "Stop making it weird!" He groaned, squirming away from me. 

"What's going on with you? I'm starting to think you actually like being around me." I teased, struggling to keep him inside the forced hug. He continued to growl at me, but soon stopped fumbling and let me hug him. "But really, why?" I added softly. He put his hand on my head.

"I don't wanna be alone tonight." His voice seemed dark and troubled. I backed away from him to look. 

"What's wrong?" He sucked in his breath at the question, not wanting to answer.

"I've been... seeing things lately." His words wavered with uncertainty. "I have for a long time but it's getting frequent lately. My dreams are even worse. It's just been kinda weird today. I don't want to like run out into the lake or something." 

"What do you mean, seeing things?"

"It's not like super bad, but sometimes things just..change. Or colors appear. I sound insane, I know-"

"No! I don't think that. That's just.. worrying, you know?" He kept his eyes away from me. "It's okay. We'll figure it out." I smiled as he turned back. I put my hand on his shoulder. "Hey, Adriana brought some ice cream home. We should get some." He sighed and got up slowly. He followed me back into the house. My thoughts started to get messy. Seeing thing? Does he need a doctor? I stared at the mysterious teenager taking spoonfuls of ice cream out of the tub. I shivered with the sudden realization that I didn't know anything about him. He handed the spoon to me, not questioning my staring. I wanted to know. Every part of me needed to know who he was. A similar feeling I had felt when I first met him returned. I questioned our friendship as I gazed into an empty bowl. Are we really that close if I still don't know what happened to him, where he goes, how he's feeling. A wall had been formed that I had been trying to tear down for years. I got through the first layer, at least. He talked to me and let me in. Somehow there was more protection circling around him. 

What's keeping you away?

I laid on my bed strumming the newly gifted guitar. Both Mom and Adriana had ridiculed me for playing it too much instead of doing my homework. I didn't care. The sound was beautiful,  every strum made me want to create more. I also noticed it made Rowen more at ease, so that was enough reason for me. 

"That's a new song." The boy sleepily whispered beside me. He was curled into almost a ball, knees bent and arms coddled close to his chest. His breath was heavy, signaling he was about to fall asleep. I quietly put my guitar back into its case. I crawled under the covers and laid in comfortable silence. It always took me awhile to fall asleep, so sat staring at my ceiling. I heard a grunt beside me. I turned to look at Rowen, who had a troubled expression on his face. His eyebrows were furrowed, his fists clenched against his chest. More low groans echoed through his throat. Is he having a nightmare? I reached my hand out tentatively to touch his neck. As I made contact he tensed up. I had the inclination to take my hand away but his expression started to soften. I circled my thumb on his skin, in an attempt to bring him back into reality. Who knows what things he dreamed about.. His eyes started to flicker open. In a half-asleep state he scooted closer, whimpering and falling back to sleep. I smiled to myself and began to start to drift to sleep.