-Darren-

Darren felt like he had been caught up in a tornado and thrown back out. That went nothing like he had planned. The plan was that he would show up with warm, delicious pastries and coffee. He would offer them to Leo, and he would graciously accept them. They would make small talk and discover how much they had in common! The entire day would be spent telling each other funny anecdotes from our childhoods and falling into a whirlwind romance. Darren's hands clasped in front of his chest and he had a forlorn look on his face. Wishful thinking? Probably, but he was still disappointed.

He turned around from the railing across from his apartment door and stepped into his home's entryway, closing the door behind him. He looked down and caught the eyes of his cat.

"Well, that didn't work out, huh Jay?" He said to his feline companion, as he gave him an affectionate scratch behind the ear.

Darren had found Jay, named after the black writer and activist James Baldwin, 4 years ago. While walking home to his dorm from a late-night study session, he had heard meowing coming from an alley. Upon further inspection, he found a cardboard box with one tiny black kitten. Darren had always had a soft spot for tiny animals and immediately adopted the little guy. He hid him in his dorm until graduating college and now Jay was his most trusted confidant and favorite roommate. Don't tell Giddeon.

Darren got so caught up in petting and scratching Jay, he jumped when he heard knocking on the door. His face lit up at the possibility that maybe, just maybe, Leo had come back. He swung the door open with a huge smile. Which immediately fell the second his eyes landed on his roommate.

"Well, I'm glad to see you too," Giddeon said, sounding offended, as he brushed past Darren in the narrow entryway. "And put some damn clothes on. I don't need a live thirst trap in my house."

He finally pulled himself together from the disappointment and questioned his roommate, "Why didn't you just use your keys?"

"I forgot them somewhere. I'll have to look for them later," he said, flipping himself onto their large, and luckily sturdy, couch from the back.

"Again?" He sighed.

This was a regular occurrence with Giddeon. He couldn't be bothered to keep track of his keys, or his phone, or his wallet for that matter... Maybe it was a trust fund kid thing.

"Anyway, why did I see a cute curly-haired guy leaving with a box of danishes? They weren't my danishes, were they?" He said in an accusatory tone, propping himself up to look at Darren's face when he answered.

"Of course not..." He said hesitantly, avoiding eye contact as he high-tailed it to his room, narrowly avoiding the pillow Gideon chucked at his head.

Darren made it back to his room unscathed by his danish deprived friend and leaned against his closed door to take a moment to think about the morning's events. Honestly, it hurt that Leo had just run out on him like that. He really thought he could see them together some day.

This wasn't the first time that Darren had big feelings for a guy, only to later realize the feelings definitely weren't mutual. With a sigh, he pushed himself off of the door and decided to torture himself by reliving these heartaches. He went to his closet, pulling out a large cardboard box filled to the brim with worn but labeled composition notebooks. Darren loved to write his thoughts and feelings in his journal. He could look back on any part of his life by looking at his past writings.

"Here we go," Darren said to himself as he pulled out a notebook labeled Dec 20XX - Mar 20XX. He fanned through the pages before landing on a particularly emotionally gruesome passage.

January 10th 20XX

This moon's life has come to a close
Like the love you held for me
Your feelings must have froze

Like ice.
Flowing through my veins
seeking sweet solace in my heart

It's become so hard to start
to find a new spice
and finally rip our futures apart

"Ughhh. What is this emo garbage? I'm giving Robert Smith a run for his money!" Darren fell back onto his bed and continued fliing through the notebook. Everything he was reading felt like a lifetime away when it was only a few years ago.

Reading some of his past work he realized he wasn't even sure of the guy's name he was writing about. Much less why he was so crazy about him. But according to his notebook, it was love. Maybe he needed time away from Leo to let his feelings fade. After all, they've known each other for less than 12 hours. Feelings like these don't just develop overnight.