As they both slept peacefully on the couch, the TV was still on quietly in the background and a now empty glass of ice began to melt. For almost a second everything feels like it’s going to be okay but then, of course, there's a loud knock on the door, waking Beau from her deep sleep. Sitting up groggily as she drags her feet on the cold wood floors wanting nothing than to go back to bed as she made her way to the front door. Shaking Damien’s limp arm realizing he was still managing to sleep while her body was awake, this was fascinating for Beau but her thoughts were quickly subsided once Caleb lets himself in, soaking wet, mud sloshing on her floors before she could even open the door for him. Damien’s lazy deep voice groaned at the sudden intrusion yet again by Beau’s boyfriend. 

“Where the hell have you been?!” Caleb shouts throwing his art bag on the table, supplies spilling out and rolling to the floor. He angrily sits down plopping his head in his hands with a loud huff. 

“I’ve been here, why, what's wrong?” Beau’s heart pounds loudly against her rib cage once she sees how upset he is. 

“My flight got canceled and I had to call over 20 people to reschedule their appointments, half just wanted a refund of course.” He sighs running a hand through his wet and messy blonde hair. “I called you so many times trying to see if you could pick me up seeing as I managed to miss the bus as well, but since you didn’t answer I had to walk here in the rain.” Caleb’s cold tired eyes scanned over Beau’s guilty face.

“I’m so sorry, Caleb, I fell asleep, I guess I didn’t hear my phone go off…” Her face contorted nervously under his stare, resembling somewhat of a dog being scolded for chewing on a wire. Guilt having a round two on Beau’s brain as he glances over to the counter and notices the fancy whiskey bottle. 

“You don’t drink the expensive stuff, why do you have this?” Caleb stands up from his seat and turns towards her. He’s seemingly calmer as he steps closer, though that might be more unnerving than in his angry state.

“I just wanted to try it…” Beau’s voice became small, darting her eyes away from Caleb’s as he runs his fingers over his prickly chin. Tilting his head to the side, analyzing her every move in his head, he smiles, an amused hum coming through his thin lips as his already poor posture slouched more to lean his head down to her level. 

“Just wanted to try it, hm?” His hand grazes down Damien’s arm, sensually running his finger down to the palm of her hand. Damien instinctually jerked away from his grip, surprising Caleb in the process as he lets out a little chuckle before grabbing both her hands and in a swift motion pinning her against the wall. “Well since you’d rather try new things than be with the same old me, I guess I’ll leave you to it.” Planting a small wet kiss on Beau’s forehead Caleb releases her, leaving her at a loss for words slinging his art bag over his shoulder.

“Wait! Why don’t you stay for a bit, you did have to walk all the way here from the airport because of me, you must be tired.” Beau grabs his hand to plead much to Damien’s disapprovement but she became terrified that if she accepted this he may never come back. Caleb stops, hand on the doorknob, he looks conflicted but also like he’s waiting for something. “You had a long day, please go sit down, I’ll get you a beer and make dinner!” Beau put her hand on the small of his back trying to guide him away from the door, nervously trying not to end things on a bad note. But this time he isn’t smiling, he stared at her dead in the eyes in complete stillness for a moment. Beau couldn’t sense what he was thinking, no matter how badly she wanted to, she would never understand what was going on behind those eyes. 

“Next time I come over you better act like you want me there.” With that Caleb leaves and Beau is left feeling incomplete. She sighs, sad eyes glued to the muddy floor he left behind, suddenly feeling heavy plop on her head, quickly she realizes it was her own hand. 

“Come on, I’ll help you clean up.” Damien ruffles her hair a little, he’s not sure if it helps but he’s seen people do it all the time on TV to cheer others up. Beau lets out a small laugh, swatting her own hand away.

“Alright, not like you had much a choice in the matter anyway.” She joked, grabbing her mop and getting to work.

“So… I hope you don’t take this the wrong way but how do you know each other? You seem like polar opposites.” Damien spoke slow and cautiously, unsure if he’s even on a good enough standing to ask her that.

“He is my boyfriend of 5 years, we had a similar upbringing.” Memories began floating around with an uncertain timeline. “I grew up in an orphanage, hard to have long-lasting friendships in there since most the kids ended up getting adopted, Caleb however was stuck there like me,” A smile grew as she remembered his dirty little face always laughing and getting into trouble. “We couldn’t rely on anyone but each other so I guess it just made sense for us to start dating once we got older. He’s not always like this though don’t worry, he can be really sweet when he wants to be.” The sloshing of Beau’s mop rubbing against the floor filled the room. “I assume your lack of social skills means no romance either?” She teased, snickering at her left arm flinching from her comment. 

“Ah, your assumption would be correct” He laughed nervously. “I always assumed love and sex was too messy similar to friendships, though I could be wrong who knows.” His voice was uncertain, he knew he always wanted a friend but he never thought about dating before. Swiping her mop under the table causes a small book to spin out. Curiously, Beau puts down her mop to pick up the book. 

“Must be one of Caleb’s sketchbooks, I guess it fell out of his bag.” She inspects the outside for any water damage, luckily it seemed to be alright. 

“What kind of art does he make?” Damien asks curiously, fingering the side trying to open it only for Beau to wack his hand away. 

“He paints rich people’s portraits in person, I guess it makes them feel like royalty, so they pay a pretty penny to have it done.” She explains putting the book on the dining table. 

“I’m not allowed to look?” Damien’s voice couldn’t mask his disappointed tone, he was always curious when people talked about their sketchbooks, made him wonder how many masterpieces were hiding in there. 

“No, he doesn’t like when I look so I’m gonna respect his privacy.” Beau puts away her cleaning supplies and lets out a loud yawn. 

“That’s very polite of you, I’m not sure I’d have the amount of self-control in your position.” Damien patted her on the back for sticking to her morals as he helped her get ready for bed. Truthfully she’s always been curious of them, but she knows she’s got her own fair share of secrets from him as well. Beau looks down at her phone turning off any upcoming alarms seeing as she doesn’t have to wake up early for a while. Once finished however she noticed something strange, there were no missed calls. “Earth to Beau? You’ve been staring at the same screen for 2 minutes now, you okay?” Damien asked impatiently waiting for her to close her eyes so he can sleep to. 

“Oh sorry, I got distracted,” Beau's voice sounded numb, disoriented almost as she set down her phone and tried to sleep to the best of her ability. Something was eating at her though, and this time it's not guilt. People can be confusing creatures, they overthink and overanalyze small phrases or actions from however long ago to the point where they can’t think of anything else. What did they mean by that? Was that a lie? Were they joking? This, among several scenarios playing out, each one making you feel sicker than the last. It’s bound to leave anyone tossing and turning while their mind bombards them with these anxious thoughts, trying to figure out a riddle with no solution. It’s almost enough to make you forget the bigger issues in your life… almost.