What You Are

Chapter 1-2

Out in the hall, Daniel closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When Jason had told him about these friends of his, about this possibility, his inner voice warned him not to accept, but he needed a place to stay. After breaking up with Jake, he no longer had a place to stay and he couldn’t go back to his parents in Santa Barbara, not now that he had a steady job as a teacher here, in Northridge. Rental prices were so high that even thinking about finding an apartment alone was crazy, and so he had accepted Jason’s proposal. Clearly, his first instinct wasn’t wrong.

He was about to put an end to this situation, picking up the bag, when the apartment’s door opened and so many people began to leave, and Daniel couldn’t help but wonder how big the apartment was.

A guy with blue eyes stared at him for a few seconds before he bowed his head with a smile and a bit of redness on his cheeks. Daniel found himself responding shyly to that smile, regretting the boy wasn’t one of the three, perhaps, his future roommates. Gabriel seemed to be a nice guy but he wasn’t sure about the other two.

The last person who left the house was a girl with red hair, who kissed the drunk and nervous guy who’d made clear he didn’t want him there.

Once the procession finished, the three guys looked at him from the doorway, and Gabriel motioned for him to enter.

“We’ve decided it’s okay. You can stay here with us.” Gabriel smiled, imitated by Kevin, who nodded and took Daniel’s bag.

Daniel looked around. He wasn’t sure he wanted to stay: the apartment looked like a battlefield, and it really, really stank. Gabriel seemed to understand what was going through his mind because he hastened to collect the bottles and overflowing ashtrays.

“It’s not always like this,” Kevin assured him. “Only when Gabriel decides to throw a party. And, oh, it doesn’t happen very often. Usually this is a normal apartment, really.”

Daniel smiled, feeling a bit more relaxed. Just a little, though, because the gaze of the nervous guy nailed him on the spot. But…were those eyes really that green or was he wearing some colored contact lenses?

“Thanks,” he finally said, reaching out a hand to Kevin, who shook it and introduced himself to him. He did the same with Gabriel, even though they had already met, and eventually Daniel turned to Alex, still smiling.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Daniel.”

Alex looked at the guy’s hand for a couple of seconds, and then he stretched out his own hand with masked enthusiasm.

“Yeah, my pleasure. I’m Alex,” he mumbled, turning his back to everyone. “I’ll go to sleep now. I leave you to the hosts, I don’t have the strength to do the cicerone right now,” he said, stretching out before disappearing into his room.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Gabriel and Kevin brought Daniel into what would be his bedroom. It was big and freshly painted, even if it was completely empty except for a large bed in the middle and a dresser against the wall. Daniel immediately decided he would do some furniture shopping the next day. Nothing fancy, just the essentials: a dresser, a desk, a chair, and maybe some shelves.

He talked with the other two men about the amount of his share of the rent for the apartment. He closed the door behind him and leaned against it.

Living all together it would be hard, he was sure.