Building My Life

Chapter 14 - Clueless Guy

The next day, Josias woke up with a start; without a clock, he had no idea what time it was. He rushed to the balcony, ignoring the girl in the neighboring building, and analyzed the traffic on the streets instead. People were heading to work and children were walking to school. That meant it wasn’t yet eight o’clock.

As he pulled on his sweatpants, Josias determined that the very first thing he would do with his first paycheck was buy a pack of underwear and boxer shorts so he could stop sleeping naked. He grabbed his toothbrush and paste and ran down to the bathroom.

While he was walking down the hall, a girl a few years older than him appeared and intercepted him. She was a dark blonde holding a bath towel and shampoo, clearly a newcomer to the building.

“Excuse me, friend,” she asked Josias. “I’m new here; do you know where the bathroom is?”

“At the end of the hallway,” Josias said, certain she would find the correct door for the women.

She walked ahead of him, but that wasn’t what happened. The girl turned left into the men’s bathroom and let out a cry, covering her mouth with her hand, her eyes wide with shock.

Josias quickened his pace, frowning, already understanding what had occurred. Upon reaching the doorway, he saw a tall, muscular guy under the shower, covered in soap, shielding his genitals with his hands and looking just as embarrassed as the girl.

“The ladies’ room is on the right, miss. Sorry!” the guy called out in an awkward tone.

The girl, visibly revolted, shook her head. She retrieved the bottle of shampoo she had dropped in her fright and turned her back on them both without saying another word.

Josias, still upset by the scene, entered the men’s room and closed the door firmly. He addressed the guy harshly, glaring at him. “Don’t you guys think this might happen? Just because we live in a slum doesn’t mean we should lose our sense of civility!”

The guy dropped his hands and returned to his shower, rinsing the soap from his body as his expression of embarrassment faded. He clearly didn’t like being scolded. “And who do you think you are, kid?”

“I’ve been in this building for four months, and I’m always faced with this. You’re not the only one who showers with the door wide open. And it’s not just the showers; I’ve run into several guys walking through the halls in nothing but their underwear. There are families here, there are children!”

“Look who’s talking!” The guy laughed sarcastically. “You’re talking like you don’t belong here! Comrade, we’re poor; we don’t have those fancy manners.”

“As I said, poverty is no excuse for a lack of manners! You can’t live as if no one else is looking at you!”

The guy, frowning, finished rinsing off and turned off the tap. He didn’t like Josias’s tone one bit. Who did this kid think he was, talking to him like that?

Josias was tired of seeing the other tenants behaving so carelessly. This fiasco — the girl having to see a stranger naked — was the last straw. He felt he had to defend the opposite s*x. Furthermore, Josias was frustrated by men who had the money for clothes but chose to walk around nearly naked, while he was only just now starting to earn enough to fix his own appearance.

The other guy started to laugh at the contempt on Josias’s face as he grabbed a towel to dry himself. “Look who’s talking! Don’t you go twenty-four hours a day without a shirt? At least I wear a tank top when I leave the house.”

“I don’t have a shirt, but I’ve just found work so I can buy one,” Josias responded, feeling a sense of mental relief now that the guy was covering himself with the towel. It was no use; he would never get used to being around other naked men.

“What do you mean? Did you run away from home? What did you do?” The guy laughed again and walked over to one of the sinks, where a razor and shaving cream were already waiting.

“I didn’t do anything, but that’s beside the point,” Josias replied angrily, following him. “I just hope that one day people can behave decently, even if they have very little in a material sense.”

“Ah, man, stop being so prissy! I bet you barely even bathe here because I rarely see you.” The guy rubbed the foam onto his face. “You think you’re high class, but you’re out of touch with reality. Find your place and stop testing my patience!”

“I bathe at night specifically so I don’t run into you; bathing with other men around isn’t my style.” Josias finished his piece and turned to leave, but the other man’s laughter followed him.

“Ha! Is that really it? Listen, where I come from, a guy who’s that ‘proper’ usually means something else...!”