When The Rich Son Falls

Nineteen

Topher didn’t realize that he had become unconscious until he was woken up. The first thing that came into mind was how dry his mouth and throat felt, then there was the feeling like he had just gotten off a five-minute rollercoaster ride. It was only when he felt himself getting assisted to stand, that the sound of someone calling his name repeatedly in a panic registered in his brain. Feeling woozy and dehydrated and extremely warm, he managed to recognize that it was James who was half-carrying him out of the room. He was opening and closing his mouth, probably talking, Topher thought, but he couldn’t fully comprehend what he was saying.

The next thing Topher knew, he was seated on a wet floor, his legs outstretched, with his back resting on cold, damp tiles. He could feel drops of water falling on his skin, and he wondered for a second if it was raining, only to realize the next that he was under a weakly running shower in the gym bathroom. James came into view again, rushing into the room with a bottle of sports drink and a glass of water in his hands. His clothes were already damp, and they only became wetter when he kneeled on one knee beside Topher.

“Drink this,” James said, placing the opening of the bottle against Topher’s lips before he could say anything. Topher did as he was told, being in no mood to argue, and he managed to drink the entire thing and the glass of water with barely taking a breath. He let out a small burp afterwards, finally feeling a little more alert than before.

James placed the empty glass and bottle to the side, and sat on the floor with his back resting against the wall across Topher. He ran a hand up his face and through his hair, looking both relieved and frustrated at the same time. “What the hell were you thinking?” he asked. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? Sleeping in the sauna room?”

Only then did Topher recall what happened, and then he finally understood why he was sitting inside a bathroom with just a towel wrapped around his waist to cover his delicates.

“I didn’t mean to,” he weakly responded. He cleared his throat and tried to explain, “I got locked up then I fell asleep.”

“That’s why you tell the staff before you go in, so we can teach you how to use the door and look out for you! There’s a huge sign about it right in front of the door and the front desk! Do you know what could’ve happened to you if I didn’t—” James managed to stop himself despite fuming with anger. Instead, he clenched his hands into fists and gritted his teeth.

“I’m sorry,” Topher quietly said after a while. “I just wanted to blow off some steam and calm down.”

James let out a sigh and let his head hang.

“Thank you… for helping me out the second time. I don’t think I was able to thank you before. And you were right,” Topher continued with a glum expression that he rarely wore, “when you said that I don’t belong here. I thought about it and I really don’t. Not here, not anywhere.”

James lifted his head and looked at him—how sorry he seemed, how pitiful—and he remembered the things that Glory had said about him a while ago.

“But if I go home,” Topher rested the back of his head on the wall. “If I go back, they’ll just send me off somewhere. If I don’t do that, and even if I do that, then I’ll have to withstand months and months of them making me remember all of my failures, and I don’t want to face that. I can’t face that yet.”

James stared at him with a straight face, and Topher mistook his silence for further annoyance. “Don’t worry,” he added with a small smile, “I’m not trying to have a pity party so you’ll change your mind. I just wanted to get that off my chest, and this just felt like a safe space to do it. Even if it’s a bathroom.” He lightly chuckled as his eyes looked around before landing on James. “Probably because you don’t have a preconceived notion of me and there aren’t any other people around to see me acting off-brand.”

James knew from the moment that Topher apologized that he was done for. His heart strings had been tugged, and his compassion had gotten the better of him. After all, his godparents did not raise him to be someone who would turn away a person so obviously and helplessly in need. So, even though he knew that he would somehow end up regretting it at some point, he let out a sigh and said, “Fine. I’ll let you stay.”

Topher wasn’t sure if it was a symptom of getting locked in a sauna that he was suddenly hearing things, so he asked, “What’s that, now?”

“I said, I’ll let you stay at my place until a room opens up after the festival,” James repeated, looking like it was taking him every ounce of his willpower to do so; but Topher didn’t mind that. Even when he still felt like he had just been baked alive in the sun and brought back to life, a smile grew on his lips as he finally understood what the man was saying.

“I promise,” he said, scrambling to get on his knees and move forward to grab James’s hands. James could have sworn he saw the exact moment the dark clouds disappeared from above Topher’s head and replaced by a bright sun. “I promise you won’t regret this. You are my savior, James Jimmy Whatever Your Last Name Is.”

“Alright, alright, I get it,” James muttered with annoyance as he pulled his hands back, looking uncomfortable at how close Topher’s naked torso was to him. “If you’re feeling well enough, go get dressed, will you?”

“It’s fine. t’s just us two future roomies here anyway,” Topher casually waved it off as he sat comfortably on the floor in a cross-legged position, making the bottom of his towel open up. James quickly averted his eyes to anywhere from the floor to the walls, as long as it was not the person’s bare, wet skin. He couldn’t fathom how thickly this person’s self-confidence must’ve been built, for him not to feel the tiniest bit shy that his body was basically 95% visible to James, who he barely knew.

“Oh,” Topher’s eyes lit up, “this is the first time I’m ever going to have a roommate! Isn’t that amazing? Am I going to meet who gave you your love mark? Is it still there?” he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively as his eyes darted to James’s collar, effectively making James’s face red.

“I-it’s not a hick—"

Topher let out a hearty laugh and patted James’s shoulder. “No need to embarrassed about being sexually active, my friend. We’re all adults now. What are you, again? 25? 26?”

“I’m 30,” James flatly replied, “and it doesn’t matter. Now that I’m going to let you stay at my place, you can’t ever bring that up again.”

Topher froze, keeping his hand on James’s shoulder as he stared at him with his eyebrows raised. “Hold on,” he said, confusing James for a second until he continued, “I’m still stuck on the fact that you’re older than me. My god.” Much to James’s surprise, Topher leaned close to his face to get a better look, and even went as far as to lightly touch his cheek in awe. “What skin cream do you use? Who’s your dermatologist?”

James blinked fast at Topher a few times, as if he couldn’t believe that someone without a sense of boundaries like him existed. Looking completely flustered, he immediately stood up and announced, “I am leaving,” as he fixed his damp hair and tried to straighten out his clothes. He cleared his throat and tried to regain composure. “You can stay here if you want, but just don’t go back into the sauna, you hear me?”

“Aye aye, roomie,” Topher said with a salute. When James had finally left, he pumped his fist in the air and lied on the damp tiles with a satisfied smile on his face.