Terrestrial Alien ✔

Chapter 34: Nostalgic

Joshua

"Are we really doing this?" I ask as Seth leads me into what I assume is his bedroom.

Not that we're sleeping together in that way, I know that, but this still feels so... bizarre. After everything that's happened today, I would never have imagined that this is how the day would end. With his fingers twined through mine, gently tugging me to follow him. With his bashful sort of eagerness, radiating from his every gesture.

It's even darker up here than it was downstairs, and still Seth doesn't turn on a light. I don't know how he sees where he's going at all; I can't see squat.

"Is something wrong with it?" Seth replies with a touch of concern, as though he's beginning to doubt himself. He looks back at me in the dark, and I can all but feel his frown.

"No, no. It's just... After what I... Today... You still want to..?" I struggle with the most tact way to say what's on my mind.

In the semi-darkness of the room, Seth's luminescent eyes are the most striking thing. It's almost difficult for my eyes to adjust to the rest of the darkness with them there; I can't look away.

He blinks at me for a moment, and then he seems to get what I mean.

"Oh!" He whisper-exclaims. I see his hand come up to brush against the side of his face, almost subconsciously, and he clears his throat, glancing away from me. "Well, yeah... I guess, I'm okay with it if you're okay with it." He looks back to me, catching my gaze. His gaze pours into mine and he whispers, "For what it's worth, I forgive you."

"Oh." I whisper. I don't know how to take that. I know I should feel relieved, and maybe part of me is, but for some reason, it doesn't make me feel much better. It just makes me feel guiltier.

"Th-thank you." I add, lamely, because I should.

I see his eyes crinkle with a smile. "Yup." He says, and I feel him tug on my arm again, causing me to stumble over some things on the floor as he pulls me to what I assume is the bed.

I think they're clothes, what I'm tripping on. I think all those dark shapes tossed haphazardly about the room are clothes. At least, I hope they are.

"Are these all clothes?" I ask as I almost trip over another one. I have to untangle it from my shoe. It's a shirt. "Where did you even... get them?"

"Ah, er, sorry about them being all over the place, I... Yeah. They're clothes. I uh, I sort of... Sometimes people in the neighborhoods around here like to put all their old stuff in their yards and driveways and let people come to take them, so I get most of them there." He explains, and I see his form sit down on the bed.

He pulls me down next to him, and I try not to be too awkward about it. The mattress dips under the weight of the both of us, and I find my hip pressed against his. A completely normal thing. And yet I still feel the point of contact searing onto my consciousness, and I can't ignore it.

Seth seems utterly oblivious to my tenseness, and he happily continues to chatter.

"One time an old lady yelled at me... I think maybe I took too much?" He gives a shrug, and his shoulder bumps against mine idly.

"Is that... Is that how you got that leather jacket? From a yard sale?" I try to hold the conversation as casually as I can. I still feel so out of place here, next to him on this bed, and I can't shake the feeling.

"Oh! Yes! That was one of my favorite things I got, though I'm sad because I think I've lost it now... But you noticed it?" He perks up, and I can't help but smile a bit.