Chasing Death

Chapter 6

So we went back to his dorm. His room was surprisingly messy, I hadn't really pegged him for the type. He brushed the clothes off his bed and patted it to signal to sit. I followed.

"Wow. This is a lot bigger than mine. No roommate?"

"Nah," and his smile came back, "medical condition. So I got a single."

"Medical condition?" I raised my eyebrow in a playful mock. He raised his eyebrow in a much higher arch than mine reached.

"Yeah. Or so they think."

"Eric! Wow. Bad boy huh?" I tipped him a wink.

"Haha, you could say that."

He handed me a foreign remote. It felt strange in my hands. I held it upright, and Eric became silent.

"Mario Kart," he adjusted my controller to turn sideways, "is played horizontally."

I blushed. My face could have stared in the new movie Fifty Shades Of Red.

"Oh yeah, I knew that." I flipped my hair and smacked my gum for the effect. He chuckled.

"You really are something."

We sat side by side and played the game. Needless to say, my controller holding skills were much more advanced than my playing skills. I only one once, but that was because he hit a banana on purpose.

His phone chimes Photograph by Nickleback. He picks it up.

"Ello." His voice. So. Gorgeous.

His face immediately scrunches up. I notice a tear run down his cheek.

"What do you want me to do?" He hesitates. I hear a paused chatter on the other line.

"Well then get the fuck off my phone and get the fuck on that scene. And if you don't watch that asshole, I'll take care of I'm for you." Eric punches the end button on his iPhone. He buries his face into his hands. It's minutes until he looks up and I see the redness in his face. There are tears smeared over his cheeks.

"Eric..? Eric, what's wrong?"

He pulls me into a hug. Not a I need your comfort hug, but a I'm so sorry.. hug.

"Sydney..." he coughs and chokes a little, "Sydney was found dead in her boyfriend's apartment."

I instantly return the hug. I feel distant, like at the time I choked. Thinking about the time I choked reminds me of Syndey, and I instantly cry out in a wail of mental pain.

"Shh.." Eric chokes out between tears. He digs his fingernails into my back and I rethink my hug analysis. Maybe he really did need this. He continues crying and I cry in response. We're there for almost an hour, just crying, hugging on his bed.

Finally, he pulls away. He wipes his eye with his wrist in a crane shape.

"She was shot in the head, and has multiple defensive wounds," Eric softly says, almost too soft for me to register.

I give him a friendly kiss on the cheek, meant to console but it still made me blush.

I flushed all the way to my toes, which was totally inappropriate considering my friend had just been murdered.