narrative
Micah took a deep breath and held it until the door was firmly closed behind him. He was accustomed to sneaking out on the nights his brother Marin was home. Being a full time student with a part time job and a new boyfriend, Marin wasn't usually around. Tonight, however, he was and Micah was forced to be extra careful as he left the apartment this time. The last thing he needed was an interrogation. Standing on the porch, he listened for footsteps and dug his cigarettes out of his pocket while he waited. Finally confident that he was free, he started down the steps, pulling a cigarette from the pack. He waited until he was across the street to light up and began to smoke as he walked.

He didn't even know where he was going, really. Casper hadn't been coming over as often lately and while Micah thought it might have something to do with what had been going on between them lately, he wasn't going to ask. He knew that the quickest way to get Casper to shut down entirely was to start asking him questions. Christopher was out of town on business for what would probably be two whole months. Micah was still puzzled over the talk Christopher had given him before he left. The older man had told Micah that he didn't expect him to wait around for him and the more Micah thought about it, the more he figured it meant Christopher wanted to be free to do as he pleased with whoever he pleased whlie he was in New York and Europe.

Micah had been expecting him to offer to fly him out to New York for an extended weekend - not to be put out on the curb with the trash as Christopher left town. He'd finally stopped trying to make sense of it and had just been focusing on homework and getting the costumes for the play done. Passing the post office, Micah cut through the park. He was subconsciously walking his route to school as if it were the morning instead of eleven at night. It was just habit. As he passed through the parking lot, he saw a couple making out in a truck and just sort of grinned to himself. How weird it would be to come to a park to make out. He was used to doing these kinds of things in his own bed or at Christopher's lavish townhouse.

He knew that he should probably be more concerned about the fact that the man who was his boyfriend has essentially walked out of his life for at least the next two months, but he couldn't bring himself to be so worked up over it anymore. He figured that his apathetic attitude toward relationships came from having parents who passed away when he was young. Ever since, Micah had been hesitant to get into relationships and then even if he was, he never put too much stock into them. Nearing the school, he realized he couldn't go there at night. It was all locked up and shut down. Instead of going right out of the park, he turned left. This road led to the homes of most of the affluent kids at his school. He'd been in this neighborhood a few times when he was younger for birthday parties and the like but that was the extent of his adventures on the right side of the tracks.

Micah knew that he shouldn't wander too far. He had school in the morning and it was already late. It was general knowledge that Jayden lived in this neighborhood but Micah wasn't entirely sure where. Quickly, it became a game. He would walk one block while looking for Jayden's truck and when he didn't find it, he would move onto the next block. Finally, a few blocks in, Micah spotted it. Grinning widely, he hurried up the street and paused behind Jayden's truck, looking in awe up at the other boy's house. Having been paired with Sadie for the school project, Micah had been awed to find out that their combined theoretical income was projected at $11,000 a month. He couldn't fathom having that kind of money and he was certain that Jayden's family made substantially more than that just from the size of the house alone.

It was enormous and Micah began to scan the windows to see if he could figure out which room was Jayden's. A few lights were still on and Micah was content to watch for awhile, imagining what it would be like to live there. He didn't think he was spying. It hadn't even crossed his mind. He was merely curious. Lighting another cigarette, he blew a smoke ring over the bed of Jayden's truck and gazed up at the house. Awhile later, the lights on the lower level went off. Figuring it was time to head home, Micah took his last drag from the cigarette and tossed it on the ground, crashing it out beneath his boot. Just as he was about to turn and go, a light on the upper level came on and he paused, safely hidden behind the truck. He waited there, wanting to see what was going to happen.

Then, there was Jayden in the window. And he was shirtless. Micah knew he should turn away. This had somehow evolved into spying for sure now. He wasn't sure why he stayed but he couldn't move his feet. Micah definitely wasn't the kind of guy who went for just any half naked dude he saw and up until recently, he wasn't even a fan of Jayden's. There was just some random unseen force keeping him rooted to the spot as a small shiver went up his spine. This was wrong. He knew it. Luckily, he wasn't there much longer because Jayden moved away from the window and a few seconds later, the light in his room went out. Somehow, the darkness broke the spell and Micah was able to move. He took off as fast as his legs would carry him all the way home.