"Wait a sec, this is the first time you're actually going to be in my house, right?" Lewis asks me and I nod.

"Okay, then..." He unlocks the door and pushes it open. "Welcome or something."

Thanks or something. I respond and enter the hallway. Its walls are painted in a light orange color and there are several flowerpots hanging from the walls in between a few doors on both sides. The floor is made out of wood and there are a few pairs of shoes standing by the left wall. Some pictures of Lewis with his mothers and sometimes also other people, probably family, and a staircase at the end of the hall leading up. Lewis and I go up these exact stairs after taking off our shoes. The upper part of the house looks similar to the other one.

Lewis knocks on a door.

"Come in!" A voice from inside replies, and he opens it. In the room, there's a woman sitting at a desk and turning in her chair. It is one of his mothers – though I don't know which one – and she looks exactly like an older, female version of her son.

"Hey there, you two!" She says with a warm smile and gets up to walk towards us. "You're Jesse, right?"

I nod.

"Great to meet you! I'm Anna."

I return her smile.

"My wife should come home in a few hours. How was your day at school?"

"Like any school day, I guess." Lewis responds. "I just had something to look forward to after it's over."

I smile. Same here.

"Hey, no, don't, I'm gonna cry and ruin my makeup!"

~

Lewis's room is probably the most comfortable room I've ever been in. The plants all around the room that are somehow all in the perfect place, the fairy lights over his window, the stuffed animals on his bed, the pictures on the walls, it's all just so... Lewis. It fits perfectly.

Lewis puts his bag under the desk and sits on his bed, leaning against the pillow and blanket he piled up in a corner. "Is there anything you wanna do?" He asks.

I shrug. Honestly, I have no ideas right now.

"Great, because I do. Are you scared of heights?"

I shake my head. As long as I'm not falling, no.

He smiles. "Alright, because I wanted to show you my favorite place here." He jumps from the bed again to look out of the window. "Oh, my neighbors are outside! Be right back!" He grabs something from his closet before leaving.

I raise my eyebrows with a half-smile. Alright then, I think as I sit on the edge of the bed.

I wait for a few minutes until Lewis comes back. "Sorry!" He says. "But from the place I talked about, we're like, really visible to them and they're super conservative... Do you think this is going to piss them off?" He gestures at the skirt, tights and BLM crop top, all in purple or black or both, that he's changed into.

I chuckle, then nod. Perfect.

"Awesome, thanks." He opens his window. "Oh, uhm, I forgot... Can you climb?"

Wouldn't say I'm an expert, but sort of.

"Okay, you know what? Just watch how I do it and then decide." Lewis pulls himself up onto the windowsill, from which he climbs out onto the roof it's pointing out of, holding on tightly to the window. Then, he gets up and over the window, by walking with careful little steps and still holding onto the window, sitting on the roof above it as soon as he can. "It looks harder than it is, promise!" He says, and I nod after a moment of hesitation.

"Okay," Lewis says. "You saw what I did, right? Try doing the same, but come up on the other side."

I nod again, taking a few deep breaths before getting out of the window with shaky legs. As soon as I stand, I feel his hands on mine. "Now careful. Always test if a brick is loose before you actually step on it."

I nod, my gaze not leaving the roof under my feet.

Somehow, I make it up there, and as I finally sit over the window, Lewis smiles at me.

"I knew you could do it!"

I smile back, suddenly becoming strangely aware of the fact that our hands are still together. He does, too, apparently, because he takes his away quickly, looking in the direction of his neighbors' garden now, his hair falling in front of his face.

I wish he hadn't.

"Oh hey, they went back inside! Good for us, I guess."

I follow his gaze to see a garden that's actually kind of pretty. No neighbors in sight.

I lean back and turn my head towards Lewis, who is now looking at me again.

"What do you think?"

I smile. I like it up here. The atmosphere is nice. I respond. Not very easy to get here, but being here makes up for it.

"Right?" He smiles brightly. "That's why I love it."

We just end up sitting there for a while, sometimes talking and sometimes just enjoying each other's company, until Lewis snaps out of a sort of daze he's been in for a few minutes.

"Fuck, I forgot to water my plants!" He looks at me. "I don't think I've introduced you yet, so... You wanna come with me?"

I nod with a smile. I'd rather not be alone up here, and getting introduced to plants sounds great.

The way off the roof into the room is way scarier than the way up, but I make it eventually – Lewis sort of subconsciously reaches for my hand again, but then seems to realize I need to use it – and don't need to wait for long until Lewis climbs through the window after me.

"Okay, be right back." He says, taking a watering can from his desk and leaving the room. I hear his steps on the stairs, first down and soon back up again.

"Hi." Lewis sort of waves awkwardly as he enters the room. "So, I may or may not have given my plants names. This..." He points at a red snapdragon. "This is Blue. I don't know why I named him that either." He explains, pouring some of the water into the earth in the flowerpot.

I raised an eyebrow with a chuckle. Interesting.

"I know. Anyways, that ivy over there, that's Hailey. As you can see, she's kind of hanging off my closet and she's been trying to get inside, which I really don't get, like sweetie, we support you, there is absolutely no need to go back inside." Lewis stands on his toes to water this one and I smile. "Here, we also have Brick." He says as he's pouring water onto the roots of a white orchid next to his bed. "Them and Hayley are in a long-distance relationship, and I will absolutely not elaborate on this. Okay, maybe I will, but..." Lewis shrugs. "So, uhm, this little guy," He waters the huge fern in the corner by the door. "...that's the wet guy. And I just realized how that sounds with absolutely no context." He adds as he sees my expression. "I named him that because he needs a lot of water, but I had to get the inspiration somewhere, so... Have you ever watched the anime Charlotte?"

I shake my head with a smile tugging at the corners of my lips. He looks adorable standing there, slightly rocking back and forth on his toes with the purple can in his hand.

"Okay, you know what that means." His voice reminds me that there is an actual interaction going on right now. "I will absolutely force you to watch it. It's pretty sad, though I've watched worse, and needs several trigger warnings – do you have any triggers or anything?"

I don't think I do. I respond.

"Alright, great." He says as he takes his laptop from his desk. It's covered in several different stickers, some political and some of other things, like anime characters I mainly don't know. He opens it as he sits on his bed in the pillow-blanket-pile, tapping on the spot next to him as a non-verbal invite for me to join him. I do, and watch as he types the name into the Netflix search bar.

"Here we go." He says, opening the anime.

~

As we watch it, he leans his head on my shoulder, and I definitely don't get butterflies in my stomach. They're fully-grown pigeons.

nope, i haven't forgotten about this book. in fact, it's in my head all day and night. i just had a bunch of weird writer's blocks for transitions between scenes and stuff idk