I enter my empty house - my parents away on business, as per usual. We have a beautiful home for people who're barely in it.

"How was your weekend? It was terrible thanks for asking. You're welcome honey. I love you perfect Mother. I love you to son who does far too much for his older brother." I murmur to myself, putting on a single-man show acting as both mother and son characters. After heating up my popcorn, I pour a cup of milk and head up to my room, ready to chill for the rest of the shittiest first day of school ever.

I clammer into bed, mug in my one hand, bowl in the other, and attempt an early start at my tri 1 assessments - resulting in me shutting my laptop 5 minutes in; the meagre thought of writing an essay draft sending me into the seductive clasp of Netflix.

I login to Netflix, a disappointing cheap new movie promotion displaying across the T.V screen - nothing worse then a Netflix original - before settling on The Blind Side. Nothing I crave more then a good ol' heart-wrenching movie to cap off the blur of the first day of school - The Blind Side is a piece of cinematic history and is undoubtedly my favourite movie of all time. The opening scene sends me into a trance of peace, the pixels entertaining my view before I ultimately give into the eternal desire of sleep, the character's voice over running with me into the land of dreams.

With 2 seconds of sleep under my belt, a loud notification dings from my phone - disrupting my serenity. Is it a secret admirer? Someone confessing their love to me - an unsung hero to save me from this lonely castle?

Cant drop u off home lol. Got a last minit practice now. Hve a nice walk loser hahaha

Nope. Just Harvey.

Harvey (3:19):

Nah jk txt me when u get home

Danté (3:20):

I'm already at home dumbass

Danté (3:23):

Have a good practice.

I literally told him a couple of hours ago that I was going home...and he replied to me. I turn my volume down and let the sound of The Blind Side intro attempt, once again, to help me sleep the stress of my day away. Wisps of dreams dance through my mind before they're obliterated by a loud knocking on my door. For Fuck's Sakes.

"Go away Harvey! I'm trynna sleeeep" I yell lividly. That was a fast practice, or a no practice. I don't know and I don't care.

The door creaks open in defiance, quiet footsteps making their way towards the opposite side of my bed. The bed dipping slightly as he kneels on the side.

"What the fuck Harvey I'm trynna sle-" I stop myself mid-sentence, Casey looking at me with a confused look - scratching his head awkwardly while turning towards the screen.

"Oh I was just looking for Harvey ha ha. Oh my God I love this movieeee...Blind side is like, low key, actually high key, my favourite movie of all time." He announces, lying down on the bed and dipping his hand into the popcorn - I slap it away in awe as my brain catches up to what's happening.

"Um," I start awkwardly, turning towards him while he maintains his gaze on the screen "Harvey's at an emergency practice...and yeah...this is undoubtedly one of the greatest movies of all time...Um...what are you doing here?"

"Watching a movie duh..." He replies as he continues stuffing his face with popcorn, my popcorn to be more specific. I reach for the remote and pause the movie, to Casey's dismay.

"Go away...I thought I told you at school to leave me alone...I get it you hate gay people. Go hate them somewhere else." I use the remote as a pointer and signal towards my door. He sighs.

"Look I'm sorry for what I said to you the other day in the kitchen - it was super uncool and hella outta line. I don't hate you haha, I just didn't say it right. I'm sorry. I'm really really sorry dude. And I'm sorry for Boon. But don't worry, I sorted him out for you." He bows his head, his apology heartfelt and meaningful. The room falls into a silence as he slowly picks at a piece of popcorn.

"Did you beat him up or like...what happened after I left the party?"

"Well...um...fuck...well after Boon called you a...ya'know...a dirty fag... you just looked so broken, so sad. So I did the logical thing...and gave him a hiding. Bro, I've been to like a million parties in this house, in your house, and I crash here all the time, but I have like never seen you at all - like I knew you existed, but more as a ghost. Like you're there, but no one sees you." I chuckle slightly at the dumbest metaphor ever. He continues, "So yeah I beat up Boon cause he was being a jerk. I'm sorry I called you Psycho, I should've called you Sad-o. Because you looked sad. My brother like... um... he killed himself...haha yeah that sucked. He was sad and had the same look on his face as you, but I never paid attention ya'know? Haha yeah. But um... anyways... can we watch the movie? I actual no joke love this movie." He diverts his eyes and sniffles slightly, leaving me deadpanned.

"Well um...if you're gonna watch the movie, you might as well get under the blanket and get comfortable...but no spooning me this time!" I joke, bringing the familiar warmth back to his demeanour, the tremor in his eyes disappearing. I sigh internally as I banish the dark tone from the room. I used to see Casey as a punk party-goer athlete dude, but I've just seen a side of him that none of the other popular kids at my school have ever shown - a side of vulnerability.

"Do you mean like naked comfortable...or like uncomfortable comfortable?" The life returns to his green eyes, as he plays with the hem of his collar.

"If you take your shirt off I will murder you." I reply as I play the movie and hear him huff in disagreement. He kicks off his shoes and sinks into the sheets. The awkwardness dissipates slowly as the movie plays across the screen, entrancing both of us. My lids dip slowly as Casey's chuckle vibrates the bed, his hand crunching through the popcorn. The energy in the room radiating as I finally drift back into sleep.

**********

"Danté are you here?!" I hear Harvey call from the hallway, snapping me out of my sleep as the door barges open. I look up and meet the eyes of my confused brother, scanning the now empty side of the bed - ruffling the blanket to hide the silhouette of a body. Where did the boy in my bed go? Where did Casey go?

"Uh yeah. Just woke up. Um, how was practice?" I ask with a raspy tone, my glass of milk now empty... but not from me.

"It was alright. But I'm starving so I'm ordering pizza for dinner." I nod while rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. "And by the way Casey's coming over to chill. You know him aye?" He backs out of my room, his eyes connected to his phone as he closes the door shut. What the fuck.

The closet ruffles a little before the doors open and Casey slides out, a giddy look on his face. "Fuck, I heard your brother pull up and just gapped it into the wardrobe lol. Sent him a quick text and boom." He stretches out, combing his hand through his tamed hair. "Imma go surprise him in the room. Like boom. Surprise. Anyways, thanks for the movie. See ya." He waves and walks out the room. I hear my brother scream his name as he crosses the hall, probably pulling him in for a bro-hug.

I starfish across the bed, brushing my arm against the fading warmth of Casey's side of the bed - a tingling sensation ruffling through my arm.

I remake my bed and start the essays I put off, distracting myself from the dancing thoughts in my head, who're thinking about Casey in the room just over from me. Hours blur by as I complete my essay plan, my hunger sneaking up on me.

"Can you get the pizzas pleaseeeeee!" Harvey's command vibrates through the hallway, halting my essay. I get up and walk down to the front door, greeting the pizza boy before taking the pizzas out of the cold night air. I turn around, Casey standing behind me - almost making me drop the pizzas.

"I was just coming to see if you needed help carrying the pizzas." He says while wrapping his hands around mine, putting the pizzas in danger of falling - the worst tragedy possible. He awkwardly shuffles the bottom two pizzas out of my hands and into his arms. He coughs awkwardly, "I just wanted to say that um I-"

"Where is pizza I'm fucking starvvvingggg...pleaseeeee..." My brother shouts, interrupting Casey while simultaneously scaring us to death. Casey looks sheepish, retreating his hands and starting his walk back to the staircase.

"Um night." He says, sauntering off back up the stairs - leaving me standing in the entranceway in a trance.

"Night." I whisper quietly as he closes my brother's door.

A/N

This chapter took me 7 hours to write because, I was listening to music while writing it and kept getting distracted by my good taste in music - taking an estimated, 300 dance breaks. Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Thanks for reading! :)

Also, The Blind Side will always be one of the favourite movies. It's nice to see people represented in the media who look like you, less isolating.

- YOP