Hello future Drew,

Yeah that's right, I'm trying to make a habit out of this. Will it work? No, probably not. But I'm still going to try. I have a sleepover with Greyson tonight. I'm bringing activities so I don't go mute all of a sudden and forget how to speak English. I really don't want to make things awkward. I just don't know how to act around other guys. I'm so used to being around the girls from cheer, when they're nice to me that is, which is rarely. The guys have never wanted to hang out with me before. I'm kind of an oddball. I have a feeling he is way better at being a man than me. I just hope I don't freak him out. Maybe face masks were a bad idea.

"Rise and shine sweetie! I'm going to the grocery store, what kind of food do you and your buddy want for tonight?" Greysons mom and dad both stand patiently outside his bedroom door.

"Hun, they're teenage boys. I'm sure they'll eat just about anything." Drew suddenly popped out of his bed and flung his door open.

"Actually, not in this case. Drew has a complicated diet." Greyson’'s father raised an eyebrow.

"What kind of teenage boy has a diet? Is he trying to lose weight or something?" Greyson's mom slapped him on the shoulder.

"No, not a diet, just autism." Greyson yawned.

His dad yawned in response. "He's special needs? He did get permission from his parents right?"

Greyson rolled his eyes. "Do you even know what autism is? I wouldn't call him special needs... at least not in that tone. I actually think he might be emotionally smarter than me. I couldn't tell you much about the food restrictions though, I'll have to ask."

Greyson grabbed his phone from his bed and opened up snapchat. "Good morning. What do you want to eat later? My mom will grab something from the store."

Drew rolled over in his bed, then smiled when he saw Greyson's message. "Do you guys have plain white bread and regular hot dogs? I think that's a safe bet." He yawned.

"You mean buns? And what do you put on your hot dog?" Greyson scratched his head.

"No, buns have too much crust on them. Also, condiments are unnecessary. I don't like them. Unless I eat the hot dog plain, then I can dunk it in ketchup, but the ketchup makes the bread taste soggy."

Greyson reread Drew's paragraph three times and then responded. "Sounds like a plan," with a thumbs up emoji at the end.

"Ok momma, get a pack of plain hotdogs and a loaf of white bread."

Greyson's mother scrunched her face. "That's a bizarre request, don't you think? Do you want anything with it?"

Greyson thought about it for a minute. "You know what? I want nachos. Just grab plain corn chips and a jar of mild salsa. I have a feeling he might not touch it but I'm going to play it safe anyways."

Greysons father walks up to him and ruffles his hair. "You're a good friend Grey. Now go make yourself decent, you have morning breath."

Greyson sighs. "Dad! Please don't insult me when Drew is here. I beg of you."

"I won't. That's why I'm doing it now." Greyson rolls his eyes.

Dear anxiety medication, cough, I mean Diary,

My sleepover is in a few hours. I'm about to spend the night with a guy at my house that isn't a football player or someone I'm doing a school project with, so this is new. I don't know why I'm so unreasonably anxious. I literally just spent multiple days with him in the hospital, and he's just another guy. The only difference is that he's not from my school. I'll be fine. It will all be fine. I showered, cleaned my room, vacuumed, and alcohol wiped all the tables. Maybe I went a bit overboard, but I'm fine. Everything is fine. Fine I say! Ha ha ha, not freaking out at all.

A few hours later Drew snapped Greyson. "Hello friend, I have arrived at your door. My sister drove me here."

Greyson took a deep breath and then opened the door. His parents snuck quietly around the corner behind him. "Hi Drew! This is my house. I cleaned it up just for you. Not that I don't clean it up any other time, 'cause I do, just not this well."

Greyson's father face palmed from the living room. "Ok kids, get inside the house. Dinner is being prepared soon."

Drew stepped inside timidly and looked around. He found himself so fixated on the red and black themed decor he almost forgot to talk. "Wow, this house is very organized. You clean well."

"Uh, thanks." Greyson laughed and patted Drew on the back. "Okay dork, go find a seat on the sofa and mom will give us our plates once dad finishes boiling the hot dogs."

"Thank you. I'll sit right here." Right as he sat down Drew's mom popped around the corner with two plates.

"Ok sweetie," Greyson's mom looked at Drew, "I have some plain corn chips and some mild salsa if you're interested."

"Thank you, I'll have a few corn chips." Drew looked down at his plate. Greyson also looked down at his plate, then over to Drew's.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, have you always eaten your food like this? You know, plain."

Drew looked up at Greyson and knocked twice on the arm of the sofa. "Yeah, basically."

"I could never imagine what that must be like. Does food taste bad to you or something?" Drew smiled at Greyson's genuine curiosity.

"Well no, not exactly. It just tastes bad when it is mixed together, or when the texture is bad, or when the smell is bad. Taste is a very strong sense for everyone. Try to imagine what it would feel like if suddenly everything you ate was twice as strong or twice as textured."

Greyson bit into his hotdog to get some perspective. "Oh jeez. That would be intense. That explains your dislike of salt." Greyson's understanding made Drew smile.

Greyson spaced out watching Drew eat. Drew is a very attentive eater. He chews almost methodically, and chooses where to bite each and every time. "This is a good hotdog."

Greyson snapped out of his trance. "Oh, uh, yeah. It's.... it's just a regular hotdog. I don't know where I was going with that." This makes Drew giggle. "And I thought I was the dork."

Greyson smirks. "Wouldn't it be boring to be the only weird friend? It helps if you have something in common." Drew smiled and bit into a corn chip. "Fair point."

Once they have thoroughly stuffed their faces, Greyson's mother walks back from the kitchen and grabs the plates. "Okay boys. I hope that was good enough."

"It was good. Thank you Greyson's mom." Drew looks at the lamp behind her attempting to appear to be engaged in conversation. "Thank you sweetie! Ok boys, go off to Grey's room now. Remember, leave the door open."

"Okay momma, will do." Drew followed Greyson as he walked down the hall and turned left. "Here we are dude. This is my room."

Drew put his hand to his mouth and whispered. "Why exactly do we have to leave the doors open? I'm unsure if you told me previously."

"Huh, I don't think we've actually discussed this rule. It's just a rule with sleepovers and visitors. I did somthing dumb that I'd rather not share my embarrassment over, and now they are going to watch me like a halk."

Drew walked in the room and took in a deep whiff of the air freshener. "It smells like masculinity fucked a lumberjack in here. Also you can't tell me you got in trouble and not tell me what you did."

"Uhh, yeah it's actually wooded lakeside. My mom got it from one of those fragrance shops in the mall. Also, It's not something I should really talk about at a sleepover. It was like completely stupid of me and also extremely shameful."

Drew cocked his head and knocked twice on Greyson's wooden bedframe. "Hey, that's ok. It's none of my business anyways. You know what we can do instead of this awkward conversation? Truth or dare cards. I got the NSFW set."

"What does NSFW stand for again?" Drew giggled and got the box out of his backpack.

"Not safe for work. It means it has rated R content in it. It says dirty words a lot. My sister bought it for her parties. She told me it would be fun." Greyson shrugged and sat down on his bed. "Okay dude, sit down and let's play."

Drew sat down on the bed and Greyson pulled up the covers. "Sorry I'm cold."

"I was going to ask why it was cold but I think it's rude to ask." Greyson smiled and shuffled the deck of cards. "Ok Drew, you draw and ask me first."

Drew dug through the cards and selected a card randomly. "Ok, truth or dare?"

"Truth"

"What do you normally wear to bed?" Drew giggled and knocked twice on the bed frame. "That was a weird question."

Greyson tugged on his V neck t-shirt. "Oh boy. Well, normally I either just shower and then get in my room and de-towel or I just take my clothes off and crash on my bed. That's not weird is it?"

Drew widened his eyes. "Uhh, no. No, I don't think so. I did that once. I felt exposed. I usually just wear a large t-shirt, underwear, and socks." Greyson grinned. "Socks are a weird choice, but that sounds like you."

Greyson swirled around the pile of cards now laying messily on the bed and drew one out. "Ok weirdo, truth or dare?"

"Truth, sorry I have no balls right now." Greyson looked Drew in the eyes and smiled.

"Who in the room is going to be the hottest in 15 years?" Greyson immediately laughed.

Drew pushed on his shoulder. "Hey, that's not even fair! There's only two of us."

"You've gotta answer. Better choose wisely." Drew shot Greyson with an aggressive eye roll.

"Ok Mr. Un self-aware. Obviously you're going to be way more attractive than me in 15 years. Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror?" Greyson smirked.

"Really, I mean," Greyson flexed his biceps, "I suppose I have these, but you are just pleasant to look at all together." Drew blushed and pulled his knees into his chest. He then pulled out a card.

"Ok Grey, truth or dare?"

"Dare. I'm feeling like a badass." Drew shook his head.

He coughed and laughed at the same time looking down at the dare. "Oh great, you managed to get a dare that affects both of us. It says: switch shirts with the person closest to your right. I think that would be me."

Greyson began removing his shirt, and Drew nervously followed. Drew tried not to look at Greysons torso, and didn't seem to notice that Greyson was doing the same. "Oh, dude, I forgot you had that tattoo, and I just now remembered I saw it, uh, in the... the other day."

Drew looked down at his chest and poked. "Oh yeah, this was a gift from my sister who signed off as my legal guardian. It is a tree with two light geometric diamonds in the background. It represents strength. My sister has the same tattoo, but on her back." They hand each other over the shirts and start putting them on.

"I like tattoos, I wish my parents were more on board with it. But they see them as a distraction which makes no sense to me so I’d rather not get any until I've moved out or I know they’ll comment on it." Greyson looks down.

"Oh my God! My shirt looks so much smaller on you, it's ridiculous. I can literally see your muscles through my shirt. How is that even fair?! Why don't you just wear tighter shirts, you probably wouldn't be single for very long. You need to teach me how to properly fitness."

Greyson laughed and gave Drew a quick up and down glance. "I think my shirt actually reaches your mid thighs. Seriously, stand up for a minute." Drew grinned and stood up.

"Oh shit, you're right." He spun around to emphasize the length of the shirt. "So what, I don't qualify for the men's big and tall department?"

"Oh yeah, remember our conversation? You gotta show me one of your cheers. It's a dare. I know that's not how this game works, but I'm changing it up."

Drew blushed and squeezed his elbow with his arm. "Oh yeah, great. Now I have to remember how I started my cheer choreo."

Greyson sat up in his bed. "This is the part I lead that has little to no acrobatics, because I'm not doing anything athletic today." He proceeded to pull up the music on his phone and begin his routine.

Greyson was absolutely mesmerized watching him smile and put so much energy into something. He couldn't look away through the entire cheer. "You're so vibrant! If the cheer girls at my school danced more like that, maybe I would pay more attention."

Drew smiled and poked his dimples. He actually felt genuinely proud and appreciated for once, by someone other than his sister, on the odd occasion that she wasn't high off her ass. "Thank's. I enjoy it, minus the lackluster uniform they make me wear."

"Oh yeah, I wanna see the uniforms." Drew sat by Greyson and pulled up instagram on his phone, quickly grabbing a cheer pic with a few other people in it. "So this is my uniform, the shirt is all good, fits well, looks good. But the pants are annoying, they fit and all but I just don't like them as much. And this is the girls uniform. The shirt is almost the same except fitted slightly differently because girls have boobs obviously. And then they have a skirt. It's pretty short, helps with movement and kicks and all the good stuff."

"So you like the skirts? Are the girls in the skirts attractive to you? You know, short skirts and kicking and all that?" Drew looked down nervously.

"Not really. I've never actually thought about that part honestly. I guess I just like how the skirts look." He anxiously knocked on the bed frame and backed up against the headboard.

Greyson scooted back with him. "Hey, I'm sorry if that was a weird question. But, do you mind another weird question?" Drew looked up at Greyson nervously.

"Please don't get mad at me. But... I get the sense that maybe you have an interest in wearing the cheer skirts instead of the pants? I think this is the second time I've gotten that impression."

Drew squeezed his knees back up into his chest and ran his palm across his knee cap. "Please don't judge me too harshly... but yeah, I've thought about it. I know it's totally weird. I don't know why I've even thought about it. Do you think there's something wrong with me?"

Greyson poked him gently in the side of the knee. "Hey you, don't be so hard on yourself. I think that If you want to wear the damn skirt you should just do it. Something tells me it would look pretty fire on you anyways. If you ever need support, I'll be here. Screw people ya know. I'm getting sick of being told what I can and cannot do and I'm getting sick of my parents telling me what God does and does not want from me, even if they have been avoiding talking about God recently. Why can't people just live?"

Drew started crying a little and tried to wipe it away without being noticed. Greyson noticed anyway and put his arm around Drew's shoulder. "Hey you, what's wrong?"

Drew sniffled and looked up at Greyson and back down. "I'm such a fucked up person inside. I'm so broken, and somehow you are still nice to me, and you haven't called me one rude name yet. That's like a record for me honestly."

Greyson lost a single tear and cleared his throat trying to play it cool. "You are not as bad as you think you are. I think my mind is probably equal to yours if not slightly worse. I've done some regrettable things. Wanna talk more over face masks?"

"Yeah, I'll show you how to apply a gel peel mask. I hope you don't mind lavender because that's what I ended up bringing. Sorry."

Greyson squeezed Drew's shoulder. "That sounds perfect."