Balance | Daniel Seavey AU

T W E L V E | flustered for smiles

Long story short: Zach and my uncle J had left the airport, and were on their way back to Texas. The four of us piled up in Jonah's truck, and he dropped us off at the campus before he went back to his own place. We said goodbye to both Corbyn and Jack before Daniel and I headed to our dorm, where I slumped on the chair.

I was emotionally drained.

"So... Who's Matthew?" He decided to ask, sitting on his chair as well. "He's not a friend to you, and I can see it."

"I don't think that's any of your business who Matthew is," I told him sternly. Whenever I get defensive, whatever I feel towards a person is gone for a moment and I see them as a threat. Right now, Daniel was a threat.

"I'm your roommate–"

"And just because you're my roommate doesn't mean you need to know every single God damn detail about my life," I snapped. "If you don't mind your own business then you can expect me to switch rooms."

"I'm sorry, Mason, it's just... I really thought that you'd open up to me," he admits, his tone guilty and cautious. "I've known for almost two months, and we're still acting like strangers."

"It's because we are, okay? You didn't know me before college and you'll forget me after," I said angrily. I had no control over my emotions whenever my brother was brought up as a topic. Sighing, I removed the jacket and placed it in my closet before climbing up onto the bed. Wordlessly, I lied down on my side, my back towards Daniel as I stared at the wall.

"I'm sorry for prying..." I heard him say before the lights blinked off. "I really am." It was quiet for a minute, but I could hear Daniel's music through his earphones and knew he was awake.

I contemplated for a minute. Daniel has been nothing but patient with me—ignore the one time he lost it because of my prank. He's okay with me keeping secrets and he's okay with me being closed off. He's one of the few people that I couldn't walk away from. I could easily change rooms, avoid having to deal with him but I couldn't.

I was drawn to Daniel, something about him just... Balanced me out. He was good. I wasn't. He was a happy person, I wasn't.

But I couldn't trust him—not yet at least.

—

I woke up the next morning confused.

It was odd... I had a weird feeling for this morning as it was quiet—too quiet. It wouldn't seem like a big deal, that is if I didn't have a musician as a roommate and I've gotten used to Daniel's guitar strumming at seven in the morning, so this was weird for me.

I looked to his bed to see that it was made and piece of paper was on his desk. Groggily, I climbed down my bed and took the paper from his desk.

Woke up early and went to the café for breakfast, will be back soon –Daniel

Right on cue, my door was pushed open and revealed the boy with the curls, a hand in a bag of chips as he walked in, his eyes locked on his phone before he sat down on Daniel's chair. "Uhm... what the fuck?"

"Oh, Daniel asked me to walk you to class," Jack says without looking up.

"I can walk myself?" I stated as more of a question, because I was confused on why the hell this boy was here. "And Daniel's never walked me to class, so what the hell?"

"I don't know, dude, he just texted me and told me to go to your dorm—I was lazy so he said that you had a sprained ankle and needed someone to walk you to class," he explained before looking down at my feet, "You look fine."