Empty Spaces

I'm Bobby, and I am 18 years old and fresh out of high school. I'm so glad that my life as a high school kid is over. I've had it rough, especially when one of the bullies caught me kissing another guy in the locker room. I was beaten up a lot, I've had my face punched in, slammed into lockers, you name it. My home life wasn't all that better either. My father was abusive to me and my little brother, and my mom was too drunk to do anything about it. The night before I graduated, my parents said that they don't need me in their house anymore so I left. I live in a small studio apartment overlooking the city with my little brother Noah. He's strong for a 15 year old boy, but I'm not surprised. We needed to be strong in order to survive our parents who neglected us and beat us for no good reason. But, it's been a few months since then and I have been working 3 jobs and Noah has a job too just so we can scrape by on twinkies, ramen noodles, and milk. We needed a roommate. And when I was walking down to some Chinese bodega to get some food for me and Noah, their was something on a lamppost. "roommate needed. Please help. 401-555-1125." I quickly took out my cell phone and a deep yet very sexy voice answered. "hello?" 

"uh... I'm Bobby. I saw your ad for wanting a roommate, and we need one too so... If your interested, do you wanna come talk about it with me?"

"sure... Is tomorrow ok...?" I could tell he was very shy, and I didn't want to rush him. "ok. How bout Louis restaurant downtown?" I asked. "ok. See you then... Thanks for your help." he said and he hung up before I could even say he was welcome. I put my phone back into my pocket and continued on my way to the Chinese Bodega at the end of my street. I gathered some canned goods, Mac-&-Cheese, milk, eggs, bread, and other stuff I needed and walked up to the register. They scanned the items and put them in the average brown paper bag you would find at any grocery store and I paid what I owed. "you owe me 35 dollar!!" he screamed. I handed him my last fifty and took the change. I walked down the street, climbed the stairs to my apartment, turned the key and stepped inside. The place was a mess! "Noah! Did you do this?!" I said as he came out of his room. His eyes were bloodshot and he was saying stuff that didn't make any fucking sense! "Noah, are you... High?" I asked worriedly. "Jake brought it over. I... I just wanted to be cool..." he said. He had a tough time being able to "fit in" and it was often a problem for him. He was never seen as part of the cool crowd. "you did it once and that's it! You had your fun ok?" I said with a serious look on my face. "ok bro. Sorry..." he said. He was waaaay out in la-la land and there was no way that he only "tried it." I started cleaning up the mess Noah made, and started preparing dinner when Noah screams. I rush into the room and found his friend Jake on the ground bleeding. Noah had a gun. "what did you do?" I scream. "h-he said that I had to do it... They said they would kill me!" he said cradling his legs close to his chest. His pupils were huge, and clearly Jake added something to the pot they were smoking in the house. I looked back at Jake and he was clearly dead. I put Noah in his room and started cleaning up the blood. I put jakes body in a trash bag that was layered with 2 more trash bags. I threw it in the dumpster and I got rid of the gun. I looked at Noah; "you dont speak of this. Not to anyone, ever. And on top of that, if anyone asks you what happened to Jake, you say that he was high and he just left and that's the last time you saw him. Ok?" I said holding his fragile face in my hands. He was crying and I brought him in for a hug. I got an e-mail just then and I saw who it was. It was the guy I talked to over the phone. Hd asked where the address was and I told him. I heard a knock on the door after that and I got up from Noahs bed and opened it. I saw a god! He was tall and lean for his height. He had emerald green eyes, a square jawline, blond hair and he wore a cute smile to wrap it all up together. "I'm Kyle." I was completely entranced with his beauty. "hey dude. You here for the roommate thing?" I said trying to hide my obvious need for him. "yeah... We were supposed to meet tomorrow... But I just couldn't wait." he said in his shy tone. "cmon in." I said. He was cute!! I could have taken him right then and there. I can be very seductive. "so...." he said with his hands in his jean pockets, "how's this gunna work?"

"I think we should split the bills evenly, cuz my brother works too so... Maybe we could do that?" I said calmly. 

"cool." he said looking around the apartment. I grabbed a quick look at his amazing physique. He had a toned chest and body, but he was a little on the slim side. Nonetheless, he was outrageously sexy. "hey, eyes up here dude." he said. I quickly snapped out of my study of him. I could tell he didn't like the fact of me checking him out. Not one bit. "I... I think you have good taste in style, I wasn't checking you out or nothin' " I said. My god that was a lame excuse!! "I didn't ask if you were checking me out." he said a little angrily. "I-I really wasn't check-"

"dude! Just relax!! I'm only fuckin' with you." he laughed. I laughed nervously along with him. He soon left after about a half an hour walking through my apartment and he went to get his stuff. "you like him don't you?" Noah asked as he sat next to me on the couch. "who? Kyle? Please..." I said. "Bobby, I know you. Were bros. I just don't want to see another Billy that's all." he added. "he's not going to be another Billy. Besides, he is our roommate and we don't need to talk about him behind his back."

"so you do like him." Noah said. 

"ok fine! He's kinda cute." I said looking at him. Noah gave me a look. "ok he's hot...." I looked to see if there's any change in Noahs expressionless face. "ok ok! He's really hot and I wanna... Nevermind." I said as Noah was smiling. "was that so hard to say?" he said giving me a cheeky smile. We talked a little more until I heard a knock. I open the door and my jaw hit the floor...