“How...How can I help you?” She whispers. Alek tenses at her choked words. The air was a little cooler. Carrie stands straight and brings her right hand to adjust her readers. Alek picks at his jeans from the awkward tension. He didn't feel like he needed to be helped. This was more than enough. He couldn't have asked for more out of a friend in his position. So he let her speak.

“I don't know. I just… I just feel like you’re slipping away” Carrie pauses, biting her lip and staring at a spot on the slick refrigerator. Then looks back with a new passion in her eyes. “And I know I haven’t known you for long - not even a year - but I can notice when a person changes. And you’re becoming more withdrawn and tired every passing day. I don't know how to help! Please! Please help me help you.” She searches the boys' eyes intently. Trying to grasp what has been lost. Alek steps away from his confronter blankly.

“I'm alright. Just a little lonely is all. Remember? I told you this morning and you ran me out?”

“I know and I'm so sorry for that. But please let me help you! I am your friend, right?”

Alek Pauses.

“Yes.” He takes another step back. Carrie, on the verge of tears, hugs him. Her arms wrapped around his neck she cries into his shoulder. She took in shaking breaths of his faint teakwood cologne and some other natural smells. This only made her cry harder. The boy under her began to release some of his tension beneath the woman's embrace. Alek thought she smelled of lavender and bacon, which was an odd combination that somehow worked on a woman her age. This was their first time ever being intimate with each other.,nd Alek felt too uncomfortable to hug her back. Carrie takes in a long breath from him to speak.

“I know I get attached easily, and I know you don't like to talk about your problems with me aside from what you need help with. But in order not only for you to feel better but for us to be closer; you need to tell me what has been upsetting you so much”

The calm way her voice flowed directly into his ear made him lose his composure. He did not cry, for the grown man inside him thought it was not a man's place to cry in front of a lady. Instead, his throat became choked and he raised his arms to wrap tightly around her. He did not say a word in the moment. Only were the sounds of Carries’ sobs and Aleks’ forced swallows.

They stood there for five minutes before breaking. A few customers had come to the shop and were ringing the bell for service.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow about it, okay?” Alek sniffs. “I promise.” It was clear that Carrie wanted to talk about it now, but duty calls. The moment she went to greet the customers was the moment Alek left the shop. But not before grabbing up a napkin from the counter to fix his face up to be presentable.

Slowly walking back to his house, he mulled over his day and what he could possibly confess to Carrie tomorrow morning.

‘Am I depressed because I don’t have anyone, or because I want someone?’ Was one of his thoughts. This tore a shiver down his spine. Was his subconscious actually on the lookout for a partner? Was that he why he had been so guarded to everyone? He pushed this thought to the back of his mind because he did not want to admit it to others, let alone himself. That he was done being a loner after all this time.

Also, his housemate was upset with him every day for one reason or another. And he was one of the only people he could depend upon for living. Recently, he just didn't want anything to do with people. That’s why he moved nearly a year ago to a more popular city with people who want nothing to do with him.

The weather was warm yet sticky from the downpour not thirty minutes before. Placing his sunglasses before his eyes, Alek stops before his apartment building and gazes up. The six-story building gave off a much different feel when it rained. When the stone gray walls turned dark. The balconies turned free of variety and character. The blinds and curtains were drawn in every window. One would definitely mistake it for vacant when it rained.

When he had arrived in the late winter of the year before, the building still seemed to have a zest he was drawn to. Even through the heavy snow of Cleveland, leftover Christmas lights and warm indoor lighting made him feel at home. It was only when it rained did he see a complete change in the complex. When he entered, it felt the same. His level of exhaustion was insurmountable so he was physically unable to float up the stairs. Every step was a nightmare to him. Luckily, no one had been on the steps to share or feel his aura.

Achieving his floor without the elevator, he sighs. He never thought of himself as a dramatic, but it was times like these where he made an exception to feel sorry for himself. It made complete sense to him.

“Knock knock,” Alek says to the closed door to his apartment. His roommate loved his privacy and got especially startled when he showed up unannounced. When there was no answer, he used the key to get inside. He figured because he has seen him earlier in Macy's that he was going to be working the rest of the day, as he usually did on weekends. Although it was just today that he had a surprise wake up call as to his affiliation. They would probably have to talk about it tonight in some grudgingly awkward exchange ending in ‘well, I guess I'll go to my room then’.

He glanced towards the green digital clock on the kitchen counter and realized it was barely twelve in the afternoon and that he was already defeated. Dropping off his things on the kitchen table, he slipped into his room for a needed rest.