Like an Old Reflection

Hi, my name is Billy.

LIAM: I need to stay here for awhile.

I need to change my address.

Liam showed up at my door at around two o'clock in the morning on a Wednesday looking pretty upset. The last time he was here, he was unconscious.

ME: Come on in.

He had gotten drunk at a club, and Eli begged me to let him crash at my dorm.

When I woke up the next day, he had taken off without so much as a thank you note, and a pair of my socks were missing.

I didn't want to ask.

LIAM: I got kicked out of my house.
ME: How did that happen?
LIAM: I told my father to go fuck himself.
ME: Yeah, that will get you kicked out of just about anywhere.
LIAM: I hated being there anyway.
ME: So this is sort of a good thing?
LIAM: Except now I'm homeless.

He sat down on my bed and fell backwards so that he was staring up at the ceiling.

ME: Don't you have relatives or something?
LIAM: They all hate me. They're fucking douchebags.
ME: They must be, I mean, you're so lovable.

He didn't seem to be picking up on my clues. I sat down next to him.

LIAM: Would you mind if I stayed here?
ME: Here? Like here in my tiny little dorm room? My prison-like dorm room?
LIAM: I think it's kind of cool--in a confining sort of way.
ME: Liam, you can't stay here. I could get in a lot of trouble for having you here.
LIAM: Because you can't have guests?
ME: Because you're sixteen.
LIAM: That's considered the age of consent in Rhode Island.
ME: I see you've done your research.

Why is it criminals always seem to know the most about the law?

Liam sat up and smiled at me in a way I didn't like.

LIAM: How old are you?
ME: Too old for you.
LIAM: Eighteen?
ME: Nineteen.
LIAM: My last boyfriend was older than you.
ME: Who was that?
LIAM: Eli.
ME: He's not still your boyfriend?
LIAM: Not if I can stay here.

I jumped off the bed and moved as far away from him as possible.

ME: You need to leave.
LIAM: Billy, please. I have nowhere to go.

That was when I recognized something in him. The same quality I used to have. That desire to be tough and sexual when really you're so vulnerable it's scary. I didn't want him to get hurt, and at least if he was with me, he'd have a shot at getting his life together.

ME: Okay. You can stay here for the time being.
LIAM: Amazing. You rock.
ME: But if you so much as look at me funny; you're gone.
LIAM: Deal. But, um, what are we going to do about the bed situation?
ME: We're being creative.

A short time later, I was lying under the covers, and Liam was lying above them.

LIAM: Night, Billy.
ME: Night, Liam.

There was only one thing that scared me, and that was how much I liked having someone else in bed with me again.