Gemotions

The pizza boxes and beer bottles seemed to mock Alex from their usual spot on the coffee table. He felt a profound sense of shame. He’d written about his crush on his best friend in his notebook, and then he’d left it on the shared desk. His roommate, Ben, had found it. He knew it. The atmosphere had been thick all day.

He felt the walls of the room closing in. The shared space suddenly felt contaminated, polluted by the knowledge that his deepest feelings had been exposed.

He sat on the edge of his bed, fiddling with a loose thread on his jeans. A cough. Ben was standing in the doorway, awkwardly shuffling his feet. “Hey,” Ben said finally, his voice small.