Cody had made a lot of mistakes in his short life, all of them haunting him to various degrees. It was the loss of his first love that hurt him the most, and that mistake was currently leading him on an adventure. At least, that was what he wanted to think of it as. For some reason, it made him feel silly, like one of those odd people who thought going grocery shopping was somehow an adventure. This wasn't even remotely similar, though. He was on an airplane flying to another country to try to win back the love of his life.

Ever since the split, he couldn't stop thinking about them together. Two years later and he still got flashbacks whenever he'd see couples holding hands in public or whenever he'd drive by the small coffee shop where they'd had their first date. The frequent nights filled with longing weighed heavily on Cody. Not all of those feelings centered around his first love, but enough did that he was convinced there was only one way to feel right again. Gathering from every romance movie he'd ever seen, he came to this conclusion; a grand gesture was his best bet at getting the girl.

What did he know about grand gestures? Not a whole lot, actually. He knew they were expensive and unexpected, but that's it. He'd never had much of a mind for romance despite all his big talk.

His shirt stuck to his back, drizzled with sweat. The girls sitting beside him were talking: obnoxiously loud, but Cody was too lost in thought to catch any of it. He sat in the window seat, so he had a perfect view of the approaching ground—they were landing soon. In just a few minutes, he'd be setting foot in Chicago, his first foray into the United States. Here, two years ago, his high school girlfriend moved on with her life. A very generous gift from her grandparents and an even more generous art scholarship to a prestigious school in Chicago guaranteed that they'd split up.

"I'm sorry Cody, but I can't pass this up. This might be my only shot at doing what I love."

The words echoed in his head. Even though Cody knew Gwen had nothing but compassion, they still hurt a lot.

"You're going to college, too. I don't want either of us missing out on opportunities because we're worried about each other."

He sighed. He felt the plane's wheels touch down on solid ground. His heart slammed against his ribs, sending out a rhythmic tune through his ears. He let himself get caught up in the flow of passengers disembarking from the plane.

Taking in the surroundings, Cody was a bit disappointed. His first experience of the US was an airport. It was a big airport, but it was still just an airport. Should've figured. Besides, this trip wasn't for pleasure. He had one goal in mind: Gwen.

He passed through customs and got his luggage. He packed very lightly, fitting everything inside a single backpack of modest size. Pulling out his phone, he double-checked Gwen's address. He had found it some months ago on her university's online directory. In the back of his mind, he knew it was a little creepy to look up where she lived, but he figured that it was fine since the directory was available to the public.

He copied the address for Gwen's dorm, opened up his Uber app, and started searching for a ride. In just a moment, the app popped up with his driver's information and his pick up spot. The driver wasn't too far off, but the trip would take over half an hour. Geez.

He made his way outside to the spot with a few minutes to spare. The air was comfortably chilly. Comfortably chilly meaning about freezing, but as a Canadian, it was soothing to his nervous body.

Sitting down near the curb, Cody absentmindedly flipped through his phone, checking Gwen's Facebook profile. They were still friends, though they hadn't talked in months. Her profile hadn't been updated in forever. She made posts every now and then for special occasions, but for the most part, it was the same profile she had two years ago. Mercifully, she had taken out the part that listed them as in a relationship. He clicked on her photos tab. There were only about twenty or so photos from the past two years. A few pictures showcasing her proudest drawings she had done in college. A couple pictures with friends she had made.

Then old pictures of them together. Sappy situations with sarcastic captions. An overexposed image of them sharing a milkshake where she had commented "#letsgetmono". A video of him first learning to ice skate, falling continuously for fifteen seconds while holding desperately to Gwen's arm. "I'm always falling for you ;)."

The quick beep of a horn pulled him back to the real world. He looked up, frowning.

"Cody?" the driver asked, passenger window rolled down. He drove a dark blue Honda Civic, according to Uber. Cody didn't have much of an eye for cars, so he couldn't actually tell. It looked old but clean.

"Oh, yeah!" Cody said, standing up and approaching the car. He glanced at his phone. "You're… Noah?"

"Yes sir," the driver said, giving a tiny, two-fingered salute.

Cody opened the door and sat down in the car. The inside smelt like cheap pine-scented air fresheners. Otherwise, everything seemed neat and clean. His driver, Noah, gave a natural half-smile. His long, dark hair was pulled back in a short ponytail and he wore gray pants and a loose-fitting white hoodie. He pressed a button on his phone, which was mounted to the windshield via suction.

As they pulled off and began the drive, Noah started some small conversation. "Nicholson Court. You a student?"

It took Cody a second to realize what he meant. "No, just visiting someone."

"Family?" Noah asked.

"No… a friend."

"Cool, cool. You come out often?"

"Uh, no. This is my first time in Chicago."

"Exciting! Then I hope your friend is planning to give you the full tour. My advice? Skip the bean. It's just an ugly hunk of metal."

"I don't know if we have plans, exactly."

"You fly into a city you've never been to before with no plans? Now that's exciting."

Cody could feel the heat flushing through his face. "I guess you could call it that. It sounds a bit stupid now you say it out loud."

Noah chuckled. "No way, man! It's hardcore. I wish I could pick up and go off somewhere without thinking about it. That must feel so freeing!"

Cody grinned, if only for the fact that somebody had actually called him hardcore. How comically misguided. "I wouldn't call it that. It's more like… poorly thought out."

"No way. Chicago's scary when you first get to know her, but you'll get through it all right." Noah checked the map displayed on his phone. "So Nicholson Court. Do you need to go in the front or the back?"

Cody paused for a second before admitting he didn't know.

"Well is your friend going to let you in? Otherwise, you aren't getting in the front without a student ID."

"Then I guess take me around back? Are you a student there?"

"You really don't have any plans," Noah said, giving a short laugh. "I'm not, but I have a friend who used to live in those dorms. Just wait by the back door until a student comes through. They're not technically supposed to let you in, but nobody watches the back doors so nobody really cares."

"Oh. Thank you," Cody said. An uncomfortable silence crept over the two. At least, Cody perceived it as uncomfortable. Noah seemed fairly used to silence. Still, after several minutes Cody felt it was his turn to start the conversation. "If you're not a student, then what do you do?"

Noah grinned. "Can't you tell? I'm living the dream- full time Uber driver, no benefits, destroying my car to take drunks home from the bars every night only to be replaced by a robo car in five years."

"Oh… I'm sorry," Cody said.

Noah glanced over at the other boy. "Ha! Nah, man. I am a student, just not here. Studying English on the other side of the city. Not for long though—about to transfer to another school."

"Why? Won't you miss your friends?"

"Just not the right place for me. The English program is kind of garbage anyways. And yeah, I'll miss my friends. I miss my friends from high school, but I made new ones here. I'll miss them, too, but I'll make new ones wherever I go."

"Still, that's gotta be scary…"

"You're one to talk! You come to the third-largest city in the US with absolutely no idea what to do. I've wasted the last year of my life thinking over this change of scenery and planning for everything that could possibly happen. Don't you worry about me."

Damn. "I guess I should've been doing that before I came here."

Noah shook his head. "No way, man. Take it from me. When you plan and plan for a bunch of things that are never going to happen, you just end up wasting your time. I could have been out of here a long time ago if I wasn't thinking the whole time. Instead, I wasted a year running over my options over and over again. You got it right, man. No barriers, no wasted time, no plans."

"I guess. It'd at least help with the nerves."

"Wrong again. What I've learned is that life will always surprise you. 'The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.' You plan for life to come at you from all sides. You set up your walls. Then it drops a giant cartoon anchor on top of your head. It's better to be able to roll with the punches." Noah took another glance at the map. "You're up here on the right. Remember, you gotta walk in behind somebody. The door will lock behind them so remember to catch it. Nice chatting with you, man."

Cody looked out the window as they pulled up to the dorm. "Thank you so much!" he said, not turning to look at his driver. He opened the door and began to get out.

"Remember to leave a big tip. Life advice costs extra." Noah said back. After a few moments of blank stares from Cody, he added, "Joking. Good luck in Chicago, man."

"Good luck with your new life!" Cody said, closing the door. He realized too late that that was just about the oddest way to convey his intended message. Noah laughed in response, though Cody could barely hear it through the shut door. As the car drove off, Cody gave a small wave.

He was alone now, but his goal was right in front of him. Roberts, the dorm hall in front of him, was a gray eyesore. He had read very little about the building, but one fact that was mentioned whenever it came up was that it was designed by an engineer. Seeing it in person, it really was the best description; it was clear to Cody that whoever built it had never taken a class in design. It was little more than a concrete box with windows. He wondered why a rich and prestigious art college would have such a pallid, drab, ugly building, but that really didn't matter right now.

All Cody knew was that inside of that box lived the love of his life, and he was about to win her back.

He looked at the door ahead of him. Luckily, there was a somewhat steady stream of people coming in and out. Without wasting time, he fell in line behind a pair of students walking up to the building. One of them swiped a plastic card—their student ID—into a reader on the side of the door. One second later, a click sounded and they opened the door. Cody followed in shortly after them.

"Okay," Cody thought. "Second floor, room thirteen." The building opened into three hallways forming a T in front of him. To his right, he located a sign above a door indicating a stairwell, and he made his way up the stairs. Once he arrived, he found himself in front of room three. He counted off rooms until he came to his target.

Room thirteen. He sighed a breath of relief; Gwen's name was taped in bold lettering on the door. He made it to the right place. Now was the moment of truth. His only chance at fixing everything. He placed three quick knocks on the door.

Then he froze. He became acutely aware of his situation. His empty hands tightened into fists. He didn't have anything to give her. What kind of grand gesture didn't come with a gift? Not even flowers or chocolates. He had no idea how he planned this to go. He knew he wanted her to love him. He didn't know how he was going to make that happen. Did he expect her to jump back into his arms just because he came there? He knew she ended it because she moved out of the country, and they still lived in different countries. He began to regret the whole thing. He hoped beyond hope that she wasn't in her room, that she hadn't heard him knock.

But he heard a creak from beyond the door. Someone getting out of a bed. It was too late. What was he even going to say? That he knew how she felt about the relationship but wanted her to come back to him anyways? In a flash, he realized he was entirely over his head. He glanced down the hall and wondered frantically if he had time to get out of sight and pretend like it was a prank. He could feel his face burning up and hear the blood crashing through his ears. He had to get out of here.

The doorknob turned quickly, and the door opened. "Yeah?"

Cody breathed a deep sigh of relief, and one second later his heart dropped. Standing before him was not Gwen. It was a man with pale skin and dark hair, wearing only a towel around his waist. "Who are you? Is Gwen here?"

"I'm Trent. Nice to meet you, man. Sorry, Gwen's in class right now. Are you a friend of hers?" the man said.

Cody looked Trent up and down through narrowed eyes. "Are you her roommate or something?"

"Uh, no. I'm her boyfriend. Do you need me to take a message or something?"

"No. I'll just… I'll just text her. Thanks, though," Cody said, walking away from the door.

He set about wandering aimlessly through the hall, thinking to himself. Gwen had a boyfriend. She moved on. Why couldn't he see that? But her Facebook didn't say she was in a relationship. Of course it didn't, she barely posted on there. How could he be so stupid? Now he definitely couldn't win her back. That's not fair to her. It was one thing when he thought she was single. It was a dumb, silly, stupid thing, but this was different. He wasn't going to barge in while she's in a relationship and try to break it up. He had absolutely no right.

"Hey, are you okay?" A sudden jolt came from Cody's shoulder.

"Huh?" he said, dazed. Snapping back to reality, he found himself in a kind of lounge. There were a handful of chairs and sofas and even a pool table on one side of the room. A girl held him firmly with one hand.

"Are you okay? You don't look so good. Do you live here?" she said.

"I'm uh, fine. Um, no. I was just… visiting a friend. I'll go now," Cody replied.

"Are you sure? Why don't you have a seat? I'll get you some water."

Cody sat down while the girl went to retrieve a drink. He pulled his hands up to his face. It was still warm to the touch. He slowed down his breathing, counting one, two, three at each inhale. Soon enough, his heart started to slow along with it.

The girl returned with a styrofoam cup in her hand and handed it to Cody. "I'm the RA on duty. My name is Bridgette," she said. "Is there anything I can do to help? Do you need me to call somebody?"

"No, no. I'm fine, just a little flustered." Cody took a sip of the water. It was barely colder than room temperature, but it helped calm him down. "I'll be fine. I'll be gone in just a minute."

Bridgette nodded. "Alright, just let me know if there's anything you need."

He paused. "Actually, yeah. Do you know any events happening on campus tonight?"

"Um, yeah, sure. We have a bulletin board for events. There's not a lot going on, but I think… there's a charity show at the union in just a few hours." She handed him a flyer.

The silhouette of a woman, her hair done to the nines, dominated the paper. "A drag show?" Cody questioned.

"Yeah. Some student clubs are putting it on… Are you sure you don't want me to call someone?" Bridgette asked.

"No," Cody said. "I'm fine now. Actually, I should really be going." He stood up, making his way to the door. "Thanks."

And so Cody came to find himself at the front of the line in the union, waiting to see a drag show. It wasn't something he'd normally do, but he needed a distraction after the disaster that was his "grand gesture." At this point, he wasn't sure he could call it a gesture at all. It was just one big mistake.

He handed a girl ten bucks, an entrance fee, and was ushered through a set of large double doors. Everything was dark. Cody could only see by dimly diffused purple light that covered the entire room in a faint glow. He was one of the first in line, but there were still a handful of people sitting around in the rows and rows of chairs filling the room. He supposed they were people who worked on the show, or maybe just people who knew somebody working and got in early.

Still, there was plenty of room enough for him to pick whichever seat he wanted, so he sat in the very front row. The stage in front of him stood above the ground at about chest level, and it formed a catwalk with seats arranged on either side.

People trickled in steadily until there was hardly an empty seat. The show started. The purple light vanished from overhead, leaving the stage bathed in the white light. A girl came out on stage, clipboard in hand. She thanked the audience for coming and introduced the host. She must have helped put the show together.

The host was a drag queen by the name Grace Anatomy. Cody had never actually seen one in person, and the first thing that stood out to him was how tall she was. Larger than life, six and a half feet tall in heels, plus a platinum blonde wig that stands another four inches on its own. For a moment, she seemed an alien, an Ubermensch standing above him. Then, she opened her mouth. A clearly fake southern belle accent comically pitched up in a vain attempt to hide her male voice.

Cody giggled. Not because she had said anything particularly funny, but because this giant of a person who had intimidated him a moment before was now going on with a silly accent acting like she wasn't some kind of Amazon warrior towering over everyone in attendance.

Grace's role was primarily to introduce other queens, along with providing some token color commentary. Each queen would come out and perform a lip sync—a (more or less) choreographed routine where they'd dance and pretend to sing a song. It took Cody a while to really get into the performances. They seemed… incomplete to him. They weren't actually singing, so it was hard for him to buy into the performances. Still, if there was one thing that sucked him in, it was the spectacle. Even if he couldn't grasp the idea, he could get behind watching a queen in six-inch heels rip a dress while doing the splits on stage.

He watched performance after performance. A queen named Barbie Q. Soss, who took her song way too seriously for someone named after a condiment. A choreographed dance number by someone named Banana Kendrick. Cody even went up to tip a duet by Scarlett Fever and Typhoid Mary, if only because he found the names funny. Despite his initial reservations, he found himself cheering with each introduction and losing himself in the performances. If nothing else, they were fun.

Soon enough, Grace Anatomy came back on stage. "Well, it sounds like we've all had fun. I'd like to thank everyone who came to support our charity tonight, and all the queens for performing. Of course, none of this would be possible without our wonderful event coordinator, Courtney!"

A cheer went up in a small part of the audience to my right. I could faintly make out Clipboard Girl standing up from her seat and waving.

"We'll be concluding the show, but don't forget! The queens will be coming out for a short time if you want to ask questions or take pictures!" Grace gave a final wave and walked down from the stage. Slowly, overhead lights came on, casting bright white light on the whole room. Everybody started getting out of their seats and moving around, either out of the room or crowding around the arriving queens.

Cody felt better. This had been just the kind of distraction he wanted, but he still needed to think about what he was going to do. He had no plans, and his return flight wasn't for another three days. He pulled out his phone, trying to formulate a plan. It was now ten on a Friday night. Would he even be able to find a hotel in Chicago? He pulled up his contacts and opened a new message to Gwen. He felt beyond stupid asking her for help, but did he really have any other options right now?

Hey. I did something really stupid. Call me?

Send.

He waited for a few seconds, but he didn't receive a "Read" notification. He closed the app. It was stupid. Instead, he opened his browser and started searching. "Cheap hotels near me."

"Oh shit!" The voice pulled him up from his phone. "Cody?"

It was Grace Anatomy, looking down on him from what seemed like a mile-high pedestal. Cody blinked. "Um, yes?"

"That's crazy! It's me, Noah. Your Uber driver."

He stood, putting his phone in his pocket. "No way."

"Yeah way! You should have told me you were coming! I could've got you a free ticket, y'know."

Cody laughed. "Yeah, I guess so. I didn't really know I'd be here, though."

"Oh yeah, no plans. So, your friend take you here? Are they still around?"

His face tightened the smallest bit. "Actually…" He chewed on his words a second before continuing. "That sort of fell through."

"Oh, dude, what? What happened?"

"It's, um… complicated?" Cody said.

Grace nodded. "I get that. Do you know what you're going to do?"

"Weeellll…"

"Dude! Damn…" She pursed her lips tightly. "Listen, give me ten minutes and we can talk some more. Is that alright?"

Cody gulped. "Sure, I guess. I don't have any other plans."

"Ha! Righteous. I'll be back soon."

Cody watched as Grace walked over to a group of people and started chatting to them. He pulled his phone back out and opened up his message to Gwen. Still no indication that she'd seen it. Geez. He sat back down in his seat, heaving a slow sigh.

He slowly flipped through his contacts. There were very few people he told about this trip. He didn't want anybody telling Gwen and spoiling the surprise, but he also knew that they would've tried to talk him out of it. Maybe he actually knew deep down that this was a bad idea, but he didn't want anybody to help him realize it.

He saw Grace wave to the group of people she was talking to and walk out through a set of doors in the back of the room. Would she actually come back? Cody looked back down at his phone. He contemplated calling his parents. He knew they would help him no matter what, but damn would he never hear the end of it. He put his phone away, deciding to take things slowly. If he got desperate, he'd call them. Well, a little more desperate than he already was.

He took a look around. The crowds had largely disappeared, but the queens were still talking to a few people who had stuck around to take pictures.

"Excuse me. Are you waiting to talk to one of our queens?" It was Clipboard Girl. Courtney.

Cody turned to meet her. "Oh. No."

"Then I have to ask you to leave. We have to empty the mezzanine soon," she said, holding the clipboard tightly to her side.

"Actually, I was waiting for Grace," Cody added.

"Well, I'm afraid she's already retired, so if you don't want to see any of the other queens, I need you to leave."

His arms tensed. "Well, she said…"

"Down, Courtney. He's with me."

Cody turned his head to the source of the voice and let out a sigh of relief. "Yeah! What he said."

Courtney rolled her eyes. "Alright, then. You should've just told me you knew Noah." She nodded curtly with a small smile and walked off.

"Hey! Sorry about that," Noah said. He was back down to Cody's level, maybe an inch or so taller. His hair hung loosely about his face, which was still covered in several layers of makeup, and he had changed back into his hoodie. He held a rather large bag across one shoulder. "Don't mind her. Courtney's a bit intense, but she's kind of the only reason we can do things like this."

"No kidding. I guess no harm no foul, eh?" Cody said.

"We actually do have to get out of here, though." Noah gestured to the exit, and the two began walking out. "So tell me about this predicament of yours."

Cody laughed a little, a hollow laugh that one might give after they've screwed up so comically that they can't deny it. "Yeah…"

"It's cool, man. You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to," Noah said, holding the door.

"No no, it's just going to make me seem really stupid."

"Like I said, no pressure."

"It's cool," Cody said, taking a moment to run his words through his mind. "The friend I was supposed to see wasn't actually just a friend."

"Ex?"

"Yeah. I went to her dorm with this grand idea about us getting back together. I found her boyfriend there instead."

"Yikes. And she's the only person you know here?"

"Yeah. I figured I had to ask her for help, so I sent her a text. She hasn't responded yet, though."

"So you're stuck in Chicago with nowhere to go." Noah opened another door, this one leading outside.

The night air immediately flushed over Cody, pulling heat off his skin. They continued walking down the street. "Yeah, pretty much."

"Do you know where you're going to stay tonight? Do you have a hotel?"

"Right now? I don't exactly have a lot of money. I had this image in my head that I'd see Gwen, we'd fall in love, and then I could stay with her for the weekend. This 'no plan' thing is really biting me in the ass."

Noah frowned. "Don't think about it like that. What you need to meet a good samaritan."

Cody gave a quizzical look at the other boy.

"And by that I mean me. Feel free to say no, but you could always sleep on my couch."

"Really? Thanks, but… why? You don't really know me."

"If you're not comfortable with it, that's cool."

"No! I mean, it'd help out so much. It's just that I don't know why you'd help me."

He grinned. "It's divine providence, man."

"Divine providence?"

"Yeah. Listen, there are people who live in the same building as me that I've never seen, but you come into a city of three million people for half a day and I meet you twice. There's gotta be a reason, and right now, I think the reason is that you need some help."

They arrived at a blue Honda Civic and Noah pulled out his keys. "It's up to you."

"... Yeah. Thank you so much. That would help me out so much."

Noah smiled, popping his trunk and depositing his bag inside. "Don't worry about it. Get in."

Noah closed the trunk and the two boys got in the car. "Oh!" Cody said. "You're an Uber driver. I can pay you."

"Dude, no. Off the clock right now." He said, starting the car and beginning to drive. "You're my guest. Speaking of which, I have two roommates: Izzy and Eva. I don't know if you'll run into them, but it should be cool. Fair warning, though. They're a lot."

"I'm sure they're fine. Are you like, with one of them?" Cody asked.

"Pfffft." Noah laughed. "No. I'm a bit too, how would you say… 'gay' for them. Surprised you couldn't get that from the pound of makeup on my face."

"I didn't want to assume," Cody said. He was sure if it wasn't so dark out his blush would be painfully obvious.

"Guess that's fair."

Cody thought for a second, trying to change the subject. "Hey, I thought you didn't go to school here."

"I don't," Noah said, opening the center console. "Favor for a friend. Me and Courtney went to high school together." He dug around for a second before retrieving a small container. "Gum?"

"Sure!" Cody said. He could go for something sweet. Noah supplied him with a piece and took one for himself.

"Speaking of, did you enjoy the show?"

"Oh yeah! It was great. I'm not sure I exactly get the point of it, though."

"Huh? You didn't have fun?"

"No, totally. It was super cool."

"Then it sounds to me like you got it."

Cody chewed on the gum, running through his thoughts. "I guess I just don't understand why they need to lipsync when they're not actually singing."

"Oh, honey. Well… It's like this. Drag isn't just about pretending to be a girl. It's about going on stage and being someone I could never be in real life. It has a long and storied history, so I'll give you the short of it. Drag is about becoming something that society tells you you can't. The point of it isn't to dance to some Beyonce song. It's about living a fantasy. It's about being Beyonce."

"Is that why you do drag? To live a fantasy?"

"Oh no, I do it for attention." Noah chuckled. "Though I guess you can say that's kind of a fantasy. Nobody wants to pay money to see an Uber driver talk on stage, but people love watching Grace. She's a doctor, you know."

"I don't know. I probably wouldn't trust her with my health."

Noah gasped in mock offense. "I didn't go through twelve years of fantasy medical school for this disrespect."

Cody giggled. "My sincerest apologies."

Noah smiled at the other boy before allowing the car to fill with a comfortable silence.

Cody took the opportunity to check his phone. No response from Gwen. He wondered why, but eventually settled on the simplest answer. She was probably just asleep. It didn't matter, though. She was with someone else. He couldn't get in the middle of it now.

Noah pulled into a parking garage off the street. "We're here!" he said, stopping at a small machine to swipe a plastic card. "My humble parking spot."

After finding a spot, he got out and motioned Cody to follow. "My humble apartment building." He led Cody inside. Up two flights of stairs and down a hall, they arrived at room 308. "And here, my humble abode."

Cody's first impression of the apartment was that it was a little bit trashed. On the right was a small kitchen area. Each countertop was covered with junk: food, bags, receipts, and the like. The tabletop was similarly messy, but it had areas cleared out in front of the three seats surrounding it.

To his left was a sort of living area. An L-shaped couch, a large flatscreen TV and a coffee table covered in remotes, controllers, papers, and an expensive-looking laptop. "Sorry about the mess. Normally I'd clean before having company over, but, well, you know." Noah gestured over to the couch. "Feel free to make yourself at home. I gotta get this stuff off my face, I'll be back in just a minute."

Cody made his way over and took a seat on the couch. It was obnoxiously soft. Fortunately, that was just how he liked his beds.

It was so dumb of him to be here. Not only being in another country where he knew nobody but here, sitting on a stranger's couch. Not that Noah gave him any reason to doubt him, but he literally just met him today. He decided to add it to the long list of thoughtless decisions he had made today.

He was done tearing himself down about it, though. He was exhausted, emotionally if not physically. He needed to lay down and rest right now. As soon as his head hit the cushion, his mind started drifting off to sleep.