We came from different places. Had spaces we called our own. It was a black and white situation, separated all the way. All I ever knew was the luxury of a upper class household tucked in some cushy town amidst mountains made more of money than earth. Furniture was more for vanity than it was functionality. Practicality meant putting your best foot forward with a smile. Forget the turmoil and make sure the rats didn't smell blood.

I can't speak for him. I don't know what his experience looked like through his eyes. Whatever it is he's told me in the past, it was warmth. There was tragedy like I think all situations tend to have. The difference in his experience involved a man steering the entire thing to make sure his sons flourished into unique personalities with traits as deep and vast as the stars I'm convinced my favorite is from.

This is so sappy, but it really is like that. And it took a hell of a lot to get here. We came together with our different lives in a volatile place made up of so much bullshit and predators feeding off the primal fears of each and every person close enough. It was basically a cage, all of us thrown in where we were supposed to feel nurtured in order to receive top-notch education. Instead, I think it wore everybody down day by day. It was in those little blips of down time we ended up getting to know each other. He had planned on hanging out with someone else and I decided to invite myself along.

We talked about everything. Books. Music. Movies. People. Life. We talked about each other a lot and enjoyed the company enough so that one thing led to another. That boundary blurred somewhere, and it happened so quick too. We stayed friends once shit hit the fan, but by the time graduation came around, it was like we were almost strangers again in our own different places. Touched on something great for a moment, then broke off into our own separate ways.

I'm back in town now. It's nice to see familiar faces in the few people I have around me again. For the longest time, it felt like a massive disconnect where it could have been an impossible situation to get back into the groove of this sort of life. It's so laid back, calm. We have things to do but there's never the anxiety or the rushing feeling of needing to have it done five minutes ago. And that's what it's coming down to with him. We're coming from these different places again, but there's no hurry. There's time to explore. I never thought I'd get the chance again after the way I acted the last year we were in school. For all I knew, he'd written me off and washed his hands of the entire situation. Not so. We're here, and we're finding that grey space between the black and white all over again.