I had knocked three times, and still nothing, "Kal?" my voice echoed down the hallway, "I'm coming in." Despite moving out three years ago, I still had the keys. But, the apartment was a far cry from when I lived there or came to visit. The couch, the coffee table, even the lamps were gone, and in their place were piles of spent beercans and stained takeout boxes. Had Lisa upended the garbage cans when she left?
"Kal?" still no answer, and the rocks in my stomach grew heavier. We weren't as close as we used to be. Hell, I'd heard about the break up from someone else. But it had been a week since anyone had heard from him, and I wasn't about to leave him like... this.
"Kal?" his bedroom door was open, but the room was empty. A pile of dusty clothes and plastic bins where the bed used to be. I turned down the hall back to my old room, the smaller of the pair, the door was closed. His car was parked out front. I took a nervous breath. Shit, was I going to have to call the police?
I sighed with relief to find Kal laying on the rickety twin bed I'd left behind, curled into a fetal position. Bloodshot eyes very much open, and still very much breathing.
"Kal?" I repeated, touching his shoulder when he didn't answer. He flinched, and turned to look up at me.
"Emre?"
I nodded, "Hey man, people were worried about you so I decided to check in."
"How did..." his voice was rough and he seemed to lack the will to even finish the sentence.
I gave my keys a jingle before crouching down to meet him eye to eye, "When was the last time you left the apartment?"
"Not since," he squeezed his eyes shut, and took a slow uneven breath, he opened his mouth again to keep going, but nothing came out.
"OK, well I'm here," shit. Now what? "Let me go get some water for you."
I fled the room and returned with the faded superman mug I'd given him one Christmas. Despite the occasional joke about his parents' nerdy name choice, it never bothered him. Maybe he even enjoyed it a little. Being 6'5'' and having shoulders wider than a Kansas cornfield probably didn't hurt either.
I pushed the mug toward him, and after no movement I grumbled, "OK, either you take the mug or I am pouring it down your throat like I did on John's twenty second birthday.
He coughed softly before pulling himself up to take the mug. The poor faded tshirt he wore had torn on the seams trying to accommodate his biceps. The ratty looking boxers he was wearing were even worse. I let him sip it in silence.
"Fuck," I coughed, at the sudden wave of smell. It was like I had jumped into his gym bag, "When was the last time you changed... or showered? You are ripe!"
His lips quirked, a few steps shy of a smile, but it was something, he shrugged.
"Uh uh," I said, shaking my finger like an elderly aunt, "stand up."
He did, and I was suddenly reminded of how tight that shirt was, and that those boxers had a hole in them that show patches of skin I was NOT going to look at, "Go take a rinse. Soap if you can manage."
He seemed to ponder it, before nodding and walking away. I sighed. This was worse than 'hung over Kal.' I needed to get him talking. As soon as I heard the shower run, I changed the sheets on the bed. It was a twin, so Lisa hadn't taken that along with everything else, and I refilled the water.
I was just restuffing pillows into mismatched cases when Kal returned, wearing nothing but a pair of boxer-briefs (in better condition this time), and collapsed back on the bed. He looked at me for a moment, before turning on his side and facing away from me.
I sighed, and squeezed into the bed behind him, "Kal," I said to a mass of wet blond hair, "You need to get up."
"I got up."
"You showered."
"Yup."
"May we can do something more, like put on clothes?"
"No," he grumbled.
"What about eating?"
"Not hungry."
I rolled my eyes, "Ok, well what about-oh Goddamnit!" I yelped, yanking my hand back from his shoulder, "Did you dry off at all?"
There was a snort, "Only found an hand towel."
"Well there goes having clean dry sheets."
"You didn't have to."
"Change the sheets? They smelled like summer ass."
Another snort, his voice was quieter this time, "You didn't have to come."
"Yes," I said, ignoring the wet hand as I gave his shoulder a squeeze, "I did."
The effect was immediate, the curled hunch of his shoulders relaxed, and the muscles on his neck unclenched. I pulled my arm further around him, and gave him a squeeze, soaking my tshirt in the process. Kal sighed and let some his weight rest against me as he rolled into my arms.
"Thanks."
"Any time man."
I held him like that for a while, and I felt his breathing slow. For a moment I thought he was nodding off, but he spoke up again, "I don't know what to do."
"Well you could start by getting out of my old bed. How long have you been here?"
"I've been sleeping in here for the last two months."
"That... must have been hard."
