Felix Corbel had once told me that the world revolved around music. In its subtle revolution around the sun, the Earth was like an old vinyl record with so many different sounds being played all at the same time. If anyone dared to listen so intimately, all those different sounds could become one and that one song would always be on repeat.

The music of humanity, he called it.

I heard a much different sound though. There wasn't any music, only lots and lots of noise.

At ten years old, I felt quite sure that Felix found the music of humanity. He started living in a different world then. The world of the listener, perhaps. And the rest of humanity including me continued making too much noise.

Felix learned to listen intimately. I learned a different habit. I began to watch him as closely and discreetly as I could.

"Felix is waiting for you upstairs."

I lost track of my thoughts and idly made my way toward Felix's room upstairs, led by his mom. She walked me through the second floor hallway while telling me how she redecorated and stuff. I nodded absently and tried to keep my heart from being too loud.

"I'm sorry, dear," she said as we stopped in front of what must be Felix's room. A different one from the old room I remember. "You're right about two things. Felix didn't want to see you earlier and I lied to you about him not being home. Whatever's going on between both of you, settle it or else."

`Or else,' echoed inside my head. Though Felix's mom appeared to be so gentle and sweet, she could easily make me dread the possibility of her settling things in our behalf. I didn't want that. She'd learn things I didn't want to tell her if she'd ever settle what was going on between Felix and me.

"Good luck," she said and smiled sweetly before leaving me behind.

I stood there, watching the door staring back at me. It wasn't the door that had its eyes on me per se. However, I felt quite sure that Felix was waiting for me on the other side with his eyes fixed on the door and somehow on me.

I took a step forward, hesitated then decided to knock.

"Felix? It's me. Chase."

Could he hear me though? If he had his earphones plugged into his ears and curiously tapping a beat on his lap, how could he hear my faint voice from outside his room?

I knocked once more and, louder, I called to him, "Felix?"

"It's open," his hushed voice answered. "Chase Logan, come in."

I opened the door and walked in. Unsurprisingly, I found him on his bed and just by the window with his hand holding his iPod and his head turned away from me. If he had been staring right through the closed door earlier, I couldn't be sure about that right now.

"Hey," I greeted, still standing in the doorway.

"Hi."

Awkward. Everything between us was awkward.

"What are you listening to?" I asked, desperate enough to vanish all uneasiness in the air.

"Classical," he said.

"Uhm..."

"Mozart, Bach, Beethoven...," he added. "You name it."

Frankly, I couldn't name it. I know too little of the music he was listening to.

Looking around his room, I decided to venture further inside. "I guess I found you," I told him, mindfully staring.

He looked toward me and held my gaze. "Yeah. What now?"

Exactly. What now then?

"Isn't this your sister's bedroom?"

"She moved out to college," he said. "I got rid of her stuff and settled in."

"So...," I trailed off, not knowing what exactly to say next. "You think I have terrible taste?"

He kept his eyes on me without even smiling or hinting of any other emotion. He just sat there, his one hand around his iPod and his fingers still tapping to a beat or something.

"I don't like you, Chase Logan," he finally said after some time of silence. "And, yes, you have terrible taste."

That hurt a lot more than I wanted him to know. I kept my face straight, my eyes fixed on him and my feet firmly on the floor.

"Why did you want me to find you then?" I asked.

"For you to get my point. I don't like you, Chase Lo-..."

"Stop that!" I snapped. "Why can't you just call me by my first name? You make it sound like, like..."

"Like I don't know you," he supplied.

"Like you don't know me," I repeated.

"Exactly."

"Exactly."

We stayed quiet mostly because I didn't know what to do and he didn't seem to care to continue talking. Deciding against everything I had in my thoughts, I turned around and started to leave.

"Are you here as my friend, Chase?" he asked which stopped me from walking out of his room.

"I...I don't know," I admitted. "I think so, but..."

"Then maybe I'd let you listen to my playlist. I want to know what you think of it."

I looked back at him and finally saw that faint smile on his thin lips. He looked so angelic, bathing in the soft sunlight by his window. His auburn hair seemed to have a halo around it and his freckled nose and cheeks just looked so immaculate.

"Come inside," he urged. "I have no one else to be with."

I nodded slightly and turned around once again. He gestured for me to sit beside him and I cautiously made my way to his bed. He shifted to one side, the edges of his loose shorts running up his smooth thighs, and made some room for me on his bed.

"We like different kinds of music," he started while unplugging one end of his earphones from his left ear. Handing it to me, he added, "Here, listen."

I put in on and waited for the silence to stop and the music to begin.

"What do you think?"

Then I heard it. This wasn't a different kind of music at all. He was mistaken. If he liked listening to this, then we really didn't have different tastes. I liked it, too.

"Is this..." I stuttered.

"Yeah," he hummed and started nodding to the beat, waiting for the lyrics to start.

"Felix," I uttered, looking directly at him, but he quickly hushed anything and everything rushing through my head before it ever got spoken.

"Sittin' all alone in your room," he crooned, sounding differently and beautifully. "Thinking that the world's let you down."

He nodded at me and pulled the words out of my memories.

"All you ever wanted to do is trust," I sang miserably, missing a couple of notes. "Someone to always be around."