Under the Stars

6: Mid-Night Confessions

By the time dad had left, Stevien had eaten the entire banana and drank the entire glass of milk on the nightstand.

"I hope you don't mind. I was thirsty after the banana," Stevien said, to which I laughed.

"Of course not. Besides, I think you earned it for letting me touch those precious curls," I replied with a smile.

"Oh, definitely. I never let anyone touch them. You know that."

"But they are so soft," I pouted at him.

"I know. If I let everyone touch them, I would never have a free moment to myself. Now, never speak of this to anyone again," he commanded.

"On one condition," I responded with a smirk.

"What's that?" he asked.

I looked at his eyes, then to the top of his hair, and smiled.

"Oh no. No! No, no, no. I can't let you do that again," he stated firmly, to which I pouted again and gave him my best puppy dog eyes.

"Not the pout and puppy dog eyes. Not together. You know I can't say 'no' to you when you do that," he said trying to get me to stop, but I didn't.

"Come on El. Please stop giving me the eyes."

I didn't.

"El. Please! I'm begging you, not the eyes."

This time I added a little lip quiver.

"Oh, my gosh, El! Fine," he conceded, exasperated with my win.

I smiled in victory as I sat back down on my bed.

Stevien sat back down as well and waited. It was then that I noticed he had been laying on top of the comforter with no blanket to cover him. I got up and went to my closet to get one of my spare blankets. I brought it to the bed and covered up his lap.

"Oh. Thanks," he said more as a question than a statement. He seemed a little surprised.

"I didn't want you to get cold."

"I don't usually get cold when sleeping but thank you...So... when are you going to feel these luscious locks? I don't have all night you know. Once I go home, that's it. There will be no more touching my precious curls."

"Okay, okay. Here. Come rest your head on my lap." I said as I grabbed my pillow and placed it on my lap. "I am going to soak this in as much as possible," smiled at him. He only gave me a questioning look before doing as I asked, nonetheless.

After he laid his head on my lap. I began to lowly talk to him while running my fingers through his silky, black curls. I told him how much I appreciated his help with my panic attack and coming up and sitting on my roof with me. I told him how much I appreciated him coming to make sure I was fine and how much comfort he brought me just by being there for me. I told him how grateful I was for our friendship. I told him how I knew he was destined for greatness. How I could tell with every fiber of my being that he would excel at whatever he decided to do. I was proud of how great he already was at everything, school, sports, especially baseball, extracurriculars, games, everything.

Before I knew it, I heard his heavy, rhythmic breathing. He was asleep on my lap as I continued to run my fingers through his hair. I decided then that I would confess what I desired to tell him but had no courage to express. He wouldn't know what I said come morning, so what would it hurt? I kept delicately running my fingers through his curls. They seemed to be the best at grounding me in the now. I just hoped I got this chance again someday.

"Stevien Daeshim Jones," I whispered as soft as I possibly could. "There is something that I desperately want you to know, but I am not strong enough or bold enough to say it to you. I don't ever want to lose you or our friendship, so I have kept this to myself for a while now. I truly hope you are asleep because if you aren't, I may just die from embarrassment." 

I paused for a bit before continuing, making sure his breathing was still even and slow.

"Stevien, tonight at the dance, I could have sworn you were going to kiss me. I was so nervous and yet, so excited. You have no idea how hard my heart was beating. I'm pretty sure that I stopped breathing for a minute, too... That would have been my first kiss." 

I laughed quietly to myself at that thought before continuing, still running my fingers through his hair.

"I have always liked you, ever since you moved in next door. We have always been glued together at the hip as dad used to say to me. It wasn't until recently that I realized there was more to it than that for me...Oh gosh, I cannot believe I am saying this out loud to anyone, especially not you... I am in love with you Stevien Daeshim Jones. I guess to some degree I always have been, but this is different than before. I would do anything for you. If you asked me to stop talking to you and never see you again, I would, but that would probably kill me. Well maybe not literally, but it would break my heart... Look, I know that you may never see me as more than a friend, but I desperately hope and wish that someday you will...Goodnight Stev. I love you."

I finished my long-winded confession of love and with one last pass of my fingers through his silky curls, I placed his head gently onto his pillow. He stirred a little as I got up off my bed but quickly fell back into a deep slumber. I smiled as I watched his chest rise and fall with his deep breaths and then turned around going downstairs to get a glass of milk, to hopefully find a peaceful slumber of my own.

Word Count: 1021