we the cursed, nct dream ✔

part thirty-four

⇉ the one where she stays in.

part thirty-four

Juno can't get out of bed.

She has never taken a day off. Yet, when her phone alarm rings on Monday morning, all she can do for a while is simply watch it go off. And then she struggles to push herself up, but she might as well have not tried, just falling back against the bed. She's had her own fair share of rotten mornings, but she has never felt quite so simultaneously overwhelmed and undermotivated.

It's like her body is making amends for the previous week. Yesterday, she went to sleep as early as 6 in the evening, and now it's 7:30 am on the dot. Still, it feels like her body is yearning for more, so she gives in. But her second wave of sleep is interrupted over half an hour in when there's a knock on the door. It wakes Shawty, who mewls softly, stretching. But Juno doesn't get up.

Shitty. That word alone encapsulates how she's feeling. She doesn't want to see anyone, do anything. So she just holds her breath until the knocker - who is probably one of her friends that has by now noticed her conspicuous absence at breakfast - leaves. She shuts her eyes once more, but her lids flip open again when she feels the kitten's soft fur on her arm.

"Hello, baby," Juno whispers softly, raising a hand to stroke Shawty. She meows in response, batting a paw against Juno's face as if to rouse her. "I'm staying with you today," Juno smiles, her mood ever so slightly buoyed by Shawty's presence.

After half-assing a call to the office informing them of her absence due to feeling under the weather, Juno opens up her messages to concerned texts from her friends. They warm her heart, but just as she begins drafting one to the chat to let them know that she's fine, the screen goes black.

Ah, the wonders of low battery.

She can't be bothered to rise and charge it, so she tosses the phone down onto the carpeted floor. She hates the stupid device anyway. It's only been useful because she's in this forsaken place.

Shawty, gleeful due to Juno's prolonged presence, has settled down on the bed beside her. Juno draws her closer. "Shawty, what am I going to do when I see Jeno again?" Speaking to the kitten about her boy troubles might say much about her sanity, but she finds a strange comfort in doing it. "I don't want to face him. What if he ends up rejecting me?" Shawty has those cerulean eyes of hers intently fixed on Juno as she sits up, head cocked a little to the side, the perfect model of an engaged listener.

When she meows, Juno nods like she understands. "You're right. I need to stop being a coward and confess to him already. But what if I make things weird and he doesn't want to be friends anymore? It'll be so awkward."

Shawty mewls again.

"Yeah, I know. He kissed me first, so he most likely feels the same way." Juno chuckles. "It's silly, huh? My crush might like me back, I should be on cloud nine."

Juno has never felt this way before, and she detests it. If only she knew what "it" is.

It seems that Shawty notices the wetness on the girl's cheeks and she reaches forward with a paw, this time as if to wipe her tears. Juno sniffles, feeling dumb. "I don't even know why I'm crying. But I swear it isn't because of Jeno; my mama didn't raise a weak bitch." She's never hated herself more. Last week she was almost maniacally high, and now it's the extreme opposite - seriously, why? "I'm a mess, huh?"

Shawty headbutts her softly, as if to reprimand Juno for being so self-depreciating. The girl lets out a little laugh. "Thanks, kitty. I do feel a little better." And there they lay for hours, Juno drifting in and out of sleep. Shawty, as if sensing that the girl needs it, doesn't leave her side even for a second.