You're back, Mari

Chapter 12: A Reveal, and Courage

Ah...this was definitely risky.

But, Aubrey had never been one to overthink things...at least, when it revolved around satisfying her curiosity. Aubrey shook her head a bit, looking around Basil's room. How much time did she have?

Basil was preoccupied with Sunny right now, who actually woke up as himself a few minutes ago. Aubrey said she was going to the bathroom–well, she said she was taking a shit, which made Basil extremely flustered.

Ha-ha. That should buy her enough time to snoop around.

Aubrey sighed, ruffling her own hair. This was a terrible idea. But she was just too curious...and worried.

She wanted to find the famed 'Sunny Notebook'. To be completely honest, she didn't even know what to expect.

Now...if she were to hide a creepy notebook all about her crush, where would she put it? Aubrey blinked, looking around. Didn't Polly find it before? Basil probably moved it somewhere harder to find because of it.

Aubrey first checked under the bed–nope, just dust. Strangely empty under there, actually. Aubrey pursed her lips and decided to check the closet, even though it seemed too obvious.

She opened it and just found a bunch of clothes hanging, and then at the bottom, a messy pile of shirts. Aubrey rose a brow. Basil wasn't the messy type. With a grin, she picked up some of the clothes.

And...yup. That was definitely it. It was...a lot bigger than she thought it would be. It was also super thick.

Aubrey picked up the large book, kicking the messy clothes back into place before moving over to his desk and sitting down. She stared down at the blank cover, taking a deep breath.

She's come this far. Might as well just...take a peek. She would be quick, and Basil would be none the wiser! Any guilt at invading his privacy was easily pushed aside. She'll think of this as revenge or something.

She opened the cover to the first page.

...

"Pffft–" Aubrey slapped a hand over her mouth, trembling with laughter. What was he, a schoolgirl? The first page just had Sunny's and Basil's name drawn with crayon, with a heart around it. The handwriting wasn't very good. Aubrey peeped at the date and noticed that it was from five years ago.

...Holy shit. Did he get this that long ago? Aubrey imagined an eleven-year-old Basil holding this giant book, and stifled a chuckle.

She started to freely flip through the pages, noticing it was just more childish drawings of him and Sunny doing things together. There were occasionally little sentences, usually saying what he liked about Sunny that day. To be honest, it was...kind of cute. There were also some pieces of paper taped in, with Sunny's handwriting being recognizable. Seems like Basil kept any notes they passed. There were also some crude drawings taped in, going along well with Basil's own.

This was a lot less concerning than she'd thought it'd be. After a short journal entry about his twelfth birthday, pictures started to appear in the book. They were pictures of either just Sunny or Sunny and Basil together. Some had hearts drawn on them...because of course they did.

Aubrey almost laughed again, continuing to flick through the pages. The sentences were longer now, basically little diary entries, at least one for every week. Aubrey was almost enjoying herself flipping through because she was pleasantly surprised at how adorable it all was...well if you ignore the paragraphs of him fanatically gushing over Sunny. Surprisingly, Basil also mentioned Mari a few times, writing about how much of a help she was in teaching him how to be normal, bragging about how he showed her his notebook.