Missing [ST]

Sixty Four

Monday was a lazy day that involved an awful lot of jump scares, and Steven trying to convince Leah at every opportunity that she really was good with Liv.

Tuesday was better, but the weather sucked. It rained on and off and destroyed the plans that Steven apparently had on his list of things to do.

Leah assured him that she didn't mind the rain, but Steven was adamant that the 'rain would ruin it' whatever that 'it' was, and consequently, he was grumpy for the rest of the day.

She gave up asking what the 'it' was by the evening as well as trying to talk to him, because she found him glued to his phone typing furiously, scowling, and ignoring everything around him every single time.

There was improvement over dinner, but it was probably just for social points, and Leah excused herself to take a shower as soon as she had finished eating.

The fact that her pyjamas had probably spent more time on the floor than on her was not uncommon in a new relationship, but tonight she had a strong feeling they would stay on, because flopping into bed with a book to wait for Steven to spend a million years in the bathroom, was providing her with an extra dose of frustration than it had done the past couple of nights.

Leah respected personal routines, but Steven took at least double the amount of time she did, even if the end result was to walk into the bedroom looking like a fresh, shirtless sex god which left no wonders to the imagination when her eyes dipped down his chest.

Tonight, he may still have been shirtless, but he wore green and white plaid pyjama bottoms that hung temptingly below his hip bones, and was towelling the ends of his hair that couldn't hide his distracted features.

His precious private time hadn't washed away the mood he was in.

"Nice shower?" Leah asked, setting her book down on her lap.

"Hm?" Steven picked up the hairdryer from a basket under the bed, not yet giving her a glance. "Oh yeah. Yeah, great."

She frowned at his dismissive behaviour. Became a little hurt when he slung the towel over his shoulder, began to unwind the cable in his hands, and was walking towards the door again.

"Steven?"

"Yeah?"

Leah opened her mouth to speak, actually surprised he had stopped, but the words deflated into pointless air. In all honesty, she didn't really know how to approach confronting him.

"I..."

Like the edge to his mood had crumbled, Steven turned around properly and closed the door. He even abandoned the hair dryer on the chest of drawers, draped his towel there, and perched on the edge of the bed.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?"

To hear an ounce of concern was astonishing, but it did the opposite to comfort her, and made her shrug with flippancy.

"Well, are you?"

Steven furrowed his eyebrows visible through his unfluffed bangs, combed hair neatly disguising most of the curls behind his ears because it wasn't dry enough, but it was so annoying that he didn't even have to try to look good.

Even the cute point of his nose deserved worshipping, which was not the distraction Leah currently wanted.

"Have I...done something?"

"I don't know, have you?"

"Why are you asking my questions back to me?"

Leah rolled her eyes, setting her book on the bedside.