Idiots to Lovers (bxb)

22 | That Annoying Beam of Light That Wakes You Every Morning

I was woken at the crack of dawn by frantic whisper-yelling and ungentle hands gripping my shoulders. A bright beam of sunlight annoyingly disturbed my slumber, falling over my eyes and making me squint.

Everett's face moved closer to mine, blocking out the light as his curls created a dark cloud in front of the open curtain. His frenzied shaking was far more irritating than the sun rays.

"Clementine! You fell asleep!" His voice was rough, still hoarse from having just woken up. I might have found it sexy, even, if he wasn't currently trying to dislocate my shoulder.

"Let me sleep," I groaned, trying to turn over and pull the blanket around me. Everett had kept me up till late, making me listen to all his favourite songs.

As if I didn't already know them all by heart.

"But my parents will be up soon!" he exclaimed, "They can't see you here. Won't your parents notice that you didn't come home all night?"

"Oh." I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes as I stared up at the ceiling. "I just live with my sister, actually."

Everett's eyes widened, a hand flying to his mouth. "Oh my God, Clementine...they're dead? I'm so sorry, I never even asked—"

"No- no they're not dead!" I exclaimed, sitting up suddenly, "Why would you assume...." I paused to roll my eyes at his mortified expression. "They both just moved out when they got remarried."

"I'm sorry."

I cracked a smile. "It's fine, at least they're alive."

"I don't know why I just jumped to that." Everett hesitated, looking like he wanted to say something more.

"You can ask me about it if you want."

He shifted a bit closer to me on the bed, awkwardly placing a hand on my knee and playing with the hem of the cotton shorts I had borrowed. "I guess we haven't really talked much...about that stuff. But, I'd like to."

"There's not much to say. I'm not that close to my dad," I started, "I was young when he left. My mom was around till Jamie started college though. But, you know how it is...it's hard dating with kids. And I guess we were both pretty rude to all the boyfriends she's brought over."

Everett bristled. "But—"

"Well, when her current husband proposed it was on the condition that she move into his place—and we'd both grown up by then anyway," I added hurriedly as his eyes widened and glittered, "It's not like we were kids."

"That still...sucks. I'm sorry."

"It's fine, really," I muttered as he threw his arms around my neck in a sudden hug. "Jamie goes to a campus close by so she's at home most nights anyway." I paused. "Though, hopefully she wasn't last night."

I extricated myself with some difficulty and started pulling my jeans on over the thin, cotton shorts. "Can I grab another T-shirt?"

"Oh yeah, just take one from here." Everett walked over and threw open his closet door. A pile of rolled up clothes immediately tumbled out onto him and he flung out his arms to trap them in place. "Grab something quickly so I can shut the door!" he gasped, "We haven't got much time; they're sentient!"

I stared into his wardrobe in horror, feeling a little light-headed at the mess. "They'll take up less space if you fold them."

"But they take up less time just to stuff in."

"Fair point," I acquised, plucking a yellow T-shirt from the pile.

"Noo not that one, it's my favourite."

I reached for a different yellow one and his eyes widened.

"Are all the yellow ones your favourite?" I joked. About eighty percent of them were yellow.

"Well, yeah. But keep this." He tossed the first T-shirt at me and hurriedly shut the door before the rest could tumble down like jenga.

I peeled off my T-shirt, exchanging it for the yellow tee as he tossed the worn one into a random corner of the room. It just blended into the rest of the mess.

"Come over tomorrow; I don't have work," Everett said, "But you have to leave now before my dad starts mowing the lawn."

As if on cue, the whirring sound of a lawn mower started going off from outside. Everett groaned, climbing onto the bay seat and peeking through the curtain.

"I could just slip out the door once he's done?" I asked hopefully.

"Oh wait, he's still doing the front of the house. There's no one right under hereee." Everett looked back me pleadingly as he gestured at the ground beneath. "And this tree is really easy to scale down, lots of people have."

"Uh, what?" I tossed him a sidelong glance as I came to peer out of the window. It opened up into a small balcony, connected to the deck which wrapped around the house. A thick branch hanging over the railing made the tree easy to get on to, but there was still quite a drop between the lowest branch and the ground. It did, however, sprawl wide enough to reach the balcony of the house next door.

He coloured. "No not...lots, uh- none, really. I've only used it visit that house." He pointed at the window across from his. "Quin lives there, he's just a friend but, uh- we did kiss once. When we were like fourteen—"

"You don't have to tell me that," I quickly interrupted, "It's fine."

"No, I know. I just wanted to tell you because he's a close friend, and we'll probably run into him sometime," Everett explained, "I mean, I don't want to like hide it from you or anything."

"Uh, thank- I mean, that's nice," I muttered, averting my eyes from his intense stare. I hadn't imagined someone I was dating would want to be that transparent with me. Relationships had always seemed like a complicated thing, tangled with...well, not secrets exactly. But Jenna had always said that a sense of mystery adds to the romance.

Whatever that means.

I drummed my fingers against the cool glass, softly tapping in an unrhythamic beat. "Anyway. It's too far off the ground."

"It's like a foot," Everett understated, downplaying it excessively in an encouraging tone of voice.

"Even you haven't tried climbing down it," I argued, "The drop is greater than it looks to be from this perspective."

"Pfft, it'd be nothing for you sweetheart." Everett brushed his fingers against my non-existent bicep. "With your...athletic prowess."

He couldn't hold back on the teasing tone of his voice, earning himself a glare. "You'll be fine," he assured, a grin still quirking up his lips, "Well...more fine than if my mom comes in to wake me."

I'm not going to lie. The thought of his mother struck some fear into my heart.

I sighed. "Alright fine. But if I die I'm haunting you and I'll burn all your pies."

"I imagine you turning into more of a nice ghost who follows me around fixing all my mistakes."

"That just sounds like the rest of my living life," I muttered under my breath.

"...What was that?"

I hurriedly flung open the window and threw myself out of it.

A/n: LOL Clementine chose death 💀