The Fifth Floor ♡ COLIFER

Chapter 34 ♡ Hungry

"Colin, I'm not going to sing Pearl Jam songs at one in the morning."

His voice came all the way from the room across the hallway. "Why not?"

"Because it's past midnight. And Evan needs to sleep."

"But he likes it when I sing to him. It soothes the soul."

I face-palmed my pillow. "Oh my god," I grumbled, my voice muffled.

About half an hour ago, Evan woke us both when he started crying and Colin gave him a bottle. He then took him into the guest bedroom with him since he was still a little whiny afterwards, but he left all of the doors open.

Now we were basically shouting back and forth from the living room to the guest bedroom.

My face was still buried in my pillow, but I heard a clear humming coming from Colin's room. I propped myself up on my hands and leaned forward, so I could see him sitting on his mattress all the way across the hall.

There was a smirk on his face. "Hey, Jen."

I rolled my eyes, trying not to erupt into laughter. "We know you can sing. Now shut up and let me sleep."

"You know I wouldn't be here if you hadn't needed me, right?" He raised an eyebrow and looked down at Evan, who was lying on his chest. Buckley was asleep at his feet.

I raised an eyebrow too. "I wasn't the one who got a kid and bought a dog."

"I wasn't the one who moved into an apartment with no electricity."

I had to fight the urge to stick out my tongue as I flopped back down on the mattress. I stared at the ceiling of my apartment, listening to Colin's humming across the hall, and then my stomach started making funny noises.

I rolled over, leaning my chin on my pillow. "I'm hungry."

I wasn't looking at him, but I heard him grinning. "We can make tacos?"

"COLIN."

"Sorry. You got something to make pancakes?"

This time I did shoot him a look before I continued staring at the ceiling. "I just moved in here, and the fridge might be filled, but pancake mix wasn't really on my urgent list."

"Let's go and get some, then."

"What are you talking about?"

"We're getting pancake mix."

"Colin, it's—"

I fell silent when I heard footsteps on the hardwood floor; his face appeared right in front of mine.

He stuck out his hand. "We are getting pancake mix."

* * *

"I'm not sure if this—"

"Shush," Colin said. "Stop talking."

We were about to head out the door, all bundled up, and I looked down at my pajama pants.

"Why do I always end up doing weird things at one in the morning when I'm with you?" I asked.

He smirked. "Because I'm that brilliant. Now let's get moving, I'm hungry too."

We left my apartment with Evan strapped to Colin's chest, still wide awake, and Buckley trailing behind me. The weather was a lot better than three hours ago and it even seemed like the snow was melting, but it was still chilly.

There was another 24-hour shop not that far from my apartment. Even though there was barely anyone inside, I started to feel unsure about my pajama pants again when we entered the store.

"I really should've changed into some regular pants," I hissed as we were going through the aisles.

"Jen, your pajama pants are almost as fashionable as the rest of your wardrobe. Stop worrying."

I fell silent. That was the first time he'd said something about my clothing.

"You know we're making progress, right?" he said as we passed the vegetable aisle. "This time I'm not drunk and desperate for tomatoes or ice cream."

I smiled, but he held my gaze a little too long, so I nudged his shoulder with mine. "Talk about development."

By the time we left the store with a box of pancake mix, Evan had fallen asleep on Colin's chest and Colin was softly rubbing his back. I was holding Buckley's leash, but my eyes were fixed on the two of them.

"What's wrong?" Colin asked when he noticed.

"Nothing," I said. "It's just... you're good with kids." I suddenly had a lump in my throat.

He looked down at Evan and wrapped his coat around him. "I'm trying, but it's a big change to have a 10-month-old son. And to be a dad."

He smiled at me, but it was a sad smile. Then a weird thought popped up in my head. I was so surprised by it that I immediately shoved it aside.

"Let's go make some pancakes," I said.

* * *

We put Evan back in my bedroom and Colin grabbed a pan to make pancakes. I leaned against the counter, sipping on another cup of hot chocolate while he poured pancake batter into the pan.

"Getting up tomorrow is going to be the death of me," I said.

"You know, there's a fairly simple solution for that problem."

"Which is...?"

"We could just stay up all night." He laughed. "Eating pancakes and feeding Evan. Seems like a perfect plan."

"Except for the part where we're not getting any sleep until tomorrow night."

"Yeah... tiny detail." He took the pan from the stove and slid the very first pancake onto a plate for me. "Here you go, Ms. Swan."

"Thanks, Mr. Hook."

Colin finished baking the pancakes and when he was done, we headed to the living room. I put on the fairy lights and he sat down on one of the boxes as I sat down at the base of the fire place.

"You want to go over tomorrow's lines?" he asked, pouring some syrup onto his pancake. He spilled some on his fingers and licked his thumb, looking up at me.

"S-sure," I said.

I never stammered. That only happened when I was with him.

I pulled a box towards me, pretending that it was a desk with a computer, and Colin jumped over the mattress to get to the door of the living room. I started tapping the cardboard box as if it were a keyboard and I looked up when Colin came walking over to me. 

There was no other way to describe the way he walked than "dashingly".

"Grilled cheese, just the way you like it." He dropped an invisible paper bag on my invisible desk.

"Fries?" I asked, looking up at him. He wasn't standing nearly as close as he should be, and he noticed.

He moved closer so he was towering over me, and then he put his hand on my shoulder. "Onion rings."

"Oh, good, I was just testing you." His eyes were locked to mine— causing me to forget about everything I was supposed to say next.

He didn't say anything either, which I knew he was supposed to do. We were just staring at each other, and I was starting to wonder when he was going to say something when he sighed and bent down.

"I'm pretty sure you're not sup—"

"I know." He was at the same height now. "Okay, I'm just going to tell you this before I don't have the courage anymore."

"I—"

"I miss you," he blurted out. "I miss you every minute of every day that we don't get to spend together, and I know that's wrong for me to say because you moved on, but it's the truth."

"Colin..."

"I'm going to shut up now. But I just thought you should know that."