Hawthorne Heights [Editing]

eighteen

[side note: Khari's anxiety and depression won't go away just bc he and milo like each other. that's not how it works...some people have been married for years and still suffer from depression. i don't want to romanticize mental illness at all.]

"Wait, is he still here?" Khari pulled himself away from Milo's face with a heavy head and drowsy lungs.

Milo lay there with her hand covering her heart and a glare directed at Warren.

   The radiator in the apartment remained broken which caused for Milo to curl up against Miracle's chest. Her rib cage protruded underneath her gray sweat-shirt yet Milo thought nothing of it. Her mind replayed Khari's words as she simultaneously wondered if he like-liked her. She waited for this moment for weeks; her sleepless nights were full of falling in love with the idea of falling in love.

Warren answered, "Nah, he said he's staying at a hotel until Sunday. The one down by that bookstore you like."

Khari threw himself back onto the pallet as Warren took Miracle to get food from the McDonald's. They were both well aware that Cleo recently stocked the refrigerator full of food, yet they left anyway.

   Milo placed her bonnet back onto her head while staring at Khari, waiting for him to say something.

"This means nothing," He informed her. "I was just high and you're pretty. Don't think too much of it."

Milo rolled over so that her back faced him, yet it was hard feeling upset with black sheets and Christmas lights over the both of them.

   Khari's hand twitched slightly as he silently reprimanded himself for saying yet another rude thing. His mouth worked faster than his brain and at times he said the things that he felt too afraid to say.

Milo grumbled, "You say that too often for it to be true. I think that you like me but you're afraid of rejection."

"I like you as a friend."

"Then why'd you try to kiss me? Is that what friends do?"

Khari asserted, "I was high and I've never kissed anyone before so I was curious. Now I've realized that it was a bad idea."

Milo's heart dropped as she continued to frown at the books that covered his shelf. His words stung like venom seeping into cuts and she hated being hurt.

   He realized the weight of his words, especially after being bullied for so many years. He used to cringe at the thought of saying anything hurtful to anyone else, yet now he doesn't care until it's four in the morning and he's questioning everything.