Now You Know ✅

Chapter 33: Symphonic

Falling asleep had been a trial for Pelham, not when he had to make sure April really had fallen asleep on the couch. Even then, he couldn't bring himself to get to his feet, let alone carry her upstairs to his room. He found that it was quite of a huge challenge, especially when his head was in turmoil.

She had been intoxicated, Pelham was aware of that. But her words echoed in his head as he spent most of the night slouched at an odd angle in the armchair next to the couch occupied by April, mulling things over in his head. He hadn't been able to come to a conclusion then.

As much as he didn't want to think about it - her feelings for him, his feelings for Lucio, whatever the latter was supposed to imply - he couldn't help but probe her words one by one, like treading the stairs in the dark. If he were being honest and sincere with himself, he was downright terrified. But the issue with Pelham was that he liked to push things away, pretending they never existed even if they were right in front of him.

Here he thought denying his sexual orientation had been the only obstacle he had to endure and come through.

But life is full of surprises, Pelham thought as he watched April sleep, still in her jacket, though he had draped his own sweater and blanket over her body when she dozed off the previous night. The girl snored - with her mouth agape - in her sleep, and moved a lot. Pelham was relatively grateful that he and her rarely ever slept on the same bed - even when they were together - otherwise she would've had bruised him in her sleep as though they were in some kind of a karate session.

Pelham had been awake since the crack of dawn, and was unable to go back to sleep until now - not when his back ached from the position he was in, as well as the tumult still raging in his head. All he had been doing since then was stare blindly at April, all ethical matters cast into oblivion, as though he was trying to force some words of explanation out of her.

Sunlight spilled through the closed curtains, flooding the living room in a golden hue. The silence was only broken by the soft repetitive ticks of the pendulum clock and April's snores - the latter being the loudest noise in the room. Pelham was too worn out to move a limb. It's Saturday anyway, he told himself, sparing a glance at the pendulum clock hung on the wall across the room. He was certain April would wake up at noon.

He thought too soon, for April stirred in her sleep, her snores softening and turning into a long, satisfying yawn. She stretched her limbs before blinking her eyes. She looked groggy.

"Morning," Pelham spoke, surprising himself at hearing how steady his voice was.

At this, April blinked the sleep out of her eyes and craned her neck to look at where the voice came from. She squinted at Pelham, who was still sitting on the armchair next to her.

"Morning," she slurred, rubbing her eyes with her knuckles. "Where ... am I?"

"Narnia,"

"Sucks," she said, closing her eyes back. For a fleeting moment Pelham thought she had gone back to sleep. But then she spoke, "I thought I'd woken up in The Burrow."

"So you can meet Errol?"

A lazy chuckle escaped her throat, her eyes still closed. "What time is it?"

"Time for you to shower and drink a gallon of water,"

"Pelham," she sounded genuinely peeved, despite the hangover.

"It's seven,"

"Damn," she whispered. "And ... how long have you been up?"

"Fifteen minutes ago," Pelham shrugged. Truth was, he didn't know exactly how long he had been up. What he knew, though, was how the gradient of golden light had shifted in the living room for the past few minutes as it got brighter outside. Now he mused whether he had been up for an hour.