A Little bit of Shade

T W E N T Y - N I N E

I feel the bed dip beside me. My eyes take a second to adjust, then I look over and see Daniel laying down, facing me. "I'm so tired" he opens his eyes and smiles. "Me too" I smile back. He grabs me, pulling me into his side. "You're cold" I whine. "You're warm" he laughs. I pull the blanket over us more and snuggle into his side.

"Ew" Jack climbs out of his bed and goes into the bathroom. I look over at the time.

8:17 am

Nope.

***

"Wake up" I feel someone hit me with a pillow. "What?" I look to see who it is. They hit me again. "Stop!" I whine. Zach laughs. "Get up, I'm bored" he hits me again, but I grab the pillow and throw it out of the room.

I realize Dani isn't beside me. "Where is everyone?" I ask. "They went out to grab us breakfast" he says. "Why didn't you go too?" I ask, sitting up. "I didn't want too" he sits next to me. "So you choose to stay here, but then wake me up, out of my nice, peaceful slumber, because you're bored?" I ask, dumbfounded that he had the nerve to do that. "Yes" he says. I turn, grab my pillow, and start whacking him with it. "You-" I hit him. "Dummy!" I hit him again. "Sorry!" He folds himself into a ball while I whack him a few more times.

"Ok ok! Stop" he puts his hand up. "Come play video games with me please" he whines. I groan and get off the bed. "Fine" I pull on a sweatshirt and follow Zach downstairs. He already had a system set up. "Halo?" I ask. He nods. "The original"

We sit on the couch and he hands me a controller. "What map?" He asks. "Blood gulch" I smirk.

What Zach doesn't know is that I played halo when I was younger. Every halo you could possibly have, I've played. That's why I choose this map, I know exactly how it's laid out.

"First to 5 kills wins" the game loads and I run to find the rocket launcher, one of the best guns.

He got a sniper, which is only good from far away. I chuckle to myself, aim and shoot. "Bam bitch!" I yell. He groans. "Not fair" he re-spawns. I try to hunt him down again.

***

"You asshole!" I yell as the scores pop up on the screen.

Zach: 5
Kylie: 4

We were both tied and last kill won, when I turned around the building, he was there. In two shots I was dead. So, he is currently dancing around the living room.

"I beat you! I beat you!" He sings. "Yeah yeah" I roll my eyes. The guys walk in with bags of food. "What's going on?" Jack asks. "I beat Kylie in halo!" Zach cheers. "Only by one kill!" I whine. They walk into the kitchen, Zach and I follow behind.

"I got you pancakes" Daniel hands me a container. "Thank you" I kiss his cheek. I'm not use to pda yet, but a small kiss won't kill anyone.

I open the container and there is a huge pancake with a smiley face on it. I smile and look up at the guys. They're all standing in the kitchen, organizing their food.

I pour syrup on it and start eating the strawberry eyes. "Is it good?" Dani asks as he sits next to me. "Soooo good" I moan. He laughs. "Reminds me of the first time we met" he smiles, looking down at his food. "Yeah, when I said don't be nasty, yet you were still nasty" I laugh, shoving pancake in my mouth. "I couldn't help myself" he starts eating his bacon.

All the guys join us at the table. "How many more days till you leave?" Zach asks. "24, including today" I answer. Everyone sat quiet. "Why would you even bring that up?" Jonah asks. "I wanted to know how much time we have with her" Zach cowers.

"It's okay" I say. "We all know it's coming" they nod. "We just have to do lots of fun stuff before I leave" I smile at them. "Well, what can we do today?" Jack asks. "I'm working at 4" I say. They all groan. "Sorry, but I need to work. I'll be done by the end of this week" I explain. "You quit?" Jack asks. "Yeah, I had too since I'm leaving"

"So after this week we can spend everyday with you?" Jonah asks and I nod. "If you really want me around that much, yeah" I laugh. "Okay, here's a plan" Corbyn starts. "You pack up all your stuff in your house now, then basically live with us until you leave. Then your place stays clean and is all packed when you're ready" he explains. "Oh, that's a good idea" Daniel agrees.

"Are you sure? That's over three weeks of me being here" I say, finishing my pancake. "Oh c'mon, you basically live here now" Jonah says. They all nod.

"I guess so" I say and they all cheer. I'm not sure if I even want to do this. I would be living with Daniel, even if there are other people, that's still scary. I mean, Daniel and I are complicated enough. I still haven't told him I love him.

"I have to go, I work in an hour" I get up and throw out my pancake container. "Bye kyles" Jack says. My head shoots to his direction. "What?" Jonah asks, looking puzzled for a second before getting it. "That was the nickname!" He laughs. "Don't ever call me that again or I'll kill all of you" I say, walking towards the front. "Kyles" someone whispers.

"You all better sleep with one eye open!" I yell and slam the door behind me.

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Will I ever publish on time?

Probably not.

:)