erase me - kryoz [slow updates]

four

acacia

i woke up to my head on john's chest and his arm loosely across my waist. this is quite easily the earliest i've been up in god knows how long, but i honestly don't hate it.

carefully moving to not wake him up, i grabbed my phone from the bedside table and checked the time. 9:58am.

i have no idea what time john ended up coming to bed, so i quietly scrolled social media until he woke up. he was a pretty mild sleeper so i was able to just keep my head on his chest, and his arm around my waist.

his last tweet was around the time i went to bed, so it's nice to assume that he'll be up soon. as much as i felt i could lay like this all day, it'd be good to get up soon.

i laid my head back down and put my phone down on the bed beside me and just let myself think for a few. it's kind of surreal that i'm able to just hop on a flight and come visit one of my best friends just about whenever i want to. if i would've thought about this a year ago, i would've laughed. honestly, i didn't think i would be alive this year, so really anything concerning living is surreal to me.

about this time, i felt john moving a little bit, and he started poking my forehead.

"hey," i whined.

"good morning."

i smiled a little. "good morning."

he rolled over so we switched places and he was laying his head on my shoulder.

"jesus fucking christ you're like twice my size, dude."

"are you calling me fat, you asshole?" he asked in an offended tone.

"no, you shallow bitch, i'm just saying you're gonna smash me."

"you're right, i would smash." he said and winked.

i slapped his shoulder. "you nasty ass."

i managed to push him off of me and i sat on the edge of his bed, my feet not quite touching the floor.

"so, john, what are we doing today? i need to know how presentable to make myself."

"as much as you hate it, it's a surprise. but you don't have to be like, fancy or any shit like that. casual is nice."

i sighed and grabbed a pair of ripped jeans and a sweater from my suitcase as it is on the chillier side today.

after getting ready, i put on mascara and curled my hair a little bit. i stood in front of the mirror examining my appearance and bit my lip. i put on my glasses and left the bathroom.

i look like a fucking wreck.

"i hope you're fine going out for breakfast." john said from his kitchen. "i was thinking ihop."

"sounds good to me."

i sat on his couch and scrolled on my phone, seeing a text from smitty.

i hope this trip does good for you. you haven't been yourself in a while and i'm worried about you. love you cay

i let my fingers hover over the screen before thinking of a reply.

i love you too, smit. i'm gonna lose my shit if texas doesn't help my headspace, honestly. but john seems to really have a lot planned for us and he calms me a lot so hopefully this will work wonders.

turning off my phone, i placed it on the end table and went into the kitchen. i grabbed a water from the fridge and stood on my tip toes to place my chin on john's shoulder.

"what the hell?" he mumbled.

"i'm too short to be doing this i'm gonna fall on you."

"ew, you're disgusting."

i flipped him off and walked back into the living room.

———

john and i got breakfast and it's now 12:30pm. he still refused to tell me what we were doing, but we're at some building complex now that i have no idea what it is. john parked the car and looked at me.

"so, you're probably gonna beat my ass for this, but this is an escape room."

"fuck sake, john, i'm gonna be yelling at you the whole time because i'm such a control freak."

"control freak? kinky."

"fuck you!" i hissed.

"you would."

we both got out of the car and walked in. we decided what room we were gonna do, and the host read the rules and the scenario. being the idiots we are, we picked the hardest room that still seemed interesting.

once in the room, we started reading the clues given to us.

i started tipping shit over and looking in everything that i could open.

"you're gonna tear the whole room apart and not find shit, acacia."

"have you never done an escape room before? you're gonna regret not throwing everything across the room because we'll miss something." i said quickly.

in a roundabout way though, he was right. unless i missed things, i only found one clue and one thing that actually helps.

"fuck sake!" i yelled, annoyed.

john put his chin on top of my head, looking down at the clue i was reading.

"this shit doesn't make sense. at all." i whined.

he took the card from my hand and read it over, twice, himself. already having an idea of what to do, he put a combination into one of the locks and opened the case.

"you have to be smarter than the clue, dumbass." he teased.

"asshat." i said under my breath.

he dumped the contents of the case onto the floor and read the clue in the box aloud. i had my lightbulb moment and opened one of the small boxes that contained a key to open the very last box.

now all we had left to do is assemble the "bomb" in the very short amount of time we had remaining.

i threw the contents at john, "my hands aren't nimble enough to move this fast, here."

he was able to get it put together right before the buzzer went off signaling that we were out of time, and we both let out a sigh of relief we didn't even know we were holding in.

"maybe you're not so shitty to work with." john smiled.

i rolled my eyes and pushed him a little.

we thanked the guy who was working the register and walked back to the car.

"my next plan isn't for another about five hours, so is there anything you want to do or do you just want to go chill at the apartment?" john asked.

"we can go back to the apartment. you stressed me the hell out with that escape room. i could use some rest and relaxation."

———