𝐋𝐔𝐃𝐈𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐒. ᵒᵘᵗᵉʳ ᵇᵃⁿᵏˢ ¹

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 25.

━ 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻.

    "𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆, 𝐒𝐋𝐄𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐘."

    The voice only startled me a little bit, but just enough for my eyes so slowly strain open. The curtains on the window were drastically ripped open all of a sudden, which caused the bright sunlight to quickly flood throughout the entire room, lighting up my face, and causing a hand to cover over my eyes to shield out the brightness. I was sunken into the pillows on the bed, my body fully submerged underneath the soft covers, and my hair falling everywhere in wisps.

    The night before, after John B left the room, I had closed the door and sat on his bed. I didn't want to be a snoop, but I couldn't help but let my eyes trail around his bedroom, looking at the small pictures on his walls, the few clothes on his floor, stray papers on top of his desk, and his disorganized closet, all while sitting down. I'd never been in a boys room before. My parent's room, which I was never allowed in, was nothing compared to this. It set an odd feeling in my stomach, that I was sitting in a boy's room, a boy that was my age.

    I had tried to stop my mind from wandering to John B as I slid my legs under the covers, but I was lying in his bed, in his room, my head on his pillow. It was hard not to think about said-him. When I closed my eyes, and unintentionally breathed in the scent of vanilla and ocean water left on his pillowcases, I felt my stomach twist and wondered what his life was like. I wondered what his parents would have said if they caught a girl sleeping in his bed. I wondered what my parents would have thought if they saw me, fast asleep in a boy's bed. I fell asleep before I could think of anything else, buried in his covers.

    "Come on," John B urged, stopping beside the bed, "We're already running late!"

    I screeched when he pulled the covers off of my body, which sent a strong chill all the way up my spine. "Stop it." I mumbled out, my voice groggy, while reaching down and grabbing the blankets with both hands, "No more."

    "Let's go, Charlie." John B persisted, his arms crossing, like a mom would do.

"Five more minutes." I groaned with an annoyed tone, my voice sounding raspy. I used all of my strength to push myself and over to lie on my other side, away from facing him. "Go without me."

"It's nine o'clock," he claimed, sounding irritated about the fact that we were running late with the organized plan.

I dug my face into the pillow, lightly laughing, "I was born at nine o'clock—"

"Charlie," he whined, angrily sounding very impatient.

I let out a loud huff, my face sinking deeper into the pillow, before I pushed myself up. My eyelids felt puffy and large, along with my cheeks and lips plumping out, and I could just feel my under-eye bags forming. My hair was everywhere, and I struggled to tame it as I turned my head to John B.

"I can see you're not a morning person," his eyes widened.

I glared at him.

"Jokes." He smiled childishly. "You always look good."

"Yeah, bullshit," I said quietly, while placing my hands on the bedsheets beside my legs, before using strength to push myself out of bed. "I didn't bring a brush with me," I said, when I looked at my reflection in his tiny mirror, which hung on the wall next to the wooden desk. I tried to flatten my hair down as I walked around the end of the bed, John B watching me.