~𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐴 𝐶𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒~ +SIDE STORIES

11

I'll sleep it off. A voice in my head said. Yes, I'll pretend that didn't even happen, and deal with it in the morning.

But it did happen. A second voice said.

And there was no denying it.

Could you shut up? One voice said.

What, is it now a crime to state the obvious? The second one countered.

Both of you, SHUT UP. A third one said.

I sat up and rubbed my temples. This was not good. I couldn't sleep, and it was the middle of the night. The kiss that Tommy gave me almost twelve hours ago still haunted my lips, a ghost, lingering, wanting more.  

I eventually went to sleep, which proved difficult after restlessly tossing and turning.

The first day of college rolled around, and I was more nervous than ever. Tommy noticed it the first day while we were walking to the building.

"Hey, you okay?" Tommy asked.

"No, not really. I feel like a total outcast." I admitted.

Tommy took my hand in his and entwined our fingers. "At least you've got your charming boyfriend here to support you." I giggled, feeling a bit better. Other students had started pouring in, now making me realize why Tommy was holding my hand.

Let the acting begin.

Our first few classes went by smoothly, the homework being generally easy. We got to lunch, and decided we would go to a sandwich shop. There were some other students seated at tables too, eating their lunches. Tommy and I stood in line for some sandwiches, and took a seat at the back after we received our food.

"Mm, this is really good." I said, stuffing my mouth with food.

Tommy laughed at my foolishness. "Babe, you're gonna choke, don't eat it all at once." For a second, I almost did, forgetting we were acting. So I guess he had decided on Babe.

Hooray.....

Some other people were looking at us, noticing how 'close' we were. Me and Tommy smirked at each other, knowing exactly what we were both thinking.

This is working out perfectly.

Soon enough the first day was over, and once we turned into our neighborhood, we let go of each other's hands and stood a good distance away from each other. No one else could see us here.

"Phew, finally. You stank." I told him.

"You're one to talk, your hand kept on wriggling, it was really annoying." Tommy replied. It looked like we were back to acting intimate in front of people, hating each other in secret, which is how I wanted to keep it. I felt a bit better by it, returning back to how our dynamic was when we started this.

"So, did you meet anyone new?" Tommy asked.

"Well, yeah I did. Two people. They're siblings." I answered.

"Oh, nice. What's their names?"

"Caroline and Jake something, I forgot their last names."

"I think I know that Jake kid, he might've went to my school before, can't put my finger on it though."

"Oh. How about you?" I asked.

"Well yeah, I met this guy named Lucas. Seemed pretty chill." he replied.

"Nice."

The rest of the walk home was us complaining about our subjects, and making plans to do the Home Work together. We came to the front door, and Tommy straightened his palm out to me, signaling for me to take it. I grabbed his hand, my fingers fitting between his perfectly, as if they were made for each othe-

NO.

Our arms fell in between us as we opened the front door. We were greeted by Tommy's parents. "Hey, guys! How was the first day?" his dad had asked.

"It was pretty good, right Y/N? We ordered a sandwich for lunch and she nearly choked on it trying to eat it all in one go." he said, playfully nudging my side.

"What? It was really good.." I said defensively. His parents laughed sweetly, and let us go upstairs. We stumbled into his room, shutting the door behind us, ready to get some valuable work time done. We started with the hardest one first, and got to work. We took a few Minecraft breaks, and his mom brought some dinner for us.

We were doing work on Tommy's bed, when he finished his homework from a different class. I was still working on mine, a class Tommy didn't have. He pulled out his phone and laid down on his pillow.

"Imagine still doing work," he said smirking.

"Shut up," I said, pushing his leg. I continued to work on my homework silently, listening to music. After thirty minutes, I finally finished all of my work. The time was 9:02 pm. Oof.

I nudged Tommy's leg. "Tommy, I've finished." No response.

"Tommy?" I asked again. Silence. I looked over to his face, and as I suspected, his eyes were closed. He was asleep. He still had his AirPods in, so I softly removed them from his ear, trying to not wake him. I popped one into my ear, curious to listen what he was listening to. I clicked Play on his phone.

Darling, only you can ease my mind
Help me leave these lonely thoughts behind
When they pull me under,
And I can feel my sanity start to unwind
Darling, only you can ease my mind

The song was called Ease My Mind, a song by Ben Platt. I recognized the song, it was one I used to listen to all the time. It was a love song, which surprised me. Tommy listened to love songs? Usually his music taste were songs that were upbeat, and generally about like 'living life happily' or uplifting songs like that, not necessarily piano songs about love.

I slid the phone out of his hand, and place his AirPods in their case. I tidied all of the paper and materials on the bed and set them on a desk. I sat back down on the bed to just make sure he was sleeping soundly. His face looked peaceful, and his breathing was quite steady. I exhaled, and got up from the bed. But something had tugged on my wrist, tugging me back.

Tommy had woken up.

"Tommy, what are you-" I started.

"Stay." he said.

"What?"

"Just for tonight. Please." his eyes didn't open, but he still had his hand wrapped around my wrist.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Please." he said desperately.

I sighed, swinging my legs onto the bed, tucking under the covers. Tommy did the same, and let go of my hand. He placed his arm on my waist, curling it towards him. I started blushing, hard. I scooted my back closer to him, to which he let out a happy groan. Soon enough, our legs moved closer and closer, and they ended up being entwined in between each other. I felt him bury his head at the back of my neck, nuzzling his nose into it.

"Y/N," he said, his voice low. My cheeks were so hot, the feeling of him holding me made me feel so safe and wanted.

I grabbed his hand that wrapped on my waist and pulled it down closer to me.

"Oh?" I heard him mumble into my neck. There was practically no space between my back and Tommy's chest, we were pressed up to each other close.

I felt my eyes slowly close, and went to sleep feeling warm and happy.

Friends do this, right?

____________________________________
(A/N) Oh my dear Y/N, no. Sorry for torturing whoever is reading this, they're both very stubborn 🙄 Here's the song that Tommy was listening to, Ease My Mind by Ben Platt, he's truly a great artist:

(1285 words)

✈️🏔🎧