the sleepless elite

viii

the sleepless elite

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chapter eight

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I wanna be your left hand man

– Vance Joy, Riptide

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"I brought sandwiches!" Darling greets brightly at Chase Redford's front door. She's been doing an awfully lot of visiting and dropping by. And she's still in her pyjamas. If anyone asks why, it's because she no longer cares about how she looked. No one was around to mother her at home.

"You don't have to constantly buy me food when you come around." Chase says.

"Of course, I do! They're housewarming gifts!"

"Good morning!" A voice greets Chase Redford cheerfully. Blue eyes open to see a bright face smiling down at him as he laid in bed.

Chase blinks, making sure what he was seeing wasn't all a weird dream. He's pretty sure he's got an awful case of bedhead and morning breath and all those other things that makes him look like a walking zombie.

He asks, "Darling?" His voice slightly confused by her presence, did they agree to meet up again? If they did, he didn't recall agreeing to doing so.

And she perks up in return.

"What are you doing in my house at ..." Chase's eyes squinted at the clock hanging above his bookshelf. "... eight AM?"

"I got bored of doing nothing after going on my morning run." Darling explains.

"What ...?"

"You're slow in the morning, Chase. You're going to have to do better if you ever want to out race me."

"What?" Chase repeats, trying to process everything. "Wait, how'd you get in my house?"

"Never mind that!" Darling orders, ripping off his blanket. "Come on, get up! We're going to ride around Book End while the sun's still hanging high in the sky!"

Little did he know, it was only the beginning of a series of sudden visits.

After that 'eventful' morning, Darling starts going over to Chase's house more. It's been a month, and, to be completely honest, it was still jarring to find Darling over at his house for her spree of 'visits'. Because she comes over even when he's not around.

"Darling, you need to stop breaking and entering into my house. That's breaking the rules, there are laws against it." States Chase, looking down at Darling who's comfortably settled on his living room sofa.

The girl was curled up into a ball on his couch with his blanket wrapped around her small frame. The only blanket in this house. Darling's got his favourite copy of The Long Walk by Stephen King and everything. Chase still couldn't believe he willingly surrendered his blanket to her.

Chase knows he may sound a little spoiled being an only child and all, but, there are limits to 'sharing is caring'. At least, Chase thinks so. Darling's hell bent on pleading to share everything. He wouldn't be surprised if she pleaded to share breathing the same oxygen if he could claim some for his own. Is there no such thing as personal space?

"But you know who I am. I don't steal anything and most of the time, I'm still here when you get back from work." Replies Darling. "So it's not really breaking and entering, plus, I used your key."