𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐃𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒, k. jacobs¹

Chapter XIX

I almost drop my phone on the ground as I tremble to stop the loud ringing in the other so quiet night air. Vera glances down at my lit-up screen and knits her eyebrows together.

"Who's that? Your boyfriend or..?" She nods at my phone as she asks the first question. I, however, don't take notice of that, my brain is having an overload from her second question.

Boyfriend or boy friend? 'Or..' my brother? Why would she think it's my brother?

Not even a second has gone by, and I am thankful for that when I answer her question. I could as well have been thinking for a good minute. "No, it's just a friend, well originally my brother's friend, but he's my age. The friend, not my brother." I'm rambling. Holy Zeus, this is embarrassing.

She lets out some sort of merge between a snort and a laugh as she looks away again. "Whatever you say y/n." I blush. She hasn't even known me for 10 minutes, and she already understands me better than I understand myself.

I feel the blush slowly wash away, and I answer the call and put him on speaker. "Hey," I say softly, in case he's in bed.

"Hello pretty girl.." he mumbles and I can hear the smile on his face. I bite my bottom lip in an attempt to hide my smile from Vera. Why did he have to use the nickname right now? I glance over at my new friend and I see she has her eyebrows raised, having a look that's saying 'see? I knew it.

"Do you ever sleep?" I ask Karl.

"I can't fall asleep if I haven't called you..." his voice is deep with sleep and I can hear the sounds of his bedsheets moving. Vera was never going to believe we were just friends after this.

"Sounds like a real problem Karl," I say. "By the way, I have a friend with me."

"I thought I was your only friend..?" He sounds sad but I doubt he'll even remember this conversation tomorrow. I chuckle and Vera gives me a look.

"Not anymore pretty boy. She's really cool, say hi." I look over at her as I instruct her to greet Karl.

"Hey, I'm Vera." She says to him through the phone. "Hello y/ns new friend Vera." His voice can barely be heard anymore as the sleep is getting to him.

"I think you should sleep, goodnight Karl." I smile and move my hand to hang up.

"Don't hang up, I want to listen to you as I fall asleep." He says, suddenly awake. I laugh a little, flustered by his words and the fact that there's someone watching us.

"Sure Karl, I won't leave." Vera gives me that look again. This was going to be the death of me.

After talking with Vera for a while, with Karl on the phone, I feel my eyes getting heavier by the minute. I slowly relax my tensed-up shoulders and let my head rest on Vera's shoulder, she is just about the same height as me. I can feel the weight of her head on top of mine just half a second after I did that.

Then I fall asleep in the darkness of the night.

(dang, for all you know Vera could be a serial killer and you're as good as dead. oop- jk, jk. unless.... no I'm kidding)

~~~

I wake up by someone poking the soft part of my cheek, the part that has no bone beneath it. I flutter my eyes open, slowly, confused by my surroundings.

"Y/n? Wake up." An unknown voice tells me through the cloud of sleep that is taking up my mind. "It's almost morning." The voice adds on softly.

"Hm? What?" I ask, raising my head and scooting back a little, so I sit straighter against the wall. Then I remember, Vera, Karl, the skate park, sleep... oh no. "MORNING?" I panic. I didn't tell anyone I went out. What if they're worried?

"Yeah, sorry. Should I have woken you up sooner?" She asks in an apologetic voice. Damn it.

"No, sorry, I just- I don't know. Did you hang up on Karl?" I ask her as I remember last night's events clearer.

"No, he's still sleeping though. He fell asleep not long after you did." She's smiling now. I get a bad feeling from this. "He really can't sleep without you." She laughs and I wince at the loud sound but she doesn't notice it.

"Good," I say, getting up from our spot on the ground. My back hurts like a bitch and I clench my teeth. "Ow." I hear behind me and see that Vera is standing up as well.

"Hey, did you get any sleep at all?" I ask her, now concerned.

"Yeah, maybe an hour or so, but it's fine, don't worry about me." She smiles, but the dark circles under her eyes say something else.

"Sorry," I say, looking around. "I need to get home, but can I have your number? I want to make it up to you." I meet her green eyes with my y/e/c ones.

"You really don't have to, but sure." She says and gives me her number. I smile and thank her before we part ways.

~~~

I tiptoe inside, everyone should still be asleep. But with my luck, Sapnap is awake. When does he sleep? I can hear him talking in his room, probably streaming or something. I try to go up the stairs without a sound, skipping the creaking step.

I get to my room without anyone noticing. Or at least I thought so until my brother walks in.

"Hey, where have you been?" He looks at me, questioning my appearance. "I thought you were sleeping, but clearly not." He snorts.

I furrow my brows at him. "I have been sleeping. Outside. At the skate park. With a girl. That I met last night." I hear how bad it sounds but it's the truth.

He stares at me in disbelief. "You? Slept outside? With a stranger?" He seems to have trouble getting this information into his head.

"Yep. Her name's Vera and she just moved here." I shrug. "Now let me sleep, I didn't sleep much outside," I mutter.

"Hm." Sap gives me one last, suspicious, look before walking away. Thank Zeus he finally left me alone. Now I can get changed and sleep for an hour or so before class starts. I'm so happy it's online so I won't have to travel a long way for my lessons.