Red Roses

Chapter Five: Stains

I rolled over and shoved my face into my pillow. I couldn't get their words out of my head. And the look on their face... Had Alex wanted to tell me something else? I sighed and sat up, knowing sleep was futile. At least tomorrow's Sunday, I figured, and I can sleep in. I gave in to the part of me begging for Cheez Puffs, well aware it was past midnight. 

I tiptoed into the hallway, and something caught my eye. Movement in the bathroom. The odd thing was that the light was off, and the door was open. I decided it was nothing, just my eyes playing tricks on me, but as I made my way back upstairs, cradling the bowl of Cheez Puffs, I saw a figure exit the bathroom. They were tall, and their hair stuck up in the stupidest way: it looked unkempt. 

"Carter?"

He whirled around to face me, and dragged the sleeve of his shirt down over his arm. His eyes flicked to the bowl in my hands. We both know Cheez Puffs are not allowed in bedrooms, EVER. Our mom's paranoid they'll ruin the sheets, which, I guess is fair, their shade of orange is far from natural.

We stood there for a few seconds, his eyes darting from the bowl to my face, mine from his arm to his soft brown eyes. He seemed scared I knew something. Finally, he rasped "You didn't see me, and I didn't see you." I nodded and slunk back to my room, and as I closed my door, I heard the bathroom door close, and the tap turn on. 

I grabbed my phone off my desk and opened it to find something to watch. When I unlocked it, it was open to the messages app, and I considered texting Alex, but I figured they'd find it stalkerish, or weird that their first text from me come in the middle of the night. I scrolled for a while, finally finding something to watch, but I couldn't get Alex's face out of my head. It just felt like they had wanted to say something else. I decided if they didn't want to, I wasn't going to push it.

I stood up and started pacing. Maybe I can ask Carter for advice, he probably knows way more about dating than I do- Wait? Dating? Why had my mind suddenly gone there? 

I let out a quiet, defeated, sigh of a laugh. Why else would I have cared so much what they thought of me? Why else would my heart do summersaults when I thought of them? I put my face in my hands, realizing how oblivious I was to my own feelings.

I don't know if I was just tired, if it was more of the realization of my feelings, or the fact that my hands had just crunched Cheez dust onto my face, but I sat down, leaned against my bed and laughed silently until I could barely breathe.

I rolled my eyes at myself and stood up, taking the bowl off my bed, and eating the last few Cheez Puffs. I looked down at my hands in the dark, covered in orange, and thought of my face, where I could still feel the cheese. I took at deep breath, and opened my door, trying not to giggle as I tiptoed to the bathroom. I closed the door quietly and flicked on the light. 

I took a look at myself in the mirror; my tired eyes and my forehead covered in unnatural orange cheese dust. I scratched as much of the orange mess off my face as I could with my fingers, and then leaned down to wash myself off in the sink. The hysteric smile slipped off my face. There was a drop of something in the sink.

Blood.