The silence

May 5th 2020

My eyes slowly flickered open, adjusting to my surroundings and I yawned, attempting to stretch my arms out, but instead hitting something hard to my left, earning a groan from them. I sat up quickly and turned my head to my left, confused as to who on earth the stranger in my bed was, but then the memories from last night came flooding back, and I remembered everything. The kiss, going back to Dan's, falling asleep in his bed.

Let me explain.

(Previous day)

We were running back through the woods, trying not to slip on the wet leaves, when he offered me a piggy back for the rest of the walk. Obviously I accepted the offer and he knelt down, allowing me to jump on his back. He was warm, probably due to the 3 layers he was adorning. I hugged him closer, trying to warm my own cold body up. However, it wasn't long before we'd got back to the opening of the woods again, Dan claiming to know a short cut through them which I didn't bother to ask about. When we got to the road, I jumped down from his back and crossed over back to our houses, but from the looks of it my mum and siblings weren't home, as per usual.

"Oh shit, do you um, mind if I come in for a bit? It's just no one's home and, I don't particularly feel like being alone in a big house, with this weather just getting worse" I asked, praying he wouldn't mind.

"Do you really have to ask?" He replied, grinning wide at me. I smiled back at him, and I walked with him up the porch outside his house and waited while he unlocked the door, stepping inside. From first glance, the place looked similar to my aunt's, in terms of layout, but the decoration was far from the same. The walls were covered with framed posters, singers and bands, films. There was also a cabinet in the living room that held an impressive amount of CD's and DVD's which I wouldn't mind going through.

"So, you like it? He asked, shrugging of his jacket and hanging it by the door. "Yeah, it's cool. Nicer than mine that's for sure" I replied, causing him to laugh, and I chucked my shoes next to Dan's at the door. I walked over to the sofa, seeing as Dan had gone through to another room, probably to change.

"Do you want some dry clothes?" He shouted, popping his head round the door frame, noticing his bare upper body.

"If you don't mind" I called. I didn't want to cause a fuss, considering this was his house after all. He disappeared again into another room, so I took the time to walk over to the DVD cabinet and look through them. I brushed my hand over the spines of the DVD covers, briefly searching for something I knew. That's when I saw the first season of Twin Peaks wedged between two other films I couldn't for the life of me name. I smiled to myself; this was probably my favourite series ever. But I was then interrupted by Dan coming back out with a pile of clothes.

"There you go, it probably won't fit but, it's something dry so" he mumbled, scratching the back of his neck.

"Its fine, thanks" I chuckled.

"You can get changed in my room if you want. Second door on the right" He shouted as I made my way up the stairs, so I stuck my thumb up so he knew I'd acknowledged him. Once I got upstairs, I pulled the handle down to what I assumed was Dan's room, walking through I was met with the same decor as down stairs. Posters and albums and lots of pictures. I quickly changed into the borrowed clothes, heading for the door, but instead stopping when I spotted a picture on the wall to the left of the door.

'Dan and Ralph - 2006'

They were dressed in graduation caps and the robes. So, he'd been to Uni then. I knew I needed to ask him about some stuff and figured now was better than ever. I switched of the lights in the room and carried on down stairs to rejoin him.

I dumped my pile of clothes onto the table downstairs, making my way over to the sofa where Dan was sat on his phone.

"Hey, you okay, aw you look so cute in my clothes" he awed, turning to look at me. I couldn't contain the blush that then coated my cheeks. I smiled back at him, whilst he continued typing away on his phone.