limerence | COMPLETED

19

THE SECOND THE FILM IS OVER, SAVANNAH IMMEDIATELY FORCES FINN TO SWITCH ON ALL THE LIGHTS ON THE BOTTOM FLOOR. Everyone looks incredibly relieved to see the film finished and Kyle just looks traumatised, especially going by how pale he is.

"I am never watching anything with you ever again!" James exclaims hysterically, ignoring the sound of the doorbell ringing as their pizza arrives and twisting his arm to try and see the red marks that Mercy's nails have left indented in his skin.

Finn brings in the pizza in the meantime and the guys predictably barrel straight over to the blue cardboard boxes.

"I told you I can't watch horror films!" Mercy argues, whacking Callum's arm when he reaches for two slices at once.

"Jesus Christ! I didn't know you would act like a fucking baby!"

"I didn't mind it," Finn says, smiling down affectionately at Savannah, who is too busy distractedly glancing around the room in fear.

Like Savannah, Layla is still trying to recover from it all. Her hands are still shaky by her sides and her heart is still not quite beating right in her chest, although she's pretty sure that's not just because of the film.

"I'm getting no sleep tonight," she mutters to herself.

"It looked like you were okay from where I was sitting," Callum says, pointedly looking between her and Kai, who is in the middle of responding to a text message.

"Says the one who was clinging onto Kyle the entire time," Kai counters easily, not even glancing up from his phone.

"Hey! I was not clinging!"

While the boys fall into another argument about masculinity and their so-called reputations again, the girls sit down together on the couch. There's not much longer until they have to say goodbye to each other for the next two weeks and Layla is already dreading it.

"We'll make sure to facetime you as much as we can," Mercy assures her while they eat the few slices of pizza that they managed to wrestle from the guys' grasps. "I'm sure you'll find some way to entertain yourself doing DIY or something."

"Do you guys have to go?" Layla asks pleadingly, giving them her best puppy eyes. "I'm going to be so bored."

Savannah lightly grasps her hand. "I'll share my black book with you."

Layla covers her mouth dramatically as Savannah presses the small notebook into her palm. At the mention of a black book, the guys whip their heads around to gape at the three of them, their conversation suddenly halting.

"It's all up to date and I made sure to add my top favourites first," Savannah says seriously, although her eyes glint with mischief.

"Black book?" Finn demands, eyes widening. "As in that kind of black book?"

"What if my parents catch us?" Layla pulls a sly face. "I would hate for them to find Leo and I together like that."

"Leo?" James echoes, catching onto the girls' running joke after seeing Mercy hide her suppressed laughter behind a pillow. He fakes a shocked face. "Kai. Man. That means you're outta luck."

Kai ignores James' remark and looks between them all in confusion. "What's a black book?"

"Dude, how do you not know what a black book is?" Finn hisses, still glaring daggers at Savannah. "It's a book filled with people to call that you can have...fun with. Savannah, don't ignore me!"

As soon as he explains it, Kai glances at the girls with a raised brow but when he notices both James and Mercy desperately trying to hide their laughter, understanding immediately crosses his expression. He shoots Layla a humoured look.