The New Boy- Completed

Ten

His stupid little snores woke me up for the second time. I turned over, flipping my pillow to the cold side in the hopes the new position would help. I opened my eyes, wanting to make sure he was still on his side of the little wall I'd built. He was. But the proximity of his face made me jump. 

Falling backwards out the bed and onto the floor. I just laid there. Putting my head back on the floor. I hit it backwards a few times, reassuring myself it was a stupid decision to let him stay here. 

"What are you doing?" He looked over the edge of the bed. His voice just above a whisper. "Did you fall out the bed?" 

"No I just thought it's be cool to lay down here." I rolled my eyes, climbing back into the bed. "You crossed the line." 

"Only to make sure you were okay." I faced him in the bed, both of us just looking at each other in the dim light. 

"You snore." 

"Do I? Sorry." He chuckled slightly. His blinks were so slow. Obviously exhausted but I just couldn't sleep. Not with him here. 

"It's fine. You can't help it." He smiled softly. I laid on my back, staring at the ceiling. 

"Why are you so closed off Fay?" I turned my head to see him. "Why can't anyone get to know you?" 

"I don't want people to know me." 

"But why not?" My eyes and head moved back to the ceiling. Finding shapes among the plaster lines. "Did someone hurt you?" 

"No." 

"So it's a preventative measure?" 

"I guess." I sighed. "There's a lot of things that make a person a person right?" 

"Mhm." 

"I let people see certain sides of me. Specifically chosen so I don't get bothered. I wasn't like this in high school. The kids I was around there were different. They were all my kind of social status. You have to be to get in. So it's not like I was held different to anyone. If I was like that here, I would be. All eyes would be on me. And most people would only want to be associated with me because of that." I turned to face him. "The friends I have now are ones I built through just being a genuine good person. I don't want fake friends who are only with me for one reason. And then I have the whole family name on the line if I mess up, it could put my life on the line as well, if people knew I was there. It's just easier to fade into the background." 

"I guess it makes sense." 

"Nobody is allowed to find out who I really am." I sighed and turned onto my side, facing him. "Not at school. If they do, I get pulled out and I'm stuck in the same 4 walls 7 days a week until I get married. I liked the freedom uni gives me. I won't have it for long so if me being like this means I get to hold onto that then that's what I have to do." He nodded. 

"I wouldn't tell anyone who you were if I did know." I pressed my lips together. "I promise." 

"I don't believe you." I raised my eyebrows, shaking my head slightly. 

"I wouldn't. Anything you say to me is safe with me. I told you I'm not like those douche bags who don't even care about the people they call friends. If you told me and asked me to not tell anyone, I wouldn't. It's your life to tell. Not mine. Plus I can't talk to you if you're pulled from school." I smiled at him gently. 

We laid there just watching each other for a short while. I don't know what time it is. I'm guessing like 2am. I was exhausted, yet I wanted to stay here, watching him, letting him speak his mind. Listening to the croak in his voice. 

"So Sterling is over here too at the moment?" 

"Yeah. About 4 hours away." 

"What's he doing over here?" 

"Working with his dad. He does a lot over here. I mean, he practically lives her most of the year." 

"What does he do?" 

"Um-" I snickered. "It's kind of a family business thing. Very niche and specific, same kind of thing my parents do and all my friends." 

"Ah. The um, high society kind of thing." 

"Yeah." 

"The balls make sense now. How comfortable you are dancing at them." 

"I mean, its what we were taught to do. That's one of the classes we had for years in school. Dance. We know all sorts of Ballroom dances. They're fun when  you know what you doing really easy. You can have full blown conversations. It's kind of intimate really. No one else is ever paying attention to you. Not that can hear you anyway. Everyone else is looking on from the side lines and wondering how you make it look so easy." He smiled moving a little closer to the edge of his pillow. "My ex was terrible at it. Hated dancing so much. I haven't danced with anyone but like my brothers and my dad and Steel." 

"Why do you call him Steel?" Evan chuckled. 

"Oh that's a funny story. So when we were first in high school, I introduced him to Kelsie and she was like 'your names Sterling like Sterling Silver? I'm sure I have some jewellery made of that.' So we laughed about being named after a metal and he was throwing a strop. So we just started calling him different metals. We went through platinum, silver, gold, brass, copper. He just hated Steel even more than any of them. So naturally that's been his nickname for 8 years." I laughed to myself. "Even now sometimes he strops about it." I watched him close his eyes softly. Turning onto my back again. You're not supposed to be talking to this guy and yet here you are telling him how your best friend got his nickname like he's not a total stranger. 

"Don't stop talking. I like how your voice sounds."

"It's just a voice." He shook his head. 

"It's beautiful."