STARRY EYES | mileven

four

swimming in the early morning while watching the sunrise is endlessly liberating.

the frigid water sent goosebumps all over her skin as soon as she made contact with it, her teeth clattered together out of her control — but once she got used to it, it turned into the most peaceful experience she had in a long time.

the chilliness was suddenly oddly comforting while watching various colors paint the morning sky in bright hues.

the distant sound of birds chirping, their wings fluttering while flying somewhere away and nestle from one tree branch to the other added to her found moment of serenity.

she swam to the end of the pool, pushing herself up to sit on the edge and continued watching the wonder's of the nature.

her attention was stolen away from it as soon as she felt a towel around her shoulders though.

in utter shock, she tilted her head to find mike wrapping it around her shoulders. she wasn't sure what surprised her more — seeing him standing there in some swimming trunks and t-shirt, having him wrap a towel around her or him being awake at this ungodly hour.

he slightly grinned, the colorful rays of the sunrise hitting him. "good morning, sunshine."

entirely taken aback, she stared at him in silence for several more seconds.

don't blame her, the least she was expecting to see this early in the morning was him.

"good morning." she mustered up to say after overcoming her initial shock. "what are you doing up so early in the morning?"

he chuckled, settling himself beside her as he dipped his legs into the water. she expected a flinch, a wince — any type of discomfort on his face because honestly, it's cold as fuck, and it took her too long to get used to it.

but there was nothing, not a wince, neither a flinch.

"i could ask you the same thing, what are you doing up so early in the morning?"

she nearly snickered at the sound of the question — if only there was a "cool girl" answer for it; something like "because i want to make the best of life and thrive off of its energy everyday."

but she knows that's not the truth, even though it probably would've been a better answer to give.

"don't let it fool you." she let a small laugh out, "you usually wouldn't catch me awake at this hour if the end of the world was happening but for some reason i woke up and couldn't fall back asleep — now seriously why are you awake?"

one of his eyebrows raised. "you couldn't fall back asleep and decided to go swimming at the ass crack of dawn?"

she shrugged with a little curve on her lips. "precisely, what's wrong about that?"

"most people would consider that insane." a breathy laugh escaped him, "also to answer your question, i usually always get up around this time."

her jaw dropped, she couldn't stop the way her eyes widened if she tried. "at five-thirty am?! be honest with me, mike, do you even enjoy life?"

the teasing tone in her question made him chuckle once again, by the way his shoulders dropped, she noticed how he started sitting slightly more relaxed. "what's a better way of enjoying life than this?"

a genuine smile tugged up at her lips, ever since they started asking each other ridiculous questions to get to know each other better, she was feeling more comfortable in his presence.

with everything they asked, no matter how stupid or irrelevant it seemed, they gave thorough and honest answers.

but, again, those were mostly stupid, ridiculous or irrelevant questions.