𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 | 𝔪𝔦𝔩𝔢𝔰 𝔣𝔞𝔦𝔯𝔠𝔥𝔦𝔩𝔡

𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎 : 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞

—————

"So, Miles."

"Hm?"

We'd been laying on my bed, side by side on top of the covers in complete silence. The lighting in my room wasn't the brightest during the nighttime. Typically, all I would have turned on was the lamp on the side of my bed which emitted an amber lighting. It set the whole room aglow but it wasn't overly obnoxious, it wasn't bright enough to give you a headache. Shadows would still overpower somebody from the right angle. When he'd climbed through my window, half of his face was cast with shadow but once we'd gotten on the bed, his face came into better sight. I'd seen two bruises on his face, one by his eye, the other along his jaw.

"Did you have a good time?"

"Not really."

I turned on my side, to face him.
"Oh, that sucks."

"Yeah. I just wanted to leave the whole time."

"So, why didn't you?"

"I just couldn't. I didn't have much of a choice. Besides, I owe something to her."
I then sat up crosslegged, peering over him. He was looking directly at the ceiling when he spoke.
"Believe me, I came here as soon as I could've."

"Jayde?"

"That's not important. I don't wanna think about that right now."

"You've always been there for me when I needed someone to talk to. Let me be that someone for you, Miles. We're alone, so what's stopping you-"

"Margo, you just don't get it. I promise you, one day you'll know about all of it, but for now I don't want this to-"

"So, is that what happened to your face then?"
He touched his eye then sat up to meet me face to face. He grabbed one of my hands and held it between both of his, enclosing it. With my free hand I touched the same bruise gently, he'd began blinking rapidly to avoid giving away any verbal signs pain. I pecked the bruise on his jaw, then pressed my forehead to his.
"Miles, who did this to you?"

"Everything will be fine, Mar. Just let me handle it."

-

We'd spent the rest of the night talking to one another, I'd read him a few of my poems. We ended up sharing headphones and falling asleep listening to music. When I woke the next morning I'd expected him to have left and gone back home, but he was still there in the exact same place he'd fallen asleep, the earbud still in. I tried checking my phone for the time, but it was dead, along with my headphones from the music playing throughout the evening. I put my phone on the charger, then gently retrieved the headphone out from his right ear, placing both of them back in the case and putting them on their charger as well. I glanced at the digital clock on my nightstand, it read 9:02 AM. I walked over to the side of the bed he was on and whispered in his ear,
"Time to get up, loser."

He blinked a few times and stretched out his arms almost hitting me in the face.
"What time is it?"

His tired and morning voices had quickly become some of my new favorite sounds, but especially his tired voice. The night before had made everything seem so simple. It was pleasant, it was nice.