Midnight

13

Something was touching my hair.

Something was touching my hair!

I jolted awake, flinging upwards. What was touching my hair?! A bug?!

I thought I might've died as I peered down at Everett.

His beautiful hair was disheveled, curly and dark. He was staring at me with his enchanting gaze out of the corner of his hardly opened eye. My face heated up as I looked over his pink, slightly swollen lips.

My jaw dropped slightly when he held his hand out.

I just stared, taking in Everett's morning beauty.

He scoffed, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me back down to him with a groan. I couldn't resist, couldn't speak, I could only watch him, bewildered.

So many questions raced through my head, flooded to my mouth and fought to be spoken.

His eyes were closed now, his lips slightly parted as if he immediately fell asleep, but his hand was back to playing with my hair.

I craved so deeply to touch his face, to trace the edge of his healing cut. I wanted to brush the ink black waves away from his forehead. To follow the slope of his nose, and perhaps what lay below.

But we were just friends. I couldn't do that.

Very slowly, I turned my head to my alarm clock.

"Everett!" I sat up in a rush once more, immediately regretting waking the peaceful boy. "Oh my gosh, we're late!"

He groaned again, rubbing his eyes.

I jumped out of bed, ripping clothes from hangers, finding a pair of socks and running to the bathroom.

I didn't bother checking if my mom was working in the morning last night, but thank god she was. Not that it mattered too much, she'd see I missed nearly four periods anyway. But at least she didn't find Everett in my bed.

I stared at myself, off put by my reflection. I had chosen a weird combination of clothes.

I shook my head, it didn't matter, I was late!

I aggressively tugged my hair brush through my locks only a few times, I assumed Everett had been de-tangling my hair all night because I wasn't brushing for long.

I ran back to my room, digging in my shoe basket until I found my converse. I plopped down next to Everett, who was pretending not to notice the time. I tried to tie the laces with shaky hands.

He sighed, finally waking up. He sat next to me on the edge of the bed.

"How did you get here last night?" I was suddenly occupied by our ride to school. "Because I can drive us—oh, shoot! I left my dance bag in your car! I have ballet again tonight... Did you walk here last night? Because if you did—"

I shut up immediately when Everett grabbed the side of my knees, pulling my feet onto his lap with ease. He tied them quickly with stable hands. He had a habit of doing that it seemed.

"Are you feeling better?" He asked as he tied the other shoe. His voice was brittle and deeper than usual.

"Oh, um, yes," My face went red as I remembered crying into his hoodie last night. "I'm...sorry you saw that. And I'm sorry I didn't respond to your text, I promise I wasn't trying to change the subject, I was just so overwhelmed in the moment and—"

"I'm sorry I yelled at you," He placed his hands on my knees, leaning towards me. His eyes were so incredibly sincere.

"Oh, that's fine," I felt dizzy. Dizzy because Everett's hands were on me, his morning voice was enthralling, his eyes were the most bewitching blue, and he just apologized to me.