𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐫. 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺

𝑰 𝑷𝑼𝑻 𝑨 𝑺𝑷𝑬𝑳𝑳 𝑶𝑵 𝒀𝑶𝑼

"𝑰 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒂 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖,

𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆."

(flashback... 16 years old)

Lori Pov

It's 3 AM on a Wednesday night during summer. I am currently sleeping, the light buzz of the ceiling fan calming my slumber.

As I lay unconscious, enjoying my sleep, I am awoken by knocking at my window.

I turn over towards my window to see, the one, the only, Paige Bueckers. Great.

She smiles at me and waves excitedly, as if she didn't just wake me up. I was sleeping really hard.

I cant help but smile at her sweet gesture. Before I swing my legs over my tall bed, I turn my lamp on, a soft yellow glow shines through my room.

I hop off my bed and wobble over to the window, rubbing my eye, checking my alarm clock. Oh my God, it's 3:15.

I'm wearing a hand-cropped, grey t-shirt with a sports bra under it, and a pair of my brother's blue boxers. My feet shuffle across the floorboards, finally reaching the window, unlatching it.

I look at her face, searching for a reason to why she is at my house this late. All she does is smile at me. After what feels like hours of staring, she speaks up.

"Hi" Is all she says and leans her arms on my window sill. I look at her, slightly aggravated, but not really. I could never be mad at her.

"Hi Paige," I say smiling at her, "It's 3 in the morning." I look towards my clock.

"I know, but I needed to tell you something." She looks at me, worried.

I suddenly stop caring about her waking me up so early because she looks really anxious. What could've happened?

"Okay, come in" I say softly, reaching my hands out for her. She smiles up at me.

Paige Pov

"Okay, come in" Lori tells me reaching her hands out for me. I take her hands, even though I don't need them. She's so cute.

Once I make it successfully into her room, I take in my surroundings even though I've been in her room since I was 6. Her walls riddled with posters of Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin, and other soul musicians. Along with some other underground artists I've never heard of. Across from her bed, 3 guitars are placed in a row with her saxophone right next to them.

Her record player is spinning a Nina Simone record that she probably fell asleep to. I've listened to the album 100 times with her.

She closes her window, and stands across from me.

After I take in her room, I look down towards her. She's already looking at me. I feel my cheeks become hotter.

"Are you okay?" She asks me, staring at me directly in the eyes. If there's one thing I've learned from being friends with Lori, it's that she's really good at keeping eye contact.

I nod, too flustered to speak. I take her hands in mine and guide her towards her full-sized bed.

I sit down first, then she does, closer than expected. Even though I told her I was fine, she is still looking at me bothered.