surprises

➢ chapter thirty-four

authors note: i planned to update this sooner oops. enjoy! x

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     I stared at Mason for a few moments before speaking again, watching as his face turned into one of concern. "Mason, I think you're amazing. Really." I trail off, wondering where I was exactly going with this. "And um, I hope you know that. I mean, you're totally annoying and stubborn, but that's you and I guess I wouldn't change anything ab–"

     "Is there a point to this?" He asked with an amused expression, his hand now clamped over my mouth.

     I forgot to add impatient.

     I nodded from behind his hand and he slowly removed it, moving from his now standing position to lean on the desk next to me.

     "Right," I muttered, mostly to myself. "Right. I'm just gonna get to it then. I'm lucky to have you in my life, as twisted as it may be that you got there, and I just wanted to say that I care about you a lot...as uh, as a friend." I breathed out, squeezing my eyes shut as soon as the last word left my lips.

     I was partly afraid of what he'd reply, or whether he'd simply kick me out of his room. At the same time, I felt a massive weight lifted off my back, knowing I had done the right thing, and not dragged it on any longer.

     When I finally opened my eyes and turned to look at him, his jaw was clenched and he was looking at the ground, strands of brown hair falling over his forehead. The air felt heavy as I waited for him to do something. Anything.

     His voice was so quiet that I barely even heard it. "I knew," he whispered, lifting his head to look at me again. "I knew, but I just thought maybe things might change, you know?"

     "Yeah," I hummed, not sure what else to say. I had a feeling he was talking about Lachie as well.

     His eyes scanned my face, and I saw a thousand emotions flicker through his brown orbs.

     "I'm sorry," I whispered, although I'm sure he already knew that.

     "Me too."

     Unexpectedly, and uncharacteristically, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me into him, wrapping his arms around my small frame and engulfing me in a hug. I rested my head on his shoulder, letting out the breath I didn't know I had been holding and returning the hug, holding onto him just as tight.

     "Friends, then." He murmured into my hair. Never have I been happier to hear two words leave someone's mouth.

     "Friends," I smiled crookedly, even though he couldn't see it.

     "Just give it time though, yeah?" He asked pulling back a little, slowly letting me go. I nodded, understanding. I pretty much just friend zoned him so I couldn't expect him to pretend to be okay with everything.

     I let myself out of his room after saying smiling softly and saying goodnight, returning to my own room and letting myself slip under the covers, sending a quick message to Ally before turning off my light and letting my covers take me away from the world for a few hours.

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     Everybody seemed to be at breakfast the next morning, Liz and Mike taking a break from their usual working to make pancakes – enough to feed a small army of men, I'd say.

     Since my brain didn't work properly at eight thirty in the morning – only functioning decently after ten, Rider should have known better than to try stat a conversation with me, only receiving half-assed mumbles in reply which I don't even think constituted as English. After that, I was left for good twenty minutes to shove some pancakes in my mouth, enjoying the silence as everyone else did the same.