STARRY EYES | mileven

twenty two

she felt stars dancing across the room when she woke up — glittering among the comforting rays of daylight seeping in, a constant humming vibration mimicking the sound of twinkling stars in the sky.

wait, no. that didn't sound right.

those weren't twinkling stars. they were—

"sunshine," mike's voice reached her through the haze, a chuckle escaping him. "your phone."

her eyes slowly fluttered open, confusion etched across her sleepy features. she rubbed at one sleep-heavy eye before forcing the other open. "hm?"

he chuckled. "someone's calling you."

"who?" she asked, shifting on the bed. she barely registered that she was half draped over him until she moved. the movement made the blanket slide lower, cool morning air brushing over her bare shoulder. one of mike's hands drew comforting circles on her back while he leaned across her to grab the phone vibrating insistently on the nightstand.

his brows twisted together as he squinted at the screen. "robin, parenthesis best manager ever parenthesis."

she immediately sat up straight, whatever sleepiness she'd felt just moments ago evaporating. the call, unfortunately, awakened an anxiety that shouldn't have been there. a call from robin should've been sweet, it should've made her happy, but after the last phone call she'd received from her, it was hard not to connect it with more bad news.

she reached for the phone in mike's hands, accepting the call with a pit in her stomach.

"hello?" she asked, her voice careful.

"well, thank fuck, you're finally awake! good morning, princess aurora. did you have a nice, long beauty sleep? can you let me in now?" robin's voice came out fast, "i've been banging on your damn door like an idiot."

her words didn't make any sense in el's mind. her door?  but robin knew that she wasn't in atlanta. "on my... door?"

"yes, your door, el. i'm right outside you hotel room." she heard some shuffling on the other end of the line, "did you smoke weed before going to sleep?"

listen — she smoked weed once before going to sleep some while ago because there was a stretch of time when her anxiety was so high, she couldn't sleep at night. robin suggested that it would help her relax and make her fall asleep faster.

spoiler: it didn't help her relax (it made her more anxious, way more paranoid), but it did help her fall asleep faster (though somehow she was more tired and disoriented after waking up than usual). she swore to never do it again.

but all of that was beside the point. the point was that robin was saying things and those things all of a sudden clicked in her head.

she was here.

"oh," was all that el said as she immediately stood up, gathering her discarded shorts and hoodie to put them on. "give me a minute."

she mouthed an i've got to go to mike, who watched her with hilarity in his gaze, fully leaned against the headboard of the bed. the blanket lay lazily over his hips, revealing his naked torso.

i'll see you later, he mouthed back, watching her as she carefully slid the patio door open, ended the call, and tiptoed back into her room.

lu meowed as el entered. she gave her cat a tiny scratch behind the ears before giving herself a second to breathe, then walked over to open the door.

robin immediately invited herself in. "finally," she murmured as she crossed the threshold.

"what are you doing here?" el asked, unable to hold the question back.