"Make a wish, yeah?" The dark-eyed devil said with a smile I'm sure as the TV paused.
"What? Why?" I said, a slight whine in my voice, my eyes closed.
"It's eleven, eleven," He responded.
"Your point?"
"Wait, you've never done this before?"
"Done what?"
"Made a wish."
"Uh, no, I don't think so. I was never one for wishes. It was either I make it happen, someone else makes it happen, or it doesn't happen at all."
"Open your eyes, hurry."
"Why?"
"Please."
And maybe it was the exhaustion that had started to get to me or maybe it was the desperate tone in his voice but I slowly opened my eyes. We had been laying on the couch together but he had moved to the ground and knelt in front of me. My head rested against the arm of the couch as I looked at him and he smiled. He rested his arm on the couch and then his head upon his hand.
"Think of something, anything you want. Make it mean something though," He said softly.
My mind wandered for a moment before I settled on something and nodded to signal that I had thought of something.
"Now focus solely on that. Erase everything else from your mind."
I did so.
"Now close your eyes again and just wish."
I want to be happy.
And then just as I opened my eyes, the clock changed to eleven, twelve. Ares smiled at me, pride clear in his eyes. What he was so proud of, I had no idea. His face was dimly lit from the tv behind his head and he laughed when I squinted my eyes to look closer at him.
"What did you wish for?" He asked.
"I can't tell you, otherwise it won't come true," I said with a wink.
As soon as I realized what I had done, my cheeks flushed scarlet. He laughed and whether he could see the color of my cheeks I didn't know, but I'm sure either way he knew that I had blushed. We stayed in a comfortable silence for a few more seconds before he yawned and got up.
"Time for bed?" He said, suggestion clear in his tone.
"On this couch or a real bed?" I replied.
"Preferably a real bed."
I stood up with a sigh and he straightened himself out and stood up too. I didn't bother to check if he was following me as I turned towards the staircase and headed up the stairs. When I came to my bedroom door, I entered without hesitation and climbed into bed. Ares stood in the doorframe, his face alit from the moonlight that emitted from my window. He looked hesitate to overstay his welcome and so I sighed again and motioned him forward.
"Get over here, it's cold," I told him.
HIs lips curled up but nonetheless he followed my instructions and closed the door before he climbed into the bed. We laid a few inches from one another, his hand near my side.
"I got to warn ya," Ares started, "I'm a cuddler."
"Shut the fuck up and go to bed."
I heard him laugh, a low, deep, hearty laugh before I drifted away, while the blizzard continued around us.
