Exposed (#wattys2016)

chapter sixteen

Sunlight poured into my bedroom, half past eight. Something was poking my side, something that felt like the end of a stick you'd find outside in your backyard.

I rolled around in bed, rubbing my groggy eyes. I shielded myself from the bright sun beams pouring through my blinds, focusing on the blackish blurb sitting on the edge of my bed below me.

"Wake up, loser. We're doing something tonight and I don't care if you got other-"

I cut him off, my vision still jaded and blurry from just waking up. I sat up on my elbows and my eyes soon adjusted to the light in my room.

"Start over, I'm awake now," I said with a sleepy tone.

"We're doing something tonight, and I don't care if you got other plans because you're coming with me, alright?"

Caspian poked me with his cigarette lighter one more time before flipping it around in his hand, lighting the cigarette that was hanging in his mouth. He glanced at me, his face and eyebrows narrowed and somewhat glaring.

"Okay, I didn't have any plans to begin with. Where are you taking me? The Hawaiian islands?"

I smiled playfully and sat up some more, criss crossing my legs under the covers. I looked at him with such admiration, I was hoping it didn't show in my eyes. I admired the way he did everything.

"No, retard. I'd have to have money to do that." He took a long draw of his cigarette, exhaling the smoke into my bedroom. I didn't yell at him this time, a little smoke wouldn't kill us.

"Then where are we going?" I reached out and grabbed his arm, hugging it close to my chest as I watched him smoke his cigarette, my room beginning to smell of the smoke. He didn't try to tug his arm away, but instead gave me a smirk.

While he sat on my bed, I looked at his features some more from the side. I never noticed how long his eyelashes were.

"It's none of your business, okay? You'll find out when we get there."

Casp tugged his arm away, bending down in front of my bed while he reached for something beneath the mattress.

I peeked over the side of my bed, watching him pull out an ash tray from underneath.

"Bet you didn't know this was under here," he smiled up at me, putting his cigarette out, smashing it down into almost nothing.

He was right, I had no idea why that was sitting under my bed but the fact he found it was cute.

After I rolled out of bed, I didn't bother getting dressed, since I knew I'd be just getting ready to go with Caspian in a few short hours anyway. It may have only been 9:00 am, but knowing Caspian, you hit the bars six hours earlier than normal people do.

Downstairs, Levi already had breakfast out for everyone. Gina was sitting on the counter in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal, and everyone else was around the table, quickly scarfing down scrambled eggs and toaster waffles.

"Why aren't you guys at school today?"

I got blank stares in return. Caspian was sitting at the table with the rest of my cousins and he was the first to start laughing.

"It's Sunday," He exclaimed through his laughter, obviously getting a kick out of my confusion.

"Get your bitch in line," Gina directed her eye contact towards Caspian, a glare present in her stare as he laughed.

Levi quickly rushed over to Gina, whispering something about keeping her mouth quiet around him.

I shook my head, grabbing a plate of scrambled eggs before taking a seat beside Caspian at the table. I was stunned he didn't catch Gina's comment, because he never misses a beat. Maybe he just chose to ignore it and I was changing him for the better.