I am Veronica (bwwm)

The minuscule monster (23)

Chapter twenty three: The minuscule monster:

~Song: Bubbly~

"Veronica...wake up.." I ignored the voice and buried myself deeper under the blanket. "Veronica..."  A hand nudged at my face. I slapped at it, but it kept poking.

"If you keep poking me it's not going to be pretty." I threatened. His chest rumbled. He was chuckling.

"It's like seven o'clock. I need to go."

"No," I muttered, gripping the fabric of his shirt tighter. "You're warm." He snorted above me.

"Is that all I'm here for?" He joked. "To warm you?"

"Pretty much." I finally opened an eye and looked up at him. I was tucked in the crook of his arm so I had to crane my neck a little. Totally worth it though. "You have after-sex hair." He peered down at me through golden lashes, giving me a sly smile.

"And you have black-girl-after-sleep hair."

"You're really lucky I'm not awake enough to smack you."

He snickered, then stretched. "I have to leave now, I don't want to get you in trouble."

"You can stay for a little longer can't you?" I was not ready for him to leave, I didn't even know why, I just wanted him to stay. He sighed. "I guess," He muttered, settling back into the pillows.

"So." He prompted.

"My birthday's coming up soon," I said.

"Really, when? Do you have some kind of birthday wishlist that stretchs to the floor?"

I snorted. "No, you don't have to get me anything. Just show up, I'm going to try to throw a cliché high school party." He laughed.

"Are you sure you don't want anything?"

"Yup." I said popping the P. I really didn't want this anything except some food, friends, and my boyfriend. God, I loved him.

Waaaaait what?

Did I just. . .? Think the L-word? No, not lesbian. I mean love. You know, that corny stuff that people in movies exaggerate, or that thing that underpaid writter's drag on about to increase their royalties. . . What I was apparently in right now. Was I really in love? I sure felt like one of those sappy, love-struck teenagers. But maybe that's what it was. I was a teenager, a stupid, idiotic teenager who thought she was in love. 

I'd already fallen in that trap once, did I really want to it again? Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

I couldn't let my emotions get the better of me. So many high school relationships didn't last out in the real world.

"Veronica?" Chris said, pulling me out of my troubled thoughts. I looked up at him, he was unbeknownst to the storm that was flying around my head right now. And I wanted to keep it that way, keep that smile on his face, keep him happy. I didn't want to freak him out with these thoughts.

"Yes?" I said, plastering a smile across my lips. "Sorry, I zoned out for a second." Never mind the fact that what I was feeling was probably hormones and fluff, even if I did tell him, would he even feel the same? I didn't think I could handle the sting of rejection.

We got back into talking, but those thoughts still lingered at the edge of my mind. I needed to get a grip. We seemed to have lost track of time because shafts of morning light slipped through the blinds, lighting up his face. The light was illumintating his hair, giving him a halo effect. "Chris?" I said softly. "Where do you think we'll be in a year." His expression shifted into something I couldn't decipher.