the propinquity effect

05

+ 05 +

It was a fairly hot Saturday morning. As usual, I had no plan for the day. I would probably end up being in my room the whole day or go to Michael's house.

Michael and I grew closer since the night I slept in his room. We didn't think it was awkward since we both didn't have quite an attraction towards each other. It was just a friend thing. A hundred thousands opposite gender friends would do that. Michael was extremely nice to me and it was queer because I never had any friends in the neighborhood. But he swore he'd fight for me so he was worth it.

No, I wouldn't even try to think as him for more than friends. Our family knew each other and it would be pretty awkward if we had something going on. Nevertheless, Mom said that Michael's Mom, Karen, was going to hold a dinner on Christmas. I was supposed to join even though I didn't want to.

Ever since Dad was gone, we never celebrated Christmas anymore. Maybe just swapping presents and then eating a fancy dinner but nothing more. Our big family just thought we were dead. We weren't sad since they liked to judge.

I brushed my hair out of my face and stood up. Rubbing my eyes as I was still sleepy. I walked over to my bathroom to take a bath and then I would try to be productive for the day. Maybe I should buy Michael a gift since I liked the fact I could swap gift with him.

I turned on the shower and tested the temperature with the tip of my fingers and then jumped in when it was warm enough. I took a shower for five minutes before climbing out and wrapped the towel around me. I had forgotten to pick my clothes so I walked over to the closet and picked out. But what I didn't realize was I forgot to close my curtains so anyone who was on the other side of the window could see me naked. And of course that someone had got to be Michael.

The sound of something hitting my window made me look at it. Michael was on the other side and dying on the floor. He was quite enjoying the view. For a few seconds I didn't realize it and just stood there, flabbergasted. Michael then stood up and motioned at my curtains.

I cursed to myself before running over to my curtains and closed them as fast as I could. Breaking the awkward stare between Michael and I. Not even once in my life that a boy had seen me naked. I wasn't technically naked but I was under my thick and fluffy towel.

After I finished putting on my T-Shirt and shorts, along with an oversized Hello Kitty hoodie I walked over to my curtains. I only opened a little so I could take a peek. Michael was sitting by his window. He was leaning on the wall beside his window-seat and he looked like he was waiting for me.

I opened the curtains and climbed my window-seat, looking at Michael. The sunlight hit his eyes pretty well and it made them greener. His pale skin seemed really red under the sun and his hair was a mess on top of his head. He never seemed like he minded about his appearance. Michael was carefree and I liked his carefree attitude.

"Hey." I greeted him as I opened my window. He turned his body and hung his feet off the window. Michael's lips turned into a smile that I had gotten used to. He never smiled as wide as I thought boys could. The wide smile that would show his teeth would only appear whenever he won the game. I didn't bother to ask him why he never smile. It wasn't something that I could bring up all of a sudden. Maybe he just had a past, that was all.

"Hey," he said back. I looked at his eyes, examining his features again carefully. As usual, his posture was the worst from all boys. The hair color he had made him uncommon.

"You look pissed," I said. I wasn't used seeing him pissed, his eyebrows were furrowed. His bottom lip stuck out a bit and it looked like he was pouting. He looked cute when he was pouting.