The Dark Side of the Moon

Chapter 35: Florence

-Florence’s P.O.V-

As I awoke and my brain hazily began to start up again, I noticed two things almost straight away. The first: that I was not in my own room. My vision was slightly blurred from sleep, but I did manage to get a good look at the room. It was small in size, and a lone window stood opposite to the bed that I was sleeping in. The whole room was coated in a thin layer of dust, and the wallpaper was a terrible choice of a pale sea green. It peeled in places where the wallpaper met the ceiling, and changed completely into a dull yellow when met with the kitchen boundaries. The kitchen itself was small and understocked, the first thing that you would notice when entering the room. In fact, you could barely classify it as a kitchen, considering that all it was made up of was a kettle, microwave and bench top.

In the corner stood an outdated TV which looked ancient and untouched, and a floor plan of the motel including fire exits was pasted on the back of the door. It looked to be the cheapest motel that one could find, but it served the purpose of scraping by in life. Looking around, I felt the tension and soreness in my back from the hard mattress, and the lone blanket was barely covering me anymore.

The second thing that I noticed was that I was not alone. A snoring body lay entangled in sheets to my left, limbs splayed out in all directions. His shoulder was pressed into my back and I felt uncomfortable at the extra warmth. I recognized the figure as Kyle Donnovan, his hair messed up in an amusing hair-do and his peacefully asleep face pointed in my direction. He wore a pair of jeans and a tee that I vaguely remember picking out for him from his bag and chucking out the window for him to change into. The night’s events steadily flowed in after that thought, and I remembered almost everything save for a few confusing patches of thought.

I propped myself on my elbows and swung off the mattress, careful not to wake Kyle in the ‘dead zombie’ look that he had going on in his sleep. I shuffled to the kitchen and peered at the microwave, which had a reflective surface. Looking back at me was a half awake girl, hair mussed in a terrible version of a bed head and eyes half lidded. I gulped when I noticed what I was wearing.

I didn’t remember changing into these clothes last night, but I was definitely wearing one of Kyle’s cotton t-shirts. On it was printed the name of an ice hockey team that he probably favoured, and to my chagrin, smelled amazing. But on my lower torso was what confused me most. I was wearing a pair of old red boxers and my first thought was that I hoped they were washed and clean before I put them on. Thankfully they covered everything up, but it was still a little unnerving to wake up in boy’s clothing.

I turned on the noisy kettle and boiled some coffee, deciding that Kyle should wake up around now anyway. He groaned at first, but then turned onto his back and blinked open his eyes. He stared at me for a moment, and I was glad that most of my body was concealed behind the shabby bench top. Wouldn’t he love to see me in boxer shorts...

“It is a little disturbing waking up to a full on glare,” Kyle mumbled, but I still heard him. This whole ‘enhanced senses’ thing was still confusing to me, and I was barely catching on even now. When I listened to his words, I found that I had unconsciously been staring at him, so I pulled my gaze away.

“Did you dress me?”

“Excuse me?” Kyle ran a hand through his hair and stood up, wandering over to me. He nabbed the mug of coffee that I was drinking out of and took a sip.  I watched as his face scrunched up as if he had eaten a sour grape. “Do you even know how to make proper coffee?”

I ignored his question. “Did you dress me last night?” What if he had seen me naked? I shivered, this was not good.

“No I came in after you gave me clothes and you had put that on,” he waved a hand at my borrowed clothing “and you had fallen asleep on the bed.”