The Peacock

Chapter 6

A loud slam came from the kitchen outside my room which had made my body summersault off the bed and awoke me from my sleep. Fuck! What time was it? I assumed it was Jay's friends outside and instantly I looked towards the lock on my door and relief flooded me knowing it was closed. I rolled back on the bed laying head flat on the pillow, one knee arched up as I looked over my phone for the current time. To my surprise and curiosity, I had received a message – it was from her.

I unlocked my phone with the quick finger print scan and clicked on the message.

"Hey, would you like to meet tomorrow around 2ish?"

My eyebrows rose firmly and my fingers began typing before thinking

"Yes yes yes yes"

No. delete delete delete.

I sat up on my bed. This required thought. Of course I wanted to say yes but as I re-evaluated my daily schedule for tomorrow, I realised I had Literature at 1:30pm. Should I reschedule with her? What if she's busy after that and I won't be able to see her for another week? What if she takes it as if I'm not interested? Also thinking back, did she not acknowledge my previous messages? Did she even receive them? Yeah she definitely received them, she must have. My body leaned back on the bed again with the phone held up towards the ceiling but the screen facing over my stern contemplating face. Her message was sent at 8:27pm. It was now 11:17pm.

"I would love to but I have a class around that time"

No no no, delete again.

"Shall we meet at 4 instead?" What if she's not available at that time? Delete again. Why is writing a message so hard! This could be another chance at seeing her and I'm making excuses not to.

"Cool, I will see you then." Sent

The uninviting laughter from outside my bedroom door grew louder but the immediate response back from Isla kept me distracted.

"That's great, I'll pick you up. I look forward to seeing you"

I quirked a brow and a faint but intrigued smile washed over me. Am I imagining this but could this be ... a date?

"Me too." I replied, honestly.

I slid the phone under the pillow as I attempted to go back to sleep again. I was looking forward to tomorrow too much now and I want it to come quick and I wanted these girls to hurry and get out quicker. Unfortunately, my walls were thin and I could hear the muffled talk of the girls and I rolled my eyes before closing them. It sounded like boy talk, nonsense irrelevant boy talk and giggles, yet Jay's usual loud voice was nowhere to be heard. Guess when the talk isn't about him then he has no reason to partake. I scoffed to myself as the sleep lingered in.

The cold had woken me up the next morning and my god I truly felt the definition of it. My breath could be seen through it, my feet whitened from it and my nose released the white liquid demon through it. Can't believe I fell asleep without getting into the blanket last night. I jumped off the bed, scanning for my inner linen suede slippers. As soon as my feet had immersed themselves into them I unlocked my door, dreading to see the outside of my room, dreading the mess that awaits me or the fear of walking into naked girls in my lounge. I peered out, thankful it was empty. I walked towards the open lounge and kitchen and I was thankful it was clean, so clean it didn't even seem like anyone lived here - Silent too. However, a quick glance at the temperature on the thermostat, which was stuck on the wall near the light switch, read -2 Celsius and immediately I could feel the heat from the rage that was stirring within me. I marched to Jay's room, banged at the door twice before entering, too mad to wait for him to open it.