The Hawthorne Effect (BoyXBoy)

Chapter 12: Thursday.

I sleep well.

Perhaps... too well.

Even in my unconscious mind, I know something's different. I stir myself out of my sleep and open my eyes to find that the room is full of light but I'm the only one in here. Somehow, Charlie must've managed to get me off of him without waking me. I roll over and reach out for my phone which I know is sitting on the table next me. I wrap my hands around it, press the home button and read what the time is.

"Shit." I jump, realising that everyone's down at breakfast right now.

I fling myself out of bed and run over to the draws. As I'm trying to find myself an acceptable outfit in the least amount of time, my mind starts to wonder why Charlie didn't bother waking me up. Did he not want to disturb me? Or are we living a repeat of yesterday?

I freeze as I'm half way through opening a draw.

Suddenly I'm put off from the idea of going down to breakfast. What if we actually are back to where we were yesterday? It would make sense, after all. He's gone down to breakfast and didn't bother to get me up... even though I was literally sleeping on top of him.

I can physically feel the paranoia screaming its way through me; I knew this boy could change his mind at the drop of a hat.

I stand by the draws trying to think of what to do. Do I go down there? Do I stay here and starve? Do I open the balcony doors, tie the duvets together and lower myself down? Do I h---

I'm interrupted by the door opening and closing softly and slowly. Still frozen to the spot, I wait for his arrival.

"Oh, you're up!" Charlie sings; an audible smile in his tone.

"Uh, yeah." My reply sounds more like a question than it does a statement. I turn round slowly to see him standing in the hallway wearing a puffy black jumper... and a pair of my sweatpants.

"Um," I point to them. "Aren't they mine?"

"Oh, yeah." He beams, peering down at them for a second. "You have, like, three pairs so I figured you wouldn't mind me nicking one."

"Uh... no it's cool." I say, knitting my brows together. So far so good – he doesn't seem to be too upset... at at all, even. 

"Plus," He walks over to the kitchen area. "They make your ass look exceptional so I hoped they'd do the same to mine."

The boy smirks when he sees my cheeks turning a deep red colour. He pulls out two glasses from the cupboard and places them on the counter.

"How come you didn't wake me this morning?" I ask, approaching both the subject and the kitchen carefully.

"Because you looked cute sleeping." He replies whilst filling one of the glasses with orange juice.

Oh.

Oh thank God.

"And," He continues as I stand in the same spot, a bit embarrassed about my over thinking. "Because of that."

He points towards the huge windows behind me. Confused at how anything outside could influence his interference with my slumber, I cautiously approach the windows. When I arrive, my breath is taken away. 

I place my hand against the window, fog up a small circle of it with my breathing, and take in the view. Every inch of the city is covered in the purest of whites. Buildings, landmarks, roads; everywhere is decorated with inches of snow. The window against my palm is freezing, so I can only imagine what the temperature is like outside. The snow lies under a bright blue sky which promises that it'll soon melt it away. But, fuck, the city does look magical.