nearby || c.h.

4

You know that feeling you get when you jolt awake at 4am for no reason and the only thing your brain is telling you is 'W O T E R'? That was me right now.

In my sleepy haze, I rolled out of the bed and fumbled my hand around the nightstand until I found my phone to act as a flashlight. Once I clicked it on, the room was flooded with a layer of white light and I began to navigate out of the room to go downstairs to the kitchen.

I ran my hand along the wall as I descended the staircase to keep myself steady. Walking into the kitchen, I turned on the dimmer light over the sink before opening the cabinet to get a glass.

Retrieving it, I held it under the refrigerator water dispenser, watching the glass fill with the refreshing drink.

"What are you doing?"

I nearly jumped out of my skin and sloshed a little water over my hand as I quickly turned to see a shirtless and drowsy Calum wiping his eye, standing at the entrance to the kitchen.

My eyes were glued to his torso, gleaming in the moonlight through the window as it flexed with the movement of his arms. All of a sudden, I remembered he asked me a question and I mentally slapped myself, "Uh-I-um-water."

I backed into the kitchen as he walked in towards me, smiling drowsily, "Uh-you-um-water?" He mocked.

I laughed and sat up onto the counter, "You heard me. Did I stutter?"

He paused and cocked his head, a grin creeping onto his face as he chuckled a little, "Uh, yeah actually quite a bit."

I laughed and drank from the glass, my mouth instantly thanking me for hydration. Calum was in front of me, an arm placed on either side of my legs hanging off the counter, his hands resting on the cool granite.

"You just scared me that's all, didn't know who was in the kitchen," he explained. I furrowed my brows and smiled, "Well you scared the shit out of me! I didn't even hear you come out of your room!"

"I'm a ghost," he joked, licking his bottom lip slightly before pausing to think before finally speaking, "This has got to be a dream."

I shook my head slightly, "Huh?"

"It's late, I'm dreaming, I know I am, because here you...all...and....yeah yeah I'm dreaming," he incoherently muttered as he looked at me on the counter.

What did he mean, what was he going to say? He lifted a hand and hovered it in the air, like he was deciding what to do with it before he started to bring it to my cheek. I closed my eyes but no contact was made.

He chuckled softly and brought his hand back down, standing up from where he was leaning on the counter, "But just in case it's not...goodnight, Daisy."

I watched him as he went back to his room, his back on display and I took in the image, like a mental photograph. I captured enough photographs of people regularly to know when the time was right for a mental one. When the shot is perfect, but there's no camera.

I was a photographer, and going to college for it when the school year started up again. I liked to photograph people the most. That's why I knew to take the mental picture then, before I missed the candid.

Making my way upstairs in a confused haze, I wondered what all Calum meant about it being a dream, and the whole 'just in case it's not' thing. Weirdo.

I flopped back into the bed, burying myself in the covers like a little burrito, smelling the fabric softener on the blanket. That's what Calum's shirt smelled like.

I felt drunk on the scent, bathing in the comfort it gave me to know this was how I was going to sleep tonight. Wrapped in this scent. But I wish it were the real thing.

•••

The next morning, I awoke from Amanda barging into the room to whip the curtains open. I squinted at the sunlight and she smiled, "Wakey wakey eggs and bakey!"

She was always the morning person of the two of us. I rolled over, covering my head with a pillow, "I'm a vegetarian."

She huffed, "Well 'wakey wakey eggs and vegetables' doesn't really have the same ring to it, now does it?"

I laughed, sitting up and stretching, "I guess not, but I am starving."

We went downstairs and Calum was at the kitchen table, laptop open like before, this time with a cup of coffee and some toast with jelly on it.

I poured myself some coffee, black as per usual, and pulled an apple out of the fridge, washing it off in the sink before crunching into it.

Calum looked up from his laptop, "Good morning, how'd you sleep?"

We both answered positively and Amanda pulled bacon from the freezer as well as a pan from a cabinet, "How'd you sleep?"

He nodded, "Really well. Had a good dream, overall 10/10 sleep."

I halted in my tracks towards the table when he said a good dream before slowly continuing, pulling out a chair and plopping down.

I heard the sizzle of the bacon hit the pan and Amanda turned to look at us, "Calum, want any bacon?"

"Ooh yes please," he answered giddily, scrolling on his mousepad. "What are you looking at?" I asked, taking another bite from my apple.

He clicked on something, "I'm revising this report. Super exciting stuff, I know."

I laughed, and then paused to think before looking to him, "Is medical school hard?"

"Why, you want to do it?"

I shook my head quickly, "Oh god no, I'm just curious."

He shrugged slightly, "I mean, well yeah it's hard and it's a lot of work, but, and this is gonna sound really bleh and emo, but it would be a lot worse if it weren't something I love."

Well just go and melt my heart, why don't you? It took every ounce of my soul not to coo back with a series of 'awes' and 'how sweets'.

I nodded, "Yeah that makes sense. That's good."

He was typing before he stopped to turn towards me, "What are you going to school for anyways?"

I looked at my lap, "It's gonna sound dumb compared to you..." He shook his head, "No career path is dumb. Come on, tell me, what is it?" I twitched the corner of my mouth up slightly in a half smile just thinking about it, "Photography."

He grinned, "I knew it! You've always liked taking pictures of everything. I remember I would see you out the window in the front yard when you would come over, and you had gotten your first phone with a camera. And Amanda would be there, picking the flowers and collecting them, you know, but you were just snapping away photos one right after the other. I thought it was so weird."

We both laughed hard and I shook my head a little, "Well, things have changed, I don't really photograph nature anymore. I like to take pictures of people. I want to maybe be a fashion photographer, or maybe even take pictures for social journalism. Really anything with people, y'know?"

Amanda came in with the pan of bacon and gave Calum a few pieces onto his plate before putting some on hers back in the kitchen.

He furrowed his brows, "You don't want any?"

Amanda sat back down and shook her head, "Daisy's a vegetarian." He nodded once with a 'hm' before pausing and then looking to me again, "Are you sure you're getting enough iron in your diet?"

Amanda rolled her eyes, "Okay Dr. Dumbass, I'm sure she's fine, we're at the table, not a hospital."

I smiled, chuckling, "It's fine, and yeah I promise I'm okay, I take vitamins and stuff."

Calum nodded, "Okay. You know, I just want to look out for you."