Chapter eight
By the time the movie is over, Nathan is far asleep on my shoulder, practically drooling all over my cream sweater. I take a glance at his alarm clock to see it's quarter to twelve, so I decide to go downstairs to grab a glass of water and maybe wake Nate up throwing it to his face for falling asleep while he's supposed to be spending time with me.
You don't just fall asleep while I'm with you.
I untangle my legs from the blanket and head to the stairs, walking down the hallway and trying not to make too much noise in case his parents are already asleep. As I walk past Aaron's bedroom, I hear some music playing in the background. I think about knocking and asking him if he wants me to bring him something but I decide against it; it would be creepy as fuck.
I take the stairs, trying to be as silent as possible, since everyone seems to be sleeping, but when I reach the foot of the stairs, I find myself to the image of Aaron reading a book, resting on the carpet in front of the firelight of the chimney. His eyes travel rapidly across every page and he looks so focused on his book that I'm afraid if I make a wrong move, I'll pull him out of such trance.
I stare at him for a few seconds, my mind falling into some sort of hypnosis, until he finally spots me sideways, after slightly ruffling his own hair.
"Hey," he speaks in an almost inaudible voice, a small smile tugging at his lips, "what are you doing awake?" He closes the book after neatly folding the corner of the page.
"Nothing, I just... came for a glass of water. Nate's already asleep" I smile to myself and awkwardly walk forward, as I've been almost clutching the wall for the past moments. "Can I sit?" I motion towards the spot on the floor next to him.
"Of course" he replies and moves a bit to the side, making room for me, even though there's plenty of space on the floor. I sit, leaving a small gap between our bodies, as he opens his book again on the same page he had folded a few minutes ago.
"What are you reading?" I ask, my voice raspy from being silent for such a long time, and suddenly I feel like I'm back to when we were younger. A silly eleven year old girl who chased after the thirteen year old boy, suffocating him with countless, annoying questions.
"The Scorch Trials" he says, running his fingers across the cover of the book, which shows a dark picture of what looks like a city in flames, "it's pretty good, you should read it." He hands me the book and I eye it carefully.
"What is it about?"
"It's science fiction. I don't know what you're into, but the plot is amazing. This is the second book actually. The first one is called The Maze Runner" he explains.
"It seems good, do you have the first one?" I hand it back to him and when he grabs it, his fingers graze mine slightly, making me shiver. Even though we're in front of the chimney, I feel a bit cold. I suppose it's due to getting out of bed barefoot and so suddenly. My teeth chatter slightly, in an almost imperceptible way, echoing in the insides of my head.
"Yeah, you can borrow it if you want" he assures me with a small smile. "Hey, you okay? You look really cold."
"Yeah, I just got out of bed, I was too comfortable."
"Here," he leans back on the couch and reaches out to grab a woolen burgundy sweater, "put this on." He offers me the piece of clothing but I shake my head.
"It's okay, it will go away eventually, but thanks though."
"You sure?" he holds it in front of me, "last chance to take it, it's now or never." He grins.
