[kenzies pov]
saturday, october 27th.
a few hours later.
"kenz, come on, let's go upstairs." lauren tugs on my sleeve. "i'm bored," she adds, smiling apologetically.
"okay." i agree, letting her pull me up off the couch. "goodnight, john."
"night." johnny smiles, looking up at me. i blush and smile before following lauren up the stairs.
"hurry up, slowpoke!" lauren hollers from the top of the staircase. i giggle and run up to her room. she lets me take the right side of her bed, aka the better side, and willingly takes the left.
"you are an angel, you know that?" i ask her, making her laugh.
"i have cheer practice tomorrow at 9, so i need to sleep now, but you can stay up and talk to john if you want." she informs me.
"nah," i shake my head. "i'll sleep too." i check the time on my phone, and holy shit, it's 10. no way can i fall asleep at 10. but i brush my teeth and change and crawl into bed and try.
—
yet hours later, almost 2am, i'm still wide awake and lauren's fast asleep. i decide to go down, maybe hang out with johnny if he's still awake.
i tiptoe down the stairs so i don't awake anyone and pad into the living room before flicking on the light switch.
"the fu—" i hear johnny complain before cutting himself off. great. after my eyes adjust to the new lighting, i can see him sprawled across a sofa, his phone on his chest, and his eyes locked with mine. and god, his eyes.
"why are you up?" i ask, crossing my arms.
"i could ask you the same." he laughs, sitting up, and i guess i'm supposed to sit next to him. i plop down on the couch and face him.
"i couldn't sleep." i admit.
"same." john answers, then smiles softly. "hasn't this happened before?" he refers to when he came over to my house a few days back, and my heart thuds at the memory of our closeness but i manage to smile at him.
"so, what'd you get on the test last week?" i ask in attempt to keep a light conversation. his face visibly falls and i remember in a jolt that school isn't exactly john's area of expertise. too late now.
"72. if i get anything lower than a b on the quiz on tuesday, i'm gonna be on academic probation. as in, no football." johnny's eyes are distant, and my heart aches for him.
"aw, john, i'm so sorry. i'll help you study, okay? no way are you gonna get academic probation, i won't let you." i touch his arm fleetingly and he blushes and smiles at me.
"thanks, kenz." he says quietly, and his eyes fall to my lips. my heartbeat speeds up even more, if it's possible.
then his phone buzzes, and loudly. he pulls it out, his cheeks flaming red, and taps a button before putting the phone to his ear. his embarrassment quickly fades to urgency as the deep muffled voice on his phone chokes words out that i can barely understand. a few minutes later, he assures the caller that he's coming before hanging up and glancing at me with a grim face.
"i'm going over to carson's. are... i mean, do you wanna come?"
"yeah, sure. is he okay?" i ask, getting up.
