4am

seven

"How's it going with the cute girl next door?" Leila asks casually as she spreads butter onto her toast.

    "You think she's cute?"

    At this, Leila laughs, "I don't think she's cute, dumbass. You think she's cute."

    "What? No! I definitely do not find Saff cute!" Noah replies, tripping over his words. Conversations with his older sister always seem to go like this.

    "Ooh, 'Saff' - on nickname terms are we?" Leila says, wiggling her eyebrows in a way that Noah can't help but laugh a little at.

    "Okay, whatever. I think she's cute, so what?"

    "Oh my God, Noah you are such a moron. You like her and I bet she likes you, so why don't you just ask her out?" She leans across the breakfast bar, smirking. He leans away from her, frowning.

    "What?" Noah practically chokes on his cereal. After the disastrous attempt previously, there's no way in hell he's trying that one again. "I don't know how to ask girls out."

    "No, but I do," Leila says. The mischievous grin curling onto her lips makes Noah feel wary. "Plus, I know how girls like to be asked out. And how they do not like to be asked - believe me, I've had far too many bad experiences on that front."

    "Leila, no," Noah says stubbornly, pushing back his seat back and going to put his empty bowl away.

    He feels a lot less uncomfortable now that his back is to her, now he can't see her suggestive and honestly rather embarrassing expressions.

    "Why not?"

    "I... I don't want to."

    "Don't be a coward, Noah," Leila says a little too harshly. He can practically feel her rolling her eyes. "Just ask her, I mean, what's the worst that could happen?"

    Noah puts his bowl in the dishwasher. Leila says his name, once, twice.

    "She could say no," he forces out, getting himself a glass of water just for the excuse of not having to turn around yet.

    "Aw, Noah, don't be so down on yourself. You don't know that she won't say yes."

    At last, Noah spins around and glares at his sister. "Yes I do know. She's already said no and she's going to say it again."

    He watches as it dawns on Leila, her face growing solemn. "Oh."

    "Yeah, oh," he says, before storming across the hall to his bedroom.

Saffron's in her room when he gets in, clearly visible through the open windows. She spots him and waves, a smile on her face, but he can't bring himself to respond. Instead, he just watches as her face drops and thinks about how much he dislikes himself sometimes (correction: most of the time).

    Admittedly, he hadn't planned to ask her out. In fact, he hadn't wanted to at all. It wasn't until the words had come out his mouth and she'd rejected him that he realised how badly he wanted her to say yes.

    Since he's already stooped pretty low in his pit of self loathing, Noah figures that he may as well go all out and reaches for his laptop. Ignoring the voice in the back of his mind telling him this is quite pathetic, he opens up Facebook.

    His fingers move swiftly over the keyboard, tapping out her name: Saffron Stark.

    A few profiles appear, but he instantly spots her. Her profile picture is nearly a year old and she hasn't posted anything in three months.