𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘬

three

𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙧 / 𝙛𝙡𝙪𝙛𝙛

𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙤𝙫

"You look like shit."

"Wow, thanks," Alex drawls and plops down next to me. His nose is redder than Rudolph's, and he has unusual bags running under his eyes. "You're totally the first person to tell me all day."

"It's an honor."

He shoves his bag between his legs and throws his head against the cushioned seat in front of him, groaning obnoxiously loud. I attempt to scoot away, but personal space was a unknown phenomenon on a public school bus.

"You're such a drama queen," I mutter, making his head perk up. Arguing wasn't strange to us whenever we were forced to sit next to each other, but everything about him today was lethargic. He barely gathered the energy to throw a nasty look at me before sitting up slowly.

"I have a cold," he complained, and it all began to make sense. "I just want to curl up into a shitty ball and sleep forever."

"Well you can do that when you get home," I informed him as my gaze drifted to the brutal winter outside. "That's what you get for seeing how many snowballs you could stuff down your shirt."

"It was worth it," he sniffed.

"You're an idiot."

I feel him glaring daggers at me.

"Why are you so grumpy all the time? You always have this resting bitch-face and it freaks me out."

My mouth opens to reply but I'm interrupting by his horrible sneeze, followed by his weak sniffles.

"Pfft. Just shut up."

Unlike I expected, no more protests are heard from him. He doesn't mumble under his breath or mimic every syllable I shoot at him. In the corner of my eye I see no flickers of movement at all, but I refuse to acknowledge him. The bus wheels roll as we pull out of the school parking lot.

"You should've known what was gonna happen."

No response, to my dismay.

"The silent treatment. That's new, huh?"

I feel like I'm talking to myself at this point. I huff and equip my earbuds from my jacket pocket.

"Fine, be that way you baby. I don't care-"

I flinch as a sudden weight pressed at my side, squishing me against the frosted window. A shout bubbles in my throat before I look down and see Alex fast asleep on my trembling shoulder, soft snores contributing to the normal ruckus on the bus. His hair is sprawled in a web across his face and his eyes are shut.

I've never see him so... peaceful.

I nudge him in the arm, "Hey, idiot, wake up."

He tenses, but slumps again before nuzzling deeper into the fur of my coat. I feel my face warm up.

"A-Alex? Hey, this isn't funny. Wake up..."

Taking a second glance, he looks awfully sick. The usual pigment in his skin was gone and the bags under his eyes were much bigger up close. I brushed his bangs from his face and felt his skin. Hot to the touch. I sunk into my seat with folded arms.

"Whatever. Just whatever. You're lucky I'm nice," I seethed, but I know he couldn't hear me. I decided if he was here tomorrow, I would give him the biggest punch in the arm, whether he was sick or not. That would show him.

But for now I'm quiet, never admitting I enjoyed the warmth between us.

...

I hope you guys enjoyed this. I would like to write more chapters like this. Short and sweet :)

Happy New Years, everybody!