Muse. | Fionn Whitehead

7. The Morning After

Fionn doesn't flinch when the ice pack makes contact with his bruised lip. The feeling is clearly familiar to him and my curiosity wants to know how many times this has happened. He's only silent and so am I. By now, I'm supposed to be questioning him about what happened at that bar, but decide I'll wait until the morning. He's intoxicated and I'll wait; I told him this too.

He's changed into my brother's clothes now. The both of us are sat on the edge of my bed, the door locked of course. "Lola," he says my name and breaks the silence. His face is close, too close. His electric blue eyes are looking down at me now, no longer in a daze with my cream wall. I try not to show my slight uneasiness when I create a blatant distance between us — the distance is only a few inches apart, but it will do.

"Yes," I respond, handing the ice pack to him and he takes it from my hand, icing his lip himself.

"I think I'm sobered up. You can ask me," he mumbled behind the ice pack.

A soft, side smile creeps up to his lips, something about it reassuring.

"Okay," I nod. "First, what happened?"

He clears his throat. "Remember when I said I have a girlfriend."

Yeah, I do. But why did you come to me? You said you didn't know where else to go, but why didn't you go to her?

He continues, "Well, I lied. . . sorry. I mean, I did have a girlfriend. It was the beginning of last year. It ended because. . ." He pauses, thinking to himself for a brief moment, his eyes diverting and looking down, then it comes back to mine. "Not the story. . . her brother was there, at the bar. I was going to leave, I really was, because I knew I didn't leave a good impression on him after his sister and I. He punched me and obviously, I drank and I was pissed. I punched him back. Why was I the one kicked out, right? I didn't start it."

I only listen to him with no response besides nodding my head as he speaks. When I don't say anything, he says, "I'm not one to start a fight, Lola. . . I don't do that shit. I mind my business and when I was throwing hits at him, it was self defense."

"Hm, okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah, okay." He stares and I smile. "I have nothing else to ask."

"Alright. . . when you do though, you can ask me." He adds, "I care about your judgement, Lola. I don't have much friends here, only this guy named Marcus, but he annoys me most of the time. The ones I used to know, hate my guts. I met them through  Jenna."

Jenna.

I take out a comforter and some extra pillows from my closet and lie them on the ground, Fionn helps me spread it out. He watches with a confused expression when I take my phone from the top of my bed and lie down on the floor, making myself comfortable. I look at him, "You're taking the bed."

"Funny. No I'm not."

"Fionn."

"Lola, do not put me in this position," he laughs. "Get off. I'm sleeping on the floor."

"Guest on the bed, host on the floor," I say, gesturing my hands to the bed and floor. "Fionn, it's fine."

"No!" He whisper-yells, chuckling at the same time. "Please."

And the argument goes on for the next ten minutes and he wins, but only because I'm tired.

.

Daylight enters through the blinds of my room and hits my eyelids the following morning. The occurrences last night run through my head as I wake and I get up and look below to check on Fionn. He's fast asleep and laying on his stomach, his face squished against the pillow I gave him. I check the time on my phone and it's 10 in the morning. Dad left around 8 and he'll be back in three hours. I feel bad that I'd have to wake Fionn up because of his hangover, but it's time to get the day started. We were supposed to about an hour ago.

After freshening up, I exit my bathroom and of course, Fionn hasn't moved a muscle. I head downstairs to grab Tylenol and a glass of water and head back to my room, placing it down on my nightstand. I guess I owe him this much for paying for me back at the store, offering me rides home, and being apart of my folder for class.

I crouch to shake him awake. "Fionn?" I say softly. "It's 10 in the morning. We have to go."

He doesn't budge and I shake him again. He lets out a hum and slowly rolls to his back, his brows furrowed and I know by now the headache is hitting. "Shit," he mumbled, his voice scratchy. He finally opens his eyes and scrunches his nose, sending me a sheepish smile. "Hey."

"Hey," I chuckle. I take the glass of water and pill from on top and hand it to him. "Take this."

He sighed. "You're good to me. Thank you."

I let Fionn freshen up with the new toothbrush I let him open.

We're ready to go by 11 a.m. I showered and changed in my bathroom while Fionn changes into the jeans he wore last night in my room. I told him he can keep my brother's hoodie for now since the shirt he wore last night had drips of blood on it. I don't care for my wet hair and decide I'd let it air dry. As for my outfit, I only threw on a pair of denim jeans and a maroon sweater for Washington's early breeze. I come of out the bathroom and Fionn is sitting patiently on my bed and he looks over at me, sending me a small smile.

"You look pretty," he says, almost too low, but enough for me to hear it.

Heat rises in my face, his compliment makes me chuckle nervously. "Thanks." I add, "Before we go. . ."

I open my dresser by the wall, digging through below my folded shirts, revealing the Marlboro box I said I'd get him the next time we met. I hand it to him and this makes him laugh, but he thanks me.

I always forget due to my meets with Fionn, they're always unpredictable, just like this one.

•

Would you guys want Fionn's POV soon? I do plan on including them, but they will be limited and won't happen for a while.

I said this book would be a short story, but I have a feeling it won't be now. We'll see.

I'm going to make a little 'tracklist' for this book soon — some of the songs in Fionn's playlist included.

Questions? Let me know.