"straining yourself?" Reece laughs as I put on my seatbelt, "you scared the living daylights out of me!" I scold him, a smile forming as he begins driving, "I know! you nearly hit the ceiling with how high you jumped," he laughs, "someone could file a noise complaint," I laugh, "no they can't," he chuckles, "yes they can!" I grin, defending my point, "even if I did, you would tell the police otherwise," he smiles, innocently, "not if you literally gave me a heart-attack, come on now. I would be dead and you would be a murderer," I laugh, "not if my lawyer proves otherwise," he says, giving me a smart-ass grin, "fuck you're annoying," I laugh, shaking my head.
as we drive downtown, I start to observe the way the city lights look at night, I never really have the chance to. Reece pulls into the parking garage and finds his parking spot.
As we're walking to the lift, I feel the need to stand close to reece, almost as if I'm scared of something. The sound of the rain echoing throughout the garage strangely calms me. My arm brushed against Reece's and I immediately get goosebumps before meeting his eyes.
He holds the eye contact for a few seconds before pressing the button for the elevator. Shyly, I look down at my feet. I didn't know why I suddenly felt for timid around Reece, I never have been.
Reece opens the door and I follow behind, "couch?" He asks, turning to face me, "Yeah," I nod, "alright, let me just grab some pillows and blankets," he says before turning a corner.
I wander around his flat, taking in the expensive-looking furniture. How could a nineteen-year-old afford all this? It almost looked like something out of an IKEA catalogue.
It's as though I've never been to his flat before. Even though this is my fourth time. I guess I never took the time to observe the beautiful place until now. I'm drawn to the windows when the wind pushes the rain against the large windows, making a louder sound.
Cars beneath me stop and go through the rain, making their way through traffic. Even though it's midnight, there's still traffic.
"These alright?" Reece asks, holding up a blue quilt and a fluffy looking pillow, "yep," I nod, "Okay," he says before placing the pillow at one end of the couch and laying out the blanket so it reached both ends, "thank you," I smile, "no problem, do you need anything else?" He asks, "no, thanks though," I smile. He simply nods before heading into his room.
I get up and turn off the lights in the living room, making the city lights the only source of light in the apartment. I get under the heavy blanket and soon fall into a peaceful sleep.
However, I'm only asleep for about 3 hours before I'm woken to the sound of crying and yelling. I shoot up from where I'm laying and look around, looking for where the sounds are coming from.
"No, please, don't do this!" I hear a faint cry from Reece's bedroom. I get up and burst through his door to see him lashing around, crying and sweating profusely. "Reece, Reece, wake up," I shake him, "Reece! Wake up," I say sternly, cupping his sweaty cheek. His eyes open and his chest heaves up and down and he stares into my eyes, "you're here," he whispers, "I'm here, Reece," I nod.
Reece sits up and pulls me to sit into the bed before embracing me into a tight hug. He cries into my shoulder.
"It's okay," I say softly.
The next morning I'm next to Reece. Well...wrapped in Reece. His arms wrapped tightly around me and my head resting on his chest. Seeing him in that vulnerable state last night seemed foreign. It's like it wasn't even him.
I gently try to squirm out of his embrace without waking him to check the time. However I fail miserably when I get out of his arms. I roll over and grab my phone from the bedside table. 9:26 am.
"Fuck," I sigh, laying my head back down on the pillow, "Morning," Reece says in a husky morning voice, "morning," I say, turning my head to look at him, "I'm late for school," I roll my eyes, "can't you just skip?" He whines, "the school will call George and I promised I would be on time," I explain, looking back at sleepy Reece, "can't you just call the school claiming to be your mum?" He asks.
I stay silent for a few seconds, considering it. "Would it work?" I ask, "yeah, I used to do it all the time," he replies, "alright," I sigh, sitting up in Reece's cloud-like bed.
Reece watches intently as I type in the schools phone number and put the phone to my ear. I make brief eye contact with him as the phone rings. "Hello?" I say to the secretary on the other end, breaking the eye contact with him, "Hello, this is Kingsbury high school, how may I assist you?" She replies all chirpy and annoying. I never liked her.
"I'd like to inform you that my child, Aiden Pierce will not be attending school today, she is very ill," I smirk, "very well, I will make sure to make note of that," she replies, "thank you," I look at Reece, "no problem," she says before hanging up.
"It worked, yeah?" He grins, "it did," I smile, observing Reece's messy hair, "what are we gonna do today?" I ask, running my fingers through my hair, "well I've got to go to my parents house and pick a few things up...but other than that I think I'm free," he smiles, "what're your parents like?" I ask, "would you like to find out?" He grins.
