THURSDAY | Book 1 (TRILOGY)

5 | THE BIRDS (PART ONE)

~Warning: the last part of this chapter contains triggering themes to do with mental health. Please read with caution & discretion~

~FRIDAY MORNING~

The first rays of pale morning light slipped through the blinds and slowly crawled down the wall, inching nearer to where they slept.

As she shed the night's sleep from her brain, Valerie lightly gasped when she discovered that she was laying naked beside Michael. He was usually gone before she even had a chance to open her eyes. Why hadn't he, this time? He must have actually wanted to stay the night. She tried not to question it too much, but she didn't overlook it either. She felt pleased, privileged, that he was there. It was more intimate and more private than any encounter they had ever shared.

But it made it even harder for Valerie to block out her feelings. She knew that it was wrong and unrealistic, yet she never felt happier. She stared at him from the tangle of white sheets: he was still in his white t-shirt, on his back, chest slowly rising and falling with each silent intake of breath. Since he couldn't stop her, she touched him, and like a feather, she gently brushed the back of her hand on his cheek. How she wished he could've felt it.

Her eyes travelled down him. She contemplated if she would be taking advantage of him by doing so, but she carefully pulled the neckline of his t-shirt down to expose his body. What was he hiding from her? Finally, she found out. His skin was marked with a large pale patch. It confused her. With three fingers holding the t-shirt down, she gently rubbed the area with her forefinger. It didn't come off. Odd. She wondered if there were more of these mysterious patches hidden under his clothes, but she was indifferent about the whole thing. Valerie smiled to herself. She successfully peeled back another layer of Michael's confident exterior, which masked the insecurity beneath. He wasn't the type to care about what other people thought of him, so why did he care about Valerie seeing whatever this was?

She got back into the soft sheets and shifted closer to him. She buried her face in the crook of his neck; he was warm and relaxed, she breathed in his scent and entangled her fingers in his loose curls. She even positioned his arm around her and closed her eyes again, imagining that this rare Friday morning together was not the first. She wanted to prolong the fantasy that she was his and he was hers.

In the silence there came a low rumble of thunder. The greyness outside blotted out the light, casting the room in an premature twilight. And then, Valerie heard the first of the rain tapping madly on the window until there was a thousand, a million taps all at once.

Michael stirred in his sleep. Perhaps Valerie's movements caused him some disturbance, or maybe it was the violent weather. He withdrew his arm from her waist, raising his hand to rub the corners of his eyes. She pretended to be asleep. A deep groan emitted from him and he lifted his head from the pillow, one eye tightly shut as he squinted through the other. He hasn't even adjusted to the light before he realised what had happened. What he did.

"Val?" he lazily asked.

Looking down at her head rested on his chest and her arm across his abdomen, he had to blink a few times. But he wasn't imagining anything; she was really there and so was he. He was already thinking of an escape plan to leave before she'd awaken.

Or so he thought...

Valerie felt his body tense up, so she tightened her grip around him. She knew he was about to perform his disappearing act again. Well, it was a trick that she was starting to get tired of. She murmured his name.

"Fuck," he muttered to himself. He just came up with a plan to replace himself with a pillow and make a quiet exit.

She pressed a gentle kiss on the side of his neck, grinning widely. "Morning," she softly said, sleep still present in her husky voice.