penny.

3; Expectations

My eyes shot open, searching for my phone to check the time. 2:48 AM. Great. My body was covered in a sheen of sweat when I worked up the nerve to get out of bed. I didn't get it, I took my regular pills when I went to bed at 11, why did I still have a nightmare? Maybe it had to do with all the talk about my dad, Kaydence mentioning him at the meeting, the scent I could have been imagining in my old living room, the talk with Tia in the kitchen, and finally the memory of his murder coming back into my mind.

This is why I didn't talk about him, it never ended well.

I stepped into the bathroom connected to my room, staring at myself in the mirror. To say I looked horrible was an understatement, my eyes had purple bags under them from sleep deprivation and my dark curls were matted to my face. I splashed my face with cold water, knowing there was no way I could go back to sleep after the horrid dream I had conjured up. My hair was quickly tied into a high ponytail, the ends slapping the middle of my back as I walked back to my room and changed into jogging shorts and a ratty t-shirt from freshman homecoming. I stripped the bed of the sweat stained sheets and threw them in the hamper by my bedroom door.

The house was quiet as expected, the kitchen clock now reading three in the morning. I crept outside, relishing in the cool night air rather than the humidity from the sunny day. My feet carried me down the driveway and along the pale pavement. It was a dim night, orange tint only coming from a few dingy street lamps. I ran around a few blocks before reaching the top of my street again, this time noticing a new figure in the dark. I wasn't scared, again, I lived in Ridgecrest my whole life, but I was curious. Who would be up this late? Well, who would be outside this late would probably be the better question.

As I neared my house, the figure did the same, but I still wasn't scared. I could probably take whoever it was, gang training wasn't for nothing. I met my driveway with a series of pants, my lungs begging for air.

"You shouldn't be out this late," I heard a deep voice say. I turned around and buried my fist into the shoulder of the dark figure before realizing who it was.

"Oh shit! I'm so sorry I didn't know it was you!" I rushed out my words as he groaned from the impact.

"Jeez girl, remind me to never get on your bad side," I smirked at his remark. He was still rubbing his shoulder, his palm making small, consecutive circles where my fist had landed seconds ago.

"Don't sneak up on me like that." I said sternly before continuing, "It's Elijah, right?" He nodded his head at my guess.

"Call me Eli though." He gave me a small smile. "So, what are you doing awake and running at three in the morning?" He asked me curiously. So is he rude during the day and nice at night? Is that his thing?

"I could say the same thing to you, minus the running part." I smirked at him, sitting down on the pavement of my driveway. Usually I would've given him some smartass remark and gone back inside, but I wanted to know why he was out here anyways and it's not like I was going back to sleep anytime soon.

"Ah. Touche," I could hear the smile in his voice. He sat down next to me, his green eyes shining bright. "But really, don't you sleep?" He pushed a curl out of his face as he said it.

"Sometimes, but once I'm up there's usually no going back." I laughed to myself. It was pretty weird, I mean, shouldn't the nightmare be done once you've woken up? I didn't think it would come back once I could finally get back to sleep, but it did, and I was learning now that it was easier to just stay awake.

"Same here, but usually I don't go running around in the middle of the night," He teased me. Oh, so he's witty too?

"No, you just stand on your porch looking like the boogieman, my bad," He chuckled at my response. This was supposed to be weird, right? I had met this kid what? 12 hours ago? And now he was sitting on my driveway with me at half past three in the morning, letting me make fun of him? But it wasn't weird, it felt good. Natural, like me and Owens easy sprout of a friendship.