Away

6.

Paddy

Bella and I were doing homework together. I went downstairs to grab us something to eat. I was almost do the stairs when Sam called me over to the living room. Why Sam and Harry were here instead of doing other stuff, I had no idea.

"Say hi to everyone on the live stream," Harry cooed.

The phone was facing my direction, so I assumed the camera was flipped to me. "Hello, everyone."

"Paddy, what's with the snacks?" asked Sam.

I shrugged. "Maybe I'm hungry." I didn't want to say it was for me and Bella because people that knew Bella might have been on. I ran up the stairs before more questions were asked.

I smelled Bella's flower scented candle before I even reached her room. Why she was burning a spring themed flower so close to Christmas, I had no idea. In her room, I found Bella at her desk. Her head was laying in her arms facing the other way. By the way her shoulders moved ever so slightly, I assumed she was asleep. My assumption was correct when she began talking in her sleep. I pulled out my phone for a video. (It seems bad, but we'll laugh it off one day.)

"I," she mumbled in her sleep. "I l-love. I love you."

I was a little shaken back at first. Okay, a lot shaken back. What was she dreaming about that made her say "I love you?"

She woke herself up not a minute later. "What happened?" she asked.

"Well. I went downstairs for a few minutes to find you asleep when I came back up," I explained.

"That's it?" She seemed like she wanted more to the story.

"Okay. I may have gotten a few photos of you," I lied; I really only got one video of her. "You know, so I can show maybe some of your friends back in Dallas."

"Paddy! You can't! You don't have their numbers." She was cute when she was angry.

"True, but I follow you and you follow them. All I have to do is look them up. Maybe just Brianna since she's the only one that knows about your situation."

"You can't," she whined. "It's not fair! You don't see me going around taking pictures of you while you sleep. It's not right!"

Then what she did next totally caught me off guard. She lunged for my phone. I dropped it onto her bed by accident. She grabbed it but groaned when she saw it needed a passcode or fingerprint.

"Open it!" she demanded.

I sighed. I placed my finger on the home button. It unlocked. "There. Have a look for yourself."

"There's no photos. But . . ." She watched the video. "Paddy, no! This is not right! It's so embarrassing!" She was cute when she was upset. "Paddy, why? Why me?"

Because I like you, I thought. "Because." I quickly changed the subject. "Let's finish our homework."

We worked on the homework for classes we had together. I was still getting her caught up on some things. In maths, her class was a little behind compared to ours. I got her caught up and even checked her homework when she was done. Bella was a fast learner.

Bella sat on her bed and started drawing. I didn't know what she was drawing. She kept glancing at her laptop screen. A reference photo? At one point she was so focused she almost missed her best friend calling. Apparently, Brianna had been calling during her lunch so she can talk to Bella. Bella started calling Brianna today, too.

"Here." She tossed me her phone. "Answer it. Tell her I'm working on something. You can still talk to her, though."

"What if your other friends recognize my voice?"