Blinded by Limerence

42 | Get Your Girlfriend in Order

Morgan

Did... Did he just reference the text I sent him when he and Hanna got together?

Is he really happy for me? Or is this a passive-aggressive text, which, in hindsight, would resemble my text much more than I care to admit? 

Regardless, his words stuck with me. That so wasn't what I was expecting. I thought he'd be like all the others, saying how I wasn't thinking straight, how all this will go down in flames... again. But no. He's hoping for the best.

Flustered, I blinked twice. What do I say to something like that? 

"I—" I began but soon realized that I had nothing to say. I looked away. "You're evil," I said instead, crossing my arms over my chest, a subtle pout unintentionally forming on my lips.

He laughed cutely, and it all happened so fast, I barely had the time to comprehend the implications—the butterflies were back without warning, and very violently so, they exploded in my stomach into little love bits. 

"What?" 

I turned to him and glared at those gray orbs he called eyes. If I squinted, I could make out little mischievous glints in the gray sea of evil. "Pure evil!" I called out, earning yet another laugh from Archer to which I subconsciously joined in.

I didn't know what we were laughing at, and I'm pretty sure he didn't either, but here we were, anyway: laughing at something that's not remotely funny like it was the funniest joke in the world.

After our laughter died down a bit, I sighed.

As I looked at the boy before me, his dimple showing ever so slightly at the way he smiled from ear to ear, I realized how strange it was that we were able to converse so smoothly, as if we've been friends all this time and not having that weird complicated shit—you know, that what-even-are-we friendship, if you could even call it a friendship.  

Passers-by would think this was normal, like it was two long-time friends joking about inside references or something of the sort. It felt like there was some weird connection lingering between the two of us—but was there something more? 

I couldn't help but wonder.

"Hey, Archer?" I ventured. 

He turned to look at me with a slight smile on his face. "Yeah?"

"Promise you'll stay with me?"

He grinned cheekily. "Until bones and dust are all that's left of you."

|

"Netflix and chill?" I proposed as we climbed the stairs to my bedroom.

"Sure," he chuckled.

We walked to my bedroom, and only when I opened the door wide enough for Archer to see the interior of my room did I realize that it was still a mess from my raid earlier tonight.

He shook his head, an amused smile plastered across his face. "Geez, I wasn't aware your room was in Hurricane Gloria's path."

"Ugh," I groaned as I stormed in and started frantically picking up the clothes scattered across the floor. A wave of regret rushed through me as I wished I hadn't rummaged through every drawer—a handful of brassieres lined the back wall. "Sorry about the mess. My room isn't usually like this—believe me."

Archer stepped in, too, and took a seat on my bed. He started to arrange the books and photo albums I haven't touched in years I had carelessly thrown onto the comforter in a rush. Some photos were out of their order.