Most girls would be jealous of Calliope Draycott. She seemingly has it all. The friends, the money, the boyfriend, and in a few years, if all goes to plan, she'll have the job too. So why doesn't she feel happy? It's after a disastrous family dinner...
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I'm woken up by a grumbling sound next to my ear. That, and my pillow is moving. Not by much, but in that halfway place between asleep and awake, it's enough to pull me firmly to the awake category.
Then I open my eyes, and for the third night in a row, I realise that I slept on the sofa in the living room. Except this time, I'm not alone, and my "pillow" is a person. There's also a blanket draped over my legs, and it's not my blanket cape because that's still wrapped around my shoulders, which means that my pillow must have covered me up after I'd fallen asleep.
How thoughtful.
I stretch out as much as I can without disturbing him, and then I look up at his face. All the stress that is normally etched across his face is gone, and he looks so peaceful, the last thing I want to do is wake him. At least, not without a coffee ready for him. For all I know, he could be a grouch when he first wakes up.
I slowly move off of him, before tiptoeing into the kitchen. I slowly fill the kettle with fresh water and turn it on. Cursing quietly under my breath just how loud it is when I want it to be quiet.
But everything always seems louder when you need it to be quiet.
I can hear soft snores coming from the living room so I know that he hasn't been stirred by the kettle boiling and so I set about making his coffee the way I know he likes it. Black with one sugar.
He jokes that he needs the sugar to make him sweet, but I would argue that he doesn't need it because he's never been anything but sweet to me.
He's one of the best things that's ever happened to me.
Soon enough, the water has finished boiling and I pour it over the instant coffee that's in the mugs, and then I add some cold water so that we don't have to wait for it to cool down before we can drink it.
I walk back into the living room as quietly as I possibly can and put the mugs down on the coffee table in front of the sofa. It's covered with empty ice cream cartons and pizza boxes and in the light of day, I'm so embarrassed.
That is until I see my reflection in the mirror - which only makes me feel worse. Until a single, terrifying thought rushes through my head. He saw me like this and didn't care. He stayed.
I hit my forehead with my palm as if it would send the thoughts flying out of my head, but they linger and so I go to a time-tested favourite. Repression.
Theo lets out another small snore and I know I need to wake him up if he is going to make it to his lecture on time, but I also can't think of the last time I know that he slept for longer than three hours.
I shake my head. It's not my choice to make, but if it was, it would be a clear choice. I'd be making sure that he slept for at least another few hours.
