Dangerous Illusion

Chapter 6

While I give him a firm death glare, he flashes me the sweetest smile known to mankind—like he didn’t just climb into my room uninvited at 1 a.m.

“Mind if I come in?”

“Do you know what time it is?” I snap, arms crossed and barely holding myself back from hurling my pillow at him.

“Of course I do.” He hops down casually, like this is the most normal thing in the world. I have to take a step back so he doesn’t bump into me. “It’s time for you to love me back.” He smirks, looking way too smug for someone trespassing via tree branch.

“Oh, for the love of God,” I mutter, dragging both hands down my face in exhaustion. My brain feels like it's melting. “What do you want?”

Lucas hums like he’s contemplating his entire life’s purpose. He strolls right past me and makes himself at home in my bed, flopping down without a care. Arms tucked behind his head, one leg lazily swung over the other—it’s like he rehearsed this pose just to annoy me.

“Are you mad?” he asks, his voice way too casual.

Am I mad?

He’s really asking if I’m mad? It’s one in the freaking morning, and he thinks now’s the perfect time to pull this nonsense?

“Me? Mad? Of course not.” I say with a sweet, poisonous tone, thick with sarcasm. “Why would I be mad? It’s not like my sleep was just violently interrupted.”

He chuckles, completely unbothered, which only fuels my desire to smother him with a pillow—lovingly, of course.

I grab my phone from the bedside table and check the time. Yep. 1:30 a.m. Fantastic. I have to be up in a few hours for school. I promised Lara I’d be there early. She's meeting a group from another section to work on a billboard project or whatever it is art kids do. Apparently, they’re a bunch of strangers, and she begged me to come with her for emotional support. I didn’t have the heart to say no.

With a sigh, I smack his thigh. “Scoot over.”

“Harsh much?” he mutters, though he shifts aside like a well-trained dog.

“You saw it coming,” I shoot back, sliding into bed beside him. I pull the blanket up and huff dramatically.

This isn’t the first time he’s done this. It’s practically a monthly ritual. He climbs across the giant tree connecting our windows and drops in like he owns the place. Sometimes he talks. Sometimes he rants. Sometimes he just lays there in silence. It’s always random. Always annoying. But always… oddly familiar.

“I have a feeling you’re really mad at me,” he says again.

“You don’t say,” I grumble, turning my back to him under the blanket. My body’s tired, but my mind’s racing with thoughts.

Not all his visits are for dumb reasons. I remember the first time he showed up with red eyes, his face puffy and broken. He had just ended things with a girl he really cared about. He didn’t cry exactly, but he didn’t have to. I could feel it in the way he looked at me—like the world just didn’t make sense anymore. That was almost a year ago.

Even now, the thought of seeing him like that again makes my stomach twist. If Lily breaks his heart, I swear I will personally make sure she regrets it.

“Is this because I transferred to your class?” he asks, voice softer now. “Even though you told me not to?”

“If you already knew the answer, why even bother asking?” I mumble.

“I still don’t get it,” he sighs. “Do you know how hard it is for me to hold myself back whenever I see you?”

I grind my teeth. He really needs to work on the way he says things. If I were any other girl, I would’ve taken that the wrong way—probably would’ve written it in a diary with hearts all over the page.

“Then just don’t look at me.”

The bed shifts slightly as he adjusts. “How am I supposed to do that? I’m literally your seatmate.”

Huffing, I roll over to face him. His head’s propped up by one hand, the other draped casually over the blanket like he’s some prince in a drama series. I raise an eyebrow.

“Why’d you even transfer?” I ask. “Imagine all the hassle you put the teachers through. You left your friends and everything.”

He grins at that, tapping the tip of my nose with his finger. “Isn’t it obvious?”

I scrunch my nose at the touch, causing his smile to soften.

“To be with you.”

There it is again. His words. Always catching me off guard, always sounding too honest. He says it like it’s the most natural thing ever.

“I missed you,” he adds.

I roll my eyes. “I didn’t.”

But he doesn’t get mad. He just nods, accepting it like it’s the truth. “I know. That’s why I’m not going anywhere. Even if you ask me to.”

And I won’t.

As annoying as he is, he’s part of my life. He’s been there through so many random, stupid, emotional moments. If he leaves again, it’ll just mess everything up—for me, for him, for all of it.

I let out a long sigh.

“As long as you pretend like you don’t know me in class, I guess I’ll let this pass,” I say, my voice quieter now.

He doesn’t respond right away. Instead, he reaches out and drags his palm gently down my cheek—a motion so soft, it makes me freeze for a second.

“Go to sleep,” he murmurs. “You have to wake up early, remember?”

The irony. I’ve been telling myself that since the second he showed up.

I shift my head slightly, trying to find that sweet spot on the pillow. My eyelids are heavy, and exhaustion finally starts creeping back in.

“If I wake up with marker on my face, I’m killing you,” I warn, eyes already half-closed.

“You say the meanest things when you’re sleepy.”

Can’t be helped.

It doesn’t take long before the world fades out, and sleep finally claims me.