IceShine

XVI

I wake up to someone snoring. I turn to look at who is sleeping beside me and find Miranda sleeping. At first I'm shocked, but then I remember what happened yesterday and that from today someone will sleep in the same room as me every night.

What the hell is happening in my life? As if it’s not crazy enough, with all that magic, it must have been too much to ask for a peaceful life.

I sigh. I cannot sleep. I slept almost all afternoon yesterday and now my sleep schedule is wrecked. I decide to go to the kitchen to drink some tea, so as to help myself relax. I put on a robe above my nightie and exit the room.

When I go down, I come face to face with a very much half n***d John, who is already drinking tea. When he sees me looking at him, he stops drinking and looks at me. After some seconds of silence, I clear my throat, and he smiles at me.

“Can’t sleep?”

“No… and I guess I’m not the only one…”

I give him a little smile, and go make some tea.

“If you want tea, there’s warm water in the boiler.”

“Thanks.”

I make my tea and go to sit beside him, on the kitchen island. We stay in silence, for a long time, just sipping our tea, each one on their own mind-world.

When he finishes his tea, he puts the mug on the sink and turns to me.

“Do you think the tea will help you sleep?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Same. So… want to go to the attic?”

I look at him kind of starled.

“Are you sure we can?”

“Why not… it’s not like I’m leaving you alone…”

He says with a small smirk. I think about it… I mean, it would be nice to go to the attic again. The stars are so beautiful up there. And I want to stay closer to him too.

“Okay… but before we go, I’m going back to my room to leave a note for Miranda… She will be worried when she will not see me.”

“Okay, I’m going up and I’ll wait for you there.”

He says smiling, like a small kid. Like a cute little kid. But the guy in front of me is not a kid… and that’s very apparent in his body… Oh, Lila! Snap out of it, now’s not the time! I give him a tight-lipped smile, hoping to hide my burning cheeks.

“Deal”

…

As I get inside the room, I notice Miranda is awake and looking at me stoically.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to wake you… I just couldn’t sleep. Go back to sleep.”

“Okay… but I see you are not coming to bed. Where are you going?”

“Oh… When I went down to get some tea, John asked me to go with him to the attic… we both can’t sleep so we are going to accompany each other.”

“Oh… Accompany you say…”

Now her lips are in a full blown smile.

“When you say accompany… I mean, I know my brother is kind of hot… Not as hot as me, but yeah, he’s good. And don’t think I haven’t seen the looks you give to each other.”

I stand stunned in my place as she speaks.

“What kind of looks?”

“Oh, come on, don’t play stupid on me. Only the little hearts are missing from your eyes when you look at him.”

She gets up from the bed and comes closer to me. At that point, my cheeks have become bright red from embarrassment.

“No… I… don’t know what you mean…”

“Lila… I know when two people like each other, and when a friend of mine likes my brother. Just stop thinking… You like him… Even if you deny it to yourself, you like him… And I’m going to tell you a little secret…”

She comes even closer and starts to whisper in my ear.

“He’s mad about you…”

“Miranda, please stop… Our relationship… is not…”

She starts laughing at my face.

“Oh, Lila… Okay, look what we are going to do… You’re going up there, and you’re going to think very carefully of what we talked about. And then, tomorrow morning, before we leave for school, we’re going to discuss it again… All right? Now go, don’t make him wait for you!”

And like that, she practically shoves me out of my room. Great… At least I hope he wore a shirt!

…

When I get upstairs, I see him already sitting, wearing a shirt (Thank God!), and looking out of the window. I also notice two futons behind him. I can’t help but admire his moonlit profile. He truly is gorgeous. I think the most gorgeous guy I have ever seen. Not that I ever had the mind for such things. I was too busy training to become stronger, or was too stricken with loss to care. Also, not many guys went after me, because of my reputation in school.

Maybe Miranda is right. Maybe I like him… Much more than a friend. When did it happen, I don’t know. But right now, looking at him like this, really makes my heart beat faster by the second.

When he notices me, he turns to look at me with a smile.

“Come sit down. I even brought some futons to use if we get cold.”

I give him a nod, and go sit down beside him, not too close… But not too far either. He chuckles and turns to look at me.

“I have a surprise for you…”

I look at him, with a brow going up. I think he notices the surprise on my face and the silent question in my eyes, so much, that he laughs.

“Yes, a surprise for you. Close your eyes for a moment.”

I continue looking at him, now with both raised eyebrows.

“Come on, don’t look at me like that… I promise, you’ll like it.”

He gives me a crooked smile, while bringing his hands together to emphasize his please. After looking at him for one more moment, I sigh and close my eyes.

I feel him doing something behind us. Then a click, and some lights moving.

“Okay, now you can open them up.”

I open them, and all around me are projected stars and constellations.

“What…”

Then I notice it… The thing behind us. The thing that I left behind because it was too much to take with me at the time… My projector, the last gift from my parents.

I turn to look at him and he just smiles at me, that same crooked smile.

“When we went to your house today, while you were busy searching for the books, I thought of what I could do to make you feel better. Then that idea came to me. To take the projector you told me about on our second day meeting. Then you said you didn’t want to take it with you. But I think you need it now, with the way things are going… So, when you told me to go fetch the bags, I made a detour to your room, to take this also.”

While he talks, I’m not looking at him, but at the scene before me. The stars are beautiful, they’re as I remember them. Those countless, sleepless nights where I would wake up screaming from fear. And then my parents’ idea to take this to help calm me. And it was effective.

While I’m thinking of all these things and my mind wanders to my parents again, I feel John take my hand and squeeze it, while his other goes to my face to dry the ones that have escaped my eyes without me realizing.

When did I start crying? Why did I start crying? The thought of my parents? The memories on this projector? Or the fact that this guy has shown me only kindness from the first day he saw me, and today he just made my day, from something I’d like to forget to something I want to remember for years and years to come? Because, I’m sure… No matter how many years will pass, this day… this awful day, will be much easier to remember… because no matter how awful things happened today, the end of my day is peaceful… and beside the guy I like… Besides the guy, that I’m going to protect no matter the cost… even if it means giving my own life.

“A penny for your thoughts…”

I come out of my delirious state and turn to look at him. At his beautiful honey-colored eyes… and I notice that he has come a lot closer to me, the distance between us shorter than when I sat down.

Then I remember what he said and let out a humorless laugh, before turning and looking again at the projected stars.

I feel him take the futon, and put it around our shoulders, bringing us closer. He snakes an arm around my waist and hugs me from the side. That’s when I remember what happened in my dad’s office.

“John?”

“Hm?”

“What was that?”

“What was what?

“What happened before the explosion?”

I feel him stiffen at my side. He seems to really think about what to say, because it takes a full five minutes for him to answer.

“What almost happened… I can’t either say that I regret it, or say that I’m happy that we got interrupted…”

We don’t look at each other. We continue looking at the stars.

“I like you.”

My eyes widen out before I turn to look at his profile. I must have not heard correctly, there is just no way.

“What?”

He huffs out and says it again, emphasizing and stopping after each word.

“I. Like. You. From the first moment I saw you. And I would really like it if you wanted to become my girlfriend.”

I’m still completely speechless, from what I hear, and I notice that his ears have become a little red… But I’m not sure, as the light is limited…

“You don’t have to answer me right now, you can take your time. Maybe you want to get to know me some more before-”

“I like you too…”

When he started rumbling, I found it really cute, but if he continued, we would be way off topic by the end.

After he heard me say it, his eyes became wide and he turned to look at me. Hope was the main feeling I detected in his eyes, right at that moment. After contemplating me for some minutes, he finally found the voice to speak a word.

“Really?”

I just nodded and turned again to look at the stars. But, it seems he didn’t like that, so he takes my chin and gently brings my face to face his. By this time, my cheeks feel really hot, and I’m sure I’m as red as a beetroot.

His hand goes from my chin to cup my whole cheek, while his eyes hold mine captive, not even closing for him to blink.

“Can I finish what got interrupted today?”

I look at him and remember Miranda’s words: ‘You like him… Even if you deny it to yourself you like him…’. Then something along the lines of ‘He’s mad about you’. And like that, Miranda seems to be a step ahead of us. I gulp and finally find my voice.

“Yes.”

He smiles a big smile, bigger than anything I’ve ever seen on his lips. Slowly, he comes down and gently places his lips upon mine.

I can’t think straight. I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know what is happening. But before I know what is happening, his lips are away by half an inch from mine. And before I can put mine on his again, he does it himself and kisses me again.

But no longer is it a gentle kiss. Maybe it started like that, but it's becoming more and more passionate. To the point that I’m not sitting beside him anymore, but on his lap.

My mind is blank, I don’t think, I don’t understand what my body does, I don’t know anything.

Too quickly for my liking, we break the kiss, and look at each other. The only sound in this attic is our heavy breathing.

“You technically didn’t answer, so I’m going to ask again… Will you be my girlfriend?”

I giggle, and look at him, while putting my arms around his neck.

“I think you got your answer by that kiss, but… If you so want to hear it… Yes, I’ll be your girlfriend.”

He laughs and puts his arms on the sides of my waist.

“Great…”

The projector forgotten, I kissed him again, before sliding down and putting my head on his chest.

“Sleep tight… I’m here for you…”

I hum in agreement, before feeling a pair of lips pushing against my forehead, and letting sleep consume me.