I let myself drown in the warmth of my blankets, hearing the water flowing as Liam showers.

Today was such a normal day, I went to school, ate on the roof with Noah and Malakai, two of my classmates, then came back home. Although, Malakai tripping on the stairs going up the roof was the highlight of my day.

I had imagined our reunion, of Liam and I, a few times. I would go back to my city and ambush him somewhere - like he did to me tonight. But I’m a coward. I’m scared of going back there.

Liam isn’t here to play catch-up. As soon as the sun is up, he’ll go back to our hometown. What I do with the information he gave me, what happens to me from now on, doesn’t concern him. Besides, it’s not like he could stay anyway, I don’t even know what kind of excuse he gave his parents for coming here. Is he still in school? Does he have a job? Something clenches in my chest. It feels like I don’t know anything about him anymore. By leaving, I created a gap between us. I know I have no right to be upset about it, but still-

It’s weird to know that he's at the end of the corridor, sleeping in my guest room where Noah and Malakai usually sleep. If he checks the drawer, he’ll find Noah and Malakai’s pyjamas. I bet he wondered why I have 3 toothbrushes in my bathroom.

Every first Friday of the month, Noah, Malakai and I have a movie night. We usually all come back together from university, buy some popcorn, pizza and ice cream - for Noah of course, this guy could eat ice cream under any weather - on our way here, then we pick a movie. Malakai and I have the same tastes in movies, we basically can watch anything except musical comedy movies - which Noah loves, unfortunately. He also is a huge fan of horror movies, which I find fascinating. Who would think that this pure, naive kid, with pink hair, who doesn’t have a clue that WAP from Cardi C exists, actually loves scary movies?

Knocks on the door disturbed my thoughts. Liam comes in.

He takes in his surrounding for a few seconds, hoping I wouldn’t notice. “Hey, could I have your new number?” he asks, looking really sleepy. “I guess you have school tomorrow, if anything happens, I want you to call me straight away.”

“Sure, dad,” I answer as I hand him my phone.

My eyes wander up and down his body shamelessly. His tank top leaves nothing to the imagination. It embraces his sculpted chest and abs perfectly. 

F*ck he’s hot. Next to him, I definitely look like a twig, although I do work out a little bit.

He notices my gaze and grins, handing me back the phone. “I’ll go back to my room then. Thank you for letting me stay, have a good night.” He turns around and leaves my room, not letting me answer. 

Good night? What a joke. With what you told me about my family? With you sleeping in my guest room? Like hell I am going to sleep. 

****

I barely slept. 

I stop the alarm on my phone and get back under the sheets. This is bad, I spent all night worrying and being paranoid. My head hurts so bad I want to bang it against the wall.

But there’s something else that’s been bothering me for the past 10 minutes, a closer threat: something’s burning.

I leave my bedroom and rush to the living room, where the kitchen also is. There, I find him, crazy bed hair, my blue apron on, in front of the stove. He turns around and I can see the panic in his eyes. 

“I was cooking scrambled eggs when I received a message, I went to check my phone for like a second and..”

“So you still can’t cook, do you?” I cut him as I get closer to the stove. What I see is an abomination - it’s as black as the frying pan. Who screws up scrambled eggs? “Let me take care of it. I don’t want you anywhere near this kitchen ever again.”

“I just wanted to cook breakfast for the both of us…” he says, with a sad puppy look.

“Well, that was a nice effort, but I’m definitely not eating this. I’m throwing this away before it starts growing legs.” I put the whole thing in the trash, wash the pan and take out a pancake mix. I feel him standing next to me. I look up to see the look on his face: as expected, it’s joy. For some reason, Liam likes pancakes more than anything else in this world. Although they’re not homemade, he still seems very happy with just a pancake mix. “I need to get milk Liam, you’re in the way.” He stares at me for a second and then apologizes, moving to the kitchen counter. My heart is beating faster. Why though? 

I take the milk and keep on going with my pancake mission.

****

I put the plate of pancakes on the black marble counter, take a chair and sit in front of him. Judging by the dark cushions his eyes are resting on, he hasn’t slept much either.

“Can I call you by your real name?” he asks, out of the blue, as if the cover the awkward silence that installed itself.

I think for a moment. My real name is attached to so many painful memories. “I’d rather you didn’t, actually.”

He nods. “Sure, then I won’t.” He takes 3 pancakes and puts them on his plates, then follows with putting jam on them. “You look really tired, Adriel”, he pauses, I can see that it’s weird for him to call me that way. “Do you have to go to school today?”

“I have to”, I say as I take a bite of pancake. “It’s chicken day at the cafeteria, I can’t miss that.” He gives me a passive look. I can see a WTF written all over his face. “I’m going. You can leave whenever you want. Just please, do not cook. I have some dried ramen in the cupboard over the sink. You can do that right? Boil some water without setting the whole building on fire?”

“You’re an asshole, you know that right?”

“Oh yes I know,” I answer, before finishing my pancake. I’m really not hungry. I quickly leave to get changed. 

After a few minutes, I come back, to find him doing the dishes.

As I’m heading out, I glance back in his direction. All I can see are the muscles of his back. “Leave the key under the rug when you go.” Silence. “Thanks for warning me.” Silence again. “Bye.” I open the front door and the cold slaps my face. It’s time to face this day as if nothing was out of the ordinary. I’m sure everything will be fine.

Spoiler alert, it wasn’t fine.