5 

Taking the time to understand 

Mmmmm warm. I open my eyes and groan. My body feels heavy. Well no wonder. Colin is practically on top of me. His arm and legs are on me as he sleeps on his stomach. I turn to look out the balcony. The sun is shining and the ocean looks nice. I always thought about living close to the water. But I can’t swim. I scratch my head and move my braids around… my bonnet. And my scarf?! I sigh. What’s the point in tying my hair up just for me to wake up and they disappear? I look around my bed not feeling anything that resembles loose fabrics. I don’t even know why I try anymore. I turn to look at Colin. He’s slightly drooling by my shoulder. He looks calm. 

I don’t want to wake him. 

But it’ll be funny if I threw water on him. 

I trail my left hand over his face. Touching his lashes, nose, lips. To think those lips were on me yesterday. 

Omg. 

‘Where do we go from here?’ 

As if he could feel my stare he opens his eyes. 

“Morning.”

He doesn’t respond. He looks blankly at me. He moans before climbing more on top of me. Putting his head in my neck and wrapping his arms fully around me. 

“Colin!” 

“Mm?” He sighs as he finds his perfect spot on me.

I lift my head up pear at the clock. 

9:23. 

We’re supposed to be down stairs to leave around 11. Technically we have time but it takes a while for me to get ready. And how will Colin get ready? 

“Come on, you have to get up.” I pat his back. 

“Time?” He mumbles.

“Time to get up. You have to get back to your room.” 

He pushes himself up. Both hands beside my head. He looks down at me. His hair messy. 

“Hi.” I say softly. 

He throws himself back on his side of the bed. Laying on his back and staring at the ceiling. 

“Was I too heavy?” 

‘Damn his voice is sexy in the morning.’ 

“No. But we have to get ready to go down stairs.”

“It’s 9:25, we have time.” 

“You have time. It takes time to look this good.” 

“Sure.” He rolls himself fully on me. Burying my head in his chest. 

“Colin!” I whine. 

“Shhh. Go to sleep.”

“What!? No.” 

He lifts himself up again looking down at me. 

“Where did your scarf go?” 

“That’s a good question. Maybe you should move so I can go find it.”

He gives me a look before finally moving. I sit up, grabbing my phone and scrolling through Snapchat. 

“I missed a whole party being on this trip.” I shove my phone in Colin’s face. He looks uninterested, shrugging his shoulders. He’s sitting next to me now. Head laying on my shoulder.

“I’ve never been to a party before.” 

“How? I would always see your sister there.”

“I don’t know.” 

“I’ll take you to one, don't worry. You need to get out of your comfort zone.”

“Sure.” Colin moves to lay his head on my lap. Laying on his back with his legs dangling off the side of the bed. We lay like this for a while. My left hand plays with his hair while my other scrolls on my phone. 

“Atticus?! Atticus!? Are you up yet? I forgot my card.” Lillibeth screams from the hallway. Banging on our door. Colin jumps up. Looking at me in panic. 

“Woah, calm down.” 

“What do I do? Hide?”

“No. We’re not doing anything wrong.” Unless he feels like hiding. Are we something to hide? 

‘Am I looking too deep into this?’ 

Yes.

‘No. Why would he hide us? Oh yeah. He doesn’t actually like us…’

But I fear if I bring it up all the happy memoirs we just made will turn into nightmares. Just pretend. 

‘If I don’t bring up the problem, it never existed anyway. Right?’

“Ok so what do you want me to do?” 

“Just be you Colin nothing bad is happening.” I get up off the bed making my way to the door. 

“Took you long enough.” Lillibeth walks past me throwing her purse on the bed. 

“We really need to talk with Bre. The drama is-. Colin. Hi.” She glances at me. Her face unsure. 

He looks awkward. His body sprayed out on the bed, his eyes closed. Was he pretending to be asleep? 

He opens his eyes and glances at Lillibeth. “Oh… hey. I Mean- hi.” He sits up. Struggling for a while before he ends up standing awkwardly by the bed

‘No wonder he was bullied as a kid.’ 

There is silence for a while. 

“Well. This is a pleasant surprise.” She awkwardly laughs and makes her way to the bathroom. “I’m going to shower…” 

I look at Colin. 

“Nice job playing it cool.” 

“I panicked” He shrugs. 

“Why? There is no need for you to panic.” I walk over to the door opening it. “Now get out.” 

“What?” 

“Get out. I already told you I have to get ready. I’ll see you downstairs.” 

He looks defeated as he makes his way towards me. He stops in front of me. 

“Promise?” I look up at him and smile. 

“Yeah.” I say softly. He smiles back and slowly gives me a kiss.

Omg he’s so hot. 

He stiffly walks out and as I close the door-

“Bitch.” I jump, turning to see Lillibeth out the bathroom. Still fully clothed. 

“I thought you were showering.”

“Showering my ass. You have some explaining to do.”