frenemies (with benefits)

[16]

wc: 1.7k

welcome back to another episode

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as soon as you get home, its straight upstairs to your prison cell.

your parents greet you, ask about homework and all that jazz before you're walking up the steps to your room to wait until dinner.

"heading out" your mom calls from the other end of your door after what feels like hours before walking back down the steps.

the rumbling of the garage and the whirr of a car starting fills the silence before she's gone, leaving you alone. whole place to yourself.

you sit splayed on your bed, the minutes quietly passing as your backpack stares at you from across the room.

figuring there's nothing else better to do, you flop down on the floor to do the only thing you really can do. homework.

you pull out a notebook and try to get some work done, but instead are left trying to fend off your wandering thoughts.

what had tanaka been up to this weekend? you were looking forward to just hanging out, but your current situation stopped any chance of that happening.

instead you spent your saturday and sunday holed up in your room curious if he had left you any new messages.

the only opportunity you had was school, hoping you'd have time to talk after class, but he was still working on his test by the time the bell rang.

you packed up your thing trying to wait around for him outside the door for a few minutes, but ultimately ended up heading over to the journalism club to turn your school camera in and hear prez gush about the footage you took last friday. you didn't want to leave so soon, but you had a new curfew, courtesy of your mom.

you had walked just a little slower to the entrance that day, hoping he just might catch up before you left the school building. i mean, if he wanted to.

he might just think you hate him or some shit like that.

if he sent you a message to hang out and you never answered, he probably thought you just didn't want to hang.

the thought spirals in your head longer than it should, pencil absentmindedly tracing over your notebook paper before bella's barking at the front door and the ring of a doorbell ground you.

you wave it off as just another amazon package before the door rings for a second time.. and then a third.

bella doesn't let up on her barking, only getting more frantic with each ring before you finally stand up from your makeshift floor desk and peek through your door.

the coast is clear you reason before quickly making your way down the steps.

staying in your room didn't mean staying in your room all the time, right? not when someone who was clearly important enough to ring three times stood at the front door.

you got to the bottom of the steps, bella's barking quieting to welcome you back into the real world with a happy lick at your palm before taking position next to you.

the figure is blurry through the window of the door. but before you can even make out any concrete shapes, the figure is gone the way they came.

bella considers this a win, trotting back to her bed on the living room carpet for her victory nap after another successful defense operation.

you lean down, peering through the window for any trace of that random person, but ultimately give up to trudge your way back upstairs where your unfinished homework greets you from the floor.