And then he stopped. Shane leaned his forehead against mine, breathing heavily, our eyes still closed, and he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.
"Astra," he mumbled against my lips. "Please don't hurt yourself."
And all at once, his body fell l...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
C H A P T E R F I F T Y - S E V E N
A s t r a *.✧
I pulled the suitcase downstairs, heaving and straining with the effort. Then I became fed up and just let go; it hit the floor with a heavy thump. I was so tired - Shane and I had been messaging until late last night, and even then I couldn't sleep so I'd decided to send Shane random memes until the early hours of the morning. Finley walked out of his door, presumably drawn by the noise, and was fixing the straps on his bag. He peered up at me.
"Asee... What are you wearing?! You look like a disgusting old granny." He wrinkled up his nose, clutching his bag closer to him like I reeked of something.
I glanced at my grey jogging bottoms and hoodie. "Really?'
"Obviously," he rolled his eyes exaggeratedly.
"I can see that Natalia has had an influence on you," I rolled my eyes back at him. Since when did this kid get so sassy?
"What does influence mean?"
"Like rubbing off on someone." I sighed and started climbing the stairs again as I considered what he'd said – maybe I really did need to change. "Don't touch the suitcase."
"Okay."
I gave him a stern look before hurrying along towards my room. I sighed when I caught sight of myself in the mirror, a sudden distaste lacing my features. I guess I could kind of see where Finley was coming from. The door creaked further open and I saw Finley standing beside it through his reflection in the mirror.
He folded his arms, watching me for a moment or so before sighing in that over-dramatic exaggerated way that Natalia loved to adapt.
"Let me decide."
He threw his bag on the floor behind him, discarding it like a piece of trash, and pranced over to my cupboard before dramatically flinging it open. I raised my eyebrow and watched as he sorted through the closet. Most of the clothes in there were old and in desperate need of throwing out.
I'd been procrastinating on cleaning out my cupboard for about four years. I wish I was joking.
Finley jumped up and pulled down a flowing summer-y dress from one of the highest shelves. He held it out in front of him for a moment before holding it up against his body. He turned around grinning.
"I'm not wearing that."
"Why not?" He scowled and held it out to me, expecting me to take it.
"Because... it's very... bright."
"It's summer. You're meant to wear bright clothes!" he said exasperatedly. I shook my head and he groaned loudly when he saw I wasn't budging anytime soon. "Okay then, you just wear your boring grey clothes in front of Shane."
