the propinquity effect

06

+ 06 +

I flipped to the other side of the bed, trying so hard to make myself comfortable. It was four in the morning and I obviously didn't understand how I could wake up at four. Like it had been a habit of mine since the week before. No matter at what time I slept, I would always wake up at four. It did freak me out for a second but I had gone used to it.

It was December 31st and it would soon be January 1st. I felt like it was only yesterday that 2013 had started. And obviously I spent it doing absolutely nothing at all. Unless you'd count playing video games and reading the same books over and over being productive. Then yes, I was productive.

So I decided and I made a mental promise to myself that I was going to let my heart break again reading "The Fault in Our Stars". I had read it ten times but it never failed to let my tears stream down my cheeks uncontrollably. It was just so sad and tragic I felt my heart being chopped into tiny pieces. After I was done reading it, I would totally read The Hunger Games trilogy again just because they were my favorite books.

My mind started to wander and my eyes became even more wider signalling me that I wasn't going to go back to sleep again no matter how hard I'd try. I blinked a few times and rolled out of my bed, letting the blanket wrap around me and made me look like a cocoon. The spines of my books and the titles could be seen even in the dark.

I pulled The Fault in Our Stars out and walked over to my window-seat, leaning on the wall behind me. My blanket was still around me and it provided warmth yet restriction but I liked it. So I let it stay around me for quite a while.

I looked to my left, wishing that maybe Michael might be on the other window and I was correct. His hair was tousled and he looked like he had just gone out of bed, similar like me. His legs were pulled up into his chest and his arms wrapped securely around them. Michael rested his chin on his knees, looking at nothing and I smiled.

We probably had the same tendency to wake up at four in the morning. On his hands were a book that I had gone too familiar with and I knew I was smiling from ear to ear. It was "Mockingjay" the last book from The Hunger Games trilogy. He probably took notice of my presence and looked at me.

I had not seen him after our family had the Christmas dinner. For some reasons, he just shut himself from me. Not like I minded because I tend to do the same thing. But I just wished he would tell me what happened so I could probably talk to him about his problems. He gave me a book, it was "Divergent" by Veronica Roth and I laughed because I already had it. He said it was one of his favorite books so he decided to give a copy to me.

He waved a little after he knew that I was awake too and I only nodded in response because I didn't know what to do. Michael opened his window, probably to communicate with me and I did the same thing. He hung his feet off the edge like usual and he still had the worst posture from all of the people in the world but I had a bad posture too so I couldn't really blame him.

"Are you free tonight?" Michael asked. I nodded because I had no plan rather than shoving my nose into books that I had read. And maybe I was going to see the fireworks down the street just because I was too lazy to drive to town.

"I have two concert tickets, I was planning to go with my friend but he bailed," Michael said and I knew he was frustrated with his friend. I laughed because I had gone used to my friends bailing me or leaving me or something like that. But I had never gone to a concert before.

"What concert?" I asked because I just needed to make sure. It wouldn't be funny if he would go out to a hardcore metal band concert because those kinds of music wasn't exactly my taste.

"All Time Low, plus I could take you out on New Year's Eve I mean that'd be cool." He said, ruffling his hair and shrugging. He had the tendency to lower his voice after four words in his sentence. But I knew he lowered his voice because he was nervous. He just indirectly asked me out and being asked out in New Year's Eve wasn't my thing.