Under The Moonlight

Chapter 19 (Part 1)

I was nibbling on the back end of my pen, a bad habit I had picked up when I was seven years old. It was half past eleven and Raven was still not home and my worry was exponentially increasing. What if he had somehow gotten himself kidnapped or gotten into an accident? I pinched my arm when I thought of a bloody Raven lying by some ditch in a dark alleyway.

He was a big boy. He could take care of himself. But when I couldn't concentrate on studying anymore, I was out of the house for fresh air. The crisp wind  blew through my locks, tossing it about interfering with my vision. 

Few minutes passed and I was still on the lookout for a silhouette that mildly resembled Raven. He wasn't picking his phone as well. Gnawing at my nails, I laid down on the freshly cut grass of my porch looking at the stars. The silence made my heartbeat seem louder as the thudding of my heart engulfed me. I was going to have a full blown panic attack soon and I took deep breaths to calm myself. 

I turned to counting the stars for relief when nothing else seemed to work. There were a lot of stars twinkling in the vast black background of the sky and if I closed my eyes, the sounds of the insects singing and the breeze humming, softly caressing my head as it blew seemed like magic. 

I let it take over me. 

--

I felt myself swaying. 

A familiar scent wrapped around me and I leaned towards the source. The gentle bounding stopped as soon as it started and I felt myself placed against a soft surface. Prying my eyes open, I saw Raven change into his night clothes. He moved about the room as quietly as possible and I tried not to drift off. I wanted to talk. I missed him.

He sat at the edge of the mattress, by my waist, and played with my hair.

"I'm sorry. You must have been worried." He sighed, leaning forward as he kissed my forehead. 

"What time is it?" I softly muttered, trying to come back to my senses and he flinched. 

"Sorry for waking you up. It's half past twelve, I guess."  

He sounded apologetic and proceeded to lie down beside me, pulling me onto his chest when he was comfortable. I snuggled against his chest, too tired to talk. 

He took it upon himself to explain why, noticing that I was too tired to do so.

"Mia wanted help in sorting out the accounts for this month and since it was really late by the time we were done, I offered to drop her home. She lives pretty far away." 

I squeezed him in response, a motion to tell him that I was listening. I was now forcing myself not to sleep because it had been nearly two weeks since I had gotten to talk to him properly. He was very busy all the time, juggling school work and his part time job and the only time I got to have him was at lunch on weekdays and Sundays. 

Lunch always ended too soon and I hated myself for being so selfish and wanting more. More time with him when he already had so much to do. And the past two Sundays, he needed time to figure out how to manage everything without crashing. He had jotted down points into his new planner, a gift from me when I noticed how he liked to write his plans down. 

The only plan he had come up with was to not do anything on a Sunday. He wanted that time to paint and possibly hang out with me but since he was just adapting to this new schedule, he did not have any time. He also started to wake up as early as five just to have some breathing time but it wasn't as hard considering that he was a morning person. 

"Also please cover yourself in warm clothes if you plan on sleeping outside. You were ice cold when I got to you. It worried me."

"Was waiting for you." I slurred. "Didn't know I fell asleep."

"I'm so sorry, Seb."

"I missed you." 

He hugged me tight, kissing my head and I fell asleep.