the prince and the peasant | skephalo | DISCONTINUED

night over

~Darryl's POV~

I filter out the TV's voices and focus on Zak. His loud chews were the only noises I chose to hear. I watched his steady movements, burying his hand in the bag of chips and keeping it in there until he swallows. As the protagonist of the movie gets rejected, he sighs, finally turning to return the stare.

His eyes sparkled with worry, he tilted his head slightly. "Are you ok?"

At last, I break my stare and turn to the TV. I nod awkwardly, trying to disregard the fact I sat there staring at him for a good 5 minutes. Small noises came from his mouth as the chip bag crinkled. Now he's focused on me. I curl my knees close to my chest, hugging them.

"Are you sure?"

"Mhm."

Sighing, he crawls in front of me, blocking my view from the TV. "Hey!" I yell at him as he gets closer. My vision starts to blur as he gets closer to my face. My head spins as our eyes lock. "What are you doing?" I ask nervously.

Zak gently places his hand on my forehead. He takes it off and sits to the side of me, still close by. "You're not hot. Are you cold? I have spare blankets."

"I'm fine," I say, tugging on the collar of my turtleneck as he backs away.

Zak jumps off his bed, taking a warm, cozy blanket from a storage area. "I don't believe it," he remarks, unfolding the blanket and tucking me under it. "Lay," he demands, pulling pillows from under my head. I listen.

Zak returns to his place in bed, pulling the covers over him. He lets out an exhale of relief. I think as he does. The feeling was odd. It felt nice but it was still new. I've always been told there were different feelings you can have when liking someone. It could be totally platonic, it could just be a sense of admiration, it be a feeling of "like-like" or it could be love.

I wasn't sure how deep the feeling was. I've never felt this way towards someone. I felt mad at myself for liking the prince of all people. If he knows my feelings, he'll think I'm doing it for the fame or the money. I don't want to lose him just because of my dumb crush. Plus, I'm not even sure if he's into boys.

My train of thought gets interrupted when I feel Zak snuggle his head close to my chest. He noticed my flinch and apologizes. "Sorry. I told you the turtleneck was cozy. You look really good!"

I smile as he compliments me. As the movie quiets, we're able to hear the rain fall outside the castle. It sounded heavy, just as heavy as earlier. Thunder clapped as the characters of the movie had reappeared. Zak sighs as he wraps his arms around of my upper body. I have no idea how to respond so I keep quiet. Maybe this is a normal thing. Maybe this is something the royal family does.

Together we sit quietly, watching the movie as rain hit against Zak's bedroom window. Zak laid his head in an open space between my chest and arm while hugging me tight. My arms seemed awkward. I had no idea where to put them or what to do with them. Zak inhales, "You smell good," he says. Again, I don't know how to react so I keep quiet.

Maybe this is a normal thing friends do? But Vincent and I never did this.

All in all, it didn't matter really. Zak could do this any time he wanted and I wouldn't care. The only con to all of this was my over exaggerated feelings. My mind was going a mile a minute. My heart was practically pounding out of my chest. My heartbeat was so loud, I was able to hear it and I bet Zak was able to too.

As the movie wraps up and the credits roll, Zak frees me from our one-sided hug and sits at the side of the bed. As he reached for the remote, the TV turns off. Zak waves his feet as he studied the clock. It seemed like he was unable to read it but to me, the time was clear. "7 'o clock," I tell him.