Nepenthe | Sapnap |

Thirty Degrees Under the Stars

What am I saying? My brain is already going in circles.

Pulling my head out from Nick's neck, I glanced up at him.

"You can be straight with me."

Fuck it.

I kept my left arm tucked against my chest as I took back my right arm and slowly moved it up to poke Nick straight in the forehead.

He scrunched his face up and let out a groan before relaxing his face.

I poked him again.

"Are you awake?" I whispered.

"I am now," he responded with his eyes closed. His voice low and gravely from not being used, the air he was breathing in through his mouth most likely making his throat dry.

Pulling my hand away from his face and tucking it into my chest with my other arm, I raised my voice enough to match his, "I can't sleep."

"Sucks for you," Nick slid his arms out from under and around me to roll over with his back to me now.

I scoffed. This bitch.

Propping myself up on my elbow to give me enough height to rest my chin against his arm I tried talking to him again, "Wanna go for a walk?"

He finally opened his eyes. Twisting his head to look up at me, he had a face mixed with confusion and annoyance and I can't blame him. I did just wake him up, I would be annoyed too.

"What?" He shook his head as he shifted his head to look at the clock down at the foot of the bed next to his tv, "Kate, it's three in the morning."

"Please?"

Sighing, he flipped the covers off of him and ran a hand down his face, "Go grab your jacket."

I sprung up from the bed to grab the hoodie I borrowed from him that I took off before bed, slipped it over my t-shirt and quickly and quietly went down the stairs to get my jacket and shoes on. Clay's door was shut and no lights were on so hopefully he was actually asleep and didn't hear us leave.

Nick locked the door behind us and shoved his key into his sweatpants pocket. Turning around, he craned his neck up to the night sky. Small breaths coming out of his mouth as he wrapped his own jacket tighter around his torso before looking down at me, already at the bottom of the steps.

"So, where do you wanna go?" He asked me as he hopped down the steps on his toes to join me on the sidewalk.

"How does the park sound?"

"Lead the way," he outstretched his arm, waiting for me to start walking.

I tilted my wrists upwards quickly to get them to successfully crack as I gave him a tight-lipped smile before starting our walk under the stars at 3:23 in the morning, the day before Christmas Eve.

The walk was silent besides one of us letting out a deep breath every now and then to watch our visible breaths float up until it dissipated. I was waiting for him to say something, but he just kept quiet and matched my pace as we continued making our way to the small children's park that was a block away from his house.

The weather was cold but bearable with the absence of wind. Looking at him from the corner of my eye, his nose was beginning to turn just the slightest bit pink but overall, he seemed unbothered, just staring straight ahead with a steady breath.

Why did I wake him up and practically beg to go for a walk in the middle of the night? He most definitely wants to be back in his warm house right now under the blankets and I ripped him away from that.