Songbird

chapter 6

"Atlas."

"Atlas," I hear someone whisper again as they lightly shake me awake.

I don't remember falling asleep. The last thing I do remember was hugging Sage and telling him I forgave him.

My eyes shoot open, adjusting to the darkness of my room. It takes me a second to realize there is no light in my room, and I begin to panic.

I quickly sit up, my eyes searching frantically around the room until a lamp is switched on. My gaze lands on Sage who is sitting beside me on the bed, a glass of water in his hand.

Almost immediately I feel myself calm down, air making its way back into my lungs and my heartbeat slowing.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he apologizes, but I know he knows it wasn't because of him, before handing me the water.

Such a simple gesture has brought back so many memories. I was always forgetting to drink water, but Sage was always there to remind me.

"Thank you," I say, taking a sip of the water. "What time is it?"

"It's almost nine, I wanted to let you sleep but I figured you should eat something first."

"I'm not really that hungry," I lie, leaving out the fact that I have nothing in my house to make.

"I had a feeling you would say that, so I got you this," he says, grabbing something off the nightstand and handing it to me.

I hold the bag in my hands, already knowing what's inside. I open it up, reach in and pull out the warm chocolate croissant.

"You remembered?"

"Of course I did," he smiles at me. "I remember a lot of things."

And so for the next twenty minutes, Sage tells me about the latest car he's been working on while I continue to eat fairly slowly.

It's strange how fast the whole dynamic switched from uncertainty to familiarity. Oh how I wish it could stay like this forever, but I know it can't no matter how much I want it to.

After all, this is the second time we've been in this situation and it didn't end well the first time.

"So," I start, unsure of how to have this conversation. "What happens now?"

"What do you mean?" he asks, confusion evident on his face.

I motion between myself and him. "With us. How will this work? Do you expect me to just forget everything that happened and be best friends again? I know I said I forgive you but it might take time for me to trust you again."

"What? No of course not, I don't expect that at all," he rushes out, and I can tell he's frustrated. Not at me but at himself.

"Then what do you expect?"

"Honestly?" I nod. "I hadn't thought this far."

That's one thing about Sage, he doesn't do things by the books. He doesn't follow any instructions and he doesn't like planning.

He does things in the moment and just hopes for the best. It's one of the many things I love about him.

"That doesn't surprise me at all," I confess and he lets out a quiet laugh.

"I thought it'd take longer for you to talk to me, I had a plan and everything." Now that surprises me.

"A plan?" I question, wondering what exactly he had planned.

"I had a whole plan on how to win your friendship back but then you came to my house. I was confused because I never thought that would happen and it threw everything off. My plan didn't account for something like that so I just kind of went with it from there," he explains, looking a little embarrassed at the admission.