You're Already Mine

Chapter Eleven

TW: Minor SH, yelling

"So that was our second kiss."

"Fifth. We kissed at the beach, twice on the Ferris wheel, once in the fairground alleys, and once just now."

"Oh, right," she says, facepalming. "I'm so stupid. How could I forget-" She starts hitting herself again.

"Hey, hey, hey." I quickly pull her arms toward me, my fingers gently wrapped around her wrists. She won't look at me, and a moment of silence passes.

"Are you mad?" she asks softly.

"Mad? Why would I be- Clover."

Another moment of silence.

"Clover, look at me. Please."

She briefly glances at me, and then looks down. I cradle her chin in my palms, but she still won't look. Her eyes are green pools of tears.

"Why would I be mad at you?" I ask softly.

She shrugs, still refusing to meet my eyes.

"Clover, I like you. A lot. Okay? I won't leave you."

"I like you too," she says quietly.

I wrap her up in a warm embrace, squeezing her tight. We pull apart, and she wipes her eyes with one sleeve.

"I'm sorry.."

"Sorry? For what?"

"For being such a burden on you-"

"No." I tilt her chin up with one finger. "You're not a burden on me. I swear on my life."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

The hours pass by. I draw an aesthetic portrait of her, and we do puzzle books together and play truth or dare. We fall asleep in our day clothes while watching a Marvel movie, and when I wake up, the sun is just starting to rise, painting the clouds gold.

I see her laying next to me. She sleeps on her left side, so I can see her peaceful face. Her glasses are on the bedside table, catching the golden sunlight that filters through Clover's bedroom window.

I'm not sure what to call us. We've kissed several times, and we've confessed our feelings to each other. I'll have to ask her when she wakes up.

Right on cue, she rubs her eyes and yawns, slowly sitting up.

"Good morning," I say.

"Good morning!"

"I should probably get going soon. My dad might be angry if I stayed too late."

"But it's only-"

"Actually, on second thought, he could deal with it. I'll text him to let him know." I pull out my phone and shoot him a message: "spending the day at clover's" before turning it off.

"I don't want you to go yet," she says quietly.

"I know. And I'm not going back until probably eleven tonight."

"My younger siblings should be awake by now. Would you like to meet them?"

"Sure."

So Clover gets up and waves at me to follow her. I spring up from the bed and trail behind her, out of the bedroom. She knocks on the door across the hall from hers, and I hear a muffled voice. Clover opens the door with a smile.

"Clover!" one of the kids screams, getting up from her bottom bunk.

The room is filled with toys- a mess of Legos on a white table on the right, three boxes of dolls and furniture beside the dollhouse in the back right corner, shelves on the left wall baring stuffed animals (at least thirty of them being cats), and a rug on the floor that has another dollhouse open and little toys scattered around its rooms. The bunk bed is in the left back corner, the long side facing the door. Fluorescent stars emit a dim glow from the ceiling.