warmth {complete}

19||because you're mine, i walk the line

"I made a friend," I announce, flinging the door to my house open and sauntering to the kitchen. "Her name's Arden and she has very pretty brown eyes."

"That's nice, honey," Mom says, widening her eyes and jerking her head in the direction of the three people in our living room. "You've met the Greenes, haven't you, Katherine?"

"Yeah, at school a while ago," I say, shaking their hands anyway. Griffin rubs his thumb over my knuckles in a teasing way when we shake hands; I narrow my eyes at him. "Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Greene, Griffin. How are you?"

"We're great, dear," Mr. Greene says, grinning at me. Griffin rolls his eyes and scowls at the floor, and I try not to notice. "And you?"

"I'm fine," I say, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear. "Mom, when is dinner going to be ready?"

"An hour or so, if you want to give Griffin a tour of the house," she suggests, nodding to the staircase.

"Sure, okay," I say, walking ahead of him to the stairs. "These are the stairs. You walk up them and then you're upstairs."

"Ooh."

I crack a smile and point to the first door to my left. "That's Becca and Stephanie's room. They don't believe in cleaning, and they'll probably smell boy if you go in. Moving on. This is Joseph and Sam's room." I push the door open and pop my head inside. "Hey, bros. This is Griffin, Mom's friend's son."

"Hi, Griffin, Mom's friend's son," they say in unison without tearing their eyes from the TV.

"Dinner will be ready in an hour," I tell them.

"Cool."

"This was fun, you guys."

"Yeah."

I pull the door shut and point to one across the hall. "That's Mom's room. It's sacred. That's Dana's room, it smells like shit, and this is my room, which you've been in before."

"Can we hide in here?" he asks, eyeing my closed door longingly.

"Yes, but if my mother asks, you made me," I say, pointing a finger at him and nudging the door open. He whoops quietly once we're inside, then sprawls across my bed and reaches for the remote. He selects Jessica Jones, which we started last night, and pulls me down next to him.

I don't understand why I'm not more concerned with the fact that I'm lying on my bed with a boy. I think it's the TV; it blocks out the sound of his breathing and his heartbeat until the only thing that alerts me of his presence is the heat radiating from his skin and our ankles touching.

"Her nose is so pretty," I sigh, propping myself up on my elbows and glancing over at Griffin.

"It's weird."

"You're wrong."

"I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree."

"Mmm."

We don't talk again, but we don't have to. His arm slides over the distance between us until our elbows are touching, and then he turns on his side to look at me. I raise an eyebrow, he shrugs then pulls me against him, back to chest.

"What'cha doing?" I ask, even though I don't mind at all.

"Snuggling." He tucks his face into the crook of my neck and breathes deeply. "Don't make it weird, Katherine."

"I can't not make it weird. We're cuddling in broad daylight."

"Stop ruining the moment."

"I'm not ruining— "

"You are ruining the moment, and— "

"Shit, is that my mom?"

We stare at each other, stricken, as my mother's wedges clunk against the stairs and her melodious laugh rises to my ears. I swear and scramble off the bed, pulling Griffin with me by the wrist. I run a hand through my hair and his, then I pause the TV and point to a poster of Sleeping At Last.

"Yeah, when I was in sixth grade—oh, hey, Mom," I greet too-sweetly, flashing a smile and lowering my hand to my side. "I was just showing Grant— "

"It's Griffin," he says, winking at me when my mother looks away.

"Oh, sorry. I'm terrible with names."

We laugh, and my mother smiles happily. "Okay, well, I thought I heard something. I'm just checking on you."

"We're fine," I assure her. "I dropped my phone."

"I see." She smiles at Griffin, then says, "You know; Katherine is a shoe-in for valedictorian at graduation this year."

"Really?" he says, nodding and smiling at me. "That's cool."

"Isn't it?" She nods and looks between us for a moment before heading back down the stairs.

I close the door after her, and Griffin's pulling me back to the bed before I can think about anything else.

A/N: I'm so tired and it's like 1 p.m. My liiiiife. Wattpad says it's having trouble saving my story, but Wattpad can suck it. I don't know what I'd do without auto-correct, because I cannot spell the word receive. I know the i before e except after c  thing, but I just ignore it?????? I suck. Anyway, thank you for readinggg.