the not so romantic / simon minter

21

Dawn is about to break when she wakes up. Sitting up in Simon's bed, she rubs the sleep from her eyes and let's out an overtly loud yawn. She startles when Simon turns around in his chair, a shadow casting over him from the lowlight of his computer screen.

"Good sleep, sleeping beauty?" He asks, talking quietly, taking in consideration that his roommates might be sleeping, or they could be recording.

She notices that his face is splotchy and red, and that he looks exhausted. Sitting up on her knees, she moves to the edge of the bed and reaches for his hand.

"Come on you, get some rest in your own bed." When his hand clasps around hers, she lightly tugs on it; easing him up, and watching him collapse on his knees beside her on the bed.

His other hand rubs the side of his face, an exasperated sigh escaping his lips. But his eyes, even tired as they may be, stare at her with this sort of glisten; like she could be his rise or his demise.

"I don't mind sleeping on the couch, you know." She continues, feeling a red flush crawl against her cheekbones. "I know I'm probably being a nuisance, and it isn't fair that I kicked you out from your room."

A tired laugh escapes his lips. "You haven't. I clearly remember offering you my room."
He moves to the top of the bed and collapses, back first, and bright blue eyes looking for something written on her face.

Maggie sits on her bum, facing him, with her legs crisscross.

She watches him intently. Noticing their eyes are dancing with each other.  "Do you usually work this late?" The first question that breaks the silence.

"Mostly. It varies, though. I usually edit the videos for the next day during the night. It's so I don't have to worry, or panic, because all I have to do is upload it."

He stops, and hums for a second.

"Why didn't you ever get into writing?" He asks after a moment of silence. "I mean, like have you ever actually wanted to publish anything you write?"

Licking her lips, Maggie takes a second. "When I was in University, I always had Dominic reading over my writing, critiquing it, and telling me what I could do better. It was a lot, though. Whatever I wrote, it always seemed like he didn't think it was good enough. Even when I believed it was good enough." She stops and looks out the window, watching dawn break through the night sky. "There was one time, when I had enough of Dom telling me my writing wasn't good enough. So I went to a different editor, and funnily enough it was good. It was great, they said, and they gave it to their publisher. It was a done deal, we signed and everything. I even put it under a false name."

"I have a feeling there's a but..., coming in somewhere."

She quirks her eyebrow, nodding. "But, I get a call about a month later, right before they start making copies, and I was told some story that someone bought the rights, and suddenly I had become an almost published author, to a secretary working for Dominic."

"Bullshit. No way did that happen. It can't be legal, can it? Did you ever find out who?"

Maggie shrugs her shoulders. "Dominic said things like that happen all the time. And I quote, 'That's the way business goes. You make it or you're just not good enough.'"

"I'm pretty sure that's not how that saying goes."

"A small part of me thinks it was his way of putting down. To make sure I wouldn't be confident enough to go get any of my writing published. I wish I could say I don't mind, but I do." She shrugs her shoulders again, forcing a chuckle to elevate the tension building in her chest.

Simon presses his hand against hers. It's when they both realized that they were still holding onto each other, like someone had unknowingly glued their hands together so they could have this moment.

"I think you should start a blog. I think you'd be good at it." Simon says and continues, "plus we could do those articles from before. I could lend you my camera, and we'll give you all the dirty deets. That way you'll have the article before they can try and get someone else to do it."

"Are you taking about revenge?"

Simon grimaces. "I'm talking about more than that. I want to give you a chance. I may not be able to give you a New York Times bestseller, but you can give yourself the freedom of writing what you want, how you want it. Without the why, or that someone might be narrow-minding you; because they're scared that you could be better than them by a tenfold."

"You believe in me that much?" She asks, her voice breaking. Her chest feels light and fluttery--and she can only describe it as relief.

Simon shrugs, a playful smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Nah, not really."

Maggie bursts out laughing, lunging at him, straddling him, and aims to poke at his sides. His hips rise against hers, and there laughter bounces against the walls. An arm wraps around her waist, bringing her down against him, as he tries to grab her hands from her feverish attempts to tickle him.

When she collapses on top of him, she listens to his heart pound against his chest. It's loud, and steady, and only sometimes it falters a beat. She can feel her own beating, and she wonders if he can hear hers. Not only from exerting herself, but for feeling something that felt so foreign and new to her.

"Does this bother you?" He asks after the only sound you can hear is there rushed breathing turning slow and relaxed.

Looking up at him, her chin resting against his chest--she feels like she's been punched. His eyes are bright and full of excitement. Shaking her head, she feels the butterflies getting faster in her stomach.

When he reaches to cup her face in his hands, she instantly melts into it, stretching her body up towards him, she realizes if anyone else saw them--they'd think something was going on. Wouldn't they?

"I should probably let you sleep." She mumbles, slowly pulling herself off of him. A part of her wishes he would tell her to go, and that friends don't do this type of thing; but another part of her wants to stay with him, and relish in the warmth and light fluttery feeling he gives to her.

Before she can get up, he pulls against her hand lightly.

"Just..., stay like this. With me." He mumbles, resting his chin against her shoulder. "No one can see us." He assures her.

A/N: unedited. but I love this update sm. i love #minimags and there blossoming relationship. if you can guess which chapter the last part is from i'll give you a dedication in the next chapter

also, thank you so much for the love and support. I love u all so much!! 💕💕