the professional cuddler • jenzie

4 ☼ i need you

"Of course–what's wrong?"

She sniffs again. "I get migranes from time to time. I just... need you– someone, tonight."

A pang of worry hits my gut. I've heard of migranes before; on of my mates from my old basketball team used to get them from dehydration and stress. The headaches would leave him bed-ridden for hours, asleep, in pain, and drugged to the max. They sounded horrible, and had a massive effect on his life. "Where do you live? I ask finally, moving to slip on my slides and grabbing a leather jacket from the back of my chair.

"Gladson Road, number seventeen. It's down past my high school." She tells me quietly.

"Okay. Do you have... medication or anything?"

"Yeah." She sighs. "I just need some help with getting to sleep."

"Okay." I say again, exhaling.

"You can stay the night– if you want. I know you won't sleep on your own, and I really do care about that. You need sleep just as much as I do anyway." She whispers.

"Oh," I slowly say, insides twisting like someones swirling them around with a fork.  "Thanks Mackenzie. I... will."

"Okay. Bye Johnny. See you soon."

"See you soon.." I confirm, trying to stop the smile that's spreading across my features. "Bye."

She cares about my wellbeing. She cares about me.

☼

Mackenzie's house stands tall and proud in the middle of her street. It's painted a sandy colour; a greying yellow, and objects like bikes and scooters and shoes and balls and frisbees are strewn throughout her front yard in a precarious way. On her front porch, a couch is resting with a blanket hazardously strewn across it and books are stacked on a side table. A bright garden with flowers and plants scattered all around catches my eye, and I take particular notice of the dark red roses as Mackenzie told me they were her favourite flower in our game of twenty one questions.

Her house, to put it simply, looks like a place people have fun in.

Thankfully I arrived here very fast and my parents didn't object to me coming at all; I got my drivers license last year, and anyway, they love Mackenzie.

After taking in Kenzie's entire house with curious eyes, I finally shut my car off and get out onto the pavement. Brushing my hair out of my face, I lock the car and begin to walk up the front path, dodging various items as I go.

I hold my hand out to knock on the door and just as my hand is about to make contact with the wood the door is flung open and porch light switched on. A girl, taller than me, that looks about twenty, stands on the threshold holding a finger to her lip. Her hair is dark but light at the ends and her bright  blue doe-like eyes are the dominant feature in her face. All in all, she looks exactly like Mackenzie but with different eyes.

"Hi." She greets me quietly. "I know who you are. You're Johnny. I'm Maddie."

"Hi Maddie." I smile tentatively, shyly, feeling my cheeks heat up. And then; "I know who you are too."

She laughs quietly. "Come in, I'll take you to Kenzie's room. Mind the shoes, sorry."

I step around the haul of gumboots and heels and sneakers and jandals and sandals and slippers that are just inside the doorway, taking in the details of her house as much as I can. Paintings of what I deem 'people' are stuck to the walls, a mishmash of shapes and colour, and a hallway leads to the heart of their house with doors on either side.