Supine 'til Aurora • Dan Howell

• Chapter 20 •

Deciding I'd leave them to it, and that I wanted some more time outside before I left, I pulled my laptop out my bag, and headed out my room, slipping some shoes on and heading out into the corridor of the apartment building, the guy I was talking to previously glancing up from the piece of furniture he was shuffling down the hall.

"Where you headed?" He frowned, glancing at me as he picked up another box and followed me down the hall with it in his grasp.

"I'm headed out." I asserted, tightening my grip on my laptop.

"I can see that." He chuckled as we rounded the stairs; him slowing slightly to balance himself on the steps, wobbling with the box tightly pressed against him.
"But where?"

"You're very nosey." I asserted, smiling, as we got to the second flight of stairs.

"Sorry- it's more curiosity, because I'm extremely bored."

"Well I'm sorry that I'm moving." I grinned, making him chuckle again.

"That's alright; anyway where are you headed?"

"Well since I don't have long here before I'm leaving, I've decided I'm going to go and sit in my favourite spot and spend some more time on my laptop out there, because everything is pretty much packed now."

"That's sounds fun." Then he paused a moment, "would it be okay if I came?"

I stared at him a moment, "Excuse me?"

"It's just that I have nothing else to do today, and this was the last box I needed to take down; after than my boss said I can go."

I continued to frown at him, "Okay, I'm not saying this is the reasoning behind why you want to come or anything, but you know I have a boyfriend, right?"

"I did not know that." He smiled awkwardly, "alright, well- can I come as your friend, rather than as a weird guy who tried to ask you out?"

I frowned again, contemplating, and thinking about how uncomfortable this conversation was.

"I know I probably sounds rude, but I'd really rather go on my own. It's probably gonna be my last time doing this for a while."

He nodded, inhaling slowly and awkwardly, "well, it was nice to meet you." And with that he sulked off, back upstairs.

○○○

It was beyond wondeeful to just sit alone on my bench, the air chilly and crisp, in front of the elm tree, beside the heavy thistle bush winding it's way around the legs of the seat. The park was practically deserted, besides a lonely dog walker, her collar pulled up around her jawline as she watched her border collie bound around sporadically, darting through a few remaining piles of snow scatted across the icy ground. It was forcast to snow again, but not until after I had left, which I was relieved of. Travelling to the airport in shin-deep snow would not have been fun, at all.

I took in my surroundings as I clicked around on my laptop, slowly editing an image of a snowy rose that I'd taken a few days ago. It was pale pink, the core of it almost red, snow lining the tips of its petals and it's spiked thorns lining the stems. The background was blurred, but not to the point of an indistinguishable background; you could still make out the hundreds of roses behind it.
It was one of my favourite pictures I'd ever taken, for definite.

As I edited, I immersed myself in the picture, so much so that I became very pissed off when the sound of someone's voice broke me away from my cocoon of photography.

"Hey! Fancy meeting you here!"

Hastily, I looked up, staring at the person who I had just shut down.

"And why are you here?" I asserted, slightly rudely albeit, but with necessary attitude all the same.

"Well, you saying that your favourite spot was a park made me want to take a look at this beauty you had been telling me about, and I've gotta say, " he stopped, leaning up against a tree in front of me, "it is very beautiful here."

"I know." I stated matter-of-factly, "that's why I'm here."

He grinned, "you know I'm not here in a stalkerish way, right? I genuinely didn't know this is where you'd come; but that can-do attitude made me wanna come to a park, and it just so happens to be this one. And let me tell you, you have good taste in parks."

I rolled my eyes, "is this meant to be flirting? Because I still have a boyfriend."

"I know, I know." He sighed, taking a seat next to me, "I thought I might as well try."

I glanced at him, before looking back down at my laptop, "and now you're on my bench. How lovely."

○○○

"Sorry about ruining your alone time at the park." He smiled, turning to me at the park gate. "My name's Milo, by the way. I just realised I didn't tell you my name."

I grinned, tucking my laptop under my arm.
"Well, I'll see you later, Milo."

"You will?"

"No."

And with that, I marched down the road to the tram station, taking everything in as quickly headed back to my apartment building, the night air whipping my cheeks, the snowy trees rustling quietly behind me.

On the short walk to the tram station, I was once again left to my thoughts, which I had a lot of.

One of which, was the questioning behind why I was dreaming about my childhood.
I had refrained from looking it up, as Google would likely find a way to persuade me I was dying of something, but I was still curious.

Maybe it was the fact I'd been in much more frequent contact with Ashton and Alex? That was a possible trigger for the dream scenarios to occur.

Either way, it was becoming increasingly annoying to dream about, and I could only hope that they would stop as soon as I could adjust to life around both of them. Maybe once I got used to having them around the dreams would come to a halt?

As I reached the tram station, I shoved my hands into my pockets, pressing my lips together and flicking my mind to something else in an attempt to relieve some stress of the dreams and the upcoming move.

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Next chapter is the move! Keep reading! It's going to be good.