Endless

A Run In

I was not a huge fan of Sage's reputation, knowing that he was all about parties and popularity, but there was no doubt that he was undeniably attractive. He smiled softly at me and shook his head.

"My fault, I was looking at my phone," he admitted as he leaned down to pick up my wallet, handing it to me. I took it from him and smiled halfheartedly at him. He didn't return the smile, though, scanning my face intently as he knitted his eyebrows together.

"What?" His eyes flickered around my face.

"Your head..." He trailed off. I frowned.

"What about it?"

"It's bruising." My eyes narrowed and my hand instinctively went up to my forehead, which caused me to suck in a sharp breath at the pain that shot through my entire body from that one touch. Sage's eyes were laced with concern now and he reached up to remove my hand from my face. He examined the bruise, completely engulfed in it. I sighed, moving away from him.

"I'm fine," I lied. I didn't want him to think I was weak or anything, not being able to handle a little bruise. It did hurt like hell, but he didn't need to know that. Plus — and I'd never tell him this — his stare was intimidating.

"You're not," he responded. I quirked an eyebrow.

"What makes you say that?"

"Because every time you talk, you wince." I hadn't even realized that talking was making the pain worse, but I guess it was showing on my face. I sighed in defeat and stayed quiet. After a moment of silence, he spoke again. "Alright, come on." He lightly grabbed my elbow, and wow, Deja Vu much?

"Where are we going?" He was guiding me down the corridor towards the exit.

"My apartment." And it was simple and quick, and I almost hadn't heard him.

"What? Why?" I shook my arm out of his grip and he looked at me with a questioning expression that I knew I was reflecting.

"So I can fix up your head." Oh.

"Why?" I asked curiously, wondering why he cared. I barely knew Sage; I only saw him at his parties, and even at those, we never spoke. I was pretty sure he didn't even know who I was. Obviously he knows you if he knows your name, smartass. We'd met once before. But that was one time, two years before, and I was almost positive he didn't even remember it.

"Because it's bruised, remember?" He spoke slowly, as if I was hard of hearing. I rolled my eyes and scrunched my face up jokingly.

"Whatever," I said, smiling. I followed him out of the building and down the street to the building diagonal from mine. We rode the elevator up to the second floor and walked down the hall to his place. Apartment 216. When we got inside, I slipped off my shoes and my mouth dropped open. I'd been there before during parties, but it was always dark, the only light being the flashing dance lights, and I always stayed in one general area, so I'd never really seen it.

It was the least college looking apartment I'd ever seen. There was a kitchen to your right as soon as you stepped in, with a stove and a fridge. Then a living room. A living room. There was a large TV in front of the couch and a corner of the room had a speaker set up and a balcony across the room.

I trailed behind Sage into the kitchen and he directed me to sit on one of the bar stools at the counter that was in between the kitchen and the living room. It felt familiar, being there.

"Sage?" I started as he looked in the cupboards.

"Yeah?"

"Was I here last night?" He turned around and blinked at me.

"You don't remember where you were last night?" He chuckled. I rolled my eyes at him as he laughed.

"Oh, just tell me."

"Tell you what?" I blinked.

"If I was here last night... If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were the one who hit your head." He rolled his eyes, but he had the ghost of a smile on his lips.

"You were," he said simply, turning back around to the cupboard, and it was another one of those statements that were so quick that I nearly missed. He pulled out a small white container that was full of medicine, bandages, and other basic first aid things, all of it unnecessary.

"I was?" He nodded silently and made his way around the counter, sitting on the stool beside mine. "I didn't do anything stupid, did I?"

"Not that I know of," he answered. "Although, you did run into me then, too, only last night you spilled a drink on both of us," he told me. I frowned, not sure whether or not to believe him.

"Are you serious?"

"Dead serious. I think you still have the shirt I let you wear, actually." I knew I didn't recognize the shirt I woke up in. I groaned and absentmindedly smacked my forehead, making me yelp in pain. "You're not supposed to do that," he said disapprovingly, moving my hand away from my face. I sighed and looked up at him, his emerald eyes focused. He stood up and went to the fridge, getting out an ice pack. He also grabbed the roll of paper towels and brought them to me, wrapping the ice pack up. I took them from him and held the ice up to my head, the cool feeling soothing my head. I closed my eyes and hummed in relief.

"So, how bad is the hangover?" He questioned. "I have medicine." I shook my head, slowly, as to not worsen my headache.

"That's okay, my roommate already gave me some Advil," I told him. He nodded and stood back up, putting the medicine bin away. "Speaking of roommates, don't you have some?" I asked him. He laughed as he helped me stand up from the stool and guided me to the living room where I sat on the couch.

"Yes, Ben and Leo. Ben's out of town right now to see his parents and Leo has work all day until like, nine something." I hummed before lying my head back on a pillow and closing my eyes. After a moment, I sat up, feeling intrusive.

"I should probably go, right? I'm probably invading on your plans for the day." I shifted to stand but Sage put a firm hand on my shoulder to keep me there, his eyes soft.

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm free all day. You can stay here as long as you need, it's no problem," he promised. I hesitated, and he noticed because he continued on. "Plus, I wouldn't want you walking around alone, seeing as you seem to run into everything." I laughed at that, my head falling back some. He smiled and motioned for me to lay down, and I obliged. He sat down, too, on the other side of the couch. After turning on the TV and putting a movie on, we simply lie there, watching the movie in comfortable silence.