POV:Greyson
I was in the middle of grading papers for Cartwright's creative writing class when I felt two soft hands gently cover my eyes.
"Guess who?" Lark's tinkling voice mingled with the background music I was playing and brought a smile to my face.
"Hmmm, if I'd have to guess and judging by the soft hands, Colt?", I joked.
Lark removed her hands from my eyes and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. Her cheek was almost touching mine and I longed to remove that space between us.
"Har har very funny. Come on, you are supposed to be helping Luka and I make dinner". Lark had been coming over for dinner most nights now and the five of us often alternated with the cooking responsibility. Although she usually needed to have at least one partner in the kitchen if we wanted the food to taste good and be edible.
I know we all wished she would move in with us. Whenever she was here it felt like this place was truly a home. When we all moved in together, we did our best to bring some warmth to the place but there was always something missing.
"Alright, I'll be down in a couple of minutes. Let me finish reading this last paper and I'll come make sure you two don't burn down the place," I said gently as I turned back to my computer.
Instead of leaving, she moved farther into my bedroom and sat down on my bed. "Is it alright if I stay in here with you until you are done? Luka wanted to make burgers and I'm trying to avoid the meat forming stage". I could almost see the slight upwards curl that her lip would be doing. "I hate the feel of raw meat. I thought nothing could make me squeamish anymore, but I guess I was wrong," she joked.
"Feel free to hide out here as long as you want. I know you have your own room here but you could honestly use any of our rooms as yours if you wanted to". I tried to sound nonchalant as I spoke. It was hard to focus with her so close.
She didn't say anything, I assume to let me get back to what I was doing. I made quick work of scanning the last few pages and made some general notes about the writing before closing my laptop.
When I turned around I was surprised to find her laying on top of my bedsheets with her eyes closed. Her body splayed out as if she was preparing to make snow angels. I leaned against my desk as I watched her chest rise and fall.
There were a lot of times when I questioned whether or not she was even still alive. Seeing her simply breathe calmed a part of my mind that hadn't felt consistent peace in years.
"Lark?", I inquired quietly. Not wanting to wake her up if she was sleeping. Her eyes remained closed but she made a humming noise that I assumed was her letting me know she was listening. "Would you want to go to a poetry reading with me on Thursday night?".
Poetry was a form of writing that helped me get through whatever I was feeling. One of my favorite things about New York was that I could always find a poetry reading to attend. When we were younger, Lark used to slip pieces of paper into my notebooks that contained words she found that she thought I would like or rhymes for words that she thought were unique.
A love of writing was something we shared.
She cracked one eye open and gave me a wry smile. "I'd love that. Now please help me up because I'm so comfy that my willpower to leave this bed is non-existent".
"You can stay in my bed for however long you want". The husky tone of my voice came out naturally and I silently kicked myself. Luckily, she didn't seem to notice that my demeanor was any different than normal.
I leaned forward slightly to take both her hands in mine as I began tugging her upwards. "Let's go help Luka though before he starts to wonder if we are skirting out on cooking responsibilities".
She let me lead her out the door with our pinkie fingers locked together.
There was so much about her that I wanted to covet and discover in slow motion. The simple act of holding her smallest finger in my own made me want to lead her back to my room and talk for hours. Or not talk, too.
When we reached the kitchen, I smirked slightly. It looked as though she had successfully evaded the burger forming stage as Luka had all the patties laid out and ready to be grilled. "Well, well, well look who decided to grace us with their presence!". Luka's voice bounced around the room, the sarcasm making me laugh. Ever since last Saturday, there was a difference to him that we all had noticed. He seemed more like the old Luka. The one that didn't just smile to make others more comfortable.
"Sorry man, I lost track of time when I was grading. Where's Colt and Aidan?". I picked up the second plate of patties and followed Luka out to the balcony as Lark sat down at the island to start cutting up strawberries and pineapple slices.
"Colt is on his way back from the office now, should be here any minute actually. Aidan is upstairs in his room. I think he's going out with Liz tonight so he's doing his social battery charging thing right now. I don't know why he's still with her when she never wants to do things with him that he actually enjoys". The disdain in Luka's didn't fit his normal demeanor, but I couldn't disagree with him.
"Who knows. I don't understand what he sees in her either. I'm just happy that she and Taylor haven't been around the apartment since Lark showed up". Luka nodded in agreement as he started placing the hamburger patties on the grill.
The two of us began talking about our classes and other random tidbits. Even though we lived together and went to the same school, our schedules varied greatly and school kept us pretty busy. It was nice to catch up with him at the end of the day.
Before long, we finished up the burgers and headed back inside. Expecting to see Lark setting the table alone, we were surprised to see Aidan and Colt helping her.
"I thought you were doing your isolation preparation thing?", Luka teased Aidan.
He rolled his eyes. A move that man had practically reinvented and use to create a whole new language. "Nah, I'm good. I'd rather spend time with all of you before meeting Liz". I didn't miss the way his eyes glided over to Lark's retreating form. There was a longing in that expression. Longing that likely matched my own.
As the five of us sat down to eat dinner together I took a moment to appreciate the normalcy of it. We had all been through a lot, Lark most of all.
The fact that we could still sit down, have a meal together and make time for our ragtag family gave me hope that only the best was yet to come.