[published: july 19th
edited: july 19th ]
She blinks her eyes, clearing the blur from her light nap.
Her surroundings are plain. White walls, curtains, and sheets. Dark, hard-wood floors.
Sunlight is shining through the window, thin curtains cast shadows around the room.
Her light brown hair is a tangled mess, her makeup is smeared across her face, which is dry, with tear-stained cheeks.
She knew she had probably looked like a mess. Due to what happened. She's never felt this way before. It's as if she's lost anything and everything that she's ever loved. However nothing had happened. It was another nightmare, formed by the dark thoughts in the back of her mind.
She rolled back her covers, and rubbed her eyes. She felt drained, her energy was replaced with sadness. Sadness that she was unable to remove from her head, that she couldn't do anything about. She didn't understand why she'd frequently wake up like this. No one did. No doctor could diagnose a prescription that worked. No therapist could make her change, mentally. Nothing could help.
She drug her feet, shuffling slowly across the floor. She rinsed her ruined makeup off, and re-applied it, looking in her mirror. She wasn't insecure, like most girls. Though she didn't necessarily fully love herself, she knew she was lucky to even be alive. She just wished more people could think that about themselves.
She changed out of her sweats, pulling on a pair of ripped, black jeans. She replaced her black tank-top with a baseball-tee, and slid on a pair of socks.
Satisfied with her quick choice of outfit, she walked down the stairs of her and her brother's home. The first thing she noticed were two people on the couch, in which she identified to be her brother, Tyler, and his closest friend, Josh.
She had always thought Josh was good looking. However she simply never talked to him. She knew how much he meant to her brother. She didn't want to come between such a great friendship.
Besides, she figured Josh would necessarily like her in such a way. She let it be.
She walked to her kitchen, seeing a pizza box on the counter. Confused, she checks the time on the oven's clock, which reads six twenty-three pm. Opening the box with her left hand, she picks up a slice with her opposite hand. Biting into it, she walks into the living room where her brother was. She sits on the large, L-shaped tan couch. She always sits on the short part of the L-shape, where she could lay down and be comfortable. Silently snacking on he pizza slice, which had pepperoni and sausage on it, she scrolled through her Instagram feed.
"Hey, Aspyn," Josh calls out, taking her by surprise.
She smiles at him, and waves, soon turning back to her phone, as he does too. Tyler sits in the middle of the couch, watching a random show that was on the TV, making small talk with Josh.
Aspyn inhales deeply, sighing as she exhales. She walks back into the kitchen to grab a water, asking both of the boys on her couch if they wanted anything before she left.
When in the modern-style kitchen, she overheard her brother and his friend talking.
"No, no. There's no way I'll let you date her, I can't stand to see her sad. If you were to hurt her, I swear to you, you'd never hear the end of it" Tyler warns, glaring at Josh.
Aspyn, being her curious self, wants to know more. However if she was supposed to know about what the two boys were talking about, she would've been part of the conversation, so she let it be.
Strolling into the living room, Aspyn hands the two waters to the boys, and returns to her spot on the couch.
Tyler stands up, saying he'll be back, and walks out of the room. The sounds from each of his steps gets quieter as he walks further up each stair.
"Oh my gosh, Aspyn, come here," Josh says, laughing at his phone screen, motioning her over with his hand.
Aspyn shuffles toward the boy, and sits next to him. She runs her fingers through her hair, pushing it out of her face to see what was on his phone.
He shows her a video, which was of her brother dancing around to a random song.
"Yeah, that's Tyler for you," she chuckles, scratching her nose.
Josh looks at Aspyn. He notices how she has streaks of golden colored hair, and some auburn-tinted hairs mixed in with her mainly light-brown wavy hair.
"What're you looking at?" Aspyn questions, knitting her eyebrows together in a questioning form, tilting her head to the side.
"Oh! Nothing," Josh says, though it sounds as though he meant it more like a question.
"Alright," Aspyn replies, turning her head to her phone, smiling to herself. She knew Josh was looking at her, which made her feel a bit more special than usual.
She gets comfortable on the couch, watching the TV which now showed a movie. Her head was semi-leaned on Josh's shoulder, to a point where it wasn't awkward.
Her brother steps into the room, confused at what he was seeing.
"Hey Ty," Aspyn smiles at him, then returning to watching the movie.
He sits by her, crossing his legs. He didn't know what to think about his sister and his best friend being a, 'thing.' He thought that if Josh made her happy, he may be somewhat alright with the thought. However, if he was to hurt her, or cause her pain in any way, he knew Josh would never hear the end of it. But, for now, Tyler knew he didn't have to worry about anything. Aspyn and Josh barely knew each other; they weren't very close.
It is now completely dark outside, the light from the TV and the dim lights were doing most of the work. The movie had just ended, and Aspyn still hasn't removed her head from Josh's shoulder.
Tyler had fallen asleep, with his head leaned against a pillow and his legs folded into the smallest form he could possibly get them to.
Josh and Aspyn were still wide awake, whispering to eachother about the movie.
"I can't stand when that kind of thing happens, why does the main character who they make you grow to love always have to die?" Aspyn rants, making sure to stay quiet in order to not disturb her brother.
"I agree, it doesn't make sense," Josh chuckles, showing his pearly white teeth at Aspyn, looking at her in the eyes. She had finally removed her head from his muscular shoulder.
She looks up at him, then turning to her right to look at her peaceful brother.
"I'm going to go upstairs, you can come if you'd like. I don't think it's too smart to drive home this late," she says quietly, motioning towards the stairs.
He nods, and joins her on her trip to her room.
He steps into her room, which he acknowledges the smell to be of roses. A sweet, simple scent that anyone could tell.
Aspyn sits cross-legged on her feather comforter, which had a white duvet surrounding it. She rolls her hair up into a messy bun, using the hair-tie on her wrist, and pats the spot next to her on her bed for him to sit.
He sends a small smile her way, kicking off his vans before sitting face-to-face with Aspyn.
The two of them sit there, avoiding eye contact as the wait for the other to break the awkward silence between them.
"So," Josh begins, dragging out the vowel of the word, before biting his bottom lip.
"I like your nose ring," Aspyn says, looking directly at the silver hoop on his left nostril.
"Ah, thanks," Josh says, ruffling his hair before rubbing the back of his neck and looking down.
"But for real, that movie shouldn't have ended like that," she laughs, shaking her head.
Josh laughs along with her, agreeing by nodding.
Once their laughter dies down, which may have happened a bit too quickly for Aspyn's liking, she asks him a question; "Would you rather have pet cats or dogs?" she asks.
"I feel like me answering that could offend someone either way," he begins, chuckling at his words. "But I'd have to say cats."
"Me too, it's okay," Aspyn replies, laughing. She smiles at him, and he smiles back.
Once the two break the tension between them, they talk about their interests and their future plans. Aspyn learns that Josh is a very kind, sweet guy. And Josh learns that Aspyn is a very kind girl, too, and had a hint of toughness in her, too.
Eventually, by around four in the morning, Aspyn grew tired, as did Josh. They both fell asleep, not caring that they were sharing the bed.
Josh was quite tired, though he didn't fall asleep for at least an hour after Aspyn, though it felt longer to him. He couldn't help but think about how great of a person she is.
Much to his liking, Josh fell into a deep sleep.
-
Tyler woke up to an empty room. The lights were off, and there was light rain beating down on the ground outside the walls of his home. He sat up on the couch, which he figured he had fell asleep on the night before. His neck and back ache from his curled-up position he was in, wishing he hadn't fallen asleep.
The boy stands up, stretching his arms and legs. His feet brought him to the kitchen, where he grabs a glass of water, downing it in only a few seconds.
Tyler didn't know if Josh had left or not, nor did he know where he'd be if he had stayed. He figured he would wake up Aspyn, as he planned on taking her out to get breakfast.
Tyler stepped up the stairs, silently opening her door. Surprised to see a man in her bed with her, he switched on the lights. He didn't know what they had done, truth be told he didn't want to know.
"Five more minutes," Aspyn mumbles, covering herself with the covers up to her neck.
The brightness of the light had woken Josh up, who was next to Aspyn. He rubs his eyes, and begins to look around the room, before noticing a standing Tyler by the door.
Josh hurriedly gets out of Aspyn's bed, explaining what had gone down the night before to Tyler.
The commotion from Josh removing himself from the bed had fully woken Aspyn up.
Her hair, which was once in a bun was now a matted, tangled mess. Her makeup was not ruined, though she had some mascara flakes under her eyes that weren't too noticeable.
"No, no, nothing happened," Josh assured Tyler, who was unsure of the situation.
"Ty, you know I wouldn't do that. We just talked and eventually fell asleep," Aspyn adds, still sitting on her bed as she untangles her hair.
"Okay," Tyler simply says. He trusts Aspyn a lot, and knows that she is responsible enough to handle herself.
Josh looks at Aspyn in relief, who has a small smile plastered on her face.
"I'm hungry," Aspyn speaks, shaking out her hair.
"I was thinking we could go out," Tyler says. "You can join," he finishes, looking at Josh.
"Sounds good," he says, nodding.
"We're gonna take Chloe with us, though," Aspyn says, giggling.
"You know I don't like her," Tyler says, groaning at the thought of Chloe. She was the type of girl that just got on his nerves.
"You'll live," Aspyn says, rolling her eyes with a slight chuckle.
"Be ready in ten," Tyler says, walking out of the room.
Josh follows soon after him, but smiles at Aspyn before doing so.
-
They group of four decided to go to a restaurant for breakfast, rather than getting fast-food.
The restaurant had a rustic feel. The walls were like a log-cabin, and the tables were wooden, as were the chairs that had cushions on them.
Though it was still raining outside, it had died down since Tyler woke up. The sun was no partially out, shining down on the sidewalks.
Aspyn sat with Chloe, parallel to Josh and Tyler on the other side of their shared booth. She and Josh, who was in front of her, ordered buttermilk pancakes, while Tyler asked for hash-browns, and Chloe ordered French-toast.
The group of four made light conversation, speaking about the delicious food and the pleasing restaurant, throwing in jokes here and there. They were impressed by the restaurant as a whole, with its quiet sound, rustic vibe and amazing food.
Tyler and Chloe begin a conversation, which Josh and Aspyn drop out of. It was unusual to see the two, Tyler and Chloe, get along. They usually disagree with anything the other says, and constantly argue about who's right.
Josh looks up at Aspyn. He notices how her eyes sparkle now and then, and depending on the light the color changes.
"You have gorgeous eyes," Josh blurts out. He's face reddens immediately afterwards, laughing awkwardly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that out loud..." he trails off.
"Thank you," Aspyn says. His simple comment made her smile, therefore she thanked him for saying what he said.
"You have some food on your face," Aspyn chuckles, pointing to the corner of her mouth for Josh to wipe off of his own.
He becomes embarrassed, as he feels like a child. He wants to impress Aspyn, not make her think he's odd.
"That's embarrassing,@ he mumbles, wiping his mouth. "Thanks," he replies, half-smiling at Aspyn.
Aspyn shakes her head, smiling at her plate.
"You know, you're a really nice guy," she says, resting her chin on her hand.
"You're a really nice girl," Josh replies, smiling while looking into her eyes.
The waitress, who had curly red hair stops by and asked how the food was.
"Very good, thank you," Tyler grins at her.
"No problem, Hun. Here's the check," she says. She wasn't hitting on Tyler, as she was well past his age. She was just a kind woman.
-
"It was nice seeing you, Aspyn," Josh says to her, smiling.
"You too," she replies.
Josh hops out of Tyler's car, walking up to his door. He waves back at them before opening his door with his key, and stepping inside.
He stands in his kitchen, re-capping what had happened. He pours himself a glass of water, then continuing to ponder the thought of becoming closer to Aspyn.
He liked that thought.