BAYLOR
Just for once, I could use twelve hours of sleep just to satisfy me. My life changed just by simply falling in love with a girl that's sleeping in my arms was entirely different. But before falling for someone truly, it was always about the heavy drinking, smoking, drug usage and getting involved with the wrong crowds (Boston at that), and all the girls I had myself wrapped up in. I've grasped the concept of Adalynne making myself improved ever since I became friends with her.
I unchained my arms from around her chest and remained on my side as she shuffled over to the other region of my bed. Her eyebrows settled into a slight arch as her lips resolved into a straight line. I only wondered what went on inside that beautiful mind of hers as she slept. Possibly she wouldn't wake up, because the only way I'd ever fall back asleep was by observing her features as she slumbered. Adalynne hasn't had a terrible dream for at least a month or two.
As I rest right in front of her, I couldn't call back to a time that I've ever fallen asleep or woken up with a girl by my side. But there's a first for everything, right? I mean, this isn't a player situation where the guy makes the girl fall for him and he breaks her heart. But this right here that's between her and me is something magnificent.
I could only think of the worst because I was the one to plunge first into love so Adalynne has the precise rate of breaking my spirit and mind into pieces; and to think of the worst is me doing something that'll ruin this between us.
She grinned with a confused appearance. "Why are you staring at me?" Her voice was a bit hoarsely due to a dry throat.
"Because I can't sleep." I muttered, yawning at the concept. "Why'd you wake up?" I query. Her aspects were helpless due to the lack of strength she's been deprived from. She pulled the comforter over her shoulder and up to her chin, closing her eyes again in a tired manner.
"I got cold."
"'m sorry," I mumbled. I laid my head at the far end of my pillow to approach closer to her. She was half asleep due to the fluttering of her eyelashes.
Adalynne yawned and whispered, "I'm tired." She pulled her head to the trench between our pillows just to arrange right alongside me. I fell asleep by positioning my forehead to hers and draping my arm over her small body.
Morning time rolled around and by the time I was fully aware of my senses, I smelt axe shampoo. I unraveled my duvet from around my body as I hadn't seen Adalynne anywhere in sight. The light in my bathroom didn't escape from under the door, so there was probably one place she'd be: downstairs.
I walked downstairs slowly, my muscles barely waking up by the time I reached the bottom. I looked in the empty living room: a sprawled out throw cover and two cushions on the floor; TV remote on the coffee table as it possibly hasn't been touched in nearly a week. But the kitchen light was on, and by the time I approached the tiled room, the time on the stove read ten AM.
"Today is the day that I'm gonna smell like a guy," I heard a chuckling voice.
I turned to see her petite, fit body in a pair of my sweats and a long-sleeved shirt of mine.
"Guess I'm just rubbing off on you." I ran my thumb under her eye to rid the smeared black makeup. Her hair was wet and her face was pure.
"When did you wake up?" I questioned.
"Umm, about an hour ago," she responded.
"You're not hungry?"
She nodded. "I was waiting for you to get up."
I smiled, "You didn't have to." I padded to the refrigerator and grabbed a carton of eggs and sat them on the island. The bread was on the coffee counter so I sat the loaf by the eggs.
"Want an egg sandwich? I make the best," I toothy grin.
She nodded her head. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."
I snorted, "Huh." The Pandora bracelet matched her skin tone, and the charms made her porcelain skin glare; the dangling key that hung from the bracelet jiggled as she walked.
I cracked three eggs into the hot pan while Adalynne put four pieces of bread in the toaster like she told me she would do. As I stirred the eggs, I couldn't help but stare at her long, blonde, nearly brown hair hang to her waist. The way that the ends of her hair stop just at the curve of her bum, and when her long, wavy wet hair flips naturally as she looks at me, I couldn't halt myself from telling myself that she's beautiful. Whoever would've known that I had fallen for my best friend's little sister.
"What are you thinking about?" Adalynne queried. She snapped me out of my daze, my eyes trailing to hers.
I lilted. "Nothing, just daydreaming," I answered, lying.
She huffed and balled her hand into a fist and placed her fist on her hip. She leaned on the counter as she waited for the bread to toast. Just like waiting on the toast, she waited on my truthful answers.
"It's weird, well, not weird, but it's just sorta unbelievable how you're my best friend's little sister and we're in a relationship," I responded.
"Yeah, well normally when a friend of Aiden's tried to take me on a date or even asked me to go to dances, Aiden would, like, curse them out," she giggled.
"I have to admit, I had part in that," I turned back around to stir the cooked eggs so they'd scramble. I heard the cupboard shut and the plate of toast appeared beside the stove.
"What do you mean?" she wondered.
I sighed, hoping she wouldn't be pissed at me. "I told Aiden to not let you go on any dates because I didn't want you to, um," I breathed, feeling embarrassed that I required Aiden to do such a thing.
"Want me to - what?"
"Go out with or fall for someone else. And Aiden doesn't like his friends to date you because, well, someone, besides me, will break your heart. And we don't want that." I ruffled her wet hair and kissed her on her forehead.
She blushed. "Hand me your plate," I ordered.
She pushed a plate with two pieces of toast towards me. I scooped four tablespoons worth of eggs onto the piece of toast and she finished by closing the eggs into place with the other piece. I curtly did the equivalent.
"So your crush on me was so big that you were selfish of me," Adalynne said. I bit into my morning sandwich, nodding with a mouth full.
"What a prick." She shook her head playfully, chuckling, her shoulders heaving up and down with every breathed in laugh. I simply smiled at the beauty sitting across from me.
"Sometimes you have to be selfish for the people you love," I mumbled. She stopped chewing, and the same expression washed her face, the same expression last night when I told her I loved her.
Breaking the moment of silence after I finished eating, I muttered: "I'm glad I moved from Boston," I include.
She smiles, "Me too."
***
Adalynne was nearly on the boiling point of fuming in agitation. She didn't stop from cursing every five seconds as our bodies jerked back and forth as her foot hit the break and gas pedal firmly. She soon got the concept of easily pressing her foot on the pedals in the floorboard.
"Is it easy now?" I ask, looking over at her solemn face.
"Very easy," she sulked.
I sat in my seat adjacent from her, studying the way she concentrated on the road ahead of her. Her lips were clutched in a straight line and her light brown eyebrows were raised to make the slightly prominent wrinkles in her forehead appear. Her eyes were splinted as if the road was somewhat blurry. The method of her body language was used was as if she were a professional at driving.
"How did you pass your driving test?" I teased.
"A slight 75."
"I think we're lost," her accent rang in a bellow. "I can't do this; I think we're out of the city or possibly the state. Please drive," she sauntered, worrying about the location.
"Adalynne, you're fine. We're just downtown of Shady Grove. This is the worst area of the city. Just take a left and it'll get you back on the highway." She sat back in the driver's seat and didn't do what I said.
"The left, babe, not the right," I rant.
"Shit." She completed a u-turn, a completely illegal move. "I hate driving." We were back at the end of the road we had turned on, and once the four cars turned or went straight, Adalynne went straight on, going in the course I had advised her to go along.
Back on the highway, traffic wasn't too busy - it wasn't even average. Everyone was possibly at work or off for Christmas holidays. In addition to Shady Grove populating a dozen thousand people, traffic wasn't dreadful at all. It's better than Boston.
She huffed, "I'm beginning to hate driving," she seethed. I lilted.
"I think you should at least work on which way is left and which way is right," I smirk.
"You said your left and I went down my right."
***
"Baylor, stop!" Adalynne screamed in false agony. Her pleading made me tickle her to the extreme. We were lying on the couch as she was watching Prison Break on Netflix. I felt the urge to hear her laugh so I began tickling her to distract her attention from the television.
She wouldn't stop writhing under my hold. My fingers dug into her stomach and near her waist but once my hands neared her waistline, she wrapped her digits around my wrists, trying to pry them off of her skin. She wasn't laughing anymore and she was trying to catch her breath.
"What's wrong?" I tickle her side again, creating a forced smile on her lips as the amused touch pleasured her. She shook her head negatively.
"You're lying, what's wrong?" I prop my arm at the side of her head to peer down at her.
"Nothing, it's nothing," she whispered, popping a smile to assure me.
"Tell me," I dictated. I knew her too well to know when she's lying by the change in her tone and her movements. Also by the arch of her eyebrows and the impossible connection of her blue eyes.
"I just don't like it when people touch my waist 's all," she responded in a monotone.
"Why? You've never been insecure about your waist before," I commented. She didn't bother to look me in the eyes, and she began fumbling with her fingers on her stomach.
"I know; it's just . . . it pokes out," she slightly chuckled, as if she tried to make it as a joke but I could tell she didn't find the situation amusing.
"Don't be self-conscious, Adalynne. You're perfect to me. Rather you hate yourself, your waist, your thighs, your stomach, there's no doubt that you aren't the most beautiful creation in the world," I vowed. Draping an arm over her chest and my palm cupping her tiny ear, I plunged my fingers through her hair just to touch her. She needed to be assured by the way I touched her. She nested her button nose into my arm and left an angel kiss on my forearm. She clasped her digits around my hand and laid the side of her head on my forearm. She watched me as I slid in between the trench of the sofa and her body, her corpse sliding over just a tiny bit more for me to fit.
Adalynne rotated on her side so she was only four inches in front of me. My right arm kept her body in place from nearly tilting off the couch and my hand still played with her hair. Some of the disheveled pieces of her mop was thrown over her part, so I combed it back, trailing my finger tips through her long hair. I kept tucking her hair behind her ear, her kiddish appearance was more vulnerable. She kept batting her eyes open and closed as maybe she were tired.
"You haven't eaten yet," I chuckled.
She slightly smiled like it was forced due to her draping eyes. "I know. I'm comfortable and I don't wanna get up," she murmured against my limb.
"Then go to sleep," I whispered. Her lips fell slightly agape, slow breathing escaping her plump, red lips. Her eyes drew weary and closed - the small, noticeable freckle on her eyelid showing.
Once I knew she was heavily asleep, I pushed myself from the couch and left her lying there. I laid a throw cover over her body and planted a pillow right under her head. I plotted a long kiss on her forehead and ran my hand over her cheek. She cringed at the coldness and turned her head away from my hand.
I retrieved my car keys from the kitchen counter and locked the door behind me. I entered the elevator and pressed the button to go down to the lobby. Once the bitter cold air bit at my skin, I pulled my jacket tighter around my body. I power-walked to my Jeep and once I was inside, I brought the engine to life and turned on the heat. It was only eight in the night and I knew that a fast food restaurant was still open.
Taco Bell was only ten minutes away. I pulled up to the screen that held numbers for orders. I finally ordered a quesadilla and three Doritos Locos Tacos along with two orders of cheesy potatoes and cinnamon twists for Adalynne. As I waited in line for the car in front to pull out, I answered a text that I received about two hours ago.
Aiden: Taking care of my baby sis?
I huffed and responded: Always will, mate.
It didn't take but five minutes for the Dodge truck to pull out and I drove up to the window.
"$12.75," Lindsay said. She laughed when she noticed it was me.
"You could at least give me a discount, fag," I pulled out a twenty to retrieve my order.
"I would, but my manager is a dick. But at least you know I won't spit in your food because my old best friend's order is in that bag," she grinned.
"What about mine?" I shrieked.
She shrugged her shoulders. "I'd have to think about that. But before you pull off, tell Adalynne that there is a girls-only Christmas party at my house. Tell her to invite Jo, too," Lindsay directed.
"Will do," I spoke.
"Bye weirdo." I lilted as I rolled up my window.
On the drive back home, I began to think about my parents back home. This would be my first Christmas without them. I don't have enough time to plan to go back to Boston. I haven't even heard from them since September, and I doubt they'd wish me a Merry Christmas. But even if I didn't have my family, then I'd have Adalynne and Aiden. They're enough for me to make my Christmas day brighter.
Lind-said: Btw, party is on Christmas Eve at 7 PM.
***
"Adalynne," I called sweetly. She didn't budge to move or even answer to my call.
"Adalynne, I have food." Still no answer.
I picked her up from the couch, making her shudder at the cool air. She whined in my neck, "It's cold."
"I have Taco Bell." I sat her on the counter. As I did so, she nearly lost her balance due to fatigue muscles. Her eyes were nearly peeked open due to the lighting in the kitchen. I dug in the bag for her quesadilla, cheesy potatoes, and cinnamon twists.
"That looks so good," she announced croakily, her throat dry from slumber. I trailed to the fridge for a bottled water and sat it beside her food.
As we ate, I thought about the invite that Lindsay had for Adalynne. "Lindsay invited you and Jo to her Christmas party on Christmas Eve at seven." I took a sip of my water as she met my eyes with question.
"My old friend, Lindsay?" she quizzed. I bobbed my head.
"Yeah, do you wanna go?" She shoved a cheesy potato in her mouth and nodded her head yes.
"Good. I think Lindsay misses you. The both of you were mighty close," I noted.
She frowned, "I hate that."
It was one in the morning and Adalynne and I were sitting on the floor in the den with sprawled out albums. The Blink 182 album cover was fumbled through her fingers as she sang silently along with the lyrics.
Say it ain't so, I will not go
Turn the lights off, carry me home
Na na na
Na na na
Na na na
Na na na
Late night, come home
Work sucks, I know
She left me roses by the stairs
Surprises let me know she cares
She was bobbing her head as she stared at the album, flipping it from front to back as she thought about the lyrics that strolled along throughout the speakers.
I screamed out the next group of lyrics.
Say it ain't so, I will not go
Turn the lights off, carry me home
Keep your head still, I'll be your thrill
The night will go on, my little windmill
She looked up with an amused and shocked expression, laughing at me as I sang horribly. I didn't care, I wanted to see her smile, hear her laugh.
Say it ain't so, I will not go
(Na na na)
Turn the lights off, carry me home
(Na na na)
She closed her eyes in a thrill she carried through her body. She was also yelling and hollering out the words along with me - the both of us laughing along and carrying on throughout the song as we sang along with the pop-rock group like we owned the song.
Keep your head still, I'll be your thrill
(Na na na)
The night will go on, the night will go on
(Na na na)
My little windmill
The song ended with the stroll of the guitar streams, and Adalynne rolled on her back. Her chest was heaving up and down to catch her breath. She turned her head as I began to approach her. My body hovered over hers with a petite size of space separating us. My forearms laid by the sides of her heads to position myself from landing on top of hers.
"You're my little windmill."
She threw her arms around my neck and pulled me close. I only rested my lower half against her knowing my body wouldn't crush hers. I kissed the tip of her nose, letting her know that all the small things about her means everything to me.