A/N: I know this song isn't in the playlist, but it fits the chapter so much I just had to attach it here. You can listen to it while reading if you want!
Also I'll technically be making up scenarios of Neil's past here, I have no idea if it actually happened so before you say anything, let me tell you its all make believe.
This chapter is a factor to Neil and Presley's closure, and friendship. This is maybe the lightest chapter in this book so far, and I really really enjoyed writing it.
Happy reading!
PRESLEY'S HEART WAS pounding against her rib cage as she and Neil reached the city. The city. She's only been in the city for once and that was when she flew in from London, only having to pass by. She glances at Neil, who was still holding her hand in his, their fingers intertwined.
Presley didn't know what to think.
Neil was not any different as a blush dusted his cheeks upon realization he had been holding her hand since earlier. But he doesn't move his hand, he doesn't move at all. It stays there, intertwined with hers.
He blamed his blush on the cold october air of the night. He blamed the momentum, and the look on her face. God, she was smiling. He blamed her treacherous smile that drew him in.
He wasn't thinking about where they were going. But somehow, they ended up buying liquor from a 24-hour store and found themselves in front of Henley Hall, that looked about as dead as a corpse.
Neil didn't know what ran through his mind when he grinned mischievously at Presley before letting go of her hand and running inside. "Neil!" She shouts out after him. Neil was a giggling mess as he went around the building and looked for a fire escape that leads to the rooftop.
Presley had no idea what Neil was doing either, as she trailed behind him. Earlier on, they had bickered about who was going to carry the liquor, and of course Neil had won the small argument.
The boy excitedly ran up the stairs upon seeing it, giggling whilst doing so. Presley shakes her head at him, eventually trudging behind. "Hurry up, you slow poke!" Neil shouts down from at least eleven steps ahead of her. "The night isn't gonna last forever."
"If you just slow down, maybe I could hurry up." Presley groans, to which Neil only responds with a giggle and proceeds to rush up the flight of stairs. "I swear to god, Neil Perry, you're going to be the death of me." She mutters under her breath, trying to pick up her pace as she follows him up.
Eventually, Presley finally reached the top, and gaped at the view before her as she stepped on the rooftop. Neil looked back at her with the biggest grin on his face, as if he was proud he thought of going here.
Neil then turned to look at the scenery, held out his hands in front of him, imagine the statue of Jesus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, that's what he did as he breathed in the fresh evening air, closing his eyes in the process.
Presley assumed it was around eleven in the evening, but the city was still buzzing with activity. Lights were on, and cars were everywhere. For Presley, it looked like the world was way down below her.
Neil finally ends his moment and plops down on the ground, setting the liquor in front of him. Presley approaches him slowly, and was looming over him as she gave him a questioning look.
"Come on, sit down." Neil says, gesturing to the space beside him. Presley consequently heeds the request, sitting down as well. Neil pulls out a coin to open the two bottles, and gave the other one to Presley.
The girl takes it without hesitation as they clinked their bottles together, huge stupid grins plastered on their faces. Gulping down a generous lot, the burning sensation of the tequila leaves a storm in Neil's throat as he lets out a short cough from the feeling.
Upon seeing this, Presley bursts out laughing, seemingly amused. It took a while for Neil to regain his composure as he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. He mentally slaps himself for not being able to control himself, as he tried to do what Presley had done earlier at the cave.
Which Neil found out he couldn't do.
Presley's laughter soon dies down as silence engulfs them, the only sound you could hear was the wind that softly brushes against their skin. It wasn't deafening, or awkward at all, this kind of silence was comfortable. The kind of silence where they can hear each other's inhales and exhales, where they could hear each other's mind racing a thousand miles per hour, the kind of silence where they could hear their own heartbeats, beating at the same rhythm.
"Okay," Neil says, breaking the silence once again. "Confession game! We have to confess a fact about us or something that has happened to us before. Nothing sad, just happy. We can take turns." Presley shot Neil a questioning look as she takes a swig from her Tequila, to which Neil responds with an expectant look. "What do you say?"
It takes a while for Presley to answer, pondering on whether this was a good idea. "Alright," She finally says. "But you go first." Neil lets out an amused chuckle, as he took another gulp from the tequila, momentarily pursing his lips from the bitter aftertaste.
"Fine," He says. "Okay, when I was around twelve my father made me stop studying English for a while." At this, Presley shoots him a confused look. "Do you know what he made me study?" Neil asks.
"What?"
"Human Anatomy." The pair burst out into a fit of laughter upon this confession. Presley never understood why she was laughing in the first place, but imagining it happen just did. "With all the body parts and the parts of the body parts." Neil added, resulting in the two to burst out laughing even more.
After a while, their laughter finally subsided, finally able to calm themselves down. "Okay, its your turn." Neil says, "And no protesting, you already agreed."
Presley holds her hands up as if to surrender, turning to look at Neil. "Alright, alright, I won't." This reply elicited a chuckle from Neil, who once again takes a swig from his drink. "When I was thirteen, I had this weird obsession over snickerdoodles."
"Snickerdoodles?"
"Yes snickerdoodles. But that's not my confession." Presley says. "Anyway, I was grounded around the time, and this one afternoon I had this huge craving for snickerdoodles. So I asked my dad who was in his study typing away on his typewriter."
"What happened next?"
"I said, dad can you buy snickerdoodles for my cat? Though I had no cat. Since his mind was preoccupied he replied, I would rather buy your cat a hot tub than buy those demon sweets."
"No way." Neil breathes out.
"Yes way he called snickerdoodles demon sweets." Once again, the pair burst out laughing upon imagining the scene, at this point not really caring if the confession wasn't funny at all. "He called them the devil's confectionery, and I still remember the way he said it."
"Your dad is weird." Neil comments.
"My dad is an asshole."
Neil rolls his eyes at this, watching Presley take continuous sips from her tequila bottle, now almost finished. "My turn," He says. "When I was six, I wanted a puppy for Christmas. So I told my dad about it. You know what he said?"
"He said no?"
"Not just that. He basically said You can't even take care of your own shit, much less dog shit." Presley burst out into laughter, a sound Neil thought he could listen to forever. "Well that's not what he said exactly but - you get the point.".
"What's wrong with your dad?" Presley finds herself asking in between laughs.
"Every single thing, Pres. Every single thing." Neil says in a joking tone, although both knew it was nowhere near a joke. But still, Presley chose to laugh, because it was the most reasonable thing to do at the moment.
Presley was now on her second bottle, while Neil was still on his first, the bottle being only half empty. "When I was eight we visited my Late grandmother's house in the countryside"
"Oh, my deepest condolences." Neil says, earning a thankful smile from the girl.
"Thanks," She mutters, taking a long swig from her Tequila. "Anyways, it was an elevated house, like there's a distance from the floor of the house to the ground of the Earth kind of like a cottage hut," Neil nods in understanding, picturing out the house. "She has a dog, who had little puppies and they were sleeping under the house around after lunch.
"It was supposed to be my father who would feed the dogs but being the complete asshole he was, he instructs me to do so." Neil lets out a gasp as he listened to Presley talk. "So me being me, I went out to feed them, and when I was about to approach them, the mother dog thought I was going to hurt her kids and bit me on the leg."
"Oof," Neil comments, feigning a pained expression which elicits an eyeroll from Presley. "So what happened to the bite, did it scar?" The boy asks, taking a small sip from his liquor. He waits for Presley to finish taking a long sip from hers, wondering how she endured the bitterness.
"Yep, its still here." Presley says, pulling up her pants to show Neil. The boy finds himself staring at the scar on her leg. Surely, it looked like a bite mark of a dog. Presley knits her eyebrows at Neil who reluctantly reaches out to brush his fingers against the scar.
He had the lightest touch.
Presley's breath hitches as she observes Neil, who seemed to be too invested in the scar until she clears her throat, resulting in Neil to be torn away from his thoughts and back to reality. He immediately retracts his hand, momentarily mumbling a sorry. "Its fine." Presley says, reassuring the boy.
"My turn," Neil says after a while. "As a kid, I was always obsessed with pancakes. And when my mom would cook pancakes for breakfast, I would block my dad from coming downstairs because he too, loves pancakes. Which meant competition."
This confession elicits a giggle from Presley, who quickly finished her second bottle and was now on her third. Neil momentarily shoots her a look of concern, worried about her alcohol intake. But then again, it was her birthday so he told himself to let her be.
At least, for now.
"If only fathers weren't such assholes, maybe the world would be a better place." Presley muses, earning a sardonic laugh from Neil. "I mean what happened to them when they were young that made them like that?"
"We'll never know," Neil replies, finishing his tequila. "At least, I won't, because I won't follow my father's footsteps when I become a father." Neil announces proudly, earning an amused look from Presley.
Upon realization of what he said, he regretted it. He never meant anything that implied something like that, something that would make Presley thinks he was telling her this because he was thinking about the future, and them.
No, he didn't want that.
But Presley wasn't thinking about that, not at all. She thought about how Neil would be a great father, judging from the way he acts at present. "My turn," She finally says. "Uh, well — my real name isn't Presley."
Neil whips his head to her direction, a genuinely shocked expression on his face. "Seriously? I genuinely thought that was your real name." He gasps, earning an eye roll from Presley. "What is it, then?"
"My real name is Priscilla Anne Ross." Presley says, taking a sip from her tequila. By now she was getting tipsy and the world started to become blurry and her head began to spin in a slow sickly way. But at least she was still aware of her surroundings.
Neil let out a low whistle, to which Presley shoots him a condescending glare. "Its pretty, I like it."
"I hate it."
"But its nice!"
"No, too girly." Presley frowns. Upon hearing her response, Neil lets out a giggle, amused at the reason why she hated her real name. He genuinely thought it suit her, despite her hating it.
"Priscilla — " Neil says as if to test the feel of her real name in his tongue.
"Neil, don't." Presley warns.
"Priscilla." Neil repeats, now in a sing song tune as he grins mischievously at Presley.
"Neil, I swear to god, I'm going to kill you, I have a glass bottle in my hand." To this, Neil only lets out an amused laugh. To be honest, Presley thought it was weird to hear Neil say her real name.
But somehow, it felt so right.
NEIL HAD GOTTEN A CAB around two in the morning back to Welton Academy. By now, Presley was drunk. Very drunk. She kept bursting into a fit of giggles every two seconds as she leans against Neil, who finds it amusing.
"What if man visited the moon?" Presley mutters, giggling to herself. "What if black holes were actually the devil's anus?" Neil bursts out chuckling at this particular what if, entering the doors of Welton Academy.
"Oh Pres, you are so . . ." Neil trails off as he picks her up, bridal style. Presley giggles at this and puts a hand to her mouth as she stared up at Neil who carried her to her room. "What are you looking at?" He jokes, earning a huge grin from the girl.
Managing to avoid Mr. Hager's guard dog, Neil enters Presley's room. Setting her down gently on the bed, she looks up at him with those innocent blue gray eyes of hers that seemed to gleam even brighter than the sun. Neil sits down beside her on the bed, staring back down at her.
Presley's hair was all over the place, her face flushed from the alcohol in her system. The picture of Neil looming above her was hazy, but she knew he was there. Smiling softly down at her, Neil gently caresses her hair, and Presley could swear her heart would jump out of her chest.
"Go to sleep." Neil demands, but it was so soft it was like a whisper, that it didn't sound like a demand at all. "You need to get your energy back."
With one last smile, Presley closes her eyes, slowly drifting to sleep. Neil reaches out and puts her blanket on her, the girl consequently snuggling into the large piece of cloth. Neil looks down at her with so much adoration in his eyes, it was quite sad she was too drunk to see it.
Leaning down, he presses the softest kiss on her forehead, as if she was fragile glass that could break any time. "Happy birthday, my dearest Priscilla." He whispers ever so softly.
As Neil stood up to go, he noticed she was grasping on his hand. And he knew then and there.
He was whipped.
* * *
A/N: THE FEELS!
Just to clear up I have no hatred towards fathers out there hehe, its just that most parents in their timeline are, yanno, control freaks so naturally children would think what Presley and Neil thought about fathers, since they both have assholes for parents.
But guys I loveee this chapter they are soft I swear to god I love them with all my heart uwu.
Okay, i'm done ranting lmfaoo
Xuan xx