Does anyone else hear that weird kinda white noise-like sound behind peoples words when they speak slightly above their normal talking volume? Like, they're nowhere near yelling (and it gets worse/louder if they are), but they're a liiiiittle bit above a talking volume. Please say that makes sense and someone knows what I'm talking about. Is that normal?😂
Alsooo, I just realized I started this book with Ethan's bedroom being downstairs, but somehow turned that room into a gaming room and his bedroom upstairs. Idk how that happened, whoops😅
Ethan's POV
My eyes scanned the dark. I couldn't look anywhere else but at the ceiling above me that I couldn't see. I could hear my heart beating inside my chest, refusing to calm down. I felt sweaty over my body, but no sweat was to be seen. Everywhere I looked, the sight was the same. Pitch black. My room was completely dark.
Slowly, I turned my head to the side of my bed. Grabbing my phone and turned it on, blinding myself in the process. The light from my phone screen illuminated enough of my room to see around my body. The blankets were messier than they usually were when I slept. I had managed to push my pillow out from under my head and onto the floor. It wasn't a good dream.
2:25am.
I was woken up in the middle of the night by a dream. No, a nightmare. I was never too freaked out by dreams, I knew they were all fake and I was okay. But tonight was different for some reason. My hands were sweaty as I held my phone in them, my heart is slowly calming down, and I didn't think I could go to sleep again tonight.
Without a second thought, I opened my contacts and called the one person I knew was awake.
It didn't take long for her to answer.
"You're awake?" She asked, surprised.
I let out a sigh, laying back down. "Yeah," My eyes returned to the ceiling, but this time I could see it. "A dream woke me up."
"A bad one?" She questioned. I only hummed in response.
She made a noise of understanding. "Are you scared? Do you want me to come and protect you?" She joked.
I thought for a moment, my eyes focused on one point of the ceiling. I knew she was joking, but the idea of her coming over sounded much more comforting. I wouldn't be alone here.
"Please?"
The other end was silent for a moment. Soon though, I heard movement and she finally spoke. "Yeah sure. I'll be there soon."
With that, she hung up. It wasn't a long call, but it doesn't matter. She'll be here soon enough.
This would be two nights in a row she's been here. Shockingly enough, I asked for one to happen. I wanted her here. Yeah, my parents could wake up, but they won't know she's here if we go downstairs. The most they do is yell down the basement stairs if they needed me. They'd never see Y/n and they'd never know.
* * *
Pulling my attention out of my phone and to my window, a tapping sounded, no doubt from Y/n letting me know to let her in. I pulled the blankets off of my body and stood up, taking the few steps it takes to reach the window. I already felt better, I wasn't alone.
Pulling the curtains open, I see Y/n standing outside. She smiled up at me, waving a bit but keeping her arm close to her body. Quickly, I pushed the window open and stepped out of the way to let her in. With ease, she pulled herself through the window and was standing in my room with me. It wasn't too loud, unlike the first time she crawled her way through.
Quickly, she shut the window behind her and let out a breath. "It's fucking freezing."
I raised a brow. "Well, being February I would think it would be."
She rolled her eyes at my words. "Shut up." She looked around my room, scanning over everything before looking at me. "Where are those monsters you needed me to fight off?"
"Oh, they ran off a couple minutes ago. They got bored." I replied, crossing my arms comfortably.
She scoffed and slapped my shoulder. "Why didn't you tell me before I got here, now my purpose doesn't exist." Going with the joke, she reached for the window to open it again and begin her way back home. Before she could, I grabbed her hand and pulled her behind me.
Opening my bedroom door, I gave her a look she already knew. Be quiet. Seeing the look I shot her way, she nodded and we continued on down the hallway slowly. We were cautious in how much sound we were making and if we heard anything that sounded like another person was up.
Through the hallway and past the living room, we were sure we didn't step on any creaky boards or run into something noisy. We had just enough light to see where we were going and where everything was placed. Once we reached the basement door, I opened it and Y/n went through first and started her way down. I followed after her, quietly shutting the door behind us.
The two of us reached the basement and turned for the room we spent our time in last night. She walked in without hesitation and went for the corner light.
Before I had the chance to turn the overhead lights on, the room became a dimly lit mix of blue and purple. The walls were painted a different color in seconds. Sitting in awe was Y/n, looking around the room like she did the night before. I giggled at the sight, closing the door behind me.
She wasn't wearing a brightly colored wig this time. Just a black beanie pulled over her head, protecting it from the cold weather. She wore sweatpants that seemed to be a bit too big for her size and a t-shirt with a jacket pulled over it. This is the most comfortable I've seen her. Her hands were stuffed in her pockets and her beanie was pulled over the tops of her ears. Seeing her as relaxed didn't make me feel embarrassed or weird being in my pajamas still.
This was the first time I've seen her without hair on her head. It made me think back to the beginning of the school year and years before that, before she was diagnosed. The (hair length) hair that sat atop her head each day. Never some bright color, each day she would walk into school with the same (hair color) hair. Never in my life would I have thought I would see her with bright colors and different lengths everyday. Even now, without anything but a beanie.
Hell, I never thought I would even be friends with her. It's not that I've had anything against her, just the idea of Y/n being someone I knew personally never crossed my mind. She was always alone in school, since I can remember knowing about her. She never really looked like she minded. When she was diagnosed, everyone's talking began. Her name came up more than it ever had before, but still she was alone each day. Back in January, only a month ago, I never would have guessed she would become such a great friend of mine, much less be here in my basement at two in the morning with me because I had a nightmare.
Seeing her like this, though, only reminded me of everything. I've gotten so used to seeing her with a different hairstyle so often I never think of why she does it. With nothing hanging from her scalp, fake or not, it scares me. How fast this stuff can happen. Just a few months ago she was just Y/n, normal Y/n. Her name was all she was known for, nobody was expecting anything like this. Only months later, she's on medication and has made a bucket list. There is no telling what she is going through. The thoughts and fears she must have daily. I couldn't imagine what she thinks about.
"What was your dream about?" Y/n asked, hopping onto the bed, getting comfortable and leaning against the wall. I followed her lead, pushing myself into the corner.
I went on to tell her the events that took place inside my head that night. It wasn't too bad, but it was enough to wake me up in a panic. It was weird. How I felt when I woke up. It didn't last long, thankfully. After I had called Y/n, I had calmed down a bit and my heartbeat was at a normal rate.
After I finished, it was silent. In an attempt to change the subject and start a conversation, I bring up what we haven't done in a few days.
"What else is on the list? Do you have it with you?" I questioned, sitting up from off of the wall behind me.
She did the same, shoving her hand back in her pocket. "I always have it with me." She smiled. As she pulled the folded paper from her pocket she scooted closer to me so we could both see the list of things we could do. The paper was full of ideas, most of which we couldn't do right now. Lines flowed through the ones we had already done, reminding us not to do it twice.
"Uh, we could prove a well known fact wrong." She suggested.
My mouth opened at another task on the list. "Stay up 48 hours?" I looked at her with wide eyes. "How are we ever going to do that?"
"Easy," she smiled. "Caffeine."
I shook my head, skipping that one. "We are not doing that one tonight."
She bumped my shoulder. "Awhh, is Eef already tired?" She asked, talking as if she were speaking to a child.
I flipped my middle finger in her direction and continued scanning the list between us. I could hear her eye roll.
"Yeah, I'm going with the proving a fact wrong." I agreed.
Before I could say anything else, she excitedly slapped my arm with a gasp. "We should go to the fort! Just hang out there and do this."
"Absolutely not," I shut her down, shaking my head. "You're already here when you're not supposed to be, I cannot leave in the middle of the night, let alone when I'm grounded."
She sighed, deflating against the wall. "Damn, we could've killed two birds with one stone. Prove you're not a goody goody and get you to break a rule. Give you some character development." She joked.
(Unintentionally broke the fourth wall)
I shook my head at her again. "Me asking you to sneak into my house at two AM is the most character development you'll get."
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't shocked as hell when you agreed to it." She smirked up at me. "At this rate, you'll be behind bars with me in June."
My head snapped in her direction, unsure of whether or not she was joking. "No way, I'm not doing anything like that, sorry."
"You already have, you just didn't get caught." She giggled. "Stupid."
"So what about that fact, huh?" I asked, pulling my phone out and ignoring anything she said.
She laughed and did the same, the two of us looking up facts we could try to disprove. We sat next to each other, neither of us speaking. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, but a silence we agreed on. It was only a couple minutes before the silence was broken.
"Take off your shirt." Y/n spoke bluntly, her eyes still trained on her phone.
My eyes snapped away from the box in my hand, looking over at her. I couldn't find any words except, "Why?"
She turned her head to look up at me, pushing herself off of the wall and onto her knees facing me. "This thing says the distance between your earlobes is the same distance between your nipples and I'm sure as hell not taking my shirt off."
"And if I don't want to take mine off either?"
She rolled her eyes. "C'mon, it's not like I'm going to inspect every inch of your chest, I just need to see how far apart your nipples are."
I sighed, placing my hands at the bottom of the fabric covering my torso. I wasn't afraid or anything, it's just an odd situation. And thinking of how close she'd be looking makes me feel weird. My hole of my shirt was pulled over my head and my shirt was off of my body. I pulled my arms out from the sleeves and placed my shirt in my lap.
Y/n looked around the room for a moment, humming in thought. Only a couple seconds later, Y/n's eyes looked at me again with a look that could only show she was thinking.
It wasn't long before her thumb, from the tip to the knuckle was on my ear. She tapped her thumb across my face, counting quietly to herself.
"What are you doing?" I asked when her thumb reached my mid cheek, very confused.
She immediately shushed me, going across my lips now. "This is how people used to measure things, right? Using their body parts? Hence why a foot is called a foot."
"So you're using your thumb?" I asked once she was on my other cheek.
"No, I'm using my nose. It seemed the easiest."
I repressed the urge to laugh in fear of messing up her progress.
"Your earlobes are about eight thumb knuckles apart." She stated once she was finished. "Remember that."
After that was said, she started on my chest. She tapped her thumb slowly to get an accurate measurement, mumbling the numbers as she counted. Concentrated, she kept her eyes on her thumb and focused on where to put it. I didn't feel uncomfortable or awkward, nor did I feel comfortable and calm. It was a weird feeling I couldn't describe, it was all just a weird situation to be in.
Her hands were more on the colder side. The feeling of slow, light taps from a cold hand gave me chills. I wanted to pull away, avoid the colder feeling, but she was already halfway through and no telling the colorful words she'd scold me with if I were to mess that up. Her eyes were focused on only her thumb and where she would have to place it next, her back hunched a bit to see where her thumb was clearly. She didn't seem to be too awkward about the situation either.
Soon, she pulled her cold hand away as she reached the other end. "Your nipples are six apart! It's wrong!" She cheered.
I threw my arms up, sharing joy with her. "We disproved it!"
She copied me, throwing her arms up as well. "We did it!" She cheered, but not too loudly as we were still being cautious about my parents.
After our short celebration, I sighed. "That was easy. And fast."
"Prove another one wrong?" She asked, raising a brow.
I smiled, thinking of how many we could go through tonight. Whether we go all night or until we get bored, we could go through plenty. So far, the few minutes we've been doing this, it was fun.
I nodded my head, grabbing my shirt and pulling it back over my head. The two of us got back on our phones and searched for another "fact" we could find false.
Woww I'm actually really aggravated how much I have gone backwards in writing. Hopefully I can quickly go back to how I was before, but I doubt I will :)
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