Hazel Eyes & Cake Pops [Ch. 11]
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All three of us desperately needed rest, but instead, we were awake watching Lifetime movies and eating leftover bacon. We all gathered close to the TV, sitting on the floor with the plate in the middle of us. None of us changed out of our clothes and all of us haven't left from our spots, even during commercials.
Truly, I was waiting for Kate's text. I wondered if it was common for her to do this or if it was just a one-time thing. I still felt bad for missing it when I was awake at the time.
The movie was about catfishing online and cheating, but Rachel has kept her mouth shut on the huge plot twist it had. It surely captured my attention, so my eyes were glued to the screen. I ate about five or six strips already.
"I should really catch some z's." Chloe finally got up when another commercial started. Neither me nor Rachel tried to stop her, because she didn't get to sleep at all. It was deserved, so we left her alone.
"Goodnight." She kissed the top of Rachel's head and then petted my mine. She left into the bedroom, loudly shutting the door.
It was quiet for a minute before I spoke.
"Should I be worried when someone texts me in the middle of the night?"
Rachel turned to look at me, one eyebrow lifted in confusion, "I would be. Why?"
"Kate text me yesterday night and I totally missed it."
"But you were reading."
"I was, but I didn't check my phone at all."
She let out a sigh, tucking her hair behind her ear, "I can wait with you. Did you ask her earlier why?"
"I didn't ask it directly. I just said sorry and then she said it wasn't important."
"She's not very good at lying. What time did she send it?"
"It was at one."
"Something was definitely happening at that time. I don't expect her doing that to be consistent, so don't just wait for one o'clock. If she does, just ask what's wrong right away."
"Alright, and thanks, for waiting with me."
"No problem."
And we did just that. We finished the movie, which was called talhotblond and it had an insane plot twist, and it finally was one AM. I checked my phone expecting something, yet there was nothing. I had some notifications from Tumblr, but that was it.
"How long should we wait?" I asked, moving the now-empty plate aside.
"I say another hour, but if you want to pull another all-nighter, you're open to do so." She shrugged her shoulders. I knew she wouldn't want to do that with me, luckily, she didn't have any dark circles like Chloe did.
"I could," I leaned back on my hands, outstretching my legs, "I just hope you guys don't get up to check on me again."
"I won't, but if Chloe does, I'll drag her back." She balled her hands into fists and acted out pulling on Chloe's arm.
We were both chuckling after, but then I remembered Chloe just walking into the room.
"I think Chloe just went to bed. She didn't get into pajamas or anything." I turned to look at the bedroom door, which was now starting to get covered in pictures too.
"I think so too, but she's hella bitchy when you wake her up. I'll just leave her alone."
Rachel pulled her legs close and hugged them, resting her cheek on her knees. She looked ready to sleep too.
"You could go sleep; you don't have to wait here." I insisted.
She lets out a long yawn, audibly moaning at the end, "At least turn off the light, okay?"
"Will do," I nodded, "Now go sleep with Chloe."
Rachel stood up and dragged her feet along the floor, walking into the bathroom first. I was feeling a little lazy, but I mustered enough energy to limp to the couch. I fell and sunk right into it. As I surfed through my phone, I saw bright blue hair walk right by in my peripherals.
"Chloe, you only slept for an hour." I lifted my head up at her. She sat down right by me on the floor, still in her all-black work outfit and even darker circles under her eyes.
"There was some shit that wouldn't stop bothering me. I barely slept at all."
"What's wrong?"
"I know I drank a lot before Rachel came. Sometimes, I hang out with some buddies from work, meet them in front of our apartment and we all walk to this little get-together and drink. Or I just get some from work and take it home and drink them here. Now, I always feel like complete shit the next day, but it's different from a hangover. Do I do something weird when I'm hella drunk?"
Chloe was clearly upset about it. There was redness and puffiness around her eyes.
"What made you think about it?"
"I've been sober and, kinda like you with that dickhead, it's bothering me."
Only things like "um" or "I..." could only come out. The tense atmosphere was interrupted by the bathroom door opening. Rachel saw Chloe right away and folded her arms.
"Chloe Price." She said.
"Rachel Amber?" Chloe replied.
"Come back to bed, what are you doing up?"
"Just checking up on her." Chloe messed with my hair again.
She stood up again and went back to the room. Rachel followed, closing the door gently. I could only smirk at them.
I checked my phone. Hello?
Two o'clock hit and Kate sent the same haunting greeting. I replied back, are you ok?
I watched the three dots blink as she typed back immediately.
I'm fine. Just some trouble with sleeping.
She did say she only slept four to five hours. She said it was normal too.
School is stressing you out? It was the only reason I could think of.
School is fine. I'm always like this.
My thumbs hovered over the keyboard. Eventually, I clicked on the person icon and called her instead. There wasn't a lot you could do with text, so maybe she would like to talk about it like this.
"Hello?" She answered after a few rings.
"Hey, what's up?"
"Nothing really, I was sleeping, but I woke up again." She sounded drained.
"Does this happen a lot?"
"I never really wake up in the middle of the night. I'm usually just up and then want to talk to someone."
"You text your friends?"
"I usually do."
"Do you live alone or roommates?"
"I have one roommate. She used to never talk to me, but we're getting along now. I don't want to bother her so late; she talks about beauty sleep a lot."
"So, you text your friends and then me?"
"Yesterday and today, I only text you." Her voice became lower and lower as the sentence went on.
I cleared my throat, putting my shock aside, "Is there something wrong?"
Why was she coming to only me? Did she trust me more than her own friends? I could think of either she was just testing if I was reliable or not, or her friends were actually out somewhere.
"No, there's nothing wrong. It's been like this for me since high school."
I stayed silent. She must be miserable. I could hear it in this call and earlier today I saw it. She couldn't be honest with me just yet, I was still in between acquaintance and friend, or at least, that's where she was for me.
"Do you have class tomorrow?" I finally asked.
"In the evening, why?"
"Let's meet up. I mean, if you want, we could hang out some time in the afternoon."
She was quiet, leaving me with the sound of my TV still on, but responded, "That sounds nice."
"Where do you want to meet?"
"I go at school at noon, but if you want to go somewhere else we could."
"No, that sounds good. Promise me, when I hang up, you'll get some shuteye."
She finally giggled, "I will. Goodnight, Max."
"Goodnight, Kate."
I hung up and tossed my phone aside. I pressed my face into my hands, sighing deeply. I don't know why I was so stressed out; I felt it in my fingertips. I just hope that she wasn't hiding anything serious.
The next day, all three of us woke up around ten. All of us were back to normal, eating leftovers in our fridge and talking about any weird dreams any of us may have. Sometime in between, Chloe changed into her pajamas. All of us were eating some of the Veggie Grill sandwiches they got for me, which I did not forget about whatsoever. At the moment, Rachel was trying to remember her dream.
"All I remember was going to a casino with some guy." Rachel shut her eyes, like she was trying to envision it.
Chloe's eyes widened and then switch to anger, "I'm gonna kill him."
"Please do it," Rachel opened her eyes again and grabbed Chloe's balled up hands, "I don't care that it's not real."
I could only laugh at those two as I finished my plate. Rachel grabbed all of our empty plates and went into the kitchen.
"You're jealous of some dude Rachel saw in a dream?" I had to ask.
"You wouldn't be?"
I thought about it and, to be honest, nothing happened in her dream, so I wouldn't be. Chloe chuckled at herself; she knew it was stupid.
I spoke after drinking about three gulps of water, "Oh, Chloe, I was talking to Kate last night and I said I was going to meet her at school."
"Yeah, I can take you. When do we leave?"
"I said to meet her at twelve, so around there."
"She messaged you again?" Rachel asked from the kitchen, drying her hands after placing the plates in the dish rack.
"Yeah, she said she couldn't sleep. I wanted to see her today to see if she was okay."
"Even I'm getting a little worried."
"I hope she tells me something," I stood up, "Am I overthinking this?"
"No, Max, you're fine," Rachel came up to me and placed her hands on my face, "You're worried, not overthinking."
Rachel really was like acting like a mom nowadays, especially yesterday.
"Alright," I nodded, "I'll let you know what she tells me."
In an hour, all of us showered and got into outfits for the heat—hotter than usual. I put my hair up again, even though my undercut was pretty much gone. Chloe's natural hair color was starting to show again too. All of us somehow ended up wearing a black-and-red flannel, then we all laughed and I took my camera out to remember it. Chloe took it for me because I was too short to get all of us. Instead of changing, we just left. On the way out, we walked side-by-side from our apartment to Chloe's car. Before we got in, Chloe hit my shoulder to get my attention.
"Hey Max Payne, I'm going to cut my hair again tonight, you want yours?"
"Why not, I grew attached to it." I smiled. I have to say, it gave me hella confidence.
"I'm telling you, you're on your way to tats and piercings."
"Catch me on a good day and I just might." Maybe not the piercings, though.
Throughout the drive, I decided to take pictures of Chloe and Rachel from my seat when they were rocking out or just doing things like holding hands. They acknowledged the sound of my camera going off with saying "what the hell" but went back to what they were doing.
We stopped a few blocks away into an available parking spot. At the school, Kate was sitting on the curb, distracted and drawing something in her book.
"Should I honk?" Chloe had her hand ready on the horn.
"Chloe," Rachel smacked her in the arm, "Don't be an ass."
I got out of the car and skulked my way over to her through the bike lane. I leaned over to see what she was drawing, but my shadow scared her and quickly held the book to her chest.
"Oh, Max, it's you." She sighed in relief, but kept the book to her chest. She looked a lot happier than yesterday. Right when I was going to say something, Chloe honked her horn. I twisted around and saw that the window was rolled down. She was in the street and causing build-up behind her.
"Text me later!" Chloe yelled. She and Rachel were waving their hands goodbye as she drove off. I huffed out my nose and shook my head.
I sat next to Kate, a few inches away, "Are you drawing the buildings?" I wouldn’t have been so brave to sit in it, but I convinced myself that we were safe.
I took my bag off and placed it behind me.
"Yes," she kept it against her chest, "I always draw them."
She answered very quickly and I found it weird that she was secretive about it.
"You're here early." Kate slammed her book shut and rested it on her lap. I didn't see a hint of the page.
"Oh, really?" I tilted my head. I didn't even check the time when I left.
"You're an hour and a half early, really." Kate checked her watch.
"Oh shit, I didn't even know."
"Watch your mouth, Max."
"What?"
"Don't say so many swear words."
I felt my mouth twitch and I held in my laugh. Kate hit me on the arm and I wanted to burst out even more at the mad face she was making.
"Max, I'm serious!" Kate whined.
"S-sorry," I said through a snort, "It's not funny! It's not!"
I took deep breaths in and out, but I still wanted to.
"Do you just stay under the shade before class?" I cleared my throat. Our school building was casting a shadow over us from the sun and it was cooling, because we were both wearing long-sleeved shirts.
"I thought you would be sick of whispering in the library."
I pulled my knees to my chest, "I was okay with it, but this is better."
Kate was smiling wide; it was almost like she was glowing. The question was on my mind, but now wasn't a good time. I was fixed on her, making me grin from ear to ear.
"Do you like braids or buns more?" I asked randomly. She had two braids today, which were done nicely, unlike her single messy one she had before.
"I had my hair in a bun today," Kate started to twirl her right braid with her finger, "and then my roommate saw me and did this."
"She changes it for you?"
"She did today. The other times were done by me."
"She seems nice." I started to subtly rock back and forth.
"She's rather mean, to be honest. At first anyway, but she's working on it."
"She goes here?"
"Yeah, I stay at the on-campus apartments," Kate nodded and pointed off to the right, "She's in the same major as you."
"Oh, maybe I'll meet her eventually."
"I hope she won't be too scary."
Sitting this close, I could smell a very small hint of vanilla on her. I stopped rocking and felt myself lean in. Luckily, she wasn't looking so I could stop myself from getting too close.
"I guess I should ask now," I rubbed the back of my neck, "Do you always text someone at night?"
She looked at me, the brightness and shine in her eyes were gone, "No, I try not, but I end up doing it anyway."
"Is there any real reason why?"
"It helps me sleep. Since ninth grade, I haven't slept enough. But, please don't worry about me, I'm fine." She gave me a tiny side smile.
"Why did you only text me?"
"My friends have been working on a film project, so I can't really bother them. I hope you're not annoyed. I can stop."
"It doesn't bother me, I just want you to rest good. Bother me all you want, I'll be up, I promise."
"You swear?" She held her pinky finger out.
I hook mine around hers, "Yep, I promise."
We let go right away. I felt actual electricity run through every nerve in my body; I wonder if she felt it too. It was quiet between us, watching cars pass and students run by, it was insanely comfortable.
"So, you live with Rachel and...?"
Kate moved her book to in between us, setting it on its spine.
"My friend, Chloe, I've known her forever."
"Are they together?" Kate asked directly. I waited a moment and saw her cheeks become very red.
"Yeah, why do you ask?"
"My roommate tells me about celebrity news and saw everything about Rachel. She still doesn't believe that I've met her."
I chuckled, "They are everywhere, aren't they?"
Her question, her red cheeks, her avoiding eyes, and her explanation didn't add up, but I let everything slide.
"Pretty much, are they going to come out about it or not?"
"I haven't talked to them about it recently, so I'm not sure."
The redness finally went down and she was looking at me again.
I continued to speak, feeling my heart sink a bit, "Actually, Rachel told me you were religious. You're not asking because...?"
"Oh, no! I'm completely accepting of gay people." She waved her hands. I squinted my eyes, trying to read her body language again. She was a little too flustered, even though the question was about her being gay.
"I'm Christian, but not radical." She shook her head. I couldn't just ask if she was gay, not even indirectly.
"Huh, I never got into a religion."
"Your parents weren't?"
"I just never went to a church or looked into it. Don't worry though, I won't be all like hardcore "ew" or anything. I respect your beliefs."
"I won't force it on you either. I never did that before."
Shit, I really couldn't tell if she was gay or she was just being really nice. I was still hopeful nonetheless; Rachel will kill me if I showed even a little bit of giving up.
"Oh, I still need to finish your book!" I reached into my bag and grabbed the book again.
"Are you going to read right now?"
"Yeah. Do you want me to read it out? It's the last chapter." I flipped it open.
She twirled with her braid again, "Sure."
I smiled and cleared my throat. For the next thirty minutes, Kate listened to me read slow and stumble on words. It was an emotional chapter and my voice was trembling. I could see Kate in the corner of my eye, now she was the one holding in laughter. I finished reading the last sentence, closing it and then groaning out my emotions.
"Are you okay, Max?" She rubbed my back.
"This is a beautiful book, Kate." I handed it back to her, sniffling.
"I'm glad you liked it. Would you like another one?" She took it from me and started to put it into her bag.
"I'm not ready."
She giggled, "It won't be a sad one next time."
I rubbed one eye and stared down at the concrete. I looked over at her; she had bright pink cheeks and a tender expression on her face. My heart was about ready to explode. She didn't have redness or puffiness around her eyes anymore. In natural light, hazel eyes turned into a shiny honey, bashful and glinting.
"You're pretty..." I accidentally muttered.
"Thank you," she placed her hand on her cheek, "Gosh, you're making me blush."
I rapidly blinked and wiped my hands on my pants, "T-that's for complimenting me before."
"Oh, right, I did." She took her phone out. I did the same thing.
"My friends need me right now in the green screen room." Kate put her phone away and then grabbed her sketchbook again.
"Oh, for what?" I put my phone into my lap.
"They need some help setting some things up," She stood up, "Sorry to cut this short."
I did the same, "Don't be, it's okay."
I was holding my camera in my hand, letting my question bounce around in my mind.
It was starting to get quiet again, so I let the question out, "Hey, can I get a picture of you? I wasn't sure if you were okay with me taking random ones."
"Oh no, it's fine! You want me to pose or are we taking one together?"
"Maybe just a pose first. Like, when I first came, you were sitting on the curb with your book."
Kate did so, getting back into the same position she was, opening her book to blank pages, and taking out her pencil to draw random circles. Checking if it was safe, I stepped back and angled myself to get a correct composition. There was something perfect about it: her in the center, her peaches and cream skin tone, her all black outfit, clearly in her own world, the gray building and bright blue and clear sky in the background, and the bright red “no parking” curb contrasting everything else. I took the shot and let the Polaroid film come out.
"You'll just need one?" Kate closed her book again.
I grabbed the film and fan it to develop.
"That's all I need." That was my lame attempt at flirting, even I didn't know what that meant.
"I have to go, though, show me that later?"
"Yeah, of course."
"Alright, bye Max." She jogged into the building.
I took my phone out and text Chloe. I had this overwhelming feeling of satisfaction; I couldn't get the stupid smile on my face.
Chloe and Rachel came after five minutes and drove back home, loud rock music playing the whole ride. Back home, Chloe automatically went to the bathroom to get the hair clipper.
"How was it, Max?" Rachel asked, slinging her arm around my shoulders.
"It was nice. We talked about a lot of things and got a picture of her." I felt my cheeks burn.
"Oh, that's sweet! You guys are cute together, holy shit."
"Maxnesium," Chloe stood at the bathroom doorway, "You first."
Rachel put her arm down, "Tell me all about it later."
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