Chapter 9

Milo's POV:

I couldn't forget what I heard last night.

I was listening carefully, as I always do before deciding the night is safe enough and relaxing into my bed, content to relax my grip on Bubbles and sleep. Yet, instead of the usual nighttime sounds- an owl, crickets, the whistle of the wind- I heard the unmistakable voice of Liam Cole and I wasn't sure what to think.

All he said was 'goodnight', but wasn't that enough?

Enough to absolutely terrify me for a good hour, at least.

I didn't talk to Adriel about it that night, which I was proud of myself for. I managed to push away my problem on my own, though of course it wasn't truly solved. It probably helped that I took one glance at the bottle of medicine still sitting, not put away, on my dresser and decided to heck with it and swallowed a pill before I could overthink it.

I kept relaying the moment where the mood of my night completely changed while Adriel drove us to school, his eyebrows drawn together as he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, annoyed at the traffic. He seemed to know something was different, but he didn't pry. I was thankful to him for that.

He'd solved my problems for me for way too long. That would have to change.

-

History, the first class of the day, was when things immediately turned different.

I sat in my usual chair, Adriel next to me, and I assumed things would happen as they normally did because, well, it was what normally happened. I would sit quietly as Liam, Sage, and Juliana entered the room, and then they would start up some topic of conversation that was almost as fun to listen to as I was sure it was to have, and I would sit behind them, completely ignored but not in a mean-hearted way.

Instead, they walked into the room and Liam immediately smiled, coming over to his chair where he put his backpack on the floor before gesturing to Juliana, who smiled and waved.

"Milo, this is Julie," he introduced us. "You never actually got to meet on Saturday because-"

"Because Mrs. Peters likes seeing me suffer and likes me to make triple-layer cakes while she watches in amusement," Juliana huffed, crossing her arms in annoyance but still smiling at me. "Sorry I wasn't there to walk around with you guys. It sounded fun."

I could feel Adriel looking at me through his peripheral vision, wondering if I was going to say something or if he should butt in and say something for me. I couldn't let him do that again. So I forced my voice not to shake and said, with as much of a smile as I could muster, said, "Hi."

Small steps, I thought to myself. One word, then two. Then maybe I can graduate to sentences.

Still, both Liam and Juliana beamed and I figured my one-word answers were enough for now.

Adriel was smiling too, but not at me. He was looking at Sage, whose arms were crossed, his fingernails painted a green color with pink on his ring fingers. "Nice fingernails," he said.

Sage huffed and turned away, burying his hands deeper into the folds of his arms. "My sisters wanted to paint them," he muttered.

"They look good."

He blushed. "Thanks, I guess."

The bell rang and Liam groaned. "I hate History."

"It's the most effective form of torture," Juliana agreed.

"I don't think History's that bad," I volunteered, surprising myself along with everyone else, apparently.

Sage was the first to recover, shaking his head sadly as he sat down in his seat. "That's because she likes you, Milo. You and Adriel are her favorites. The rest of us either are her mortal enemies or get caught in the crossfire."

"Somehow, I feel like you deserve it somehow," Adriel muttered. Sage made a sound of disagreement and Adriel raised an eyebrow just as Mrs. Barnes entered the room.

"Mr. Thompson. In your seat." At some point during their conversation, Liam and Juliana had sat down, leaving just the ginger standing. He flushed and slid into his seat, whispering angrily, "I was baited into that one."

I agreed with him, but it was still funny.

-

The days passed and we all became adjusted to a new normal.

No more did Adriel and I sit alone in silence and solitude, either passing a paper back and forth or communicating through our link.

No more did I sit through class periods alone, counting down the minutes until I was free, away from all society with just myself and Bubbles.

No more did I spend my nights dreading the day to come.

Instead, we all sat together. Sometimes we passed the paper as a large group (and came up with several rather interesting drawings by doing so) but a lot of the time it was just us, talking and laughing as the weather grew chillier. I had someone I was comfortable talking to in every class period, and it showed. My nights were either spent with them, or at least one in particular, or looking forward to the new day with anticipation.

And it had only been two weeks.

It felt as though it had been much longer than that.

One Saturday morning, I was at Adriel's house, having come over early in the day since he had expressed his frustrations to me the night before with a particularly hard puzzle. I wasn't having much luck with it either- we had resulted to trying every piece in every rotation in a spot until we found one that fit and made some sense to be put there. I had brought Bubbles over because I was anticipating being there most of the day and didn't want to leave her alone. While she was running around and Adriel and I were working on the puzzle, Daniel was watching some sports match on the television that I thought was basketball, but I had never been good at sports so I couldn't tell. The ball was orange, but couldn't it just be a strangely colored soccer ball?

I was staring out the window when I first caught sight of the rain.

A few drops on the ground, nothing more, nothing less. The dark spots spread, covering more ground, before all I could hear was the gentle pitter-patter of raindrops.

"Looks like we're in for a storm," Adriel said warily, glancing outside. "Those dark clouds mean nothing but trouble."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Daniel replied nonchalantly just as his game on the television froze again. Frowning, he picked up the remote and began hitting a few buttons, but nothing seemed to work. He had just thrown it down in frustration when the room was plunged into darkness.

None of us said anything for a moment before Adriel said, loudly, "What the hell?"

"Adie!" Daniel reprimanded his son before Adriel growled- full on growled- and Daniel corrected himself.

"I guess there will be a storm," I said quietly, feeling Bubbles running around my feet and picking her up.

"It's a good thing you brought Bubbles, I guess," Adriel sighed. "She'd probably be terrified home alone."

"Mmm hmm," I agreed.

My eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness; it was still hard to see but a lot better than when we had all been surprised.

"Wait," Daniel said slowly, a hand on the top of his head as he slowly looked up. "Is it leaking?"

Just as he said that, another drop came down on him, splashing him in the face. He cursed violently under his breath and began rubbing his eyes.

"See, you get mad at me for using swear words, then you go and use all those words," Adriel muttered. I stood, quickly making my way to the kitchen and grabbing a large mixing bowl from under the counter.

"Crisis averted?" I asked in a questioning tone as I placed the bucket under the leak.

"Nope," Adriel replied with a sigh, pointing to another corner where a similar situation was taking place.

"Goddess, I really hope my house isn't completely underwater from leakage," I muttered. Daniel smiled at me as he returned from the kitchen carrying two more bowls.

"I'm sure it'll be fine, Milo," he said.

I nodded, not sure what else I could do as we checked all the rooms in the house for leaks, placed a bucket under them, and then double checked everything again. The architecture could be ruined if we missed even a single spot, which was exactly why I was worried for my own home.

Finally it appeared as though we could do no more, which was when Adriel and I sat at the front window and just watched the rain pour down.

-

Finally, the rain died down. Daniel refused to let me leave until it was completely stopped with no sign of returning, but the moment it was, I was out of there. Adriel came as well, leaving Daniel to keep drying off the wet parts of the house. Bubbles resided in my arms as we hurried down the path, being careful not to slip.

"Aww," I sighed to myself as I unlocked the door. There were at least eight places I could see from the door that were still dripping, so I wasted no time in setting Bubbles down and grabbing my supply of bowls, trashcans, and anything else that could reasonably contain water before spreading them around. Adriel opened a cupboard to retrieve a stack of towels and set them in the puddles to clean them up.

My room had suffered the most damage, as the place with the most roof access. Luckily, it didn't appear that anything was permanently damaged; when I checked my hiding place under the floorboard, there was still water dripping off of my notebook and a lot of the ink had run, but nothing important was gone. It was all only my own thoughts, after all, thoughts that had long since disappeared from my brain.

"Is that everything?" Adriel asked once I came downstairs with the wet towels, having replaced the ones previously in their place. I nodded, going over to open the door to hang them on the clothesline.

Knock knock knock. I jumped backwards, nearly tripping over my own feet, my heart pumping from the surprise. Adriel laughed lightly.

"It's Liam. I saw him walking up from the window."

I start laughing too at my own shock as I open the door, Liam standing on the other side, smiling. "I heard you were a bit surprised?" he asked.

I nodded. "Hi."

"Hi," he smiled. "So my mom asked me earlier if you'd be okay with coming to dinner tonight at my house- I was going to come find you but then it started raining and I decided it might be a bad idea. So now it's like three hours before. Sorry about that." He massaged his temple for a moment, and I realized that he was a bit nervous. "They also said to tell you it's okay if you don't want to come. It's just an offer."

I could feel Adriel's presence weighing heavily in the room; while his gaze was most likely directed somewhere else, I could feel him wondering if he should butt in or offer to come as well. It unsettled me.

"Okay," I said quickly before I could overthink it, stepping aside to let him in and picking up Bubbles to stroke her head. When he looked at me, confused, and I realized that I hadn't fully answered his question, I elaborated. "I'll come."

Liam smiled, and I smiled too, though I was willing to bet mine was a lot more hesitant than his.

"Do you think you've got everything here?" Adriel asked me, folding another towel and fixing me with a look. I nodded. "Great, I should get going. I promised Dad I'd help with dinner."

"Have fun," I replied. He smiled, setting the towel on top of the pile and leaving through the front door, causing Bubbles to cluck at him.

"You had some leaks?" Liam asked, glancing around. I nodded.

"This architecture hasn't really been updated in a while. The house is probably the same as it was back in the seventies."

"Hmm," he hummed. "That's pretty old." I wrinkled my nose at him.

"My grandfather built it."

He nodded, seeming lost in thought. "Are you sure you want to come to dinner tonight?"

I hesitated for a moment before nodding firmly. "Yes. I probably need to meet your parents at some point, and I feel like it'll just get more awkward the longer I wait. Plus, I'm getting pretty good at talking to people."

"I know," he grinned. "I'm very proud of you," he said in only a slightly joking voice.

I nodded, feeling my cheeks tint red. He reached out and brushed his knuckles across my cheek. I blushed more, knowing I was probably completely red by now.

"Sorry," he muttered, looking away.

"It's okay," I replied. The room grew silent and rather awkward, so desperate to say something and break the silence, I blurted out, "I heard you in the woods that night, when you said goodnight to me."

He looked back at me, his eyes growing round. "You did?" I nodded, swallowing and looking down. "Goddess, Milo, I'm so sorry. That must've been so strange."

"It's okay," I whispered again.

Liam sighed and glanced around. I pointed at the clock on the wall, wondering if it was what he was looking for, and he smiled in gratitude. "We should probably leave soon," he said. "If you're ready."

My stomach plunged. "I don't have anything else to do," I whispered, my heart beating erratically fast, moving to open the door.

"Are you sure?" he asked, concerned.

I swallowed. "I'm not nervous, I'm excited," I said firmly, more to myself than anything, reciting the words my mother had ingrained into me. It always seemed to work more than I gave it credit for.

As we stepped onto the path, side-by-side, Liam held out a hand between us. I was very confused for a second before he gestured to it with an expression that told me exactly what he was asking and with a small smile, I took his hand.

"Not nervous, just excited," he muttered under his breath. "I haven't heard that before. Effective?"

"Usually."

"I'll have to remember that," he said, smiling.

And together, we walked forward (into unknown territory that would surely make me very nervous), but for now, I was content there.

Until the town came into sight and my heart shot off like a rocket again.

--

hi!

^ see those numbers? it's pretty satisfying that they're all the same, but if you ask me, it'd be wayyyyyyyyy cooler if the last number was bigger. :) honestly idk what I was going for there lol

basically, vote and comment and follow so this story gets recommended to more people haha (that was the point you were supposed to get from the paragraph above)

anyway, i never really know what to put in these author's notes because i feel like most people don't read them anyway, but self-promote your own stories in the comments if you feel like it lol :) i am bored and want to read more wattpad crap ok

-bloom :)