Super short chapter I know I'm running low on writing juice lately (ಥ _ ಥ) I hope you enjoy!

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Sunlight pierced through my eyelids like sharp knives when I woke up, my head throbbing as if some seventh-grade marching band were blasting their instruments into my skull. I groaned at the discomfort and forced my eyes open, expecting to see the usual light blue color I'd finally grown accustomed to. Instead, a dark green wall slowly blinked into focus, textured with little square dents. My half-closed eyes followed up the rim of an orangy poster to find Billie Joe Armstrong (that's what the signature in the corner said) smirking at me, leather jacket hanging from his shoulder and an electric guitar in his hand. Oh.

I flopped around, wincing at the pain that shot through my body when I did so. Harvey's terrarium stood in the same corner it always did, red glow gone and replaced with gentle sunlight spilling from the white-framed window. The chair had been removed too, a process I had somehow slept through. Maybe I should like, get up. 

Turns out, that was a bad idea. The moment I got up into a sitting position, some fucking hammer began ramming into my skull, pounding on it so hard that all I could hear was high-pitched ringing. Kill me now. Through gritted teeth, in the corner of my blurred vision, I saw a glass standing on Seth's nightstand. 'Good morning' was written with a smiley face on a little yellow sticky note stuck to a pack of Aspirin, causing me to smile. Smiling hurt. 

Hazy memories came flooding my head as I downed the water with an aspirin, praying the little white tablet would magically cure my headache. 

I decided to attempt a journey to the bathroom, considering my face felt grosser than that of a sweaty middle school boy (I could speak from experience) and my bladder was about to explode. 

The pale, fluorescent atmosphere sent back waves of memories I'd rather forget, as did the horrifying zombie lurking at me from behind the mirror. At this point, my curls couldn't even be considered curly anymore. Not sure whether they classified as hair. The skin beneath my eyes looked about fifty shades darker than what I was comfortable with, not to mention my Casper-esque colorless face. This wasn't me.

Almost as if I was looking at myself from four years ago. Back in Miami.

-

In contrast to the cozy darkness of Seth's room, the open hallway's peach walls were filled with sunlight seeping in from the massive windows. Lightwood floors felt warm against my skin as I carefully shuffled forward, chewing at my dried-out lips.

It had taken me a total of ten minutes to muster up the courage to exit Seth's room, despite being hungrier than I ever had been. I didn't have my phone, either, so just sending out a text to ask where the fuck he was wasn't an option.

Hence my current situation, awkwardly trudging down the sunlit hallway with a by now somewhat muffled headache. I wanna go back to sleep. But food.

From where I stood, I could see Seth in the kitchen area handling a pan with what looked like scrambled eggs. The exhaust zoomed through the apartment, conveniently blocking out the sound of my footsteps.

The sun had emerged from the sea, casting its aflame glow over the entire promenade and inevitably, the apartment too. I could feel the soft strokes caressing my hands if I moved them around, something I would've done if my muscles didn't feel like someone had tried to rip them apart.

"Sleeping beauty woke up, hm?"

I snapped back to reality and saw Seth, smiling at me as he balanced two plates on his hands. He set them down on the oval coffee table in the living area before plopping down on the couch, motioning for me to do the same. "So.. How're you feeling?" he asked as I sat down next to him, suddenly very aware of how disgusting I probably looked. Maybe it was simply because Seth just naturally looked fucking angelic, with his hair tied back (safe for the few stubborn strands framing his face) and the simple leather and rope necklaces matching the bracelets on his wrist. No one could beat that.

I swallowed, not daring to look him in the eyes. A pale, peachy pillow was far more interesting anyway. "Better..?" It came out as more of a question rather than a statement, considering I still felt.. rather shitty. Oh, and then there was also the fact that I showed up at Seth's place in the middle of the damn night, completely shitfaced, leaving him to deal with me. That was great, too. "I— uhm. I'm so sorry. Last night—

"It's okay."

That made me lift my head to properly look at Seth's face. Digging my nails into my hands, I shook my head. "Not it's not-? I showed up late as fuck, drunk as fuck, and you're saying it's fine?! I think your head isn't working properly."

Seth chuckled, fidgeting with one of his bracelets. He glanced up at me, tired eyes offering me a kind smile. "That's true, but I thought we established that already? Guess the alcohol is still messing with your memories," he mused, lips twisting into a teasing smile as he reached over to ruffle my hair.

Holding back a grin of my own, I shoved his hand away, ignoring the sparks of electricity jolting around my skin when our hands touched. "Shut up." I glanced at him and a small chuckle immediately slipped from my vocal cords, despite my mental protests. Falling back against the couch's armrest, I let out a long sigh. "Are you just not gonna let me apologize?"

From in between my feet, I saw Seth shake his head. "No. I'm... I'm kind of happy you showed up. Shows you trust me."

Oh my god hide your face right now. Suppressing a high-pitched giggle with a scoff, I clenched my jaw together and tried to concentrate on the kitchen counter on the other side of the room. "I mean. It's not like I was conscious enough to even realize where I was going." Can you tell I can't take compliments?

Now it was Seth's turn to scoff. "Wow. Okay. I'll just leave you on the streets next time then."

Before I could panic, everything went black when a pillow smashed me in the face with a massive thud, knocking the breath out of me for a second. "Hey!"

Seth laughed. "Serves you right! I was trying to be nice. Even made you breakfast, and this," he motioned his hand between me and him, "is what I get-? Tough world."

How can he be so attractive and so cute at the same time? I rolled my eyes, biting back a grin. "Sorry, I panicked." My hands curled around the cold, white plate Seth handed me, the smell of warm toast and eggs wavering around my nose. God, I love food. "But," I swallowed down half of a bite, "you're the one who wouldn't accept my apology!"

"Shut up and eat your eggs." 

-

Water flushed down my hands as I scrubbed down my plate in the sink, dish soap splattering onto my shirt. "So.. I guess you're still not taking any apologies?"

Seth, who stood next to me, towel rubbing against the first plate I'd washed, shook his head. "No." He dropped the towel and reached out to the top cabinet, opening the little door to put the plate in. Doing so caused his shirt to creep up just a bit, and my poor, crushing teenage brain right about stopped functioning. "But," he began, pausing to lean forward and place his hands over mine, guiding the soapy plate towards the streaming water. Oh my fucking god. "I would like to know how the hell you ended up in that situation. I saw your curly hair in Jackson's instagram posts." He chuckled, "You didn't strike me as the party guy."

And while I would have loved to answer him, my heart was stuck in this loop of times trillion speed, staring at white foam sliding off the plate and into the sink. "Uh." My mind remained blank, up until the point I was just staring at that goddamn plate taking a shower. I'm gonna die.

"I think the plate's clean enough," Seth said with a laugh as he reached over to turn the water off, smiling at my fucking paralyzed face as if he had no clue what he was doing. And honestly, he probably didn't. Maybe this was just his way of being friendly.

I made out a ridiculously sheepish laugh, nodding as I handed over the dripping plate. "I'm uh— I'm not. The party type, I mean." 

Seth hummed, dragging the towel across the plate in quick circles. "Then why..?"

I don't like this part. "It's— it's stupid. Really stupid."

The cabinet's door clicked again. Before I could flinch or, I don't know, pull a Mario and launch into the ceiling, Seth placed his hands on my shoulders and spun me around. "Trust me, blue eyes," he said, cheeky smile all over his face, "I know all about stupid. You could say I'm an expert."

"Pft. Shut up." I shook my head and bit back a laugh, still not daring to look him in the eyes. This was stupid. "I... I had a really bad fight with Aleksia a-and then with you too, and I hadn't eaten all day so I just felt like shit a-and then I saw the posts and I don't know... I—" Fuck. Words grew thick in my throat, clumping together until it hurt to swallow.

"Hey. No panic-spiralling, remember?" Seth placed a gentle hand under my chin, lifting my face to meet his eyes. He smiled. "Hi."

Blinking through the moisture in my eyes, I took a shaky breath and smiled too. "Uh— can I... could I h-have a—" my voice cracked as my blinking sped up, "a h-hug..?"

Seth chuckled before pulling me closer, wrapping his strong arms around me with a soft hum. "Always." 

I buried my head in his shoulder and dug my shaky hands into his back, sniffing despite myself. I'm literally pathetic. 

"I don't know what Jackson tried to tell you," he suddenly mumbled, warm voice feathering around my ear, "but I do care about you. Promise."

Really stupid. Fighting the smile that tugged at the corners of my mouth, I tightened my arms around him. "I don't know why I ever doubted that." But maybe stupid isn't so bad.

-

Green walls darkened around me, the smell of shampoo and hairspray invading my lungs. Infinite horrid scenarios of what could happen if I saw Aleksia again ran through my mind at maximum speed as I strutted down the final steps. Arson, murder, dramatic background music... God, so creative. For my own sake and convenience, I shook the thoughts away and instead focused on getting through the hairsalon without raising too many questions. 

I pushed the heavy door open to be blinded by a newfound source of light, chatter, and Harry Styles. It appeared Seth's mom had a preference. Speaking of, I saw Nicole —or, Nikki, as the neon sign at the front said— combing through a customer's long, dark brown hair. Of course, she saw me almost immediately. 

After throwing her a polite little wave, I opted to just.. make a run for it. And now look, I wouldn't have been in this situation if I hadn't spent the previous ten minutes convincing Seth I'd be fine going home on my own and that I had burdened him enough already, to which he eventually gave in, simply because he was tired of trying to change my mind. A win is a win. 

"Robbie!"

Shit. I halted to a stop right in front of the glass doors, my hand already reaching for the doorknob. With a clenched jaw, I slowly turned around to find Nicole standing there, an unreadable expression on her face. "Ha.. hi."

She pursed her lips, eyes narrowed at me. "Hi, kid. How're you feeling?"

Oh. That was not what I expected. Nonetheless, I attempted a smile and shrugged. "Not too horrible-? A-a lot better than last night."

Her unreadable face formed into some resemblance of a smile. "I'm glad to hear that." She crossed her arms over her chest, mumbling something to herself before glancing at me again. "You know, you must be pretty special to Seth, hm?"

Wait what? I must've looked pretty fucking stupid with the way I felt my eyes widen at her words, but I was already glad she couldn't hear my heartbeat at that moment. "Uh..What-?"

She scoffed, shaking her head in disapproval. Please don't kill me. Her small eyes snapped up at me through a few stray strands of blonde hair. "'What-?' Don't tell me you haven't noticed." She glanced at me once more before pinching her nosebridge with a sigh. "That boy fell asleep on the floor with his head resting on ya hand. Stayed there the whole night. I had to practically peel him off the floor this morning."

What the actual fu— "What..?"

Some girl in the back called for help and Nicole turned around. She glanced at me once more, offering a more genuine smile this time. "You seem like a good guy, Robbie. Don't mess this up, yeah?"

All I managed to give was a meek nod before I emerged through the door and took in a deep breath of salted air. 

A gentle breeze ran through me, tugging at the hem of my shirt and playing with the tips of my hair. The sand crunched under the soles of my shoes as I fastened my pace, trying to keep up with the speed of my thoughts. That was to no success, of course, why would it be? He'd stayed there, the whole night. And by now I thought it was obvious he hadn't been planning on ever telling me that. So then neither would I. 

But even if I'd never speak about it again, it would still be playing in my head on repeat until the butterflies would leave my system. And from the looks of it, that wasn't happening anytime soon. If anything, they'd only gotten stronger.

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Weeeeeeeeooooooooeeeeeeeoooooooo meh >;P 

Quick question, who likes who more? Istg they're both so oblivious it hurts to read.

Don't forget to click the little star thank you ily<3