"I didn't mean to upset you like that yesterday" she said. She looked truly sorry.

"It's okay" he said. Still baffled by the fact that he was actually back. He chose to come back into this room, facing Skylar.

"I didn't mean to yell at you like that". He said, he actually felt kind of sorry. Brawling and arguing with another guy was allowed, but he never raised his voice to a girl...not until Skylar had provoked him, that is.

"That's okay...I can be pretty annoying sometimes...well, it's your turn?" She said, as to challenge him.

Her comment made him laugh.

"My turn??" He looked at her slightly confused.

"Yeah...It's your turn to do me" she smiled.

"You want me to do you?" he looked cheeky all of a sudden, like she finally spoke a language he could actually understand!

"No!...wow...funny" she said, laughing. Her cheeks turned red instantly, and she was cupping her face to hide it, but it was too late...he saw.

"I didn't mean it like that! I mean now it's your turn to read me!" She said, trying to hold back a cute chuckle.

"Honestly...I would rather do you" he said jokingly, which made her blush once more, and give her this really sweet crooked smile, it made him realize, just how beautiful she actually was. He wondered why he hadn't noticed before, he was too preoccupied to care, obviously.

But, as he looked at her just now, he felt like he saw her for the first time. She asked him to look at her, and he had to.

He wanted to?

Usually he would go for the obvious choice: A blond. A busty blond. But Skylar had this glow about her, like you could see her aura, almost. Like someone had decided to shine a light directly on her...like a flower graced by the rays of the sun. It sounded far more poetic, thinking about it like that!

Something not quite familiar to him. Poetry was not part of his vocabulary!

She was really beautiful, not in that obvious kind of way...not like the girls he used to know. They tried too hard, you know? Crop tops, cut off shorts and high tops. Fake tans and fake attitudes!

Skylar wasn't trying to fake it, she was being herself! She was being real. She looked real. Her beauty wasn't store bought, it was natural. She was wearing make up, he could tell, but it looked pretty on her.

It felt refreshing to him.

"Okay okay...here we go, I got this" he said, quickly disregarding his unfamiliar, and strange analogy.

"Give me a second...Okay...You...YOU are the perpetual good girl! Straight A student, you come from a wealthy family, probably an only child. You have that innocent look about you, but you can't fool me! You are not that innocent. I bet you dated some rich kid with a trustfund as big as yours...I bet you live in a huge house with white picket fences, and your mom is the type of mom, who bakes pies; wears an apron, and knits. I bet you have a four poster bed in your room and lots of posters...Probably with Taylor Lautner and Zac Efron? Am I close?"

"Close enough" Skylar said hesitantly, and smiled at him, although she looked like the game was over.

"You look tired" he said. He could tell by the blushing color in her cheeks slowly leaving her skin, making her look pale white.

"Do you want me to read something?" He got up, and reached for the book on top of the first pile, but she shook her head slowly.

"I don't know" she said, her facial expression gave her away. She was exhausted. But he caught on to the fact that something else was bothering her too, he acknowledged it, but he chose not to address it.

She looked sad for some reason.

"Maybe we could just watch some TV?" She asked him suppressing a discrete yawn. She leaned back, and rested her head on the fluffy pillow behind her. He noticed she had her own bedding? Not just the white hospital beddings you normally see. This fit her better too...a pink floral pattern.

It suited her.

"Sure" he said, getting the remote from the table next to her bed, and so they sat there next to each other in silence, watching an episode of "Peaky Blinders".

He was wondering if she could handle that kind of violence, but it didn't matter, because as he looked to the side, Skylar was sleeping.

For the first time in his life he picked up a book willingly...The book she had been fiddling with earlier.

And he read the first page.

"How do I love thee" By Elisabeth Barrett Browning:

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

...............And he actually liked it.