Sky

"Hey dad?" I sheepishly grin at him, bouncing on my heels. My dad starts laughing, knowing from the tone of my voice that I want something.

"What is it?" He laughs.

"Can you give me 30 dollars for books?" I smile innocently.

"You just bought some books!" He argues.

"Yeah, but I finished them." I shrug. "It's 7 books, dad!" 

"I'll think about it." He teases me, looking away.

"Oh come on, please!" I beg him. "It's books! What else is better than books? They're good for the brain!"

"If you had a brain in the first place." Luke laughs, ruffling my hair as he passes me. I glare at him and kick his butt, making him turn around and look me in the eyes, his playful glare matching mine. He walks closer and I stand my ground. He pinches my cheeks, but because I have chubby cheeks, his actions hurt a lot, so I pinch his cheeks back hard, making him pinch mine harder.

"You let go and I'll let go." I say, laughing at us.

"No, you let go and I'll let go!" I let go and so does he as we rub our now red cheeks. 

"I don't like you." I say and he turns around, gasping dramatically, looking at me like I just shot him.

"You don't?"

"Nope." I shrug.

"Sky!" He gasps again, putting a hand on his heart. "You love me though."

"Do I?"

"Sky!" He gasps again, making a funny mad face before he charges and carries me over his shoulder, running around with me as I hit his back. He starts spinning around, refusing to let me down, so I reach down and give him a wedgie, to which he laughs in pain.

"Let me down and I'll let go!"

"Never!" I pull harder and he succumbs to my evil side, putting me down and glaring at me playfully, not able to hold back his laughter. 

"That hurt!"

"That was the point!" I exclaim.

"I'll get you back, just wait." He points at me.

"Hey, no fair!" I exclaim. "You always tickle me and I do nothing, this was my revenge!"

"Well, I'm getting revenge on your revenge."

"Then I'll get revenge on your revenge!"

"Fine then-"

"What is going on with you two?" My mom stares at us with her arms crossed.

"Just...playing." I smile innocently like we didn't just almost have a wrestling match, which isn't uncommon for us. Luke puts an arm around my shoulder as he smiles at my mom too.

"Just don't kill each other." She sarcastically shakes her head at us.

"No promises." We both say and go back to our cat chase.

"How about this?" I ask as I put in a cool transition between two parts of the video. We have been assigned to make a video where we interview people, and we got to choose our own groups, so me, Nat, Peter and Taybh grouped up for this project.

We decided to ask college students about their motivation for studying, as well as how they chose their study field; since our grade could really use the advice.

We had gone to the university library earlier today to film, and to say it was awkward it would be an understatement. We asked some students a couple of questions, and when we got home, we realized that our best interviewee did not have any audio.

This sucks; because everyone else we interviewedwas so dull and gave vague answers. I am so frustrated that we lost the audio of that interview, and I wish we wrote down his advice. 

Now, Peter and I are in my room, editing the video to make it cooler and more professional. Thankfully, my brother had taught me how to use this app long ago, so I'm using my skills to impress Peter.

Sue me.

"Yeah that looks good."

"Alright..." I say quietly, biting down on my lower lip as I work the transition between each interview, and then add music to it, making sure it gets louder in between cuts, and gets lower when the interview starts.

Overall, it's an awkward video but made professionally, so I really don't know what grade we'd get. I export the video, and stretch as we wait for it to buffer and export.

"Want some snacks?" I ask. "I know it's late, but I'm really craving some cereal."

"Sure." He chuckles. "We could watch something with it too?"

"Yeah, that'd be fun." I get up from my personal couch from the side that isn't occupied by my cute friend. "You bring something to watch, and I'll get us cereal."

He nods with a smile, opening YouTube to find us a fun video to watch while we eat our tasty snack.

I walk into the kitchen and pull out two bowls, making sure they're from the same set, along with matching spoons. I take the box of cereal and pour a bunch in both bowls. I silently pray that Luke hasn't finished all the milk as I open the fridge, sighing in relief when I see the bottle mostly full. I take it and pour some on the cereal then put it back as I take both bowls and walk up to my room carefully to not spill any milk on our carpet.

"I have made us a gourmet meal." I announce dramatically as I walk into my room. Peter turns to look at me and laughs, walking over to help me with the bowls. Instead of sitting back on my couch, I sit on the floor by the foot of my bed, leaning back on it. Peter plays the video, and looks at me curiously.

"Why are you sitting down here?" He asks but sits next to me, his shoulder touching mine.

"My butt hurt." I shrug, taking a spoonful of the cereal, him matching my actions. Peter had put on a try not to laugh challenge video, because we love challenging ourselves, knowing very well that we would never win.

Peter snorts, and holds onto his nose, putting his bowl away. "Oh my god I got milk out of my nose!"

"Oh my god!" I laugh loudly, leaning to get him some tissues. "I made Taybh laugh so hard once, she got banana milk come out of her nose."

"What did you do?" He laughs, cleaning his nose with a tissue.

"I don't remember, honestly." I giggle. "We were supposedly studying together, instead that happened."

"Oh god, this hurts." He chuckles, coughing a couple of times.

"I know, it happened to me with soda once." I laugh. "The fizz made it ten times worse!"

Our laughter dies down slowly, and we just sit there in comfortable silence, eating our cereal. The video had ended, but neither of us moved to put another one on, enjoying this moment of peace too much.

I could feel his eyes on me, so I turn to him only to see him smiling ever so softly at me, his eyes putting the night sky to shame with all the sparkles glinting in them. I get lost in his eyes, feeling my breath hitch in my throat, and my heart beat so fast I might get a heart attack.

"I love you." 

Everything I just felt? Multiply it by infinity.

My mind blanks at his words, and my lips part as my eyes widen, and I don't do anything but stare at him in shock. My mind is screaming and I'm pretty sure a part of me started a fire in there and threw out all logic out the window.

"What?" I ask dumbly.

"Sky, I love you." He says again. "I couldn't keep it in anymore, I had to tell you."

"But..." I whisper, snapping out of my chaotic mind. "Wait..."

"I'm sorry," He says quickly. "I shouldn't have said that-"

"I think I need my inhaler." I state, still staring at him, but then shake my head in realization. "Wait, I haven't used an inhaler in years, what is wrong with me..."

"Sky, I'm so sorry I said that, you don't need to say anything." He gulps, looking anywhere but my eyes. "I hope I didn't ruin our friendship again."

"Why?" I ask after a moment of silence.

"What do you mean?" He furrows his eyebrows and chuckles lightly.

"I mean, why would you love me?" I ask. "I'm not...I'm me, and I'm not that...lovable or whatever...so why?"

"Sky, believe me when I say this, you are the most lovable person ever." He hesitantly puts a hand on mine. "You're real, you don't try to be perfect, you make me laugh so hard I get milk out of my nose." We laugh a little at that. "You're insanely stubborn which frustrates me but also makes me love you more, because when you put your mind to something, you achieve it, no matter how hard it is. You don't let anything get in the way of your future, and I admire that so much!"

"You stand up for your friends even if it would get you in trouble. You're caring, kind, hilarious, a smart ass and a total goofball, and I love all of that." He squeezes my hand. "Sky you gave me the courage to be myself for real, you didn't give up on me, and I meant it when I said I don't deserve you. You're like a dream, and I never want to wake up from it. You get along with my family, which melts my heart. You always wear a smile on your face and it drives me crazy! Like when you yawn and you scrunch your cute little nose and shake your head then smile, I completely lose it. Every time I look at you my heart yeets itself out of my body because it can't handle seeing you anywhere except my arms."

"I did not expect that." I laugh lightly, overwhelmed by everything. "Peter, I really appreciate all of that, and I like you too, I do. I'm just not ready for a relationship; I want to focus on school, and I can't ask you to wait for me, it would be unfair."

"I'll wait for you." He says quickly. "What I feel for you is so strong, Sky. I don't think I can ever let go of you."

"But Peter, I'm not sure you'd want to be with me."

"I do." He nods. "I've never wanted anything more. I'll wait for you however long it takes, because Sky you're the best thing to have happened to me."

"Are you sure?" I whisper.

"Yes." He says with fierce certainty, making my heart flutter.

"Okay." I nod softly, my smile widening. "Someday?"

He grins, pulling his pinky out, and I laugh, remembering how Kat and I always use the pinky promise to seal everything.

"Someday." He nods, his grin never faltering. I hook my pinky with his and I grin too, a few chuckles escaping me.

I take my cereal bowl, raising it up like a fancy glass.

"Here's to a potential relationship soon." I smile. He gets what I'm doing and brings his own bowl up, clinking it with mine.

"Here's to us."

We stare at each other longer, just grasping onto everything that just happened and all the feelings that we shared.

"Wait did you say I make your heart yeet itself out of your chest?" I laugh at him.

"That's what you focus on? Really?" He laughs along, slightly embarrassed by his choice of words.

"I really like you too, Peter."

"You have no idea how happy I am now." I grin at him, knowing exactly how he feels in this moment.

"I beg to differ." I smirk.