Your eyes fluttered open, the brightness of the sun shining through the window, hurting your eyes. You went to sit up when you realized an arm was laying across your chest. You looked to the right of you to see Connie passed out, slightly snoring. You remembered that you were supposed to watch him, you weren't supposed to fall asleep. By now, Connie was bound to be sobered up from the drugs.

You took his arm off of your chest and shook his shoulder gently, trying to get him to wake up. "Connie? Connie, wake up," you muttered, but he didn't budge at all. If he was a deep sleeper, then this was going to be hard.

You looked out into the hallway and didn't see much movement going on, so the coast was most likely clear. You eyed Connie again and tried to get him to wake up, even smacking him with a pillow. How did anyone ever get this boy awake? Unless the drugs were hard enough to completely knock him out, which, they probably were.

Determind to get his ass awake, you started to get up from the bed, but his hands reached out and pulled you back, your face facing his as his arms locked around you. You went rigid, not sure how to feel about your position right now since you two were so close.

But looking at him from this angle, with the sun's rays lighting up his skin, making him look warm...he never looked better. His short gray hair was spiking up in clumps in all directions after sleeping on it, making you giggle a little. He looked peaceful, his usually smirky and smiley face at rest, with some faint smile lines you could see. You wished you could see those honey eyes up close, just to see what other colors were in them, just to get lost in them for a while.

You took in a breath and felt your heart beating, your hand going to fix his hair, when he started to blink his eyes open. You froze, your hand just above his forehead as he stared at you with lazy eyes, the realization slowly dawning on his face.

It was quiet. He looked at you in a way no one had ever looked at you before, the kind of expression you couldn't decipher, the emotions unknown. It was terrifying not knowing what he was thinking, but he never broke his gaze and neither did you. His arm moved, his hand wrapping around yours.

"So what were you doing?" He asked, smirking as his honey eyes narrowed. You began to blush but bit the inside of your cheek to stop yourself.

"Your hair was messy, I was just fixing it," you nonchalantly replied, flicking your eyes to his hand holding yours.

"You know, I thought you said I didn't have hair," he leered and you instantly started to feel ashamed for ever saying that to him.

"Please, I feel so bad about that," you apologized, but Connie just smiled at you and you wondered what he was thinking.

"I know you are. I get those jokes all the time, but from you? That was unexpected. I've never heard that from somebody I've never known," he finally let go of your hand and it was cold now, part of you wishing he would take it again.

"But now you know me," you replied and he shrugged, making you question what he meant by that.

"W-I thought we were friends?" You gasped dramatically and he let out a light laugh and you swore he started to lean in.

"Still doesn't mean you can make those jokes. They're kind of old," he said in a knowingly tone, and you promised you would never make fun of him for his choice of hairstyle ever again.

You and Connie lied there for a while, his arms still around you, but more loose as you talked about all sorts of things like your favorite color, favorite foods, favorite movie genres, and so on.

"So what about your family? Tell me about them," he encouraged and you started to think about your parents and your little brother and how much you missed them. He saw the change in your expression and worry flashed across his eyes but you reassured him you were fine.

"I just miss them. I've never been away for this long, so it's been difficult, but break is soon so I'll be able to go back and see them," you started and looked down at your hands as you played with the fabric, beginning to describe your hometown.

"My brother's sixteen. He's awfully shy, but once you crack his shell he's probably the weirdest person you'll ever meet. My mom is very free-spirited, like, doesn't wear shoes in stores kind of free-spirited with the full on hippie look. It definitely takes some getting used to, but she's really sweet and would never hurt a fly. My dad is the opposite. He's kinda strict and formal, but my mom balances him out. He's great," you finished and looked back up at Connie to see him smiling, but a heavy grief hung in his eyes.

"They sound great," his voice was soft and you shifted closer to him, allowing for a short pause between you two.

"Connie...what-"

Jean and Marco barged into the room, cutting your question off as you scrambled to sit up, nearly falling out of the hospital bed, hoping they didn't see how close you and Connie were. 

Jean's nostrils flared but Marco eyed you, clearly sensing that something was going on here before they arrived as Jean started to haul Connie to his feet. "We have been looking for you everywhere!" Jean hissed, and Connie stood there innocently as Jean scolded him, but Marco ignored it as he made his way over to you.

"So what was that?" He pushed, his eyes narrowed in curiosity and excitement as Jean and Connie argued in the background.

"So what was what?" You played dumb, clearing your throat and tucking your messy hair behind your  ears, giving Marco a dead stare.

He pursed his lips but jabbed two fingers from his eyes back to yours, giving the silent signal that he was watching you and that he knew.

"You're too old to be such a handful," Dr. Ackerman's voice made everyone shut up as he stood in the doorway with his chart.

"I'm only here to discharge Miss L/N. Mr. Springer, you'll have to stay longer," Dr. Ackerman ordered as he handed the discharge papers to you.

Once they were signed and Dr. Ackerman did one more final check-up, he allowed you your freedom. Marco would be driving you back to the dorms, Sasha already aware of the situation as Jean stayed back with Connie.

You started to think about the morning events and your head started to pound. Your relationship with Connie was so weird it was making your brain tired.

"You good?" Marco asked as he pulled out of the hospital's parking lot, stealing a quick glance at you.

"Yeah, I'm okay,"

"Did you guys kiss?"

"WHAT?! We did-" you gaped at Marco and he gasped, his mouth hanging in shock interrupting with, "Oh my God you DID," smacking his hands on the steering wheel.

"We did not! We just talked!" You denied, but knew he already believed what he believed.

"There is no way you two were that close and didn't kiss," he replied with disblief but you only kept denying it and he could see how frustrated you were getting.

"Wait...so you didn't?"

"We didn't."

"...Do you wish you did?"

"...Maybe," you peered over at him at Marco started cheering, the loudest you've ever heard him. He kept going on and on about how he knew you two had a thing for each other, his pride and excitement making you laugh.

"I don't think you understand how happy I am about this. I know you two had a rough start, but...you just fit, ya know? It just makes sense," Marco babbled and you felt a sense of comfort that you weren't the only one who felt that way.

"You know, this is the happiest I've see Connie in a long time and it's only been a week."

A week? you thought and he was right. It'd only been a little more than a week. You'd only met Connie about 8 days ago and so much had already happened.

"A week," you swallowed and Marco's smile fell as he realized what he started.

"That's-that's not a bad thing! Please don't get nervous about what I just said, I promise Connie is a good guy," he tried to fix the situation but it didn't exactly matter.

"I think it might be best if we just...move on from this topic," you suggested and Marco nodded his head, the two of you not really talking about anything else.

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You sat on your dorm bed watching a movie when the door opened and Sasha walked in. Her face lit up when she saw you and she rushed over, pulling you into a big hug. You didn't realize how strong she was.

"I'm so so so soooo sorry about the party! I should've been with you and I'm so sorry you got stuck with those boys!" Sasha murmured into your shoulder and you rubbed her back, feeling terrible for making her feel so bad about all of this.

"I'm okay Sasha and the boys really weren't that bad. They were actually...pretty nice, up until Connie fractured his wrist," you joked and Sasha pulled away, sitting beside you as her head hung low in a manner of guilt."

"I just feel so bad," she admitted and you placed a hand over hers and squeezed it.

"It was nobody's fault and it's over now. Let's just have some fun the rest of the night. I'll even let you take me out," you coaxed and Sasha perked up at that a mischievous grin spreading across her face.

"Sasha...?"

"Come on! We have to get you ready!" She jumped off the bed and ran to her closet, searching through all her clothing frantically as she talked out loud to herself. You watched her with a big smile and felt happy to be back with her, leaning against the wall and thinking about your conversation with Marco again.

"What about this?" Sasha held up an outfit in front of you and you studied it before taking the clothing in your hands.

"It's perfect."

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A/N: 2k READS ALREADY?!?!?! THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH 😭😭😭💜💜💜 it's been a miracle i've been able to get these chapters out with 3 weeks of school left and your positive comments have really encouraged me to keep going! i'm excited for the next chapter because of...reasons 👀 and you'll see those reasons on wednesday 😉 hope you're all well and for the love of all potatoes, get some sleep. i've seen some of you comment at 4 AM in the morning and babes, i'm worried (as i literally stay up until 5 AM lmao). tell me something you liked about this chapter and once again, thanks!!

-ocean