The silence of my bedroom is only broken by my fingers plucking lightly on the strings of my ukulele. With my head resting against my bed's headboard, I have no tension in my body and this peacefulness is only made better by the presence of Emerald's head resting on my lap.

I set aside my instrument when I notice that she's finally fallen asleep.

I told her to come over so we could study, but I never had studying in mind. That might sound a lot more suggestive than I intended, but I really just wanted her to take a break from the schoolwork.

My girlfriend is a genius, but the perfect scores on nearly every test don't come without hours of hard work. She stays up late and wakes up early, writing notes, revising, highlighting, and when she has a test in the next couple days, I might as well be speaking to a wall. She can barely keep her eyes open to eat her lunch during our break.

"I know you just got all your notes out and you thought we were gonna study chemical formulas or whatever you do, but let's just take a break. Just for a minute." I had said when she arrived at my house after school.

We got up to my room without trouble as Gerard and all the guys were gone to the studio. Every thing is always a lot quicker and easier when it's just Lindsey home and they're not here to distract us. Not that I'm complaining; the four of them never let things get boring around here.

She looked at me incredulously. "Break? We haven't even started yet!"

"Come on, Em, how many hours have you slept in the last week?" I took her bag off her shoulders and dropped it on the floor next to mine.

She looked down at her feet, rubbing her right arm. "At least... not enough," she mumbled, defeated.

"Exactly." I closed my bedroom door then took her hand, leading her to my bed. It's piled with pillows of all different colours because I firmly believe that you can never have too many pillows. "So let's just relax for a bit."

I threw myself onto the pillows as Em watched. Just like she can always tell when I'm having an argument with myself, maybe even with that voice that now leaves me alone most of the time, I could tell she was arguing with herself in her head. Instead of plopping down next to me, she crossed the room to my closet, opened it, and pulled out my ukulele.

"Only if you play something for me," she decided, handing it to me. "And sing."

"Deal."

So that's how I ended up playing Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles while the girl I love slowly but surely fell asleep with her head on my lap. And it's true, I really do love her. I just need to figure out a way to tell her, because how do you say something out loud when there aren't even words to describe what you want to say?

I brush a strand of hair from her face, her blonde roots starting to show, and immediately regret it. She stirs, then opens her eyes, squinting because of the light.

"Shit, no, go back to sleep," I whisper frantically like that's going to help matters.

"Oh, God, Eve." She rubs her tired eyes with the palms of her hands. "How long was I asleep?"

"Only like twenty minutes."

She groans. "That's so much time wasted!"

"No, it wasn't a waste of time. You needed rest."

"Okay, Mom."

"It's true! And, besides, you already know what you're doing. You don't need to study that much," I try and convince her, then pause as I try and think of a chemistry question to ask her. "Like, what's the chemical formula for glucose?"

"C6H12O6, but—"

"See? You know what you're doing."

She glares at me. "That was too easy."

"Don't tell me you really want to get up and do chemistry."

"Yeah, I do," she says indignantly.

"Then why haven't gotten up yet?" I point out.

She tries to get up off my bed, propping herself up with one hand, but it slips. She nearly falls off my bed, but with reflexes quicker than I knew I had, I grab her arm before she falls. I pull her closer, one arm around her torso. And she lets me, until our foreheads are touching.

"Falling for me?" I say quietly.

Her eyes flicker over to where her school bag is sitting on my floor, then back to mine. Then, instead of answering, she leans in and presses her lips against mine. Still, to this day, the action makes me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside.

"Studying can wait," she mumbles through the kiss.

"Damn straight," I mumble back before deepening the kiss.

I can tell she's smiling; straight is the exact opposite of what we are.

• • •

this isn't really a chapter I just felt like it was necessary before I continue with the story