I didn't get another call from Mom or Dad throughout the entire night. And although Mom had asked me to call her back after hearing her voicemails, I didn't.

I didn't want to.

I looked down at the Physics textbook splayed on my lap, exhaling a deep sigh of irritation. Chicken came out of nowhere and started nuzzling her head against my knee, letting out a few soft purrs.

"Chicks, please try to shut up that sweet mouth of yours," I muttered, flipping page after page. Nothing made sense. Why didn't anything make sense?

"Okay," I whispered to myself. "So if the velocity is zero, that means the acceleration is equal to..."

I pulled up my hoodie sleeves over my fists and rested my head on them, letting out a loud, frustrated groan.

Why did Physics even exist? Why couldn't I get it? Why was a test scheduled for tomorrow? More importantly, why was I stuck at Kinematics when that wasn't even included in the test?

I took out my phone and switched it on, texting Alex. But then I realized he hadn't exactly sounded happy with me over that note on the fridge, and maybe I wasn't really looking forward to explaining to him about everything that had happened today. I bit my lower lip and pushed my phone away.

Raising my fingers up to my temple, I rubbed hard. "How am I supposed to study?" I whispered. "How am I supposed to study?"

The test was tomorrow and I hadn't prepared for it even in the slightest. I had my notes spread out in front of me, I had Hanna's notes out too, but that still wasn't helping. Midnight was nearing way too quickly and I was starting to freak out.

I needed to ace this test. Maybe that was the only way to make Mom and Dad come back. Stay. Fix this broken family.

No, I thought. That all was just too good to ever be true.

I was so into my hopeful thoughts that I nearly jumped out of my skin when my phone chimed. Chicken perked up as well and jumped into my lap, her eyes trained at the glowing screen. I stroked her ears and picked up my phone.

For some reason, I was expecting it to be Alex. But it wasn't him.

It was Blake.

What are you doing?

I frowned at his message and had no such intentions of replying until another text popped up.

Mind if I help you a bit on that goddamn subject?

I stared at his text in surprise, soon enough morphing into horror. My first instinct was to look around the lounge. Who knew if Blake had secretly fixed a camera in here or something?

I didn't. What of a person do you think I am?

I glanced at the new message and swallowed. This was getting a bit too creepy now. And when I heard a distinct tapping noise on one of the tall glass windows, I let out a small scream and scrambled backwards, causing the textbook to fall out of my lap, and Chicken to let out a loud meow.

"Are you crazy?" I shouted, looking back at the window when I had regained my composure. Blake passed me a small sheepish grin from the other side of the glass doors and jerked his head ever so slightly, almost as if asking me to open them. I realized then that it was raining heavily outside and he was soaked.

I narrowed my gaze at him and took my time to think before standing up and trudging towards the glass windows. I unlatched the window and slowly opened them. "What are you--"

My voice was cut off by the blaring alarm inside my own house.

"Fuck." I swore and quickly punched the four-digit code into the small alarm pad right beside the windows. All the while, Blake had his eyes on me, still on his spot and smiling brightly.

Once the alarm had stopped and I was sure no neighbour would come out of their house--thanks to the loud thunderstorm outside--I looked back at Blake. "What are you doing here?"

Blake's gaze darted from the alarm pad and back at me. Now that I noticed, his hair was completely drenched, with a few blond strands sticking over his forehead as raindrops dripped down his face. I averted my gaze from his soaked shirt and looked back up at his face.

"Oh, well--" He started, but got cut off.

A sneeze came. And then another.

"I'm sorry." He apologized before scrunching up his nose and sneezing again.

I managed to roll my eyes at that even if the view was way too cute. Don't blame me.

I stepped aside after a moment of hesitation and let him come in. I didn't know why he was here. I didn't want to know when I had a goddamn test to prepare for. I absolutely hated being the one to shelter rain-drenched boys inside my house.

"You're way too pathetic, Blake," I stated before closing the windows once again, locking them as well. He grinned back at me but didn't say anything, his eyes trailing around the lounge.

"Look, stay here. Don't move. You're getting rainwater everywhere. I don't have the time or energy to clean this mess." I said disapprovingly before running inside Dad's room and picking up a spare towel for him, along with a shirt. I didn't want to keep on staring at his perfectly toned body either.

I threw both of the things at him and he caught them gratefully, letting out another sneeze.

Not wanting to ogle anymore, I went inside the kitchen and pulled out two mugs. It was kind of getting chilly in here, a bit more since I had opened those glass windows to let Blake in.

The supposed bad guy. Fraternizing with the enemy. Hey, one could only take so much loneliness before succumbing to such situations.

I started the coffeemaker and glanced over at Chicken, who was surprisingly purring around Blake's feet now. I frowned when I saw him shrugging off his shirt in one go, running a hand through his drenched hair as he smiled down at Chicken.

I looked away then and rolled my eyes. No way in hell was he stealing Chicken with those smiles. But knowing Chicken, he might just.

"I like your cat." He announced and I heard Chicken purr some more.

I picked up the steaming mugs of coffee and turned back towards him, glad that he was wearing a shirt now.

"First up, why are you here?" I directed the question at him.

He looked up at me with Chicken in his hands. "I thought you needed help."

I couldn't help but raise my brows at that, passing him a mug. He was obviously lying, and for once, a small part of me wished that he wasn't. Why were people only around me just because they needed something from me?

"All right. I'll make you a deal, Blake." I pursed my lips and looked down at my open textbook. I was starting to stress out a bit too much about the test now.

"Aren't you tired of making deals?" He asked without looking at me, but I couldn't mistake the hint of a smirk on his face.

I glared at him. "Correction, I'll make you a friendship treaty here," I said. "Okay?"

He took a sip of the coffee and nodded subtly.

"You help me with this. If I get an A in the exam tomorrow, I get to ask you a question."

He kept looking at me. "What do I get from this friendship treaty?"

I gave him a knowing glance and sat down.

"You get nothing. Because you came into my house, in the middle of the night, took off your shirt while I was standing right there." I pointed at the kitchen. "And you're making my cat like you more than she likes me."

I sounded harsh even if all those things were as stupid as me.

To my surprise, Blake huffed out a laugh. "Fine. Fair enough." It was surprising, to say the very least. My entire day had gone plenty miserable, and even if I should've been more than careful around him, around Blake, I just thought this was nice.

Maybe he somehow knew I felt way too lonely to push him away right now. Was that even possible?

I ended up sitting down where I had been sitting before, near the foot of the couch and picked up my book. Soon enough, he joined right in front of me, with Chicken still nuzzling her head against his arm.

I looked at her with a frown. "Why is she acting like that?"

He laughed and scratched her behind the ears.

"You both disgust me."

And soon we were very much indulged into none other than Physics. Hours passed by, striking way past midnight. At one point, my phone rang, but since I was indulged in something like Physics for the first time in my life, I was not going to let anybody interrupt me.

"It's ringing again." Blake pointed out.

I waved it off and he didn't press onto it again. Surprisingly, I didn't see time passing by. And in the end, I felt like I had finally, finally done something.

I closed the books with a tired sigh, feeling my eyelids drooping with exhaustion. "I'd thank you for this, but I won't."

His eyes laughed at me. "Why not?"

"Because I'm way too tired."

He chuckled and got up, offering me a hand. I took it and let him pull me up. "I'm sure you'll ace it with painfully bright, flying colors, Sky."

"Hopefully." I added in, urging my eyes not to close. As I tossed my books on the couch, a yawn escaped my lips.

"So," He spoke up slowly, his eyes once again trailing around the lounge. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

Ask him about the guy in the black hood, I thought. I didn't ask him though. This was nice. I didn't want to ruin another nice.

Instead, I nodded. "Hopefully to congratulate me on my very first A in Physics."

He made his way out and I could hear his laugh echoing behind him.

And I was exhausted. So fucking tired. Everything had been messing up since the very start of my morning. Good preparation for the Physics test seemed like a big accomplishment at this point.

All thanks to Blake.

Locking the door behind him, I flung myself on the couch. Just that and sleep hit me like a big freaking rock.

And for that one moment, I forgot about every mess my life had woven itself into.

______

Make sure to click the ★ below ↓ if you liked this chapter.

Xoxo,

Crystal 🌿