"Sweetie." The sweet voice of my Mom woke me up from a very deep sleep. I groaned and felt her soft, warm hands shake me awake. "Sweetie, you have to wake up now."

I rolled around in my bed and some words left my mouth. I didn't quite know what I was saying since I was half conscious and half awake, but I said something.

"Sweetie. You have to get up now. The storm's gotten worse and we could be evacuated." I groaned and rubbed my eyes. I sat up against the headboard and looked up at my Mom. She looked panicked and scared which meant I had to be panicked and scared.

"What do you mean we might have to be evacuated?" I asked. I moved passed my Mom and stepped into my slippers. I ran over to the window and pulled open the curtains.

There were trash cans and random things like stop signs that were all lying on the floor. The leaves from the trees were gone and whirling around in the air. It was still raining and windy. I'd say it was even worse than last night.

"On the news they are saying around our area it's even worse since we are closer to the coast." She ran a panicked hand through her hair and looked outside. "Pack. Pack up everything you need and meet me downstairs."

I nibbled down on my lip nervously. This was actually real. What if our house was going to get crushed and demolished? I didn't want that to happen!

It was unusual because a storm in Los Angeles never happened.

I grabbed my phone and ran downstairs. The tv was on full blast and I grew even more nervous when I saw a guy suited up, hands clasped together as he talked us through the weather reports. It didn't look good.

Where we were was a red zone.

"Have you packed?" My Mom asked, looking up at me. She was sat on the edge of her seat. Her eyes widened as she looked down at my empty hands. "Why haven't you packed? We need to go, we're not staying here."

"But-"

"No. Upstairs to pack please."

I nodded and slowly walked back into the hallway. As I gripped my hand on the rail of the stairs there was a loud knock on the front door.

I jumped back. I was thinking it was just a false alarm and that something accidentally hit the door. But no. I could see two figures outside. I ran towards the door and looked through the window.

It was Theo and my brother...and they were soaking wet.

I quickly unlocked the door and heard my Mom running out of the living room to see what was going on.

As I opened the door, it was if everything was in slow motion. Theo looked up, his hair, his face and his body were absolutely drenched with rain. He looked up through his clumped brown strands of hair. His lips were in a thin line, staring at both me and my Mom.

"Oh please come in!" My Mom ushered and they both walked inside. My Mom shut and locked the door and I tried to keep my distance. After last night — which was playing in the back of my mind over and over again — I didn't know how to react.

It was awkward and I didn't want to draw much attention to myself.

My eyes scanned down his figure and he was wearing a pair of grey sweatpants that had turned a darker colour of grey due to the rain. He wore a matching grey hoody and I bit harshly down on my lip.

Theo's eyes dragged down me and he looked amused. I knew exactly why that was..

I was wearing his sweater still. It was fairly big on the shoulders and it made the sleeves impossibly large that you couldn't see my hands. It was so long in length that you could just about see my knees.

Before I could justify myself, Callum pushed in front, gesturing for Theo to follow him upstairs. Theo took off his shoes and brushed passed me. It was a tight squeeze and I could smell his strong cologne.

I wanted to melt.

He didn't look back like I wanted him to..

Look back.

Please, look back.

I stared up at the stairs as he went up them.

Please.

Please, look back...

Then he looked back.

I felt a warm smile spread across my face, I couldn't hide it. I saw him turn back around and I dashed straight into the kitchen where my Mom was.

He really looked back.

"What are you smiling for?" My Mom asked curiously as she took a sip from her coffee mug that said 'May your coffee be stronger than your daughters attitude.'

She had a son one too, she wasn't biased...although I'd say I was the best child to ever exist.

I was God's work.

I shook my head, putting on a poker face. "Nothing. Don't worry about it." I waved it off and wandered round to where she was. I grabbed myself my marbled mug and poured myself some fresh brew.

I could see my Mom shrug as she sat down on the window seat. "If you say so, sweetie."

I hid my face by taking a couple sips of the coffee. It tasted bitter because what I was used to was a caramel Starbucks drink.

But anyway, I needed to be energised for today.

Outside I could see the storm. The sky was still dark and gloomy and rain was still hammering down. It didn't even look like it was daytime.

My gaze went from the sky, to my Mom. She was staring out the window with the ridiculous mug cradled in her hands, a solum look placed on her face.

She was staring into oblivion for minutes. Not even taking a sip from her drink. Her face looked downcast and her brows were furrowed. I wondered if she had forgotten that I was here in the room with her.

I placed down my mug on the counter and walked over to her.

"Wha-" She started but I immediately pulled her into a hug. I kissed her head like she'd always do to me and just hugged her. She didn't speak no more, just wrapped her arms around me, and tightly too.

We sat like that for minutes and it felt nice. I knew something was wrong and I instantly wanted to yell out everything I had seen to do with Dad.

But I couldn't. I didn't have the heart to break her even more than she already was.

Before I wanted to say anything, I would realistically need to speak to Callum and make sure everything was okay between us.

We both broke away from the hug and she had tears rolling down her cheeks. She laughed and wiped them away. "Look at me. Crying." She laughed again but I kissed her cheek.

"I love you Mom." I said quietly as I kissed her cheek again and again. "Do you know how much I love you?"

She laughed into my hair and kissed my forehead. "Lots and lots, I hope."

"Hey, I was wonder- What's going on?" Callum asked frantically and I pulled myself away from my Mom. I hadn't realise I was crying until I caught my own reflection in the window. Callum walked over and stood in front of us.

I sniffled and stood up. Callum eyed me, a silent question but I shook my head. He let out a sigh of relief and sat down next to my Mom.

I wiped my eyes and wanted to get upstairs to my room as quick as possible, but knocking into a familiar hard chest, stopped me completely.

I jumped at the impact and looked up. Theo looked worried but I knew he tried to not show it. After yesterday, seeing me cry, I felt embarrassed. Any interaction we had was me crying or making a total fool of myself.

There was no in between.

I continued to stare up at him and I didn't know why I was. I could literally run upstairs right now and lock my door. But I didn't. I stayed.

He was staring down at me and his hair looked dryer. Heck, he was even wearing different clothes. I fiddled with the end of the sweater, conscious of his hard gaze as he looked down at me. I wanted to know what was going through his mind.

I quickly diverted my gaze — though it was too late to say I wasn't looking at him — and went passed him up to my room. As I climbed the stairs, I caught a glimpse of his muscles flexing...and he ended up looked back at me.

But I was gone before he could see me.

I closed my door and got back into bed. It was twelve in the afternoon and I was starving. But I didn't want to go back downstairs because that'd be social suicide. I pulled the covers up to my chin and pressed onto Safari. The news was bombarded with weather reports and warnings and I felt sick.

I couldn't fall asleep.

Weirdly, I leant on my front and scanned under my bed. I grabbed my art book and materials and took them with me on the floor. Blocking out the sounds of the storm outside, I pushed in my AirPod's into my ears and pressed on a random playlist.

'idfc' by blackbear.

I grabbed some water from the sink in a random cup I had left in my room, and placed it down on the floor with me. I flicked to a random clear page and dipped the brush in the water and in the dark blue watercolour. I brushed the bristles along the watercolour paper and covered all the white.

I didn't know exactly what I was painting. But I felt the sudden urge to.

I continued to paint and I even added some stars, some lighter colours of blue and purple, and also a moon.

I shifted myself away from the painting and looked at it. I painted a random night sky and I actually kind of liked it.

I smiled and it and stood up, grabbing ahold of the painting to take it over to the window to lean it up against it. I tilted my head and I could see the storm circling outside in comparison to my night sky painting. I opened up my camera on my phone and snapped a few pictures, thinking I'd post this on my story... or even better, a proper post. I didn't know how to start up my feed. I knew some people had aesthetics and some weren't overly keen with that sort of thing. But I loved being aesthetic!

I might look on a Pinterest later on for some inspiration.

I sighed contently to myself and took out my AirPod's from my ears. I looked down at my hands. They were covered with paint.

"Nice painting." I heard from somewhere in my room and I dropped my earphones down onto the floor.

I instantly looked up and saw Theo's tall, muscular build leant up against the door frame. His arms were crossed over one another and he looked as if he had been there for a short amount of time.

I was standing in the middle of my room looking like a mess with my hands covered in dry flakey paint. "H- what are you doing here?" I asked. My mouth felt dry and I didn't dare to move just in case I did something stupid. "Were you watching me?" My face formed a quizzical look and he chuckled.

He rested his head against the door frame, his eyes connected to mine. "I guess I was."

My mouth open and closed, unsure on how to proceed with this bizarre conversation. "Why didn't you say anything?"

He pushed himself off from leaning against the wall and entered my room. Then he quickly looked at me. "I can enter, can't I?" His voice was gentle but laced with thickness. I felt like I could crumble under his gaze.

I gave him a timid nod and he continued to walk into my room. I watched in silence as his fingers grazed over the wall that had a bunch of polaroid photo's of me and my friends. His face was to the side but I could see his lips pull upwards. He was smiling at something.

But he still didn't answer my question..

"Cool room." He paused and looked over at me.

"Cool? I'm cool then?" I asked, mocking his past words.

He scoffed and shoved his hands into the grey sweatpants he was wearing. Holy fuck. I tried not to look down. I cleared my throat and sat on the edge of my bed, trying my very best to distract myself in some way.

"Never said you were cool." He spoke again after some time. He looked outside my window that was right next to the bed. The bed I was sat on. Wow, he was way more muscular up close.

"I specifically recall you saying I was cool but not as cool as you." I saw him grin and I pulled my legs up to my chest. He stopped and sat on the edge of the windowsill, staring down at me.

"I did say that." His voice was low and hoarse and he nodded his head slowly, again crossing his arms over his chest.

I nibbled down on my lip and looked up at him who was already watching me. "So, why are you in here? Is everything okay?"

I felt a sudden pang of anxiety come over me once again. I was so sick of feeling like this. Feeling like I was going to be sick every two seconds because of my stupid nerves and emotions I couldn't even control.

I rubbed my hands up and down my legs and stared down at the floor.

"Everything's fine."

Everything's fine?

So why was he in here?

"Your Mom said to come and get you. The final weather report is on now so we'll know if we have to leave or not." He spoke up again and looked outside, then he leant back further to check on his car.

"Oh. Okay." I said, lifting myself up from my bed. As I went to leave my room I was stopped by a hand on my wrist. I turned in confusion and saw Theo was particularly close to me. Closer than he had ever been before.

I swallowed and looked up at him. His green eyes were focused on my face. They dragged along each eye, then slowly dropped down to my lips. I instantaneously licked them and my breathing became heavy. There was barely any space between us and I could feel his hot breath fan my cheek. My cheeks instantly heated up, gushing a dark shade of red. On my slightly pale skin it was blatantly obvious that I was blushing. Anyone could tell from afar and having him up this close, he could one hundred percent tell.

I heard him chuckle. It was as if I could feel his laugh vibrate against my skin. I felt all kinds of euphoria in my body and it was something I had never experience before. I'd never felt something so strong for someone.

Would you call that a crush? Did I really like Theo?

He stared into my eyes and I felt hot all over. I didn't know what was going to happen.

I could smell his cologne up front and I could see his bright eyes stare into my blue ones.

I was nervous. It was extremely obvious.

My eyes widened as I felt his hand brush a strand of loose hair behind my ear.

I cleared my throat and stared up at him. Don't let his dark, mysterious, hot and sexy aura allure you Willow. "What did you really come up here for?" I knew it was bit of a long shot to ask but judging by what was currently going on, I knew he wasn't here just to speak about my Mom or the stupid weather report.

I really did hope our house wasn't going to blow over with us in it, though.

"Do I have to have a reason?" He asked deeply and I snorted.

"Coming up into my room unannounced? Yeah, I think you'd have to have a reason." I laughed and he chuckled, shaking his head in amusement.

"What if I told you I came up here to speak to you about something other than the weather.." He said and I stopped laughing.

"S-peak to me about w-what?" I hated that I was stuttering. But I couldn't help it. He was making me nervous!

Just as he was about to reply, Callum shouted up the stairs and I jumped a considerably large amount. I pushed myself away so that I wasn't standing remotely close to him like I was before but I realised how disappointed Theo looked. Disappointed that I moved away or disappointed that he couldn't finish his sentence?

I turned towards the door and Callum shouted up again. "Willow! Is Theo up there with you?"

I swallowed hard and looked back to Theo who had his jaw clenched tightly. His hands were fisted together and I could see the veins threatening to pop out. He took one look at me then walked out the door.

I stood still in my room not knowing what that meant. Did he want me to follow hi-

"No I wasn't. I was in the bathroom." Theo shouted back to Callum and my heart sank.

A/N: