I can't sleep. My eyes feel heavy but my mind is completely distracted, too distracted to sleep. His words repeat over and over again in my head

It was a mistake

I feel like I need fresh air before my mind completely takes control and I go insane.

I drag myself out of bed and I look for a jacket. I only see a leather jacket. Just my luck. I put it on and quietly walk downstairs. The clock says 2am now.

When I get to the front door, someone stands behind me. I turn around quickly to see Payton

"Where are you going at 2 in the morning?" He asks

"For a walk" I answer

"No your not" his voice sounds tired and graspy

"Your not the boss of me" I sound like a 5 year old

"Just go back to bed" Payton demands

"I can't sleep"

"Why not?" He questions as he moves closer and closes the door

"I don't know" I lie

"Do you want me to.." he cant hold in his laugh "tuck you in" he chuckles

"No! I'm not a baby"

"Then go to bed!" He sounds annoyed now

"Fine" I say as I drag my feet to the stair case. Before I walk up the stairs I turn back around. "Hey, Payton?

He turns around, surprised

"Yeah?"

"Why are you still awake?"

He offers me a smile, "I'm here to stop people getting in"

"Huh?"

"I'm on guard I guess"

"Why?"

"I'll tell you in the morning, get some rest"

He smiles and I smile back. I nod and head up to my room

****

The next morning, I'm up and ready for school. I walk downstairs and Zed was in the Living room. I walk in and smile. He doesn't notice me leaning against the wall, watching him attempt to clean the messed up room.

"I think this is the most work I've seen you do" I smugly say to him. He turns around and smiles a little

"Well someone has to clean this up" he reply's

I don't say anything. Instead I just watch him as he paints over the spray paint. He turns around and looks at me again

"Are you going to help?" He says, offering me a paint brush

"Fine" I sigh as I take the brush out of his hand and stand next to him. We both paint the walls. He looks at me and laughs a little, I turn to look at the laughter building up inside of him

"What?" I ask as he holds in his laugh

He shakes his head while smiling. "Here" he drops the bush on the sofa and picks up a tissue. He gently wipes the tissue against my nose.

"What's on my nose?" I ask.

"Paint" he chuckles

He stops and looks into my eyes. We don't say anything. we just stand in the middle of the room, Looking into each other's eyes.

"Are you done painting?" Cole ask's as he enters the room

Me and Zed jump 3 feet apart

"Yeah, we are nearly done" Zed reply's with a little stutter of shock

"Well your going to need to finish that later because we are leaving for school now" Cole says as he exams the room

"Well I should go get food" I say before running out of the awkward room

****

When we arrive at school, hazel is waiting for me at my locker

"Hey girl" she says with a smile

"Hey" I say as I open my locker

"How's the whole, living with the bad boys going?" She asks with intrigued eyes

"Exhausting!" I exhale

"Really? It can't be that bad?" She says, I grab a book form my bag and I stuff it into my locker.

"Just last night, someone broke into the house!" I miss out the part about me and Zed, of course

"Woah seriously? Are you okay?" She seemed to get a little worried

"Yeah, no one was home when it happened" I explain

"Oh, at least your okay" she breaths

As we are talking, I see Zed making out in the corner with some dark haired girl. She seemed into it but he seemed uninterested by the girl.

"Umm Maddie?" Hazel questions, snapping her fingers in my face

I snap out of my thoughts "what?"

"You got distracted" she laughs

"Oh sorry" I sigh

The bell rings and the hallway turns into a crowded heat wave. Everyone rushing around. Me and Hazel quickly rush our way to class after I've closed my locker.

Hazel shows me the way to Spanish. I would get lost without her. The school is huge!

We sit in 2 seats in the middle row. Soon after, along comes Zed. He walks in with his leather jacket and ripped jeans. A smile lights his face up when he seems me, causing butterflies to fly around in my stomach. How did he do that?

Throughout the entire class, my stomach felt like it was going to fly itself out of the classroom.

****

Thanks for reading 💓