Chapter 20

Chapter 20

-Farley-

I had dreamt of Pax that night. I was unsure if it was because he was only a few feet away, or my mind was trying to tell me something. I dreamt that we were still in the forest, there was a bunny in Pax's lap, and I had my camera with me. There was a single scene in my mind as I woke up the next morning to some soft rustling. At first, I had thought it was the grass of the forest, but as sense came back to me, I realised that it was Pax.

"Good morning," I said, sitting up in my bed. "Did you sleep well?"

He had been up a while; his eyes were bright, and he didn't jump at my movements at all. "Good morning," he replied. His voice also told me that he had been up for quite a while. He turned in Rowan's bed and placed his feet on the floor. He didn't move from that position for a few minutes.

I started to chuckle lightly. "I know how you feel," I said. "That's the feeling you get when you have a sleepover at a friend's house. You don't want to get up and make a noise so you just stay as quiet as you can."

Pax ran a hand through his hair and huffed a bit. "You read me so well." He reached for the end of his bed, where his clothes were neatly folded. Even though they were incredibly creased, I got the feeling he didn't fold his clothes very often. "Can I use the bathroom?"

I snorted. "Nah, we're going to make you suffer now we have you here."

His hand which was holding his clothes dropped and he looked in my general direction with an irritated expression.

"Of course, you can use the bathroom."

He cracked a smile and exited my room, closing the door behind him softly. I waited until I could hear running water before I fell backwards onto my bed and put a cushion over my face. I felt like a teenage girl whose crush had winked at her. Pax was attractive, there was something about him which drew me in, but I didn't want to admit that he gave me butterflies. We hadn't known each other long, so it was probably me just thinking he was cute.

I flung the pillow back onto the bed and stared at the cracks in the ceiling. Not all of them were there when I had arrived at the house. The sound of water stopped and the clicking of doors. I sat up and grabbed my own clothes, quickly slipping my pants on before Pax came back.

I didn't know what the correct protocol was. I didn't even know if we would be considered friends at this point. I hoped that we did.

Pax poked his head through the door, looking like a puppy who thought he needed permission.

"You're not going to see anything there sweetie," I teased. "Come on, it'll seem strange if you're seen like that."

"I'm not gonna see anything anyway," Pax pointed out. He had turned bright pink. "Besides, what would I hope to see?"

I opened my mouth to reply but then closed it. I clapped my hands once. "Let's not talk about that then."

Pax nodded and sat back on Rowan's bed. "You called me sweetie." He rubbed the back of his head.

All the blood drained from my face and ringing filled my ears. I did. That was a mistake, that was a big mistake. It felt natural to me, but that wasn't right. I should've asked if Pax was comfortable with it. Hell, I don't think I've called anyone sweetie in my whole life, save for maybe a younger cousin I was trying to make like me.

"Your silence is worrying," Pax interrupted my internal dialogue. "You okay there?"

I cleared my throat. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry about that." My nails were digging into the palms of my hands. My voice sounded anything but fine as it cracked halfway through my sentence. "Are you hungry? Let's go downstairs."

"I don't mind, I'm just not used to being cal-"

I interrupted him by grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the door. He stumbled but caught himself with a laugh.

"Be careful, Farley," Iris said as we ran past her in the hallway. "Don't hurt him."

"He's fine," I brushed off. I still slowed my pace. Pax had been chuckling the whole time. We made it to the living room in one piece, to see Rowan still sleeping. "He'll be there all day if we don't wake him up," I whispered to Pax.

His head turned to look at me and then to the settee, he looked between us a few times before raising his free hand. "I'm having no part in that."

I stretched my arms over my head with a smirk. "Your loss."

Pax backed up and moved to the other settee, where he sat and crossed his legs like a child. He had his hand on his fist and was facing our direction.

I tapped my chin before I ran into the kitchen. I went in the back of the freezer and pulled out something that we only used for small injuries.

I had my doubts about it, but I didn't really care, it'd be amusing either way. Iris was coming down the stairs as I hurried through the passage, her footsteps quickened when she saw me.

Rowan was cuddled up with a blanket and lying on his side. He looked very peaceful with drool dripping down his gaping mouth. I considered putting the pes in there, but common sense screamed at me not to.

Instead, I put the frozen bag of expired peas down his shirt, His eyes shot open, and he scrambled off the arm of the settee, narrowly missing the wall. "Dude!" he exclaimed whilst attempting to get them out of his shirt. "You could've woke me up, I don't know, humanly?"

Pax was still sitting cross-legged, but his hand was covering a grin. I smiled over at him, knowing he wouldn't be able to see it.

I was then tackled from behind. "Don't know of many animals with access to frozen peas," I teased. Rowan was pinning me to the floor, I could've easily gotten out of the situation, but I let him have some sort of payback. "Do you Iris?"

Iris stood in the doorway with a pot of yoghurt. "Well, Rowan's had access to frozen peas all his life practically." She stepped over us and joined Pax on the settee. "Good morning."

The two of them started a quiet conversation, whilst Rowan messed up my hair. "Gotta admit that you're getting more creative," he said through clenched teeth. "But still, nowhere near as creative as me."

I rolled my eyes and sat up, causing him to yelp in surprise. He was now the one on his back, my hands pinning his shoulders down. "And it seems you've gotten stronger, but nowhere near as strong as me."

Rowan huffed and lightly punched my stomach. It didn't hurt, but I stood up anyway, holding a hand out to help him up. There were a lot of peas scattered on the floor. I didn't mind the fact I had to clean them up, the reaction was worth it.

Rowan went upstairs and left me to clean the living room by myself. It wasn't hard to find the majority of the peas embedded in the settee; the issue was getting the ones out from underneath.

It took me about ten minutes to be satisfied with the job that I had done. Pax and Iris had left whilst I was cleaning. They were mumbling to each other in the kitchen. I had to make several trips to the bin, as the bag had completely split along the side.

Iris and Pax's mumbling stopped as I entered the kitchen for the third time. I narrowed my eyes at them and brushed my hands on my trousers. "Why the sudden silence?" I put my hands on my hips.

The two started to snigger.

I groaned and tilted my head back. I sat on the counter and grabbed a banana out of the fruit bowl. "Have you eaten, Pax?"

He shook his head. He faced the floor and his hand rubbed against his arm. Last night, he didn't make any comment or suggestion over what to eat, other then he didn't know if he had any allergies. He was apprehensive about borrowing some pyjamas too.

I hope that attitude changes at some point, I didn't want him to feel like an intruder for the entirety of his stay, even if we didn't know how long that would be.

I huffed and put my banana peel in the compost box. "You know, you can ask for anything you want. We might have it, or something like it."

I opened the back door to let some air in. It wasn't the nicest of days, the sun was hidden by the clouds, and there were at least three flies circling the house. "Do you have any granola?" Pax asked.

I clicked my fingers and pointed to Iris, who immediately started to buzz around the kitchen. "That is my forte, we have a few. So maybe you could pick and choose which ones you'd like, I'll read them out to you. No arguments."

I admired how well she was able to be friendly and bossy at the same time. Pax's eyes had widened, and his shoulders had relaxed.

I stepped outside whilst Iris sorted out some breakfast for Pax. I wouldn't say that I would mess it up, granola was simple enough, but I wasn't too sure about how well I could adapt my usual dish to suit Pax.

I jumped out of my skin when I turned to see Pax sitting at the back door, bowl in hand.

"You could learn to make some noise," I told him with my hand pressed against my chest. "You startled me."

"I'm not exactly quiet," Pax replied. He had a smile playing on his lips. "I think I'm rather loud. But you should be paying more attention."

I huffed and crossed my arms. "You are not loud, you're the quietest creature I've met." I decided to ignore the comment about paying more attention because I usually would.

"I guess you haven't interacted with many creatures then." He shook his head at me. "I'm just as loud as anyone else."

"No, it just seems that way because you're aware of your movements," I argued. "You're quiet, too quiet."

"Or. you're just extremely loud and so I'm considered quiet in comparison?" Pax offered. He really wasn't letting this go.

"How did you get out of the house? If you're 'not quiet'?" I used my fingers to draw air quotations. I was shuffling closer and closer to him with each word.

"They're stupid, or hard of hearing." He shrugged his shoulders. "Would make a lot of sense to be honest," he mumbled before putting another spoonful in his mouth. "But they noticed pretty soon, sooner than I thought they would."

I frowned down at him. "It'll get sorted out; I don't know what Caspian thinks we should do. I've got a feeling a family meeting's going to be called."

Hello!

I wasn't going to update today, as I had updated the day before yesterday and I still consider today a holiday, but I like routine too much not to :D

So, that leads me to the question of the chapter.

Do you guys like routine?

I really like routine and scheduling. I like knowing when things should be done and what times work for me. However, I am trying to change my routine a little bit for new year's so that I can stay up with my family instead of being absolutely shattered! For example, I just woke up from a nap-which I never take, but yesterday was very tiring and I might be able to stay up later!