Page 279 of Satan's Spawn
“Bex…” She tries again, my eyes fluttering open when she rests a delicate hand against my arm.
When I roll my shoulder she pulls back.
Hiking my bag over said shoulder, I swipe the back of my hand across my wet cheek before moving again.
I make it three steps before I stop in my tracks.
“See you tomorrow, Mom.” I say through a wisp of guilt, which only grows worse when I look down to find Potato at my side.
* * *
When I arrivedat Crayton’s house he was sound asleep, recovering from the night he spent in lock up. After tidying up his room a bit, I moved on to his drawers, folding and color coordinating every article of clothing to the best of my abilities. Which wasn’t really that hard since everything he owns is black.
Crayton stirs awake with the sound of the nightstand drawer slamming shut. “Rebecca?” he grumbles, half asleep. “The fuck are you doing?”
My face scrunches together. “Sorry, that drawer was a bit stuck.”
“I mean with my underwear in your hands.”
“Oops,” I giggle, stuffing his briefs back in the stupid stubborn drawer. With a string tight grin from ear to ear, I look down at him.
He eyes the drawer, then me, then the drawer again.
“You alright?” Crayton asks, lines forming on his forehead.
My cheeks start to ache as I respond, “Peachy, why?”
“Besides the fact you look like that creepy chick from the movieSmile?”
My face falls. “Well, that was rude.”
Crayton chuckles, tossing the blanket off him and throwing his legs over the side of the bed.
We have a brief stare down before he says, “Go ahead, get it out of your system.” Raising a hand toward the nightstand, he follows up with, “You know you won’t stop obsessing until you do.”
With a squeal of relief, I yank the drawer open, quickly folding the wrinkled underwear before returning it carefully to its home.
Crayton pulls me by the wrist to stand between his legs, scanning the area around us with curiosity lowering his eyelids.
“Did you clean my entire room?”
“If I say yes, will you judge me?”
“Probably.”
I boop his nose. “Then yes.”
Crayton has me crying out in a fit of laughter as he flips me onto the bed, caging me beneath him with both elbows pressed against the bed.
He feathers the strands of my hair. “I missed you, Little Ghost.”
“It’s only been a day since you’ve seen me.”
“A day too long.”
I shimmy, making myself comfortable underneath his body. “I guess I missed you too.”
He tickles me, and we keep things light like this for a while until the dark cloud of reality looms over us.
