Page 60 of Poetry of Flowers

I stripped down to my boxers and placed my pajamas by the edge of the sink. At least I had changed yesterday after Theo and I had eaten some pizza while the girls had fallen asleep in their street clothes, Tillie still had her makeup on. I couldn’t find any wipes in her bag, so I wasn’t able to clean her face properly.

My body looked bare. I was skin and bones with only a few muscles from running and working out since last summer. It helped to keep my head free when I listened to music while working out in our basement, where Nash had set up a nice little home gym. He told me I could use it when he went off to college, and that maybe I could convert it into my own music studio. But I would have needed help to do that, and I didn’t want to ask my parents, so I just used it like a gym. In the mirror in my bathroom at home, I liked how I looked, but here my skin screamed to be used as a canvas. A few tattoos could look amazing.

I splashed some cold water on my tired face to get down the light swelling. Strangely, I had finally slept well last night, maybe it was my house that messed with my head.

I even had a nice dream last night. A dream that tasted like sweet cinnamon, a taste I loved because it reminded me of Christmas. Christmas was the only time in the year when the Kidd’s acted like a real family for some unknown reason, I called it our Christmas miracle.

When I was younger, around eight to eleven, I longed for Christmas Eve the entire year. But it was sad when you could only be truly happy only one day a year.

I unzipped the little bag with my toiletries I had placed here yesterday evening and started to brush my teeth.

My fingers drummed a nice rhythm on the sink. It could go with the melody that has been stuck in my mind for about two weeks now. Maybe I should give it a chance; it might sound good in the end. The most amazing songs get written by accident, which is fascinating in comparison to that other not, so amazing songs need years to speak to you the way you want them to.

Two— one— pause— one— two— two.

Notes, I still had to find the right cords, but I liked the rhythm.

That’s when the door swung open, and Tillie appeared in the mirror. She stopped in her tracks when she saw me. Her brown Bambi eyes grew wide when her gaze fixed on my upper body.

“I thought you were all still asleep, it looked like you were buried under your blanket” she told me after turning around, but I shook my head before I spit the toothpaste in the sink and rinsed my mouth.

“It’s alright, you can come in, I don’t mind.”

Tillie stepped next to me and placed a little beauty bag that’s covered in kisses by the sink. A little bag Autumn had gifted her last year for her sixteenth birthday. She pulled out a cleansing wipe and rubbed it over her smudged red lips and her cheeks.

“You’re not going to remove your mascara?” I asked her when she started brushing her teeth too.

Tillie shook her head.

“It’s waterproof, I’m not in the mood to remove everything just to put it on again right after,” she mumbled, her mouth full of toothpaste.

“No one said you had to wear makeup at all.”

She rinsed her mouth before she put on her maroon lipstick again.

Her gorgeous, sexy red lips.

“I know, but I wear makeup because I like it on me. It makes me feel... hot.”

“You are anyway.”

“Mmh?”

“Did you sleep well?” I asked her, trying not to sound desperate to change the subject. Matilda Avril was the sexiest person I had ever seen, but it felt weird to admit it to her... I didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable around me. Not when I didn’t know her boundaries or anything about her love life. It was weird how I knew everything about her but this.

“I woke up hungry and ate a few slices of the pizza but was too tired to change or remove my makeup, after that, I couldn’t fall asleep again.” She brushed out her red hair.

“I thought about waking you and Autumn when we came back, but I was worried you’d be angry.”

“I slept on the train, it would have been okay.”

“Sleep is good, you know? This was the first time in ages that you have fallen asleep without me next to you, I’m proud of you, Fleur.”

She leaned into me as I placed a soft kiss on her temple.

“I also had a dream,” she said. “It was weird because you were in it.”

I scoffed, “It was weird because I was in it? I feel flattered, my love.”

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