The sun's glare was what woke her up. It roused her from a sleep she'd finally fallen into at two-thirty that morning, and was now being very persistent in keeping her there.
She may have been dubbed Little Miss Sunshine, but currently, her namesake was no friend of hers.
Keely lifted her head off of her pillow, sighing heavily. Her warm breath reminded her that she'd dozed off the previous night—morning, really—without brushing her teeth, and as she swiped a hand across her sleepy eyes, a smudge of black marked her soft skin, now gently tanned by summer's sun. Sun. The reason she'd only gotten five and a half hours of sleep.
Two emerald green eyes scanned the cheerful bedroom for the source of unnaturally bright light that had forced her eyelids open. It wasn't the window, and the sunlight that flowed naturally through it; it was as if that soft sunlight had reflected or bounced off of something, and Keely was well and determined to find that something and bury it under the small pile of clothes her mom had asked her to pick up off her floor last night.
Or…maybe she wouldn't.
She located the object that had caused her early morning wake up call, made worse by the fact that she was a sixteen-year-old growing girl who needed her sleep, and her grumpy expression faltered. It was quickly replaced with a soft smile and a wave of gentle butterflies that pulsed through her.
A silver saltshaker caught the sunlight from its position on her dresser.
Just perfectly.
Sleep? Who needed it?
Memories came rushing back to her at the very image of the every-day, run-of-the-mill kitchen utensil that meant the world to Keely Teslow. Thoughts of him were all she needed.
We can look at these and remember that we're supposed to be together…
Just the memory of his warm and familiar voice as it spoke that beautiful statement made her want, need to hear it again, right then and there.
You can't always get what you want.
She swung her long legs over the side of the bed, getting up clumsily, realizing once more just how tired she was. She kept her eyes on the saltshaker as she approached it, sweeping it into her grasp quickly and holding it tightly. The colors of her room blended together around her, as she remembered the last words he'd spoken to her.
"Sleep tight, Pepper."
It was 2:25 a.m., and her eyelids were drooping. His gentle voice, slightly distorted over the phone line but not to the point where it was no longer beautifully warm and familiar, wasn't helping to keep her awake. It was like a lullaby.
"Mmm…you, too, Salt." A smile played across her lips, and hearing herself speak his nickname awakened her senses for a moment.
"It was really nice talking to you…until 2:30." She giggled. "Especially after we already spent three hours together tonight. Phil Diffy, you're gonna give me bags under my eyes. How many big-time reporters do you know with baggy eyes?"
Phil laughed heartedly, but it sounded like he was holding it back. She knew that he, too, was trying to keep his voice down so as not to wake his sleeping parents or…possibly sleeping sister. You never know with Pim.
"Baggy eyes?" he questioned, still laughing.
"Yes. That's what I said." But Keely's last words were swallowed up by her own giggles.
"Well, Keel...since school and any more H.G. Wells morning reports are still about four weeks away, I think you've got time to sleep those off," Phil joked, the last of his laughter fading away. "Or, you could just not worry about them…considering that, well…"
"Well…what?"
"Well, I've pretty much never noticed anything unattractive about your face...at all. I think those news broadcasts will be just as stunning as they've always been. Baggy eyes or none."
Keely's heart leapt. "Phil…" Her face relaxed into a huge smile. "Thank you. You're so sweet."
For some reason, she always felt at loss for words when her boyfriend said things like that to her, even after two months of their "official" status. But maybe that was what it was all about. No need for words.
"Keel," Phil began, gently.
"Yeah?" she asked.
"Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be tied up in a closet with duct tape over your mouth at three a.m.?"
Keely's eyebrows raised to their limit, as she sat up suddenly. "What!"
There was a beat's pause on the other end of the line, and then, a familiar voice. Not the one that gave her butterflies, though.
"Well, would you like to find out? 'Cause, whaddya know, it's three a.m., I've got a closet and some duct tape, and I've been listening to you giggle your brains out over each other for AN HOUR!"
Pim's voice on the other line was stretched to its limit with sarcasm and false cheerfulness, ending in one of her signature outbursts. Keely could just picture her in messy pigtails and a bathrobe, gritting her teeth as she held the phone in a bonecrushing grip. She tried to hold back a giggle, unsuccessfully.
"Pim," Phil responded, "if you don't want to hear me talking to Keely, use your Wizrd to soundproof your walls." He paused. "You really should use it while you still can, anyway— I recall something, oh, about a month ago,involving a report card, a grade that mysteriously changed, a phone call from Hackett, 'Mom' talking to him all about it…?"
Pim sounded bewildered. "I…you don't know about that!"
"And yet, I just told you all about it. Funny story. I wonder who else would liketo hear …?"
"Alright, fine." For a fleeting moment, Pim sounded panicked. It quickly passed. "Just both of you cut the chatter already, for the love of grapefruit! A girl needs her sleep!" There was a click.
Phil sighed. "Uh, sorry about her…"
Keely just laughed. "Phil, she's Pim. Pim's gonna be Pim. That's okay." She shrugged. "Besides…I'm actually kind of thankful that I still get to hear her ranting and raving… it means that you guys aren't in another century right now. That...you decided not to leave after all." She smiled, throwing a glance in her saltshaker's direction.
"Mmm…" Phil agreed gently, recalling the emotional rollercoaster that was the end of their sophomore year, now about two months past. "You know, you're right. When you put it that way, I'm glad you get to hear her raving, too." They both laughed, gently. There was another perfectly comfortable moment's silence.
"You tired, Keel?" Phil asked.
"Huh?" She'd been losing control of her eyelids again.
"Yeah… me too." He yawned. "I guess we should probably both try to sleep," he suggested.
"You're right." Keely caught the yawn bug. "We're still up for tomorrow, aren't we?"
"Is my sister the spawn of evil?"
"The spawn of evil?"
"In other words," Phil said, "of course we are."
Keely laughed. "Awesome. I'd be counting the hours if I weren't sleeping." She gazed out her window, at the round beauty of a moon against the velvet sky.
His voice physically relaxed her. "I'd be kissing you goodnight, if the present situation was going my way."
Keely felt her breath catch in her chest. "That'd be…perfect," she told him softly. "But I like hearing you say it just as much."
"Well, then…" Phil's voice dropped to an irresistible whisper.
"Sleep tight, Pepper."
"Goodnight, Salt..."
She hung up her phone, laying it gently on her nightstand. A smile hung on her lips as she sighed herself to sleep, still in the cute summer outfit she'd worn to the date with the boy of her dreams that evening.
I love you, Phil…thank God you stayed.
