'They're at it again', Alice thought as she stopped on her tracks on the way to her room. 'Who would have thought that those two would be like that?'
No. Nobody would ever.
Not that uptight Elliot Nightray who always love to scold her and Oz for doing small things like staying lock up in the latter's room for hours thinking that they might be doing something inappropriate to be discussed in front of little children where in fact all they've been doing is just the same as to what they always do outside – Oz with his nose stuck on one of his books and her just fingering away on his laptop writing stories that she (of course) carefully kept hidden for the latter not to find it. Why his laptop? It's because she doesn't own one, simple.
Elliot would never really understand. And she doesn't think others would either. She and Oz just wanted to spend their time together alone. To just be together without other people interfering their own space. She can feel it. He is comforted by just her presence as well as she is with him. They can keep calm with themselves whenever they are together. Hence time and again they just shut the world out and stay at peace with each other in either his room or hers.
Elliot is one thing though. He is still a man. And that's it. With that one sentence a story can come to a conclusion. But then... Ada. Ada is on an entirely different matter. The ever bashful and quick-to-be-flustered Ada. Even she was surprised when she first found out about it. Not that she never really thought it would not happen -with how those two who can't seem to keep their hands off each other, hand-holdings in public, a peck on the lips every now and then or even a small make-out session in the library when they thought that they are secluded enough. No. She fully acknowledges the fact that those two have already progress their stage from an innocent boyfriend-girlfriend relationship into lovers.
What she just can't believe...and accept is that, how can those two just make love out there in the hallway of all places! The phrase "Get a room!" would really be useful at times like this. How she would love to see their faces as she walks in on them with those words coming out of her mouth. It's not being prude on her part. The only reason for that is that hallway they are using right now as their love nest is the only way to her room. How unfortunate can she be when her room is just located in the farthest end of that hallway just after Ada's room? How unfortunate can she be that those two just couldn't wait to eat each others' face off even before they were able to enter Ada's room? How unfortunate can she be not being able to go back to her haven when she badly needed that sleep she craves for that night (their exam week just ended that day).
Of course she could always go to the dorm's library and use one of the sofas as her bed, again. Yes, this is not the first time that she caught them doing THAT in the hallway. In fact, she can't even count anymore how many times she caught these two. It's not her fault that she always goes to bed that late hour of the night. She has this habit to go writing down all her thoughts for a story on her notes to be encoded later on Oz's laptop before she retires for the night. Good thing she can always hear them before she can come up to them during their sessions. But truth be told, she is not in the mood to tolerate scrunching up her body on that small sofa, what she needed is her soft bed and pillows surrounding her. Sadly, it seems that she won't be getting any of that again this night. Unless...
Alice immediately spun on her heels leaving those two get on with their lovemaking and headed for the boys' dormitory on another building. Good thing the school thought of connecting the two buildings with a hallway bridge on each floors. She snorted at that, with this bridge, it also provides an easier access for lovers to have their very own rendezvous like those two back there. With her room located on the topmost floor out of four (and his as well), she is not in the mood anymore to climb down and up the stairs towards his room. Yes. She has opted to go to his room to sleep instead of the library. That way, she will still be able to sleep on a bed even though it is not as soft as hers.
This is not really the first time that she slept on his room. But this is the first time that she will sleep on this room at night.
'This feels kind of awkward.' Alice thought to herself as she raised her hand and rapped the door with her knuckles. She waited for a bit but she can hear no sound coming from inside.
"Geez!" Exasperated, she knocked on the door much louder and only stopped when she at last heard some rustling and a small thud and a groan, which sounds suspiciously like him falling on the floor. She sniggered at that but then immediately covered her mouth with her hands when he suddenly swung the door open with a frown on his face.
"Don't you know what time is it already, Alice?" Oz grumbled his voice still thick from sleep. It's not just his voice, even with how his blond hair seems to stand on all places and his wrinkled cloths, these signs clearly shows that he was already so deep in his sleep that it made Alice a bit guilty by waking him up at that moment. But then she must stay firm, for her to be able to feel the softness of a bed for the night.
She glanced over his shoulder towards the clock on his nightstand and noted the time registered on it and grinned. "It's still early, idiot. It's not even 10 p.m. You know we even sleep past midnight at times, right?"
"It's already 9:59 and we just came from a very gruesome test this whole week so don't you think a long night's rest is appropriate, isn't it?"
"Yes." She answered sheepishly but proceeded to nudge against him and went inside his room straight to his bed and laid on it hugging one of his pillows, sighing and closing her eyes on the process. "But...I just decided that we'll be sleeping together tonight. And you can't say no, alright?"
No answer came from his side, not even a breath. She didn't even hear him closing the door either, so she opens one of her eyes and took a peek at him. He seems to be standing frozen on his spot with the door still wide open.
"Oz?"
She whispered afraid that she said or did something that made him mad. He seems to be into that lately, getting mad at her for no reason at all. Sometimes he would just stare off into space or on a page of a book he's reading without turning it over for hours. She immediately searched into her memories trying to point out what she did putting him in that frozen state. She can find nothing so she sat up from the bed and just called out to him again a little louder.
"Oz."
Alice noticed him slightly jumped at her voice, then sighed and closed the door. "You already claimed the bed even before you asked so how can I say no, hmm, Alice?"
She laughed at what he said. He turned giving her a little smile and she felt relieved that he doesn't seem to be mad at her for barging into his room like that. She watched him as he made his way across his room towards his sofa.
"Remember those times I told you...about those nights? When I told you the reason I was grouchy the whole morning after sleeping in the library?"
He remained silent, watching her with a confused face on. Clearly, his thoughts seem to be not functioning well this night for not being able to process what she subtly told him. Maybe rousing someone suddenly can turn even a genius into a blank-faced person with no proper processing thoughts on a situation presented to him.
"About your sister, Ada and Elliot? Remember? Remember?" She repeated and waited patiently when his face slowly changed into a grimace after his realization to what she said.
"So they're at it, again?" Oz grumbled as he buried his face on his hands. Knowing and seeing his younger sister getting cosy with her boyfriend is one thing, but hearing her and him doing things is an entirely different matter. He knows that Elliot is a great person, but he can't help it that he still has the protective instincts of a brother towards his sister from time to time.
"You just said out loud exactly what I just thought earlier when I almost ran on them, again," she grinned and pat his bed. "So I'll be sleeping with you tonight, okay? This bed is big enough for the two of us so it won't be a problem right? Right?"
He sighed and walked towards her. "You might as well scoot over for me to get in, right? Right?"
He mimicked her voice which made her pout at it but did what he said otherwise. Lying on the bed together is not really new for the both of them. They already did that countless of times when she was hanging out with him. Sometimes she would fall asleep but Oz would just move back on his sofa to give her room on the bed. But sleeping together is not. This will be the first time that they would be doing that.
Alice sighed. Another one of her first with him. Not that he would really know about it. She felt the bed dip from his weight and moved a bit more for him but suddenly stopped.
"Ow!" she yelped. Trying her might to push him out of the bed. "Oz! My hair! You just sat on it! Get out! Get out!"
He immediately complied and stood beside the bed looking down at her with a darkened expression on his face. Clearly, he is not amused anymore with her being there. He was about to launch a tirade on her disturbing his precious sleep when he stopped when he noticed her eyes glistening with her tears. Defeated, he sighed (for the umpteenth time that night) and reached out towards her.
"Relax. I'll just braid your hair for you," he said gently when he saw her flinched at his outstretched hands. "Turn around."
She complied and turned her back towards him. Alice heard a small click and a warm light brightened the room. The bed, again dip with his weight and she felt him scoop her dark hair and she sighed relaxing her sitting form on his bed.
"You're getting good at this." Alice smiled when she doesn't feel any of the painful tugging on her hair whenever he tries to braid it.
"Well, I've got the perfect model right here," she can feel the smile on his voice and her lips curve into a smile in return. "With your hair as long as this, I need to learn fast. Or else this would happen every time we stay together on one bed like this."
"I can just cut it much shorter, you know." Alice muttered absently as she tries to imagine herself having a shorter hair. Maybe just a bit above her shoulder would be nice? "Ow!"
She again yelped this time when she felt him suddenly pulled her hair purposely stopping her train of thoughts. "What was that for, Oz?!"
"Don't cut it." He simply replied. He didn't even bother apologizing for what he just did. Why does he seem so broody this night?
"Why?"
"I met you like this. With your long hair flowing around you from the wind." She heard his voice thicken from the memory.
Alice remembered that day as well. She remembered him standing alone beside a tree holding something that suspiciously looks like a black apple on his hand. She remembered how she first noticed him standing in the middle of the crowded hall of their school seemingly alone and detached from the rest of the people surrounding him. She remembered how she first thought of him then as a lonely soul in the midst of the forest just like that tree beside him. Yes, that tree is standing right in the middle of the forest but the other trees seemed to just surround it in a distance like a halo. It seems like no other trees like touching on even one of its branches. Maybe the reason for it is because of the fruit it bears? Instead of the usual red ones, it bore fruits in its pure black glory. She then wondered how that fruit would taste like.
"Don't you know that poison is not as bitter as most people thought it would be?" Alice turned and came face to face with a little girl with long flowing blond hair so light that it seems like it was almost white curling a bit just past at the back of her knees. She studied the little girl thinking if she is also one of the students of their school. Instead of the school's uniform, she was donning on a simple white long-sleeved dress with some red lines as its highlights over it that stopped a bit above her knees matched with a pair of white boots with red laces. She noticed the girl's crimson eyes studied her in return and she smiled nervously. Her gaze seems to be unnerving. Like this little girl knows some things that other would not really think of. Like she already saw some things that other people would never really imagine existed.
"Poison can come into many forms." The girl continued as she gestured something behind her. "It can also bring either a curse, or a blessing depending on the situation the people are in."
"You mean..." Alice's eyes widened when she at last realized what the girl was trying to say. She immediately spun around and run towards him. She saw him slowly lifting his hand holding the cursed fruit and was about to take a bite on it.
"Stop!"
Her reminiscing halted when she heard his laugh behind her. Clearly he was also remembering how they met that day.
"It's not my fault that the shoes I'm wearing that day are defective." She pouted feeling her face heating up when she remembered how she literally fell all over him. "Stop laughing!"
"Okay. Okay." He said in between his laughs. "But it wasn't for that, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't really know what would happen if I was able to take a bite on it. Maybe I won't be here, braiding this unruly hair of yours, hmm?"
Alice just hummed in response. If it wasn't for that little girl, she wouldn't have stopped him anyway. (Maybe she would even demand a bite on the apple from him, too.) She remembered turning her head towards the spot where she came from and noticed that the girl in not in there anymore. She thought nothing of it at that time, thinking that the she must have left. But when she and Oz left that place and she tried to return to that spot in the forest thinking that she might bumped into her, she can't seem to be able to find the tree anymore. It was like it never really existed. It was like it was just a dream. A dream she would not mind having over and over again. For if it wasn't for that, she wouldn't have met Oz, she wouldn't not be acquainted with him. She would not be together with him at this very moment.
"I was still thankful for that, anyway." He softly voiced her own thoughts and she felt him pat her head. "Done."
Alice turned and smiled back at him. "Same for me."
They stayed frozen after that just gazing into each other's eyes. But she suddenly yawned and their moment were broken by it.
"Well, let's go to sleep?" With exhaustion clearly in his voice, Oz suggested when he nudged her towards her side and laid on the bed closing his eyes on the process.
"Alright..." She too started to lie on the bed and was about to turn her back on him when she spotted something in his arms.
"Can I have that one for the night?" She asked her hand already reaching out and grabs the black stuffed bunny then hugging it tightly facing Oz with her back on the wall of his room.
"You already have yours. That one's mine." He grumbled as he tried to snatch the toy from her. She frowned, thinking of her white bunny alone on the bed in her room. She and Oz managed to order these two bunnies on a limited offer customized handmade stuffed toy workshop in town. She was really happy at that time being able to own something the same with Oz's, yet another one of her firsts.
"But you already know of my situation right? Please?" She tried to gaze deeply into his eyes as she was saying those words knowing that by doing that, he wouldn't be able to resist on giving in to her request. She found this weakness of him when she first asked him if she could use his laptop and she can't help but use this tactic on him from time to time (which was always).
She noticed his face colour a little (something she only noticed now that her face is almost too close with his) and he just closed his eyes and again, he sighed in defeat. "Alright, alright. You can have that for this night. Only for this night. So can we now go to sleep already?"
Hearing his tired voice brought a little weight on Alice's chest knowing that it is her fault for keeping him awake this long when he should have been already dozing off at this time. She watched him as he reached out to turn off the lamp on his bedside table but she surprised herself when her body moved on its own accord and she went to kiss him on his check. She gasped and froze at that. She can feel her face heating up and she can also see his ear getting red. (How fascinating)
She just did something unexpected. Something that she wouldn't really thought of doing. She just kissed Oz! It's just on the cheek but still!
"Umm...err...ahh..." At a loss for words, Alice suddenly launched herself farther towards her side of the bed sensing him doing the same. This night seemed to be giving her some surprises. She didn't think that she would kiss him like that and...She touched her lips with her fingers trying to stop the tingling feelings that seemed to have arisen on it from kissing him. (How intriguing)
She heard him clearing his throat. And silence surrounded them. Alice can sense a thick weight looming over them. Dreading that saying something would just further complicate things more, she decided to remain silent and wait for him to speak up.
Would he kick her out of his room because of this? But...Oz is not that kind of person. She knows him. Unlike her, who can make any situation worse even with just saying anything or doing something, Oz can mend any situation with a smile on his face and a gentle facade. She heard him clearing his throat again and felt him turn towards her.
"Umm... Well..." He remained silent and she dreads that maybe she had really gone too far this time. But she just waited and then...she felt him leaned towards her and felt his warm lips on her cheek. She gasped softly at the contact and felt her face heated up more (if it would still even be possible).
"Goodnight, Alice." He whispered gently on her ear his breath fanning across her face further maximizing the warm current of his kiss on her cheek. With a last pat on her head, that seems to convey to her that what she did is alright for him, he then slowly lay back down on the bed.
He did it. She can feel the tenseness between them fade even with just those words. And his kiss. She turned towards him and smiled. Even though she knew Oz wouldn't be able to see it through the darkness of the night now surrounding them, she just can't help but smile at him.
"Goodnight, Oz."
