The blanket felt warm over your body and the room was completely dark, except for a slight glimmer of moonlight streaming in through the open window. It was pretty late on a July night and it was hot. Your boyfriend, Eli, and you, had booked a small countryside house in the north of Italy and were spending a few days there. So far, it had been a very relaxing holiday: going for walks around the fields, going to the beach nearby, taking care of the flowers in the small garden on the front of the house, reading, spending time together... You had even made your own jam! It was safe to say you had really been enjoying your romantic little nest. When the band was touring you didn’t get to see each other much, and when the tour ended, you had been pretty caught up in your own work, so this break really felt needed at this point.

You had been woken up in the middle of the night by the distant sound of Eli strumming his guitar. It was a gentle noise and you could clearly tell that he didn’t mean to wake you, he had probably gone as far from your bedroom as possible, but the house wasn’t that big after all. Despite how comfy you felt, almost melting on the mattress, you gathered your strength to get out, sliding out of the blanket and getting up, barefoot on the cold tiles. You silently made your way downstairs, wearing just your pyjama shorts and an old t-shirt. You could already see from the doorframe the shape of Eli, sitting down on the carpet, his back against the sofa, the guitar over his leg and a notebook on the floor where he scribbled chords and ideas. Before you could even take a step forward, he noticed your presence somehow and turned his head to look at you.

“Hey, honey. Did I wake you?” he asked, softly, his voice slightly raspy.

“No, no… It’s fine. I didn’t mean to interrupt either, play on” you replied, calmly, your words coming out in a sleepy tone that sounded angelic to him.

You walked over to him, sitting on the floor with your head resting on his shoulder. He stretched his neck to turn and give your head a gentle kiss before resuming his writing process. You tried to get a glimpse of the lyrics on his notebook, but you couldn’t really see from the distance and moving would have ruined your comfort.

The lamp cast a yellowy light over the both of you and the subtle sound of the strings along with Eli’s humming were lulling you into sleep again. Your eyes slowly closed, your eyelids feeling heavier than steel.

The next time you woke up, Eli was carrying you up the stairs, and from the way the light from the window reflected on the walls you guessed the sun was probably rising already, had he been up all this time? Or had he fallen asleep on the floor like yourself? You tried to ask him, but only a groggy mumble came out. When he heard you he kissed your lips very gently and whispered something about going back to sleep, you obliged.

After a few hours you woke up. Eli was lying next to you in bed, his face as peaceful as ever, you could barely resist leaning over and kissing him, but you suspected he had barely slept and decided to just watch his relaxed lips, how his body filled up with air and the soft snore that was heard when the air came back out, subtle spasms on his fingers, his lashes casting a soft shadow over his cheeks and his curls emanating from his head almost like Medusa’s snakes.

"Won't make much sense for me," she said, shaking her head and shrugging like it was no big deal to stay in school for an hour of unnecessary boredom. Sliding back into her seat, spine back in its original position, he was still staring. Thinking of something else to keep her attention in the palm of his hand where he could caress and nurture it into something long lasting.

Skin slapped on skin behind him, a disappointed groan sounding through the room. Looking back, Bobby sat with his face in his hands, shaking his head vigorously at the tragedy he just witnessed happening right in front of him. Motioning dramatically with his hands towards the girl seated next to Eli, a habit that hadn't changed since pre-school.

Flipping his friend off, the boy went to taking notes with half a mind on the subject.

Leaning back over to her, his elbow knocking against hers to get her attention on him, he offered, "You could come with me to mine. Would be better than staying here."

"Sure, thanks."

Eli's home had always resembled something close to a mosaic in her mind. It was less of a house than a home. She could look at any corner, at any point in time and she'd always find something out of the ordinary that didn't match the rest of their lives. Whether that be a new hobby of one of his siblings or a new idea by one of his parents. Nothing ever made sense until you looked at it from afar. Seeing the whole picture made it a beautiful mess of creatives of all kinds sharing a space and growing together day by day.

However, with creativity comes chaos and the moment Eli opens the front door, the chaos comes crashing down on them. Ali is rushing towards the door, finger over her mouth to keep them quiet, eyes wide in horror as she whispers, "What are you doing here already?" Turning to her to pull the girl into her arms warmly. "Hello, darling. Sorry for the mess."

"We've got a break. Science's canceled," Eli explained, still confused as to what was going on in his own home. "Why are you so secretive?"

"Your dad's got important people around, you can't be here right now. I told you about this on Monday, don't tell me you forgot that. I'm sorry, love, but you really have to go." The door was inching closer to shutting them out as his mom looked at the pair with a sincere apology in her eyes.

Sighing, running his hand over his face, he accepted his fate without talking back. "Can we at least leave our bags here?"

"Put it into my office," Ali said, moving them into the room near the entrance without making too much noise.

The voices from the living room—all the laughter in return of bad jokes and bad punchlines—could be heard until the door was closed behind them.

Leaving their bags in the corner of the room, Eli fetched two of his already worn-out band shirts from the dresser in the hallway that he kept for moments like these. Having learned his lesson after being in a rush for rehearsal or walking into situations similar to this one one too many times. Both changing with their backs turned to each other, though all he could focus on was the rustle of her buttons and the fabric of her own uniform coming off in a rush.

The weather was nice enough to keep the skirt on.

Neatly folding her blouse, she laid it on top of her bag, turning just in time for him to catch the last glimpse of thoughtfulness in her gaze before it was washed away by a look of comfort.

"What are we doing now?" she asked, once they were back out of the house.

With his hands stuffed in his pockets, Eli shrugged and started to walk down to the gate. "The weather's nice," he commented, looking up at the sky. Squinting at the sun, he could feel the burn on his face already. The freckles that he tried to hide most of the time were coming through in a matter of minutes of senseless walking side by side with her.

"Do you still know the trail we mapped out when we were like—I don't know—eight?" Stopping in his tracks, he looked over at her after his eyes focused on the coast to their right and the memory came back to him.

"Over the sea to somewhere we couldn't name," she recalled, shaking her head at the foolishness of the sentiment.

"I think we meant Wales by that now that we know the map," he said, looking over the sea into the far distance where he could see the horizon bleeding into a different country.

"I don't think you're gonna be a big help with staying anonymous foreigners in Wales. I might have to ditch you," she mused, walking further north up the road. Looking back at him over her shoulder, familiar footsteps caught up to her own. "What are you gonna do after graduating?"

"We thought about taking a year off to see how the band could do if we focused on it without any other distraction going on around us. Maybe go to uni afterwards, get a job."

The entrance to the small park in his neighborhood came into view as they talked. Deciding with nothing more than a look meant for the other to go in.

"What about you? Any new ideas?"

"No, nothing. I don't really have a plan now that it counts. Applied to a few Unis even though I don't really want to go back to studying and stuff."

"You could help us," Eli suggested, hands buried deep into his pockets. Fiddling with the charm she gifted him when they were in London together for the first time that now was secured at his key-chain. We need some people for organization and transporting stuff, kind of like a roadie. I mean, Lewis' already helping us but it'd be nice to have some more company."

Thinking it through as crowds of green forced the ways to grow smaller and their bodies to be pushed further together. Her hand brushed his thigh, his fingers stopped moving anxiously in his pocket. Neither of them could walk a straight line.

Looping her arm through his to step aside as an elder couple came their way, resting her hand in the crook of his arm, she could feel the muscles in his arm tensing. The shock never ceasing, no matter how many times she might do it when they were out too late for her liking or she just needed to hold on to someone.

It was always him.

"I hope you know, that I'm only doing it to spend more time with Josh," she mumbled into his sleeve. Lifting her gaze from their synchronized feet, a smile gracing her lips.

"Wouldn't expect anything else from you," Eli bit back, shaking his head as the laughter began to stumble out of her mouth.

He knew her humor better than anyone else. He grew up surrounded by sarcastic comments and flirty comebacks but at some point it shifted. At some point, she didn't tease him anymore and rather laid it on his friends. Leaving him to believe that the feelings that harbored inside of him were nothing to think about further than the dreams when he couldn't sleep late at night.

However, no amount of self-sabotage could keep him from finding her in the middle of a crowded room and feel like everyone who stood close to her should be him. Every laugh that slipped through his nerves should be his achievement- Every complaint she let out about another guy not being what she hoped he'd be, he wanted it to be about him. Turning her complaints into compliments and gushing.

Did she ever even consider him as more than what he was? Did she ever want them to be more than what they were?

"Rob mentioned, that you got a new song," she cut off his train of thought. Voice quiet, reserved and more cautious of her words.

"Yeah, we thought about it potentially becoming a single at some point. You remember the internship we had at that studio? Got a whole recording of it ready there," he said, not catching up to where she was until he could feel her fingers loosening from around his arm. "Did he say anything else?"

"He said, that I should ask you to play it to me. That I'd like to hear it."

"Do you want to hear it?"

"Yes."

Settling down on one of the park benches by the pond, Eli took his phone and headphones out. Handing them over to her with hesitant movements. Searching for the audio with shaking fingers as she leaned her head further back into the glimmer of the sun. A spotlight encapsulating her. Closing her eyes, signaling him that the volume was good as he pressed play. Leaving him to prepare himself for the inevitable rejection as silence filled the space between them.

She caught a glimpse of the title when he typed it into the search bar, but even if she hadn't, it wouldn't be hard to guess what the song was about. "I Want You".

Watching the stars appear on the black of her eyelids from the sun, she sunk deeper into a world where Rob's mischievous laugh was an indication for what she wanted to be their reality. Songs he'd play in fire years time, she wanted them to be written about her. Catching his eye in the future through a crowded room filled with people who had no idea that she got to hold him in the quiet that came after the storm.

Pulling her knees up to her chest, falling into him seemed harder than letting gravity do the work, now her consciousness was fighting back against it.

Following the growing bat at the bottom of his awaiting doom, waiting for the moment where it was all in bold for a second before going back to emptiness and silence. He knew when what happened as if he was tracking it.

Hearing the last notes echo in his mind before it stopped for both of them and she was back in reality.

Giving up her commonsense when it came to him, she shook of any fear of harm and shame and let her habit take over. Resting her head on his shoulder, it was the first time she felt him relaxing under her touch immediately. The contact grounding him, leaving little space in his mind to drift further than what was happening right then and there. Not letting him think about anything else other than how their breaths were slowly falling into synchronized patterns.

Taking the headphones from blocking her hearing, laying them into his palm and letting her hand linger in his hold. Using his other hand to pull the wired peace of technology from separating their skin and stuff it away, he slipped his fingers in the in between spaces of her hand. Looking at her, waiting for confirmation that he had the situation the right way.

Encapsulating his first, building a fist that melted into his palm and knuckles.

"I'll take a wild guess and say, that this is the reason why Rob was so persistent on me asking you and not him playing me the song," she said, angling her head up to catch a glimpse of his smile.

One corner of her lip lifting higher into his direction. The sound of his laugh making her laugh too and in a matter of seconds, they were transported back into his backyard. Both of them still too loud personalities to let the neighbors sleep in the afternoon. Chasing each other through the perfectly cut grass, falling over their own feet and pulling the other down too. How, when she'd scrape her knee or elbow, he'd patch her up by himself—sending his mom away after she brought him the plaster because he couldn't reach the cabinet where they were stored—and kiss it better.

"Will you still ditch me when we escape to Wales?" he asked.

"If you're willing to ditch the last name and nepo baby heritage so that we won't be discovered, then I'll think about it again."