It was late that night when I got home to shower. I didn't have my phone on me for the whole day so I was catching up on being social.

The first thing I did was send a check-up text to Natalie. I haven't had time to talk to her since the incident. Then I replied to a message Cyrus sent me earlier. I had to catch up on the three new gifs that Adam sent me by sending three more. Then I finally opened Declan's messages.

10:20 AM

>>Good morning Row Row

1:13 PM

>> Cyrus told me you were going to the station. When should I come to break you out?

4:50 PM

>>So no break out? I'm boreeeeeed.

8:33 PM

>> At the great risk of sounding clingy ... I miss you or whatever.

I smiled at that last one before typing out my message.

11:52 PM

<< I knew you were obsessed with me ;) I'm home now, no need for a breakout. Thanks for thinking of me though.

His reply came three minutes later.

11:55PM

>> Still thinking about you.

I let out a small breath of laughter.

<< Come see me then. I'll sneak you through the window.

I was kidding of course.

>> Address.

It was no longer kidding of course.

It's just that it was late and if dad caught a boy in my room that would be the end of us both. I sent him my address anyway and he didn't respond for fifteen minutes.

But that was when I heard tapping at my window. I pulled the curtain back and there was Declan sitting on the roof right outside the glass.

I turned the latch and pulled the window up. "How did you know this was my room?"

"Because it was the only window with a light on," He said as he climbed through. I was shutting the window closed while he looked around.

I had to speed clean before he got here. The mess was mainly clothes thrown around so all I had to do was shove them into my closet and throw some wrappers away. His eyes explored the walls and then he looked at me.

"There's no blown-up pictures of me looking ridiculously good on your walls. I would say I'm relieved, but it makes me a little disappointed. Also, it smells like nail polish in here."

"That's because I'm in the middle of painting my nails." I went back to sit at my desk with the pink polish. I had only painted two nails on one hand.

Declan came over to sit next to me on the bench. "You want to help me paint my right hand?" I asked.

"You're a lefty?"

"Mhm, I always mess up painting my left hand."

"I guess I could try," He shrugged. I don't know what he had in mind by coming here tonight, but I'm sure it wasn't to paint my nails. Props to him for being a trooper though.

"This brand doesn't name their polish," I mumbled as I finished the last finger and passed the brush to Declan for my other hand. "What should we name it?"

He studied the bottle for a moment and brought my hand up to inspect my colored nails. He took a deep breath in consideration. "Mole rat."

"I was thinking something cute like Ballet Shoes or Blushing Rose."

"That's boring and unseasoned. I like mole rat better. Hey, when these dry, I can draw some buck teeth and whiskers on one nail."

"Don't you dare," I said through a laugh I was trying to hold back. He was smiling with half his mouth before he focused his concentration on my nails. "What'd you do today?" I asked.

"My dad's back."

"Oh. That's good, right?"

"I thought so at first, but he's been acting distant," he said as held my hand up closer to his face. "Like more so than usual."

"Have you talked to him about it?"

"Yeah but all he does is brush it off. He just says that work is taking all his energy and then he'll lock himself in his room."

"Hm. Do you think Julie knows what's going on?"

"If she does, she's not telling me a thing. I asked her about it once and she got all cagey."

"That's not suspicious," I said sarcastically.

"Ahh, I'm not too concerned about it. If it's that important he'll have to tell me sometime, right?"

"Right," I said, but I was already thinking of scenarios in my head. What if he was laid off his job? What if he has another family in a different country? What if he went bankrupt?

"Alright I'm done." He said, giving me my hand back.

We both looked down to inspect his work. We both looked up at each other. "Wow," I said. "They look really bad."

"I know," He replied immediately, almost cutting me off.

——————————

I woke up the next morning confused out of my mind. I didn't remember when I fell asleep.

Then my bed was moving. It was moving up and down at a steady rate like it was breathing.

I looked up and found Declan's chest right under me. One arm was wrapped around me while he had his other arm folded under his head.

It slowly came back to me. I remember finishing my nails on my own while we talked more. Then I might have fallen asleep after we put on a movie. He wasn't supposed to stay the night though, I guess he fell asleep too.

That's when the slight panic set in and I checked the time. It was almost 10 in the morning which meant dad was most certainly awake. I sat up.

"Declan," I whisper-screamed at him and gave him a smack to the chest. He jolted awake, sitting up and looking around.

"What happened?" He asked, his voice deeper and still heavy with sleep.

"We fell asleep and you need to leave."

He rubbed his eyes. "Oh," He said, relaxing again and laying his head back down.

"No Declan wake up. You need to leave before my dad checks on me!"

He sat up again, a little more alert this time. "Oh."

"Yeah, oh. Get up."

"Alright, alright. Sheesh, you're bossy in the mornings." We both got out of bed. Declan went to unlatch the window while I went to my desk to grab his keys.

That's when I heard two taps on my door... and dad assumes I'm still asleep until at least 10:30 during the weekends ... so he doesn't wait before opening the door.

"Hey, Row-" Of course Declan was the first thing he saw when he looked into my room, one leg hanging out the window. Dad's face drops. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm uh-" He struggles, pulling his leg back in from the window. "Well, sir I'm..." He stands back up and goes silent for a short moment. I can see the very slightest hint of panic in his eyes before he quickly blinks it away.

"Sir I was just here to ask if you have the time to talk about our lord and savior-" I cut him off with an elbow shove to the side.

"Jesus Christ," Dad mutters, dropping his head and rubbing his temples.

"Precisely sir," Declan says.

Dad snaps his head back up and points his finger at him. "You have about ten seconds to get the hell out of here before I get my gun."

"Yup," He responds. Then the fucker has the audacity to walk up with a hand out to my dad. "I'm Declan by the way."

"Eight, seven..." Declan drops his hand and makes his way back to the window.

"I'll just go out this way," He says to no one in particular as he throws his leg back out the window. All I can do is stand by and scratch the back of my neck at everything that's happened in the last ten seconds.

Declan clears his throat awkwardly. "It was nice to meet you, Mr. Salone," He says before he practically launches himself out the window.

I twiddle with my thumbs while keeping my back turned to dad.

"Rowena," He says in a tone of warning. I finally turn around and give him an innocent closed-mouth smile.

"You're grounded for another week."

"I know. I ju-"

"Not another word. I still might get my gun out for you. We'll talk about this when your mother's in town."

I nodded in understanding and let him close the door behind him. The next second, he came bursting in again, making a point to leave to door wide open. I didn't say anything as he left once more.

Well this should be fun, I thought. I was still twiddling with my fingers even after he left, standing awkwardly and alone in my room.

That was when I finally looked down at my hands and saw that painted on one of my fingers was a face with buck teeth and whiskers...

A/N: I know you guys think you know the plot so let me hear your predictions?👀

idk if I'll have time for a Friday update since I'm going out of town but I'll do my best !

Thanks for reading <3