|| Arabella ||
I stretched my arms, letting out a yawn. I glanced at the clock to find it was almost midnight. I took quite a bit of time to finish revising.
Finals were starting tomorrow, so I was studying all day.
I realized that I liked studying in the living room—to be precise, on the comfortable couch—more than I did in my bedroom, so the living room has been off-limits for both Theo and Wyatt.
"Are you finally done?" I flinched at the sudden voice. I glanced at the source to find the owner peeking his head out from the hallway, asking for permission if he could come in.
"Yep," I chirped, raising my fist to show him victory.
"Can I come in now?"
I laughed and said, "Come, I won't throw a cushion at you anymore."
A few hours ago, when Theo had come to brag that he was finished revising everything, I threw a cushion at him out of annoyance. Just because I liked him now didn't mean I was going to let him annoy me all he wanted.
Theo came and sat down beside me on the couch. "So are you nervous about tomorrow?"
"Nope. I'm never nervous about exams. All I do is be positive that it will go well," I answered.
He smiled. "That's good to hear."
I felt like lying down to take a rest since my shoulders were aching a little from sitting up for so long, but at the same time, I felt lazy to head to my bedroom. I could just lay on the couch, but Theo was sitting beside me.
Oh, well. There's no other option.
I rested my head on his lap, laying down on the couch. I felt him flinch slightly until he stopped moving altogether as if he stopped breathing.
I stretched my limbs and turned a little, wrapping my arms around his waist, almost hugging him. I felt warm; it was just like finding comfort in my mom's lap.
As Theo didn't respond and remained still, I wondered if he was disliking it or that I was crossing any limits.
I was about to backpedal when I felt his hand on the top of my head, settling me down again.
I smiled widely and mumbled while nuzzling into his stomach, "I'm too tired."
He only hummed in reply as he started carding his fingers through my hair. I closed my eyes, letting myself indulge in the warmth and gentle care.
Really, I was so lucky.
Not many girls get the chance to just casually lay their heads on their crush's lap. Perks of him being my roommate.
It was hard to believe that only a few months ago I was dreading to live with him, and now, I was considering myself lucky for it. I thought that day was the worst when I came to know he was my roommate, but clearly, that was the best thing that ever happened to me.
Oh, God, I wanted him to be mine so bad. But I promised myself that I would wait until our finals were over.
Sleep started to coat my eyes, but I was determined not to fall asleep. If I did, he would have to stay here the rest of the night, or worse, leave me alone here.
Just then I felt his lips close to my hair as he whispered, "You can sleep." With that, I closed my eyes, letting sleep take over me.
———
"—ra, Theo!"
My eyes snapped open at the loud voice of my older roommate. Instead of looking over at Wyatt, I was more surprised to find that Theo was still here and my head was still on his thighs.
Heat rushed to my cheeks. How the fuck did I do this without getting embarrassed?
"Ara! Theo! You have an exam to attend!" Wyatt kept hollered like an annoying alarm clock.
But wait… exam. Oh, no, exam!
I was about to jump straight up, but with my awesome luck, I ended up knocking Theo's jaw.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" I apologized in a panic after sitting properly.
Wyatt laughed. "Yes, knock that jaw off. It's too perfect anyway."
Theo glared at his cousin. "Do you want Coral to scream when she sees your broken face next time?"
Wyatt raised his hands in surrender and said, "I'm only trying to do good here. Your exams are starting in an hour. You both should get ready."
I nodded and got off the couch. I couldn't keep the smile off my face as I headed to my room.
After closing my room's door, I whispered to myself, "He stayed. He stayed. He stayed the whole night."
My heart raced as I thought about the possibility of him liking me back. But I shrugged that thought off. I shouldn't expect too much.
I quickly grabbed my clothes, hoping my hot face would cool down by the shower. When I came out of my room, I found that Theo was about to enter.
I was going to go back to my room since he clearly reached first.
"Um, you can go in first," he said, and I halted in surprise.
"A-are you serious?" I asked.
He nodded and stepped back.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" I needed to know why.
"I saw in the magazine yesterday that if I'm nice to an Aries today, then I'll do well in the exam," he said proudly as if he was sure that it was true.
"Of course, that's the reason." I rolled my eyes and was about to step into the bathroom when I realized something. "How do you know I'm Aries?"
He shrugged and casually said, "I once saw you comment on a meme about Aries."
I wanted to ask his zodiac sign too but didn't want to seem too curious, so I nodded my head in understanding and entered the bathroom. As I stripped off my clothes and stood under the warm shower, I realized something else.
"Did he just say that he read a magazine yesterday?" I was pretty sure that he was reading literature books like me all day.
Oh, well. Maybe he did. It wasn't like he lied to do something nice for me. Of course not. "Don't get your hopes up, Ara."
I finished showering quickly and went into the kitchen after knocking on Theo's door to let him know that the bathroom was empty now.
I got into the kitchen to find Wyatt putting down mildly burned toast and pathetically scrambled eggs on the plate. "What are you doing?" I asked curiously.
Wyatt grinned and said proudly, "Since you have done so much for me during my SATs, I thought I should make the breakfast for you today."
I placed a hand on my chest, touched by his gesture. "Aww, thank you."
He scratched his cheek and mumbled, "I know I burned it a little—"
"Not a little. Actually, a lot. But it doesn't matter. Because I'll even eat charcoal if you make them for me," I said and grabbed the plate to start eating.
"Um…" Wyatt hesitated to say something.
"Yeah?" I prompted.
"Can you, uh, give this to Coral?" he said in a rush and held out a purple bottle-shaped keychain with a little note inside it. I raised an eyebrow, and he replied, "It's a good luck charm. I would give it to her myself, but I don't have classes today, so—"
I smiled widely and took the keychain from him, saying, "Of course, I'll give it to her. You're so sweet. She will love it."
Wyatt released a sigh of relief.
"Where's mine though?" I asked with a mischievous grin.
He looked at me flatly and pointed at my almost empty plate. "This is yours."
I pouted. "Its charm will be gone after digestion."
He chuckled and said, "Demand whatever you want from your man. I've got my hands full with one woman."
I flushed at 'my man'. "S-stop it. Don't say it like that."
"Say what?" Theo's voice appeared behind me out of my nowhere, almost making me drop the plate.
"I was just saying—"
I shoved the last piece of toast into Wyatt's mouth and shouted, "Nothing!"
Theo gave us a weird look and picked up a toast from his plate, commenting sarcastically, "This is one nice-looking breakfast, Wyatt. Thanks."
"You're welcome," Wyatt said and started tinkering with the toaster, probably to make a toast for himself.
"What were you guys talking about?" Theo asked while sitting on the counter.
"Nothing. Just Wyatt wanting to give this good luck charm to Coral," I replied, showing him the keychain.
"Ah, that's nice," he said neutrally.
I sighed exaggeratedly and mumbled, "I've no one to give me that."
Theo cluelessly took out a skull death keychain from his pocket which was attached to his school locker key and flashed it to me. "You want a keychain?"
"No. I want a good luck charm, not a sooner death," I emphasized, though I couldn't help but want to jump in happiness that he offered me his keychain just now.
"Huh." He twitched his lips as if he was trying to decode something. "Come here," he urged suddenly.
I raised an eyebrow but didn't question as I went towards him while wearing my wet rubber gloves in the midst of doing the dishes. Once I was close, he leaned forward and placed a kiss on my forehead, making my breath hitch.
"Does this count?" he asked innocently, referencing this romance movie we had watched together once.
My heart started beating haphazardly at the action, totally flustered, yet my greedy self wanted more. "Maybe one more will count."
Even without looking at his face, I could sense his smile as his lips connected to my forehead again. "There you go. With this, I'm transferring all the good luck I have to you."
I grinned without any restraint and said, "Oh, I have to give some back to you, otherwise, you will fail."
Theo chuckled as I stood on my tiptoes to kiss both his cheeks one by one. Even though he was sitting on the countertop, I still couldn't reach his forehead. Stupid height.
"Seems like we're going to nail these exams with this much good luck," he said, and I agreed happily.
"Ahem," someone cleared their throat behind me. "As much as I hate to interrupt the moment, no amount of good luck is going to compromise your late arrival in the exam hall," Wyatt reminded.
I jumped away from Theo and went back to finish the dishes. After that, I gave food to Clover and grabbed my backpack to head out with Theo while Wyatt wished us all the best.
I leaned into Wyatt's ear and whispered smugly, "I got my good luck charm from my man."
He gave me an amused look with a pat on the shoulder. "Good for you, sis."
"You coming, Annabelle?" Theo hollered from outside the door.
"Coming!" I flashed one final smile at Wyatt and ran out. As I found Theo waiting near the elevator, I didn't know why my heart was filled with adoration, but I realized I didn't need any solid good luck charm to be lucky in anything.
Just having the opportunity to stay by Theo's side made me the luckiest of all.
