“Winter, wake up!”
My eyes jolt open. I can’t breathe. I can’t think. Where am I? Doesn’t matter. I have to find Haze. I have to understand.
“I said wake up, you lazy head,” a high-pitched voice says, and I slowly come back to my senses. Maika’s face is the first thing I see. I sit up straight, rubbing my eyes and taking in my surroundings. I’m on the couch. In my parents’ living room.
Relief pours over me.
It was a dream.
Just a stupid, meaningless dream.
Why am I here again? Shit, that’s right. I’m babysitting. Or at least, I was. I’m assuming falling asleep on the job terminated my shift.
“How long have I been asleep? Did you—”
“She didn’t set the house on fire if that’s what you’re wondering.” I recognize Jaden’s voice. My eyes dart across the room to my brother. He’s looking at me with a mocking grin, sitting in my dad’s leather armchair. “You’re lucky I showed up when you fell asleep.”
“Thank God.” I exhale. I would’ve felt awful if I’d left Maika unattended. I study the couch, which is covered in opened notebooks, and beat myself up. I had one job. One job and I couldn’t do it properly. School’s been so demanding recently, I thought I could catch up on some of my assignments while Mai watched a movie. I must’ve closed my eyes for a few seconds, if that, and I was gone.
There’s a knock on the front door.
“Hazie’s here,” Mai squeals like an overexcited fangirl, and I rejoice in energy at the sound of Haze’s name, or should I say, Hazie. She heard me call him Hazie once, and from that moment forward, everything was lost. Haze shall be called Hazie for the rest of his life whether he likes it or not.
An unpleasant feeling throbs in my chest, the dream I just had leaving a bad taste in my mouth. What was that all about?
“Come in,” I call, and the door opens. Haze walks into the room with that breathtaking smile of his a few seconds later. He frowns at the sight of me.
“Did you just wake up?”
“No.” I try fixing my messed-up hair.
Jaden snorts. “Did you want fries with that lie?”
Haze grins. “Sleeping on the job, huh? I thought the kid was supposed to nap.”
“Hey! I just said that,” Maika giggles, running into Haze’s arms—the way she’s been doing every Wednesday night for close to four months now.
“No way. Fist bump!” Haze picks her up, and my sister obliges, more than happy to partake in the cutest fist bump I’ve seen in my life. He gives her a spin that turns up her laughter and puts her down. Seeing this guy interact with kids will never, and I mean never, stop being the most adorable thing in the world to me.
When Haze’s eyes land on me, I know it’s my turn.
“Hey, babe.” I walk over to him and peck his mouth. Annoyed, he doesn’t say a word, pulling my chin forward for more. His lips brush against mine, awakening butterflies I didn’t even know resided in my stomach.
“Eww.” Maika covers her eyes but still ends up watching through her fingers. I laugh. She’s curious, I get it. I remember being little and wondering what it would be like.
Jaden gets up to greet Haze. “What are you doing here? Winter said you were working tonight.”
“Hey, man.” Haze and Jaden bro hug like they’ve known each other their whole lives. “Yeah, they let me off early.”
That awkward moment when your brother loves your boyfriend more than he loves you.
Haze and Jaden’s relationship sure changed during the past four months. Especially considering the way it started. Jay didn’t like Haze—he made that very clear when he brought up my fight with Caleb within five minutes of meeting him.
God, it all seems so far away now.
After much consideration, I decided to see this journalism thing through. I’m in my second semester now, and even if I’m not one hundred percent sure I can see myself in this field in the long run, I’m giving it another chance. I have four classes a week and spend the majority of my off days wondering how the students who have more classes than me find time to breathe. I picked up an online job as an English tutor. It doesn’t pay much, but at least I’m making something.
Kendrick decided to extend his vacation and stay in Canada. Even though his mother was born here, he didn’t get the dual citizenship at birth—doesn’t work like that. He’s our “kind of official but not really” roommate now. Since Kendrick and Haze got into the country as visitors, they will both have to go back to the US after six months, which means, two months from now, we’ll be saying goodbye. Just for a short while, but still. There’s a small chance they’ll be denied entrance to Canada at the border when trying to get back in, which sucks, but we should’ve known leaving their entire lives behind on a whim would come with consequences.