When I woke up the next morning, I smiled through brown hair. Savannah had her head curled into my neck, our arms wrapped together, perfectly cocooned. Her breaths were even and I knew that she was still asleep—out like a light, too.

I snuggled closer to her and held her like a teddy bear, closing my eyes again. I wasn’t sure if I had faded back into sleep again or not, but soon enough I was wide awake at the sound of her breathing changing, same with her heart rate. She was waking up.

A few moments passed and I carefully unraveled us so I could look at her. She smiled sleepily and pressed her cheek into the pillow. Her hair was wild and some strands stuck to her cheek. I imagined mine looked basically the same.

“Hi,” she chirped sweetly, her face scrunching up into a grin. I lifted my arm from her waist and petted her hair, letting my fingers linger around her neck.

“Hey there,” I smiled. “Did you sleep okay?”

She quietly nodded. “You?” I nodded back and let out a content sigh, leaning forward and gently kissing her cheek. “Do you know what time it is?” She asked while she rolled over to check her phone. I snuck my arm around her waist and rested behind her while she scrolled through her phone. “It’s eleven, and I have three messages, none of them from my mom,” she laughed.

“She’s letting you go a little, I guess,” I suggested, resting my chin on the side of her head. I absentmindedly curled my fingers against her stomach.

“Yeah, I guess so,” she chuckled lightly. “I have a text from Casey, nothing new there, but deleting that… and two from my dad that I’m choosing to ignore for now,” she said, sounding a little irritated and stressed.

I reached up and gently took her phone from her hands, clicking it off and then putting it to the side. “Is everything okay?” I asked lowly, running my hand up her side until it was at her hair. I pulled some of it back and kissed behind her ear.

“Mhm, it’s all good, I’m great,” she said shakily. I laughed against her skin and kissed down her neck.

“That’s good,” I mumbled, kissing her shoulder, closing my eyes. “Do you have work today?”

I let my hands flatten against her stomach and pulled her closer into me, while she murmured a distracted “nope.”

“That’s good,” I repeated, lifting one of my hands to her chin, tapping my fingers against her jaw and gently turning her head to me. I caught her smile first, and then her twinkling eyes, and then her lips.

She smiled against my mouth and then kissed me back, shifting her body so she was facing me again. I felt her hand hold on the side of my face, tangling into my hair, using her slight grip in it to pull me closer. Our legs tangled together.

I started to laugh for some reason at the sound of Savannah’s phone ringing. She groaned. “Ignore it,” she mumbled peppering kisses on my face.

I laughed again. “Savannah, it’s okay.”

“Every time,” she sighed, rolling her eyes. I just smiled and sat up, watching her pick up her phone. “Oh, it’s my mom.” Her cheeks burned red.

“Hey mom!” she said enthusiastically.

“No, I’m not.” She sat up and crossed her legs together. She looked a little nervous. Then her eyes bugged out a little. I raised an eyebrow and reached for her hand. “Yeah, I’m out with Vic.” She started to bite on her lip. “No. No I didn't. Mom, no I didn’t! If I did, I would have just asked.” Her face was on fire. I immediately felt insanely guilty for having her sleep over. I didn’t want her to get in trouble. “I know. You were asleep, I wasn’t going to wake you up.” She sighed and glanced at me apologetically. “Can we talk later, please?” She sighed again. “Okay, bye.”

She dropped her phone to the side and fell into the mess of covers around us, groaning into a pillow. I rubbed her back supportively. “I’muh paf’a’log’cal lur,” she grumbled.

I laughed and tugged on her shoulder, pulling her up. She huffed. “Didn’t quite catch that, babe,” I said.

“I am a pathological liar,” she repeated with a frown.

I shook my head. “Noo you’re not Savannah. You just don’t want to get in trouble.”

She sighed. “Apparently my mom was wide awake at, like, six this morning. I basically lied and said she fell asleep on the couch and didn’t realize it. I’m such a child, Vic.”

“No, you’re not. You’re allowed to do things on your own, but you both just have to get used to it, y’know? When I was twenty and still living with my mom, I lied all the time and still snuck in and out of the house, because she’s a hard ass. I promise, you’re not a pathological liar,” I said. “Well, at least I hope you’re not,” I added with a teasing grin.

She laughed a little. “No, don’t worry,” she said, tossing an arm over my shoulder. “I just feel bad for playing the innocent card when I’m not all that innocent.”

“Hey, Savi, you’ve done nothing wrong. At least you’re not getting wasted at some party or snorting cocaine off of a bathroom sink, right?”

She raised her eyebrows and nodded. “When you put it like that, yeah, I guess you’re right,” she laughed.

“What’s this I hear about snorting cocaine off of a bathroom sink?!” I widened my eyes and jumped a little, turning my head to the door. Mike was leaning against the doorway, a smug smile resting on his stupid face.

I was surprised to hear Savannah speak up first. “Hey, Mike, what about that whole one week rule thing?”

Mike laughed and strolled into my room. I groaned, leaning back against the headboard. “Hey, I still live here. It’s not a week of private time for you two lovebirds, y’know.” He grinned and sat down on the edge of my bed. Mike raised an eyebrow and glanced back and forth between me and Savannah. “You guys look like you just got over some hot sex or something. Hair all wild n shit.”

“Oh my god!” I covered my face with my hands. “It’s called bedhead Mike! Bedhead!”

Mike hummed. “I bet it’s called bed head,” he said dryly. I peeked through my hands to give him a glare and he only winked.

Savannah coughed a little in between laughs, her cheeks burning red. “Oh my god,” she whispered. I groaned and fell over, laying my head on Savannah’s lap. I looked up at her.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered.

She just giggled and tapped her fingers across my face. I tilted my head to the side to look at Mike. “What do you want, anyways?”

He shrugged. “Attention.”

I rolled my eyes. “Typical.”

“Well actually I’m really hungry and didn’t want to go out by myself. You know how sex empties you.”

“Mike,” I warned, giving him a look. I wasn’t sure about Savannah’s stance on that kind of stuff and didn’t want Mike’s crude comments to make her feel uncomfortable. She just laughed quietly, though, as if she was afraid to show that she thought it was funny. I couldn’t successfully fight off a grin.

“Y’know we have cereal. And milk, probably.”

“Noo, I need, like, waffles and pancakes and syrup and shit. And hashbrowns.”

“Mike, I swear to god, you’re going to burn all of our money on diner food.”

“It’s okay, we’ll be at it again soon anyways.”

Savannah poked my cheek. “When do you guys have another tour again?”

“Umm,” I looked at the ceiling in thought. “I think it’s actually a week after your classes start. Second week of September?” I looked at Mike. He nodded. “Oh my god, that reminds me! Your birthday!” I looked at Savannah excitedly. It was next week.

“Oh, yeah, that…” she blushed. I just chuckled and sat up again, swinging an arm around her neck. I didn’t say anything else about it because I didn’t want her to feel any more uncomfortable than she already was. I nodded at Mike, who I knew was thinking the same thing as I was. We had to plan something nice, because she really deserved it, especially since all the shit with Casey.

“So, can we go?” Mike urged. I rolled my eyes and looked at Savannah, to see if it was cool with her. She gave us a thumbs up. “Sweet. Be ready in twenty minutes. One thing you’ll learn about us, Savs, is that we, uh, unfortunately, spend a lot of time together,” he said, nodding at me. Mike smiled brightly and bounced out of the room.

“Ugh, I’m sorry Savannah, he’s really wild and lacks all sorts of boundaries,” I apologized grimly. I loved my brother but he could be so damn annoying sometimes.

“Aw, no, it’s okay!! I’m an only child so it’s cool to see siblings interact so nicely like you guys. I’m a little jealous,” she said. “Plus, Mike is an experience. I’m pretty amused,” she laughed. She slid out of bed and stretched her arms out. Then she walked around to the side I was on and gave me a hug.

“You were really peaceful sleeping,” I commented. I scrunched my face up because I realized it sounded kind of creepy, but I meant it in the I'm glad you’re not having nightmares way.

“I was,” she smiled. I think she knew what I was getting at because then she added, “I haven’t had nightmares about the accident in a while. I think I’m all over it now,” she said cheerfully. “And I’ll probably start driving again soon. Well, I have no choice because in a few weeks I’m going to have to commute to class.” She scrunched her nose.

“Any cool classes this semester?”

She shrugged. “I guess so. I have to take all those introductory business courses which is lame. I got out of the freshman English because of my AP test score, so I got to take an extra class. I wanted a writing one but I couldn’t get into it, so I’m stuck in intro to psych.” She shrugged again. “I guess it’ll be interesting.”

I hummed. “You’ll get to take better classes later once you’re out of freshman year, I bet. You always get stuck with sucky ones as a newbie,” I said. She nodded in agreement.

“I’ve always been good with doing my work and focusing and stuff. I know you’ll be touring a lot but please don’t let my head get stuck in a book,” she said, her tone joking but also holding truth. I laughed though and nodded affirmatively.

Mike was making impatient noises from the common room so we quickly freshened up. I gave Savannah a fresh shirt to wear with her jeans. She ran her fingers through her hair, a frustrated look tensing up her face.

“You okay?” I asked, grabbing her hand to keep her from pulling her hair out. She let out a breath and nodded.

“Yes, sorry, yeah. I just feel gross, and I feel bad you have to see me all disgusting like this.”

“Hey, don’t even go there. You look beautiful with or without makeup,” I said. And I was telling the truth. I loved how she looked after just waking up, after working nine hours in a pizza place, after walking around and dancing and sweating at warped tour—I hated to think about it but she even looked beautiful with those bruises across her face and her eyes half open and her coughs racking her body after the car accident. I was happy to hear that she didn’t dream about it anymore, but it was still something I thought back to everyday. I blinked that image out of my head.

She smiled softly and took my hand.

“So, what do you guys normally do when you’re not playing shows and avoiding each other after tours?” She asked once we were in the car, Mike driving, me in the passenger seat, her in the middle back seat.

“Well, it’s usually me and Mike hanging out, jamming, going out and stuff,” I said.

“Yeah,” Mike chimed in. “You’re a third wheel, Savannah. Welcome.”

Notes

don't think anybody i know is still on here, but i have ocd and can't leave things that i started unfinished. therefore, hello