Right Here, 4.06AM, Thursday, 28th of April, 2016

The phone rang on the bed table and Cleo slowly shifted underneath her bedsheets. It was 2.48AM, Monday or Thursday, 28th of April, preferably 2004, it didn’t seem to really matter. Time doesn’t exist after you have lost most of your dreams, in other words, turned 20. She looked around her cozy room, walls painted warm green and pictures hanging everywhere, Cleo blinked a few times before crawling towards the annoying sound. The phone vibrated and moved a little in its small radius, she grabbed it clumsily and looked at the screen. Assuming this was only a dream, she picked up.

“How might I be useful at this hour, darling?”

“I am sorry I woke you up.” A husky voice spoke. God, she loved that tone.

“How do you know I was sleeping? Maybe I am on an awesome adventure with my friends, riding dragons and saving puppies.”

The line went silent, Cleo could hear his breathing and the wind blowing in the background. Why was he out so late? She turned on her back and took the phone into her right hand, while turning on the light with the left one.

“I am sorry I didn’t invite you to go with us. But we saved all the puppies. I’ll give you a call next time before we go.” She said with a little too cheerful tone. He must have caught her attempt to make him feel better.

“I’m fine.”

“Your words, not mine.”

She waited for his response, for a giggle, for a sight, anything. But he was still quiet, so she sat up and crossed her legs. She was a little worried about him, such calls were unusual, this was the first time it ever happened. He wasn’t drunk as well, she figured from his tone. Something happened, she could tell.

“Chris, please, talk to me. What is it?”

“I… I can’t, I just wanted…” He breathed deeply in and out, she waited, but he didn’t bring himself to speak.

“How can I help you?” She interrupted his silence. Somehow it felt ruder than to interrupt his constant monologue.

“I need to see you.”

At slightest, it shocked her. The whole situation seemed so bizarre that it was even hard to believe that this was happening. Cleo pinched her arm to test the reality and, surprisingly, this was not one of those dreams. They were seeing each other for only a week, even though they were acquaintances for a year now. The dates were cute, but just a few and quite brief. So brief that they didn’t even kiss yet. And now, at 3.03AM, Thursday, 31 of March, 2016 he wanted to see her.

Cleo jumped out of the bed. Instead of giving him the answer she looked around the room, searching for hidden excuses, instead of asking herself if there was a need to make any of them. She liked him, a lot. But she didn’t want to give an idea of being too easy, too eager, too cheap. The problem was that every time it came to Christian, she always felt too easy, eager and cheap. Not good enough. And such call made her ego shrink by an inch.

“Cleo? Are you still there?”

“Maybe.”

His voice as always seemed so calm and confident. It drove her crazy and even now, only in a positive way. Christian noticed her hesitation.

“Don’t misinterpret me. I just really need to see you.”

He sounded honest, but they both knew there was a little lie covered with his honeyed voice. Cleo was a simple woman, making decisions by her own developed “YES or NO” flowchart. By the time he spoke out his third word, she was already making her bed. That was the one and only touch needed to her room. The perks of being a clean person.

“Where do you wanna meet? I still need to tell you about the dragons I met.”

“Look out your window.”

Her heart beat rose and she ran her hands through her hair. Useless, it was a fluffy mess anyways. Cleo hopped through the room, crossing her zebra carpet and stopped in front of the window. She lived on the second floor, so she searched for Christian on the street from above and there he was, standing on the opposite side of the street, laying with his right shoulder against the street lantern, looking back at her.

“Your hair’s a mess.” He said at once.

“That hurt a little, you know. Right...” She moved her hand towards her heart.

“… Here.” He mimicked her gesture and he finally let out a slight giggle.

“And here we are, two dorks up at 3AM, holding on to our own little fragile hearts.”

“Don’t we all, at some point?”

His voice got back to the previous sadness and Cleo narrowed her eyebrows.

“Would you like to come in?”

“Yes, please.”

“Give me a few minutes, I’ll open the door. Thea is sleeping.”

Christian nodded and Cleo hung up. On her tiptoes she walked out of her room, made a quick check up in the bathroom, put on some lip gloss and tried to tame her hair. Once again, it was useless, it had the life of its own. Then she moved pass her roommate’s room and opened the front door, while pressing the button, allowing Christian to open the entrance door of the house. She heard him walking in and started to panic immediately. She didn’t have any time to change or to do her makeup, this was all a tiny huge mistake.

A few rhythmical steps after he was in her apartment, closing the door behind him. Then he turned around and looked her in the eyes and just like that all of the stupid worries about her appearance were gone, he was troubled, something was wrong. His hair was messy from all the combing through it with his fingers, his signature cheeky smile was replaced by a blank expression, accompanied by defeated posture. But the worst was his eyes, cold and yet looking for any kind of warmth.

It was dull in the room, the only light came from Cleo’s room right behind her. Cleo wanted to hug him, to let him know that she was there for him, but something in his eyes said that he needed some time for such closeness. This hurt right there as well. After a few moments she decided to start off slow:

“Would you like some cocoa?”

“I’m not twelve.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“Yes, please.”

And now slowly moving to the second phase, she reached out her hand towards him. Her own shadow covered the left side of his body and she didn’t see his movements. Seconds passed and she felt more and more hurt by his rejection. Suddenly he bend over and she realized he was kicking off his shoes and neatly putting them near the door. Then he got back to her eye level and took her hand at once. Both of them squeezed the cute bond at the same time.

Without letting go of his hand, Cleo spun around on her heal and lead him into the kitchen. She could hear his breathing behind her while turning on the lights. Without her saying anything, he closed the door behind them. Before going to the kitchen counter, she made some spontaneous ornament with her thumb on his hand.

“Make yourself comfortable.”

Chris did not speak. There was no need in asking him if he wanted to tell Cleo what was bothering him. He wasn’t a man of a few words, he liked to entertain others just with himself. His silence meant that he preferred to be quiet, he simply needed her presence near him, to know that there was at least one person out there that cared about him for once.

Cleo turned the kettle on and took two cups from the cupboard to her right. The cocoa was placed in a metal coffee tin in order to fool any possible adult guests. Happily, it didn’t happen too often. And even if, the tin was covered with pictures of the Donald Duck, Cleo was responsible for that. She peeked over her shoulder at Christian, who was putting his jacket on one of the chairs at the table. A strand of his blond hair fell into his face. He was wearing a simple white t-shirt and jeans. All of a sudden Christian looked up and drew his hand through his hair and caught her staring at him. At least this made him smile a little bit.

Christian knew Cleo liked him. He liked her as well, how couldn’t he. But Cleo liked to question the most obvious things, so she decided to do the same with Christian’s attraction to her as well. She abruptly turned back to the cups and then looked down at her clothes. She bit her lip, she should have put more thought into this. The drawback of any “YES or NO” flowchart.

Chris looked around Cleo’s kitchen, this was the first time that he paid her a visit at home. The kitchen was big enough for two people to avoid each other, which was nice. Not that Thea and Cleo needed that, he knew they were friends, not only roommates. From his left, three windows were letting the orange light of the street lanterns in, from his left only darkness was to be seen. That was the side where the door that he shut stood. In front of him Cleo was standing at the kitchen counter, letting him to adapt to this new environment and to the idea that she didn’t mind and maybe even wanted some closeness from him. This, however, was new to him. He took a step towards her and accidentally kicked the same chair that he put his jacket on. Cleo turned back at once, looking worried at him, asking without actually asking whether he was okay.

“Sorry.” He put up his hands in the air apologetically.

“Don’t kill yourself.”

“Do you might if I turn it on?” He pointed to the radio.

“Not at all.”

She didn’t have to tell him that only if it was silent enough, Christian wasn’t an idiot. He walked to the radio, placed on the window ledge. He skipped through a couple of the radio stations till he found some calm music. The song was sad, but beautiful and sounded so familiar. He glanced at Cleo, now facing him and the rest of room, moving loosely to the tune. He smiled, remembering that this was one of the songs on her playlist. It was amazing how sad and melancholic she could get in a matter of seconds. It was admirable and fascinating, but not at all exhausting. She adapted to the mood of others, like now. He thought about the way she sleepily said “darling”. She never called him “darling” before.

The kettle boiled and made a clicking sound. Cleo turned around and poured it into both of the cups, then added milk and started to stir it. She was happy that Christian seemed to be more comfortable around her. The song was still in its full sad swing when she heard him moving around. And then, out of nowhere, she felt his hand on her sides.

Both of them froze. She, because she didn’t expect it, he, because he needed her clear consent to carry on. Cleo calmed an excited squeak inside of her and smiled. Then she put down the little spoon and put the same hand on Christian’s right hand, still patiently waiting for her reaction. He didn’t ask for nothing more, all at once he drew his arms around her waist and pressed his chest to her back. He buried his nose into her neck, partly covered with her short blond hair. He could smell her perfume and feel the soft silk cloth under his arms and the overwhelming warmth, making his senses melt.

Cleo stroked his arms, resting on her belly and just enjoyed his closeness. He stopped, only to absorb the moment and her at the same time, and it was the most intimate moment that they shared so far. After a few minutes he turned his head and kissed her bare shoulder. And then once again, and once again, moving up to her neck. She shivered from the feeling of his hot breath on her skin and then gave in all at once, like divers do before jumping off a cliff.  She intended to turn around, but he still held her firmly, pressed to the counter. Christian kissed her just under the ear and suddenly spoke:

“Thank you for not asking anything.” It wasn’t sarcastic, it was an honest appreciation.

“I still care, though.”

“I know, but you don’t have to worry about it. I just got screwed over by someone I work with. But it won’t happen again. Nothing I cannot fix.”

“We could still break their legs.”

Christian laughed out loud. Every time that adorable human being talked about arrogance or violence, it came out so natural, self-explanatory and amazing, that he just had to lose it, because it drove him crazy in a positive way.

“It will be enough if you hate them as much as I do. Would you do that for me?” He planted a quick kiss on her shoulder, where he noticed a small birthmark.

“I was hating them even before you told me about them.”

Cleo turned around and faced him, smiling at him with her bright wide smile. He smiled back at her, not backing up, still leaving no space between them. It felt right for both of them, all of the insecurities were gone, all of the unspoken questions answered all at once. They were closer than they could ever be during a regular date, trying to make the best impression out of each other.

Christian shifted his hand to her waist and Cleo put hers behind his neck. He bend over and she closed her eyes, as if surrendering to him. It was 4.06AM, Thursday, 28th of April, 2016 when he kissed her for the first time and if felt oh so good right here.