She was a stranger to him. Always doting, and smiling, and conspiring reasons to be close to him at all given hours of the day. It was embarrassing!
He woke in the twilight of night to the light tapping sound of fingertips against his windowpane. Again, he did his best to ignore it, and once again, she eventually wore him down with persistent nudges that kept him wide awake.
He kicked off the sheets, and stomped over to the window right above the balcony, that she was stretching so far in order to reach. Throwing the thing open, he slapped her fingers away from the edge, and only barely managed to restrain his voice from shouting. "What?! What do you want? Do you know what time it is?"
"Ah-" She started, not expecting such a sudden rebuke from her friend that she was only trying to surprise. "But I only wanted to see you, my friend! And you made me promise to always knock before I enter. I'm just doing what you told me to do, cutie! Heehee!"
"Arrgh! You know, I said that because you kept barging into the bathroom when I was in there! And you seem to forget the part where I tell you to stop coming into my room at night, every freaking time it happens. Can you obey my orders to a frustrating amount of compliance when it comes to that?"
"Hmmm..." She tapped her chin, thoughtfully, to put on a show of pretending to consider the proposition. "No, I don't think I can." and she smiled as brightly as she could before grasping onto the ledge of his windowsill, and hopping her way elegantly into the room before him.
Her movements were flawless, because she had practiced the motion, perhaps hundreds of times, by this point. Her striking red hair was so bright it almost seemed like it was dyed with cherries. She was dressed in her cool blue night gown that did absolutely nothing but muddy her figure, but it was such a rare sight to see his junior in anything other that overalls or shorts, that it looped back around to being exotic for the poor inexperienced boy.
He almost tripped over himself, trying to escape the visual. It didn't feel right that she came this close to him, especially when she wasn't in her correct frame of mind.—An easier task said, than done. Her body wasn't yet developed, but it was obvious to anyone who looked that she would grow to be a beautiful woman, some day. She was a marvel in motion, and it certainly vexed him.
It didn't help that her smile was a heart-rending sight. He had enough problems on his own, without her intruding herself into his life. "Oh, yeah, sure. Just invite yourself in. Don't mind me or my personal space. Aren't you worried if people know how you're constantly hanging out in a boy's room? People might get the wrong idea, you dummy."
She laughed, "Hah! A boring guy like you? As if. They'd just as likely assume I was in here, working on a UFO. Don't get so full of yourself."
"Says the girl who literally just called me cute not even three minutes ago. You know, you're giving me real mixed signals here, Sylvia."
She touched her fingers to his lips, and giggled. He swatted her hand away. "Ow! You are so mean to me, Derek!"
"Well you've always been mean to me! I haven't had an apology yet for the time you made me eat that 'roast beef' sandwich. You swore up and down that it was safe!"
"I told you back then, it was an honest mistake! They make those pictures on the dog food cans so convincing. You know I would never do something to hurt you, darling." She attempted to throw her arms around him, to prove her new conviction, but he side-stepped her advances elegantly.
"Stop it! Don't touch me, I don't want to catch your freakiness."
She pouted. "Oh, you don't really mean that, do you darling? Heehee, aren't you a little old to believe in things like cooties?"
"It's not about cooties, you freak! I'm talking about you being different and weird, just like everything else in the Everglades! In this entire place, sometimes it feels like I'm the only one that doesn't get what's going on, here!" He backed away, and paced with a body's length between them. "Listen. You've seen me already, haven't you? Why don't you go ahead and get out of here!"
She held out her right hand, with fingers dangling limply toward the floor beneath them. "Not until I get my morning kiss."
"You're crazy! I'm not gonna do that!" He scoffed. "Maybe I should get my parents. They'll make sure you get out of my room."
"No, no, no, no, no! Kiss my hand, please. It's not a big deal, okay? Nobody needs to know!"
He broke out in another cold sweat. "I-I don't want to."
"Liar!" She shouted. "I'm a cute girl in your room, in the dead of night. What kind of boy doesn't have weird thoughts about stuff like this? Come on, just be honest with me—You know you want to!"
"No! You don't know the first thing about me, Sylvia! I am not kissing your freaking hand! Get out!" he barked back. "Literally, find any other guy to bother with that, would you? Like you said, you're so pretty and smart and intelligent, and I'm just some boring dude. Wouldn't practically anyone else be able to fill your quota? In fact, wouldn't they be better for you?!"
She withdrew her hand at his rebuke, and stared at him with wide open eyes, like she felt genuinely hurt. "But... it won't mean anything, then. You're the only one I wanted, Derek. Ever since that day..."
His cheeks became set aflame, and he overwhelmed her with his voice as he overpowered her with his hands; forcing her back to the open window. "La la la la la la la I can't hear you! I don't want to hear any of this!"
"Derek- please—wait! I just, Let me- I'm trying to tell you something important!" She remarked, dragging her heels all the way to the window.
"I don't want to hear it! You don't know what you're talking about, dummy. Go to bed, already!" His heart was racing. He couldn't take even a single moment longer of this torture, or he might do something he'd really regret. The memory of that day... He knew exactly what she was talking about.
It was odd, they'd never been close by any stretch before that moment, but when their eyes locked, he knew that they had shared a feeling beyond words. He ran, then, but a part of him always wondered what would have happened if he had gone in and held her hand like he wanted to do.
It was a rare moment of vulnerability, for her. She needed him, and he abandoned her. Now, she was someone else, who treated him exactly the way he always wanted to be. She was so straightforward with her feelings, and wore her heart on her sleeve. He couldn't help but feel like he was the one who'd done this to her, somehow. Maybe it was all his fault.
But he certainly wasn't going to waste his compassion on someone who didn't actually understand the things she was saying. "Please!" She begged, bracing her knees against the frame of the window. "Just give me one minute to explain. I deserve that much."
"No!" He yelled, tears blurring the corners from his eyes. "There's nothing I want to hear from you! It can't be between us, It has to be from someone else!"
"What? Don't say that!" She cried. "There's no one else for me, you have to-"
"LALALALALALALA! Stop trying to fill my head with soft things—I won't believe it until you're back!" The world outside the window was suddenly thick with fog. A gray void extended as far as the eye could see, which, admittedly wasn't much. He pressed his shoulder into the small of her back, and forced with all his power. "I don't want to have to hurt you, but I will!"
Then, with a yelp, she disappeared into the silver expanse. A bright flash accompanied her exodus, and her silhouette hung in the air for a few seconds, against the mist illuminated by moonlight. He could hear her sniffling below, but he simply closed the window, to the noise; returning to the bed. She'd be fine in the morning. She always was.
In fact, she never seemed to remember.