This Distance Is Poison

“I never would’ve picked you for a nose ring girl.”

“What did you pick me for? A boring, melodramatic, possessive freak?” I flicked Kennedy’s arm like I thought it would hurt him.

“No,” he smiled. “You’re more of a…I don’t know.”

“Alright, well you keep thinking about how to describe me and I’ll go to bed.”

“Night, Em.” Kennedy laughed as I stood outside his room. I smiled, saying the same and closing his door to head downstairs.

It was already 10 o’clock, midnight back home, and I was exhausted. Sitting up in Kennedy’s room with him was great because we got to talking like we were life long friends, just how it was over those thousands of emails. We talked for hours, up until the point where I was really tired and needed to go to bed. You know how after a long day you go into your room and just the sight of your bed makes everything better? That’s how I felt when I walked into my room and closed the door behind me. I undressed, pulling on a long shirt and cotton shorts of mine. I wasn’t really sure where to put my dirty clothes, so I just put them in the bottom drawer since it was empty. I pulled back the blankets on the bed and crawled in, turning the light off beside me on the table. A heavy and happy sigh left my lips when I closed my eyes finally.

Waking up went a lot different from how I imagined. The process was the same; open my eyes, yawn, stretch a little. Slightly panic at the unknown body laying next to me. Yawn again, feel tired even though I just slept for about ten hours, stare at the person’s resting face beside me and wonder who the hell it was. I was definitely freaked out as to who it was and why they were in my bed anyways.

They were out like a light, completely under. They were even snoring a few times, their face pointed right up at the ceiling. I lifted myself up onto my elbow and stared at them. Dark hair covered their face, the nonexistent sunlight not letting me see their true hair color. There were dark circles under their eyes too and I really didn’t want to wake them up and disturb them, but I had no idea who it was. Maybe it was one of Kennedy’s friends — obviously if they were here then they must know the boy who was sleeping upstairs. I wasn’t sure whether to leave it alone and go out to the living room to watch TV or something until Kennedy woke up or this person, or to wake them up and have them move somewhere else.

I decided to let them rest even though I was really curious as to who they were. I crawled out of bed, fixing the blankets, and grabbed my sweatshirt from my dresser. They hadn’t moved an inch when I looked back from the door so I left the room and closed the door quietly.

The living room was brightened up more than my room, but that was only because the curtains were open. I wrapped my arms around myself, taking quiet steps into the room. I didn’t have to be quiet since Kennedy was up too.

“Morning,” he greeted from the kitchen. I turned toward his voice and walked into the other room. “Sleep well?”

“Definitely,” I nodded with a smile. “Although waking up was weird.”

“Not used to being away from home?”

“No — I mean yes, but I didn’t expect to wake up next to a guy in my bed.”

Kennedy looked up at me, just as confused as I was. “First night here and you already have a guy in your bed?”

I giggled. “I think it’s one of your friends.”

Kennedy got up from the kitchen stool he was sat on and I followed him down the hall to my room. He opened the door, spotting the culprit and looking back at me with a chuckle in his throat. “Sorry about that. I told him to sleep on the couch since he came here late last night, but I guess that somehow got lost in his head.”

“I was going to wake him up, but I didn’t want to disturb him.”

“Oh, he’s not that bad.” Kennedy said before stepping into the room and shaking his friend awake. He groaned, turning over and waking up soon enough. “Dude, I told you to sleep on the couch.”

“The purpose of having a guest room is for guests, Ken.” He mumbled into the pillow. I laughed lightly, leaning my shoulder into the doorway.

“Not when I already have one guest in it that’s not you.”

“Who could you possibly have here that’s more important than me?” The guy turned onto his back, looking up at Kennedy. I caught his glance and he sat up a little to stare at me in the doorway.

“That’s who.” Kennedy said, walking toward me. “Em, this bed hogger is John. John, this is Emily.”

I waved my hand, “Hello.”

John coughed, got up, and brushed his hair back. “Sorry about that. I was a little drunk last night.”

“Obviously,” Kennedy snorted.

“Hey, I wouldn’t have come here if you just came last night, but now I know what you were doing.”

“Emily got here yesterday from Florida and she’s staying with me for a little while. So until then, the guest room is not available, but the couch is. Now how about some breakfast?”

Kennedy walked down the hall and I followed him, John following after me. We all sat in the kitchen, John mostly waking up with a hangover. Kennedy must’ve been used to it since he got out a prepared drink for John that must’ve helped him with the headache. I sat beside him, glancing at him every now and then and noticing that I recognized him from a few pictures online when I looked Kennedy up. It was weird how similar they looked what with their hair and all, but Kennedy’s was shorter than John’s now.

While John and I got into a conversation, Kennedy cooked on the stove. He was making French toast, a breakfast he knew I couldn’t turn away since it was my favorite. He even glanced over his shoulder at me while he was making them and I couldn’t help but smile.

“So, you’re the girl that’s got Ken all rallied up?” John asked from beside me.

Kennedy nearly jerked around. I laughed, looking at John. “I guess I am.”

John smirked at his friend, but Kennedy was anything but happy. He looked embarrassed by what his friend said. I really didn’t mind. Valerie would’ve said the same. It was nice to know that I made Kennedy feel the same way he made me feel.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me email-Emily was coming here.”

Kennedy shrugged. “We’ve all been adjusting to being back home. I would’ve told you last night or sometime soon.”

“Hmm. Sure.”

Kennedy turned back around to the stove to continue cooking. I looked over at John, smiling when he started doing hand gestures toward Kennedy.

“He’s crazy about you,” he mouthed. Kennedy turned around to see him pointing at his back and John quickly dropped his hands onto the counter. I laughed, glancing at them both. “So what are you guys up to today?”

“Whatever she wants to do.” Kennedy shrugged, looking at me.

“Any suggestions?” I asked John.

“No —“ Kennedy started.

“Why don’t you take her to meet the guys, Ken? You know ‘the family’. The whole lot.”

“I doubt she wants to be surrounded by the guys today.”

I titled my head. “I’d love to.” Kennedy sighed as I stood up and I grinned, walking over and hugging him briefly before going into the fridge to get a drink.

I don’t think meeting his friends would be a horrible thing to do. John was fine, so how bad could it get? Kennedy, John, and I all ate in the kitchen on the stools and John asked me more questions about myself, things that Kennedy already knew. I’m pretty sure by now that Kennedy knew everything there was to know about me. Except one thing, but it really wasn’t that important for him to know. Of course he knew the basics about me — that was established within the first month of talking to each other. Kennedy was like another Valerie, just a guy edition and my feelings toward him were more developed.