𝐀𝐪𝐮𝐚 𝐄𝐲𝐞𝐬 ✓

6

I wake up with a familiar arm and leg draped across my body and I smile down at the girl sleeping on me. Faye sleeps soundly on my body, not at all bothered by the heat emitted from it.

I lean up slightly to get a better look at her face on my chest, taking extra time to admire her long, light eyelashes that fan her pink cheeks covered in cute orange freckles. Even though her eyes are closed, I can picture the glowing aqua color perfectly from memory.

I move one arm out from beneath us to wrap around her shoulders and pull her even closer to me. She smells like men's deodorant, the same brand as mine, and cinnamon, which makes for a simultaneously comforting and intoxicating fragrance. Faye stirs awake and her eyes flutter open, meeting mine with a tired look; too tired to notice that I've been staring at her, as I tend to do each time we wake up together.

"Morning Reecey," She says sleepily, her voice sounding slightly scratchy after waking up. I smile down at her and she snuggles into me.

"Morning Faye-bae," I reply. She lays with me for a bit longer before deciding to remove herself from my embrace and standing from the bed. My breath hitches as I take in her form, only covered by a pair of short red shorts that are riding up and a piece of lace with straps to cover her breasts, although it isn't doing a very good job. She must have discarded her shirt at some point in the night, not that it did its job very well.

I tear my eyes away from her and focus on a random spot on the ceiling, not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable because after all, we are best friends. Plus, if we're going to be living together, I might have to get used to it. God knows how Faye walked around in her apartment with Lexi, considering she's one of the most liberal people I've ever met. Nudity does not phase Faye in the slightest. I can't say the same for myself.

At least not when it comes to her.

Faye could get a reaction from me if she were wearing a baggy turtleneck and a pair of shapeless cargo pants. Her eyes alone drive me insane. I notice that she has found and put back on her shirt from last night and I simultaneously wish that it covered both more, and less.

Faye doesn't, and will never know, that I am completely in love with her, and have been since we met almost a year ago on her first day at Greenville University. After having slept with Chase, Lexi ran into Maddox, Luke, and me in the kitchen of the soccer house. I gave her a ride home, not knowing that also living in that same apartment, was this girl.

Running into Lexi had to be fate because if I hadn't, I never would have gotten to talk to the girl who would steal my breath away every time I saw her. The girl who would become my best friend and love interest. Except she is anything but interested.

Faye has a bit of a reputation for being a man-eater. Every guy who meets her is interested in her or at least intrigued by her, yet she doesn't give most of them the time of day. I guess I was lucky that she liked me right away, even if not in the way I would have hoped. Any time spent with Faye is time well spent.

"Let's start packing up your room. It shouldn't take too long. I'll get started on my drawer, and you can tell me where you want everything else. But I won't do it all for you." Faye says from her spot beside the bed, stretching her arms over her head which causes her shirt to rise impossibly higher and I look away from the smooth skin of her stomach.

"Yeah sounds good," I say, climbing out of bed in nothing but my white briefs but I don't pay any mind to them considering Faye and I have been having sleepovers almost every night since we met. I stretch and yawn before walking into my closet with a box. I grab as many hangers as I can with one hand, and put them in a garbage bag with the hooks poking through the top, so I don't have to take the clothes off and do it all over again.

I repeat this with the rest of my clothes, putting them into a box once I'm finished. I come out into my room to see Faye has finished emptying "her" drawer and has now moved onto emptying my own. Faye throws my belongings haphazardly into a box, not caring about organization at all. I stifle a laugh as I watch this for a few seconds, eventually walking over to help.

"You know, I might be able to unpack faster if all my things weren't thrown every which way," I tell her condescendingly, not at all actually bothered by her "packing" methods. She grits her teeth and smiles fakely at me.

"If you're so particular about how your shit is packed. You do it yourself then." She huffs sarcastically and plops back down into my bed, sitting up against the headboard and watching me with a cheeky look on her face.

She did that on purpose to avoid having to help me pack.

I get to work without help and finish up quickly considering my lack of, well, anything really. Besides clothes, I don't have much. Most of my belongings consist of pictures with friends, many of them with Faye, soccer stuff, and shoes. Faye gets up from my bed and walks out of my room without a word and I roll my eyes.

I throw on a pair of pants and follow, hoping that she hasn't gone to the kitchen, even though I already know that that is exactly where she has gone. Voices and laughter fill my ears as I walk towards the kitchen. My eyes are drawn to the red, spotting Faye sitting up on the counter in her little outfit, surrounded by a few of my other housemates who happen to talk about her on a daily basis. Her toned thighs are pressed together and almost completely bare thanks to her shorts.

"Red's my favorite color," I hear Theo say and I roll my eyes, walking over to stand by Faye and she leans into me as I stand beside her, leaning my hip against the counter.

She nods. "Wow, mine too. We have so much in common," She drawls out sarcastically, teasing him but he doesn't seem to notice.

Theo's ears perk up. "Yeah! We'd make a great team," He says and Faye looks at me with a humorous look in her eyes, both of us trying to stifle our laughter. Theo doesn't seem to notice at all until Eric hits him in the arm.

"Dude, she's fucking with you. You already know Reece―" He starts but I punch him when Faye isn't looking, cutting off the end of his sentence and glaring at him.

"Is overprotective as fuck. Chill bro." Eric finishes and I roll my eyes. Faye ignores the entire exchange, pretending to stare at her nails as if she'd rather be anywhere else. I make her a bowl of her favorite cereal that I keep hidden in the back of the cupboards for her, placing the bowl in front of her.

"Fuck me, thank you," She moans with her mouth full of Lucky Charms and I choke on the air that enters my mouth sharply at her words. Faye doesn't notice my reaction and continues to demolish her bowl of cereal. As soon as she's done, I put her bowl and spoon in the dishwasher and we walk back upstairs with the sound of my housemate's voices calling after Faye to stay and "chill" with them. I open my door for Faye to walk through and we enter my bedroom again.

"Well this was easy enough, it shouldn't be too hard to pack up my stuff," Faye says.