Only the Heart Knows Why, Quax's Days

Only the Heart Knows Why, Quax's Days
Eight: The Sleepover

The house was still and silent. Nothing stirred but the gentle whirring on the fridge emanating from the kitchen. I took a few more steps in and pulled Kanau after me and shut the door as quietly as I could. Pausing for a moment, I strained my ears to see if I could hear any sounds at all. Before long I was convinced that I was in the clear, and I turned to Kanau. "My room's upstairs," I said to him as I made my way up the stairs, taking them carefully as to not make a noise. From the top I glanced back and saw Kanau taking them exactly as I had. Maybe he knew what was going on. Maybe, I thought as I took him down to my bedroom.

Once we were inside, I closed the door and turned on the light. Kanau's eyes grew wide as he looked around and I rolled my eyes to the ceiling. Yeah, yeah, I thought, it's not just the clothes that I enjoy. I guess he thinks all this pink and white lace is a bit much. Not that I cared; he wanted to come here, I didn't force him.

"Let's see here," I muttered to myself, taking a pillow off my bed. I turned to Kanau and tossed it to him. It bounced off his face and hit the ground, and as he blinked at me I had to hold my mouth not to laugh. "Sorry about that," I said, grinning, I thought you were watching."

I like to look around when I m at new places, he said softly, his eyes sweeping around the room, you see some pretty interesting things sometimes.

"Yeah, I guess," I sighed. I sat down on my bed and Kanau sat on the pillow. We both just sat there rather awkwardly as he watched me. I looked around the room, biting my lip softly. I still had ideas of jumping Kanau for a series of immoral things, but I tried to force those things out of my mind. I know just how it feels to do those things and not be able to stop it. My shoulders shook lightly and I turned to Kanau, desperate to break the silence. "You don't seem like a bad guy to me," I said, voicing the first thing that came to my head.

He looked up at me and cocked an eyebrow. "Bad?" He said rather indignantly, "there are people much worse than me around here, dude."

"Yeah, like that guy," I muttered.

"Rufus will be taught a lesson in time." I watched Kanau for a moment, then slowly lowered my gaze. Sure, let's pretend I was talking about him. "I just have to keep Kaddar away from school until then."

I looked up at Kanau, pouting lightly. "So you won't be at school either?"

Letting out a sigh, he nodded to me. I d rather just hang out with Kaddar for awhile," he said softly, "he owes me big time for leaving me alone for so long.

I looked away from him. "I wouldn t leave you alone like that," I whispered quietly. There was a pause and I saw him shrug his shoulders at me. I turned back to him as he took the pillow I gave him and lay down. He glanced up at me and I found myself smiling. I never thought I'd be doing that. Not any time soon, anyway. "Get some sleep," I said, "I'll help you get out in the morning."

He eyes me for a while, as though I've just said something wrong. "Goodnight, Quax," he says after a while.

"Nighty-night, Kanau," I say happily and start to lie down, but Kanau's shot back up and is staring at me.

"How do you know my name?" he says, though it's more like an accusation.

"Hika told me."

He blinked at me a few times and laid down on the carpet again. "Fine," he muttered, "whatever."

I sighed to myself and closed my eyes. I tried to sleep, but the night dragged on. Seconds ticked by like minutes, Minutes felt days long and hours felt like an eternity. I held my breath and forced myself not to look at the clock, as that would just serve as a reminder about how slow things were going. Before long I had to hold my eyes closed with my hands to stop myself from staring at the ceiling. The night dragged on.

After a while I heard a noise that made me jump. Looking around quickly, I saw Kanau was rolling around and moaning out quite loudly. Oh, damn it I thought as I jumped from my bed and crawled over to him. "Kanau," I said, but he didn't hear me. His moans grew louder and he started moving about a little more. "Kanau," I said a little more desperately. I closed my eyes and pleaded for my dad not to hear this.

His eyes popped opens and he stared at me, wide eyed, breathing deeply. He lay there a while before slowly wiping his hand over his face. "Kanau?" I ask him, leaning forward a little.

"Yeah?" he croaks out to me and I let out a breath. He seemed fine so I smiled at him and backed up onto my bed.

"You were tossing and turning," I told him as I pulled my coverfs back up again, "I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

He nodded silently and turned to me. "What's the time?"

I shifted under my blanket and looked over at my clock, sighing to myself. "Four forty-five AM," I said.

I lay there for a moment, but since he didn't respond any more I rolled over and closed my eyes. Not that I ended up getting to sleep, but the break in the monotony like that made the rest of it at least pass quicker.

---+++---

By the morning the sun streaked in through my window and fell over my face. I stirred lightly and let out a breath. I had fallen asleep in the end afterall, but now it was time to wake up and face the day. Sighing softly, I hopped out of bed and went over to my closet, throwing all of my clothes off into it. I bent down to pick some new ones out and just as I was about to pick out some underwear I heard a noise from behind me that made me jump out of my skin!

I spun around quickly and saw Kanau still sleeping on the floor. Oh, damn it, I'd completely forgotten about him! I strained my ears to listen further, and luckily it didn't sound like anyone else was awake yet. I hastily threw on the first clothes in reach and bounced back over to Kanau. I had to get him out of here, now, before anyone caught me with him here.

But... I couldn't bring myself to wake him up! He looked so peaceful sleeping there. Well, peaceful by his standards anyway. I started pacing about, not knowing what to do. I glanced at the clock and it said it was just after eight o'clock, so I still had a little time left before my father woke up.

Kanau's eyes opened slowly and I looked down at him. He looked so... Great. I shook my head lightly. He's not single, I have to get him out of my head. "You have to go now," I said as he got up to his feet. I started pushing him out to the door and he looked back at me.

"You're acting weirder than usual," he said.

"Well, I don't want you here when my dad gets up," I told him and he seemed to understand as he turned away. I checked down the hall as he went down the stairs. I saw the door tp my parents room opening up just as I heard Kanau going out the door. My father stepped out and narrowed his eyes at me.

"What the hell are you doing out here," he grunted and I glanced down the stairs to see the door being pulled shut. "Who the hell was that?" I looked up at him quickly and he pushed me roughly into the wall. He looked down at the front door and narrowed his eyes lightly. I pushed myself off the wall and rubbed my shoulder as he turned around and glared at me. "If I find out you've had someone here, you're going to get it."

I just nodded softly and he went back to his bedroom. I walked down the stairs. I stuck my ear to the door to see if Kanau was gone and sighed deeply and fell back against it. Kanau was long gone now, but I had no way of knowing whether anyone had seen him as he was leaving. I looked down and quietly made my way back upstairs to my room and looked down at my clothes; nothing matched, it was terrible! I threw off the top and grabbed one to match my skirt and made my way to the bathroom to freshen up.

When I'd gotten back downstairs again I heard someone stirring about upstairs and went about quietly getting myself a bowl of cereal for breakfast.