I heard a tap at my window and rose out of bed. Looking at the clock, I saw it was midnight.
Who...? I thought to myself. I cracked my blind and saw a figure on the ground. I opened my window and looked closer, when I heard my name being called.
"Ashton? It's Mike," he said in his voice, his kind, soft, deep voice.
"I can't let you in through the front, Mike." I sadly responded.
"Then I'll climb in."
"How?" Mike pointed at the tree and walked up to it. He started to climb.
"Are you crazy?" I whisper yelled.
"Shh. I'll climb onto the roof when I get high enough and slip in, no problem." He smiled reassuringly at me and continued climbing.
I watched him shimmy onto the roof and side-step his way to my window. When he got in, we embraced.
Mike was wearing his red hoodie and jeans. I closed the window, trying to prevent anymore winter air from slipping in. I looked at him again. his medium length brown hair fell in front of his face and the sides of his perfectly pink lips were turned up.
"Hi," he said, still smiling.
"Hey," I responded.
He made his way over to my desk where he took a seat on the chair that was sitting there.
I fell onto my bed and positioned myself facing him.
"Well... this visit was unexpected," I said, breaking the silence sitting heavily in the air.
He laughed, "I told you I was going to come sometime..."
"Yeah, but I didn't think you'd come through my window," he started to speak but I continued, "You can't really walk in the front door and say hi to everyone at midnight and skip up to my room at my house... It's not really like yours." I laughed, stood up, and walked toward him.
Mike's mom was fine with me coming over at crazy hours. She trusted her son, and she trusted me. My parents, however, would freak if he was up here, even if it was the middle of the day and they had known Mike.
"I didn't want you to risk getting you in trouble sneaking in and out again. And how do YOU even get in and out without climbing that tree?" I sighed at him and he stood up too.
"I come in through the office window and come up the stairs."
"Well I decided to risk getting caught, this time. So sue me." I shook my head at him and laughed. I stood on my tippy toes so that my face was even with his, and kissed him. His lips were still at first, not expecting my kiss. I pulled away gently and looked him in the eyes. He looked back.
Parting my lips, I began to speak again, "Do you want something to eat?"
"No, I'm fine. But I have a question," he said, looking down.
"What is it?" He scratched the back oh his head and looked at me, his eyes more serious, his smile faded.
"What are we? I mean what am I to you? What... what's our relationship?" I stared at him, shocked by his sudden question.
Where did this come from, I thought to myself. I had never really thought about our relationship... I just knew it was there. It had been one month since I first went over Mike's house. One quick month. Our relationship. It just came up. Before that night, sure, we were friends. We saw each other around school, said hello. What happened that night, it was unexpected. It felt right, but, it came nowhere.
I tried to begin, my throat getting dry. I looked at him again.
"Micheal..." I loved him, I knew that much. I trusted him too, I felt safe around him. Like nothing bad could happen if he had his arms wrapped around me. How can I put that into words? If I tell him these things, will he think I'm crazy? Will he not want to see me again if I drop the L-bomb?
I looked back up at Mike, at his handsome face. At his eyes, still serious, and at his mouth that was not smiling, that was waiting.
"I-," He cut me off.
"I love you." He said, sternly. He looked at my face, seeing how I reacted to this, then he continued, "When I saw you in the rain that night, I had already liked you. I always admired you. The way your lips come up over your teeth when you smile. The way you run your fingers through your hair when you're frustrated, and the way your eyes sparkle when you're happy," he stopped and looked at me. I was once again, shocked. He turned from me and walked toward the window.
"I'm sorry, I don't know why I said all that. I'll just go."
He began to open the window and I shook my head no. I walked toward the window and grabbed his arm. He spun around and threw my arms around his neck and kissed him. He pulled away and looked at me, again.
"Mike, I love you too." He opened his mouth, about to say something but I put my hand over it, "No, let me finish. I love you. I didn't know that until you asked me about our relationship. I never thought about it. But I feel different around you, when I come over, I get all giddy and I miss you when we're not together. I trust you, even though it hasn't been long. I feel so safe when I'm with you, like nothing could happen if you're by my side.
I-" Mike kissed me. His arms wrapped around my waist and he kissed me. It was a hard kiss. When we parted we stared at each other.
"What do we do now," I asked.
"I have no idea," he smiled at me and kissed me again, this time softer, and we laid down on my bed.
Nothing happened. We just laid together, stared at each other, and drifted off to sleep.
It was nine when we woke up, and the small of bacon filled the house. I looked at Mike sleeping, still and shook him until his eyes opened.
"S***, what time is it," He asked, yawning.
"Time for you to go," I said frantically. I got up and looked out the window. Good, my dad has left for work already. That means my mom is the only one here.
"Can I just slip out through the window like I did last night?" He asked nervously.
"Yes, but do it quick. I'll come see you again today, I promise."
He got up and opened the window. Mike turned toward me and kissed me passionately. When he was done, he slipped out of the window and side-stepped over to the tree.
"I love you," he said, then waved.
"I love you too," I said, smiling.
I watched him get down to the lawn and jog off.