A Miracle (Monroe)

[Adaryn Breslin]

Adaryn woke up that morning, barely past dawn, but she had managed to have a full sleep without any nightmares or anything of that sort. In fact, her dream was peaceful--with animals, books, and adventure-- and she woke up with a legitimate smile on her face. It was funny how a decent night's sleep was something that could make or break your day. The Brunette sent a quick text to Monroe saying she was coming over before officially getting up and slipping on her clothes quietly and quickly. She headed off to the room of the person she wanted to share this experience with most shortly after.

It did take some sneaking, but Adaryn was always light on her feet. Plus, she wasn't the one who wore combat boots; she preferred Chuck Taylors. So when she reached the room, she tried the door to see if it was locked (it usually wasn't), and Adaryn the commons area of Monroe's dorm. The blue-eyed brunette even took it upon herself to make him some coffee--black, just how he liked it-- and putting it in the mug he had told her was his favorite.

Adaryn then proceeded to go to his room, knocking first, but when he didn't answer, she opened the door ever so slightly, peeking in the room. She found him in bed, yeah, but was he asleep? He couldn't be, could he? Had he been pulled into a roommate's dream? Addie wasn't sure, but she really wanted to talk to him and hang out with him.

Placing the coffee on the nightstand beside his bed, Addie gently shook his side. "Monroe? Psst. Monroe, you awake?"

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

There were times when Monroe ran out of things to do with himself all night, when he ran out of homework to do or books to read and he'd already seen all of the mugs he could buy on Amazon and couldn't afford another one. Sometimes that resulted in him ending up with maybe an hour or two of sleep at the most, a short window of blissful, restful sleep that was uninterrupted. He'd managed to pull himself out of several of his roommates dreams which only had exhausted him more and he'd passed out as soon as they'd awaken and had been asleep since, beanie over his eyes and combat boots still on.

He knew he was drifting out of sleep when he heard a familiar voice. "Even when I'm actually asleep I think I'm still awake," he replied, a bit groggily, eyes still closed. He knew who the voice belonged to and a smile graced his sleepy face. "How'd you get in here?"

[Adaryn Breslin]

"The door, just like any other person." Addie said, moving to steal the beanie off of his face and putting it on her head. This probably was the third time she ever held a beanie, and so she at least knew by then how to put it on, but the fabric felt weird on her head.

She tapped his cheek gently with her hand, enjoying the smile on his face. "Now get up because I made you coffee." Her voice was a lot more excited than he had ever heard it, but he probably already noticed that fact.

The blue eyed brunette bounced on the balls of her feet, waiting for hee companion to open his eyes. She had plans to make with him!

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

"You know, sarcasm doesn't suit you," Monroe replied sleepily, pathetically waving his arms at her as she tried to steal his beanie and succeeded because of his futile attempts to stop her. He wasn't really trying. He rubbed his eyes, wondering for a moment if he was dreaming. She seemed to be in a really good mood today, a nice surprise.

And then he felt her light touch on his cheek and one of his hands moved up to catch hers in his own, still smiling sleepily as his eyes finally fluttered open to catch sight of his beanie on her head, slightly drooping over her blue eyes. "I know you did, I can smell it. I can always smell it." She was so excited, and it brightened his tired face. "Man, didn't even have to get out of bed for it."

[Adaryn Breslin]

"Me? Sarcastic? Never," Adaryn mused quietly, slipping her captured hand out of his grip. Oh no, if he wouldn't even open his eyes for her, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of holding her hand. But despite herself, she placed herself on the bed beside him, hands grasping the cup of coffee.

Adaryn turned to face him, and saw his Brown eyes staring up at her with a tired smile. "Oh so coffee will get you to look at me?" The blue-eyed brunette teased, holding out the coffee to him.

"Black, just like you like it, and in your favorite mug. Good Morning."

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

There she went again, with the sarcastic comments, shocking Monroe the whole way, even if they were still said in her soft, girlish tone. When he finally opened his eyes, he fake pouted at her as she'd let go of his hand. "Wow, sarcastic and mean. Look at you." Had she been hanging around Eloise? The moment that thought popped into his head, he regretted it. That was so awkward. The two of them hanging out. He just wanted this vision to come true or be disproven somehow, not be in this awkward state of wondering.

That didn't mean that he couldn't like Adaryn though. Because he did like her. He liked her hair and her eyes and the rare smiles she gave. He especially loved that she'd made him coffee and put it in his favorite mug. "So you broke into my dorm room, hijacked my mug, and made me coffee?" He was smiling despite his questions, which were jokes anyway, matching her lighthearted tone.

"Morning," he replied back to her, taking the mug in both of his hands gratefully. "Thanks for this by the way. I drank a whole pot before I went to sleep, but I could always use more." After all, he hadn't fallen asleep on purpose.

[Adaryn Breslin]

Adaryn resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at him; that would be going a little too far, wouldn't it? But either way she gave him a look that said 'funny' in the most lighthearted way possible.

"Breaking in implies that the door was locked, and hijacking implies that I didn't give it back so... Nope." Adaryn laughed to herself. But she watched him, though not too closely, as he took a sip. Her brow raised in surprise when he said he drank a whole pot before he fell asleep.

"Isn't that seriously unhealthy for you?" How didn't he weigh like hundreds of pounds heavier than he did? Compared to her, he still weighed a crap ton. She girl barely weighed more than 100 pounds... No wonder he could put her over his shoulder so easily.

The empath took a seat beside him now that he was sitting upright and drinking, and stated the obvious. "So I'm in a good mood today. It's a miracle."

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

"See, now you're trying to disprove my accusations with cunning logic, which is not like you at all. God, it's like you've been hanging around--" Yep, he almost just said that. Monroe almost just blurted out Eloise's name which would make things all the more awkward. It was a topic he just wanted to avoid because it made him feel like he wasn't supposed to be like this with Adaryn when he couldn't picture things any other way. "Nevermind."

"Unhealthy, yes? But does it keep me awake? Usually. I was only passed out for like an hour before you came in here." Yeah, he wasn't the most healthy, but he had a ridiculous metabolism that kept the weight off. Didn't mean he could run up three flights of stairs without a problem. He'd probably fall over after the second flight.

"I noticed. Did you have some coffee?" He jokingly shoved the mug towards her face.

[Adaryn Breslin]

"We," Adaryn said carefully, stepping over every word with a characteristic hesitance, "are not going to talk about that." Yes, she had been talking to Eloise, but she found that Eloise wanted nothing more than to be done with the entire thing as much as Monroe did. She wasn't going to waste her joy.

Jesus. An hour? The Empath had an idea to just take the coffee back, but decided against it. If she were to get him to do something today, he'd need to be awake. "You're insane, Monroe." She announced, and jumped back when he pushed the coffee in her direction.

"Hey!" Adaryn scowled, but only for a moment. "I'm in a good mood because one, I had good dreams and a full night's rest AND because in a few days I'll be 17. My birthday is on the 15th. So I want to go out somewhere to celebrate."

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

Monroe found himself taken aback when Adaryn very deliberately stated that they were not going to talk about that, the conflict that was always looming over his head, like a dark cloud he couldn't get rid of. It wasn't as if he liked to talk about it anyway, he just felt like if he didn't talk about it at all, it would mean he didn't care and honestly it had been causing him way too much stress. If he didn't sleep already he would say he hadn't been sleeping well

"Not insane, sleep deprived. At least be correct in your assumption," Monroe said, pretending to scoff at her. Then his face morphed into a pouty one. "You don't want any coffee?"

It was nice to see her so bright, the smile on her face. He tried to embed her smile in his mind. It was amazing what a good night's sleep without nightmares could do for a person and it did wonders for Adaryn. "Seventeen? Still have that little girl status," he said with a grin, but nonetheless, he was pleased she wanted to spend her birthday with him. "Well, what do you want to do for your birthday?" He took a sip of his coffee, awaiting her answer.

[Adaryn Breslin]

"They kind of go hand in hand, Monroe." Adaryn crossed her arms across her chest, and prodded his pouting lip with her finger. He was... so adorable in that moment, and that thought alone was something that made the brunette blush. "I work at a coffee shop," She said finally, "I get enough coffee as it is."

In fact, ninety percent of the time she smelled of coffee, which at first was nice. But now? It was far more irritating than anything because it was getting old. Adaryn bounced up and down on the dreamwalker's bed, ignoring his comment about being a little girl in her attempt to think of someplace she wanted to go.

"Uhm," The Empath said, eyes rolling up to look at the ceiling, "I'm running short on art supplies. Maybe we can start there? And then get something to eat later?" Adaryn almost offered to go to a coffee shop, but then she promptly threw away that idea. After all, he needed to lay off of it.

"What do you say?"

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

"Being sleep deprived doesn't directly correlate to being insane," Monroe said to Adaryn, finding himself sticking his tongue out at her in a childish manner. "If I worked at a coffee shop, I probably wouldn't have to spend half as much money on coffee as I do now. You're lucky." Well, he should probably get a job. That he'd been thinking about lately. Graduation was two months away and he was lost and still sleep deprived. You'd think he'd have things more together than this after so many years at Hammel.

"I like that you work there. You always smell like coffee when you come see me after." And he did like it. "Not like you don't smell good always," he added sheepishly.

"I like art supplies and food," he replied with a shrug when she suggested it.

[Adaryn Breslin]

"Maybe not directly," Adaryn was going to argue just for the hell of it, it seemed. But that was fine, because she wasn't doing it in an endearing way, just to tease him. Normally she would have accepted his statement and moved on; this is how you knew Adaryn was in a good mood. She formed an opinion.

"You know, I always wonder how much money you spend on Coffee every week. But then I realize I really don't want to know, and then I just let it go." Really, he probably spent more on his coffee addiction than she even made in a single two week period, and that was kind of scary. She wondered if the boy would ever be able to get some sleep. Maybe some day, but with graduation quickly approaching, what would happen? Would Monroe still graduate?

Would he be leaving her?

As soon as the thought made itself present in her mind, it was gone. No, she wouldn't ruin this day. "Good," Adaryn said, grabbing the coffee mug from him and placing it on his nightstand. He's definitely had enough.

"Time for you to get dressed, though. We can take the bus, or if you want, you could drive us. But I don't want to make you do anything you don't want to." That was a bit too late, wasn't it? She was making him hang out with her, but she was sure he wanted to come with her, right? For a single moment, she sat on his bed, staring at him, and had an urge to kiss him, and immediately she found her turning away from him with a bright blush on her face.

"Uh, yeah. I'll be waiting out in the common room, so, uh, hurry!" And with that, she scurried out of his room.

[Thomas "Monroe" Montgomery]

She was aruging with him! He laughed and shook his head, surprised, but pleasantly by her mood. After all, he couldn't just let a dark cloud hang over him until he graduated.

"I choose not to calculate it," he pointed out. "I feel as if that would be a very bad idea." He didn't want to know how much he spent on coffee. When she took his mug from him and put it on his bedside table, he threw out his hands as if to say 'what'd you do that for?' in mock defense, but cracked a smile nonetheless.

"I can drive," he offered. "It's not a problem." He wanted her to know that. She rambled about how he needed to get dressed and left the room sort of awkwardly, shutting the door behind her. "What, you don't want to watch me change?" It was a darin thing to say, but he figured Adaryn could handle it considering her mood today.

He moved to his closet, figuring he should at least change his shirt. He'd slept in his jeans.

[Adaryn Breslin]

His question caught her off guard, and she stopped only a few steps past his closed door. If he thought she was red before, she was burning fire then. Of course, that was more of a tamed reaction than if she had been relatively normal. Seeing Monroe undressed... she didn't even know what to think of that. She did know one thing, however. She was going to teach herself how to stop with the blushing. She had to, because it was getting ridiculous.

"Just get dressed, Dummy!" She squeaked.

Adaryn scurried over to the couch and sat with her knees up to her chest for two reasons: first was to hide her face until the blush faded, and second was because she enjoyed sitting that way. Old habits never break, apparently, even though she no longer needed to sit in such a way. The Empath wasn't trying to shrink away, just recover.