Part 30 - Close call

Y/n

The room echoed with the sound of unbridled laughter, and I felt like I couldn't breathe. But in that good way where you know you're just having the best time of your life.

There was the occasional pause when the giant inhales were taken, a momentary thought that the joy was over,

And then naturally, more laughing.

I had just had the immense pleasure of showing Pugsley one of the most iconic vines of all time, and he couldn't get enough of it.

And when he laughs, so do I.

We both lay strewn across the floor next to one another, legs resting up on the edge of the mattress of his bed, slightly tangled together as I clutched my stomach, I could practically feel the abs forming.

While it did kind of hurt, I couldn't stop it.

I had made a reference to said vine roughly ten minutes ago while we were talking, and when Pugsley told me he had no idea what I was talking about, even after I explained it, I was completely flabbergasted.

And obviously I had to introduce it to him, along with a few other one's to improve his internet knowledge.

I mean I knew he didn't have a phone and all, but how could you not know that generational masterpiece of media.

The giggles lasted another few minutes, until we were finally able to take a few deep breaths, and bring the room down to a more quiet atmosphere.

I turn my head against the floorboards to look sideways at him, but he was already staring at me first. And he had this weird look in his eyes...I couldn't tell what it was, but it made me unable to look away.

His hair had since become a total mess, curtesy of yours truly. I may or may not have ruffled in retaliation to something he had said, but he didn't seem to care that I did, he just left it all fluffy and wrecked.

"Thanks, Y/n. For sharing that with me. I haven't laughed that much in a really long time, so this is nice. I'm glad to have been told about..wait what's it called again?"

An amused huff escapes me.

"Vine. And you're welcome, my intensive online knowledge has come in handy for once."

His smile turns softer.

"You know, you're a lot smarter than you give yourself credit for."

I snort.

"I wouldn't include knowing vine references as being smart, but okay."

He taps my foot with his.

"I'm serious, you're one of the smartest people I know. And I really admire that about you."

He...huh?

I didn't entirely know what to say to that.

"I... Thank you, I admire you too..."

There was something in the back of my mind that I'd been meaning to get out, there just hadn't been a good moment until now.

"And uhm, I appreciate what you did earlier today, with that guy in Eugene's dorm. It totally creeps me out when boys act like that towards me, so thank you for saying something."

Pugsley's brow furrowed a little, and his hands came to rest on his stomach.

"It had to be done. No guy should look at a girl like that, as if she were simply just a warm body to be ogled. It's disgusting, and I wasn't going to just stand by and let him talk like that, especially when it was you."

I swear, he gets more and more respectful each time we talk, and it was so refreshing to have someone like him that was willing to stick up for me and my feelings when an asshat like that guy comes along and tries to disrespect me.

And the silence that was growing increasingly longer only made me realize how close I was to him right now.

Our faces were only several inches away from the one another's, and it was making me kind of nervous.

Especially when he was still staring at me like I was a piece of art or something. Don't get me wrong, I was flattered if that was the case, I just had no idea what to do right now.

The eye contact we shared felt comfortable though. Like no words really needed to be said at all.

Then his eyes dipped down.

Not low enough for me to think he was trying to discreetly look at my boobs, which I knew were slightly more visible from this close,

But only low enough to look at my mouth.

And I can't deny the fact that I did the same thing.

In that moment of complete uncertainty of what my next action should've been, that just felt right.

When our eyes met again, I could see his Adams apple bob slightly as he swallowed.

...

"Y/n-"

*knock knock knock*

Both of our bodies shot up from the floor, and our attention was immediately on the door.

"Shit! What time is it??"

I whisper shout as I look over to the wall above my bed where my clock hung, ticking the seconds away.

Holy crap had we lost track of the hours.

It was almost 11pm. I didn't even feel tired at this point, but the time also meant one more thing.

And I think Pugsley realized it too.

The both of us turned back to each other.

"Dorm checks."

Scrambling off the floor, Pugsley and I freeze for a second when a voice comes through the door.

"Hello? It's Miss Capri, I'm just here to make sure everyone's okay in there!"

She could have at least made it sound a little convincing, and not like she was just doing her job. Which she was.

But out of all the teacher it could have been, why did it have to be her.

Don't get me wrong, she was a great music teacher, and she actually helped me learn more than the other teachers have in the past,

But when it came to that certain rule about no boy-girl dorms, she was it's top enforcer.

And that was a big no no in this room.

If she found out that me and Pugsley were in here together, we were going to get in the most amount of trouble compared to any other teacher.

"What do we do??"

I had to admit I was panicking a little bit, which meant my critical thinking skills were nowhere to be seen, right when I needed them the most.

Pugsley pointed to the other side of his bed, the one that you couldn't see if you were to stand in the doorway.

"Uhh, you hide, I'll get the door. I can try to do my best to distract her and keep her busy, but-"

Another knock from outside.

"Hellooo? Occupants of dorm 13! Could you come out here please?"

I jump myself over his bed, landing with a slight thud as I fell onto the floor, hiding myself and crawling forward slightly just enough to see around the corner and over to the door.

"Get Eugene over here!"

Pugsley whispers as he walks over to the door.

Oh yeah, right. I guess Pugsley was the one with the logic right now.

I reach for my phone that was still laying amongst the sheets on his bed, quickly grabbing it and leaning on my forearms while unlocking it, still being careful not to be seen as Pugsley opens the door.

Miss Capri stood standing there, still in her very hippie teacher clothes from her day, and she flashed Pugsley a smile once she came into view.

"Ah, hello Pugsley. Sorry to interrupt your evening, I'm just going around each of the dorms in the hall checking up on everyone. So, how is everything in here with you and..."

She takes a moment to glance into the room, presumably looking for another person.

Shit shit shit shit shit.

I had gotten distracted by her being here that I still hadn't texted Eugene yet.

I pulled up his contact in my phone, bringing up our previous text conversation, which had been a little over a week ago when I was on the bus back from camp.

I'd asked him for his advice on the whole situation that happened, but honestly he hadn't been much help. He basically just said to calm down and to wait a few days for things to settle down. Which was a terrible idea, seeing as I don't think I could've gone much longer than I did without talking things out with Pugsley.

Boys.

I mean, Eugene is still a really great friend, but sometimes what he says is just completely wrong in the moment.

Miss Capri gives Pugsley a confused look.

"Where's your roommate?"

Okay, focus Y/n.

I frantically type out the message on the keyboard, which frankly I thought was still way too small.

Especially in cases like this one where I was typing really quickly and kept hitting the wrong letter, and I didn't have the time to fix it. Honestly it'll be a miracle if he shows up in time, because he has to decipher the code that is my sentence first.

Yikes. It read out,

'Dprm chekks are beinh dine, get yuor ass ovr hwre now!'

I sent it as soon as I was done with the last word. There wasn't enough time to worry about the spelling errors, I just hope that after almost a year of friendship, he can pick up on my brain waves from over here instead.

Pugsley's fingers tapped nervously against his legs while he tried to come up with some bullshit lie to save us some time.

"Uhmm, he's...in the bathroom! Yeah, he was saying something about dinner not agreeing with him, so he probably wasn't feeling too crash hot. I'm sure he'll be back soon, you can wait here if you don't believe me."

Face. Fucking. Palm.

This was one of those times where I really wish I had that wall to bash my head against.

He just willingly invited Miss Capri to stand and wait for someone else to arrive.

If we didn't have Eugene as our alibi, we'd be screwed.

I look back down at my phone to see if the message had been read.

It had, like a whole minute ago.

What the hell dude? You are literally like 20 feet down the hall, how long does it take you to get here?

The little typing bubble pops up for a few seconds before disappearing again.

Oh come on please don't do this to me.

Miss Capri is starting to look suspicious of Pugsley. Of course she was, you could tell that guy was lying from a mile away.

She shifted her weight onto one foot, doing that stance that shows you're not going anywhere.

"I think I will actually, I haven't got anything else to do tonight."

Well fuck.

If Eugene doesn't show up in that doorway in the next 30 seconds, I'm gonna-

"I'm here! I'm here!"

The sound of running footsteps and labored breathing reaches my ears from outside.

Oh thank the gods.

Guess he gets to keep his head after all.

I put my phone down next to me as I fully focus on the curly haired boy who was now standing outside the door, resting his hand on his knees as he catches his breath.

"I'm...here..."

Miss Capri looks at Eugene's puffed state.

"And where might have you been, Mr. Ottinger? You look quite out of breath, running from somewhere?"

Eugene stands up straight, now having regained his composure, and he nods.

"Uh yeah, actually. I was...uhm..."

He glances to the side at Pugsley for help. But if Pugsley answered for him, it would look even more suspicious.

Pugsley subtly gestured his head towards where I was, and Eugene's eyes followed in suit.

When he looked over at me, I mouth as clearly as I could manage.

'Bath-room'

I didn't know if moving my lips like a cartoon character was going to help him understand what I was saying, but I didn't have any other ideas.

Fuck I really should have taken that sign language class when I had the chance. I just didn't think it would come in handy enough.

I'll be sure to pick it up next time I get the opportunity.

"I was....bafoon? OH!"

His eyes turn back to Miss Capri.

"I was in the bathroom."

He holds his stomach to exaggerate the point.

"Yeah, I got a real bad tummy ache. Tonight's food was just not my style I guess."

Wow, I was actually impressed that he got it spot on, even the bad stomach part.

Miss Capri gives both him and Pugsley a once over before sighing.

"Alright you two, that should be all, and Eugene, make sure to take some medicine."

She turns on her heels, starting to walk away, but before the boys were able to close the door after her, she paused.

Oh shit what now.

Miss Capri looked back over her shoulder at Eugene and points at him.

"Wait...didn't I already see..."

Oh fucking bitch ass shit fuck fucking shit shit shit.

She stares at him for a good few seconds, and he just tilts his head in false innocence.

She then lets out a deep sigh and raises her hand against her forehead.

"Oh I must be more tired than I thought. Don't mind me, good night boys."

They both call out a good night to her as she walked away, and they shut the door.

With that, all three of us release the HUGE breath we'd been holding, and I push myself up off the floor.

"At no point, whatsoever, did I think that being your guys' alibi was going to be so physically exhausting."

Eugene leans back against the inside of the door as he takes a few deep breaths, and Pugsley walks over to me.

"Hey, you okay? I thought I heard a thump when you rushed to go hide."

I sit myself back down on the edge of his bed as I wave a hand at him.

"Yeah yeah I'm fine, I've endured worse."

He nods.

"Okay, if you're sure."

From across the room, a strained Eugene makes a remark.

"I'm also fine, just in case anybody was wondering. So, you know. Thanks Eugene for saving our butts."

I let out a small laugh at his sarcasm, and of course I quip back with my own.

"Thank you Eugene, you truly are our knight in shining armor."

It was only then that I noticed what he was wearing.

"Are those...bees on your pants?"

He looks down at his legs at my question.

And the answer was yes, there were little cartoon bees on his pyjama pants. That's adorable.

He flips me off before reaching towards the door handle again, it was safe to say that Miss Capri was probably long gone by now.

"Whatever, I'm going back to my dorm, good night dorks."

He leaves the room in a slow manner, closing the door behind him and leaving Pugsley and myself alone again.

"Well, that was exciting."

Pugsley's statement was paired with a soft smile, and I reciprocate it in kind.

"Yeah, I suppose it was. But I think we owe Eugene big time now, so don't be surprised if he asks for help with something and uses this against you to make you say yes."

He huffs.

"Alright, noted."

The space between us goes silent again, only to be filled by my voice after looking back up at the clock.

"We should uhm..probably also try to get some sleep. It's late, and I've got that quiz tomorrow, so..."

He takes a small step back as he nods.

"Oh, yeah, right. I forgot about that. But you're right, we should turn the lights out and get some rest. You deserve it after today."

I smile as he retreats back to his bed, and I walk over to the beam on my side of the room that had the light switched attached to it.

"Good night, Pugsley."

I flick the lights off, and I hear his soft voice in the darkness, the only light now being that of the moon through the windows.

"Good night, Y/n."

The sound of shuffles underneath blankets travels through my ears as I reach my own bed, slipping under the covers and pulling them up to bring me warmth and security throughout the night.

...

I didn't have the courage to bring up what almost happened mere minutes ago.

Partially because I wasn't sure that I wasn't just making it up in my head and that isn't what actually was going to happen.

But also because part of me would have done so without hesitation if it was.

---------------------

I was really tempted to make an *Addams apple joke, but I refrained myself. So feel free to have at it in solidarity of the opportunity not taken 🫵🥹