Zeyon’s POV
"I still can't believe you called the police!" Leo was laughing non-stop as we all walked out from the station. "Bro, you really thought she got kidnapped or something!"
"I panicked! Okay? It was getting dark and she wasn’t answering! What else should I have done?" I shot back, trying to act serious, but my ears were burning from embarrassment.
Elisse clapped from behind us. "Let’s all just thank the genius here who forgot she let Allison go alone to buy a notebook!" she pointed at herself with a smirk.
"It wasn’t my fault! She whispered it while I was watching the race! My brain was already buffering!" Elisse defended herself.
Allison just giggled softly while walking beside me, hugging the small paper bag with her new notebook inside. "I told you I was gonna be quick, didn’t expect y'all to call the whole town on me."
"Lesson learned," Jessa said, flipping her hair dramatically. "Never leave the group unless you're prepared to cause a city-wide panic."
We all laughed. Even Leo wheezed like an old man.
"Okay! Okay! Let's all go home before the night turns into a documentary film about five idiots and one missing girl," Elisse said.
We hopped in Leo's car. Leo was driving, Elisse beside him. I was at the backseat, stuck between Allison and Jessa. Why me? My soul was somewhere in the clouds, praying for peace.
"You smell like cinnamon," Allison said out of nowhere.
"Huh?" I blinked at her.
"Your shirt. Smells like cinnamon. Were you baking earlier?"
"Ah... yeah," I nodded. "Baked a whole tray of cinnamon rolls this morning. Leo ate half."
"Lies," Leo said from the front. "You GAVE me half. That’s different."
"Still half!"
"Still delicious," Elisse added.
Jessa crossed her legs and glanced sideways. "This car smells like sweet disaster."
Back home, we decided to crash at my place. I had snacks, aircon, and the comfiest couch known to mankind. We all dropped on the floor like we just ran a marathon.
"Zeyon, your living room looks like a crime scene. Why is there tape on your wall?" Leo asked.
I groaned. "Long story. Let’s just say I tried to hang a shelf and gravity won."
"Shelf: 1. Zeyon: 0," Elisse said, taking a picture.
Then...
BANG!
A loud sound from upstairs.
We all froze.
"...What was that?" Allison whispered.
"Was that your room?" Jessa asked, already hiding behind a pillow.
"No," I said, eyes wide. "That came from the guest room."
"Do you have a guest?" Elisse asked.
"I don't."
Another loud thud.
We all looked at each other. Then Leo stood up. "Okay, this is how horror movies start. Let me die first, I'm ready."
"You're not dying!" Elisse hissed, grabbing a frying pan from the kitchen. "Zeyon, you're coming with me."
"Why me?!"
"It’s YOUR house!"
With all our bravery packed in a frying pan and a rolled-up magazine, we tiptoed upstairs. The guest room door was slightly open. We pushed it.
"AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
A giant raccoon stared at us.
"WHY IS THERE A RACCOON IN YOUR HOUSE?!" Elisse screamed.
"WHAT THE—HOW DID YOU EVEN GET IN?!" I shouted.
Leo burst out laughing from the stairs. "Oh my god! That raccoon has more screen time than Jessa!"
"HEY!" Jessa yelled.
The raccoon jumped, ran past us, down the stairs, and out the door. Chaos.
"I left the back window open earlier," I groaned. "I was cooling the bread."
"The raccoon just wanted dessert," Allison giggled, eyes sparkling.
We finally settled after the raccoon invasion. Everyone was back on the couch, still laughing.
Elisse turned to me. "Your life is wild, man. You attract chaos."
"I don’t! It just... finds me."
"You and Allison," she smirked. "Both magnets."
I looked at Allison who was now eating marshmallows from a bowl. She smiled at me and leaned her head on my shoulder. My heart skipped. My brain melted.
Leo noticed. "Uh-oh. Someone’s falling."
"Shut up," I said, flicking popcorn at him.
But he wasn’t wrong.
Something unexpected happened today. Not just the raccoon. Not just the chaos. But this warm feeling inside my chest when she looked at me like I was her home.
---
It was past midnight when the movie finished some cheesy zombie film that Jessa insisted on. Elisse had knocked out halfway through, curled on the armchair like a cat. Leo had his head on the coffee table, dramatically whispering about back pain like he was eighty.
"I need a chiropractor and a therapist," he muttered.
"Get in line," Jessa yawned.
Allison was still wide awake, poking the last marshmallow with a toothpick.
"You good?" I asked, nudging her gently.
She nodded. "Yeah. Just… not ready to sleep yet."
There was a soft quiet between us. A rare one.
"Hey," she said suddenly, still not looking at me. "Thanks for panicking earlier."
"Huh?"
She finally turned her eyes to mine. "I know it sounds weird. But it means a lot. That you care like that."
My throat tightened. "Of course I care. You scared the hell out of me, Al."
She smiled again. Smaller. Realer. "You're kinda soft, Zeyon. Under all that sarcasm."
"I’m not soft," I muttered.
She poked my cheek. "Marshmallow boy."
"I will throw this bowl."
"Do it and you’re banned from cinnamon."
"...You play dirty."
Then she did something unexpected. She reached up and ruffled my hair gently.
"Goodnight, cinnamon boy."
And just like that, she got up and tiptoed to the guest blanket pile on the floor, curling up under one. I just sat there, frozen like an idiot, my heartbeat trying to break dance.
Leo raised his head off the table just to say, "You're toast, man."
"Go to sleep, old man."
He smirked, eyes already closing again.
But I couldn’t sleep just yet.