anika woke up with sweat beads on her forehead, for it being a cooler morning, it had nothing to do with heat.

she had a dream about paul.

**
paul and anika strolled down the beach to watch the sunset before heading home. anika looked up at the horizon, the sky full of bright colours that reflected onto the water.

"its beautiful" her tone was soft as her gaze never left the horizon

"yeah it is" paul agreed, but he wasn't looking at the sunset in front of them. he was looking at anika

she had an unusual glow to her today that made her seem so much more ethical. paul didn't fail to notice it, he noticed everything about her. every change.

anika's head turned to paul to find him already looking at her with eyes that seemed to be heart shaped. her cheeks flushed a shade of red as she looked away from the blonde

his hand went under her chin, lightly forcing her head to face him again. keeping a hold of her his hand moved to her cheek, his thumb stroked her cheekbone softly as he maintained eye contact.

"your so beautiful you know?" paul tilted his head slightly

"i do now" anika stiffed out a laugh. she was never one to handle compliments properly she always seemed to awkward when replying.

"good...can i ask you something?" paul's eyebrows furrowed as he asked

anika gave paul a slight nod

"can i kiss you?"

"you may"

paul leaned in, still not removing his hand from her cheek but to cup her cheek instead. their lips collided with a soft touch, anika leaning impossibly closer to paul. his hand grabbed her waist, pulling her even closer to him so their chests were touching.
**

"fuck" anika swore quietly as she rubbed her hand over her face

waking up with the conclusion that she officially liked paul it made her feel sick. not because she liked paul it was because he was her best friend and confessing something like this could ruin their friendship if he didn't feel the same.

with a sigh anika got out of bed and headed downstairs in the kitchen. her brother stood near the fridge talking to someone she couldn't see. their figure was tall, and they stood leaning against the fridge.

"morning sleeping beauty" anika did a double take when she heard the voice.

and that voice unfortunately was paul. there could have been better timing he could have came over but for anika he chose the worst.

"hey" anika gave paul and her brother a light smile before passing straight by them to grab breakfast.

anika made herself toast, not because she wanted to but she did for two reasons.

one, she was tired of cereal

two, she would have to walk past paul to get the milk and she did NOT want to do that.

"what are your plans for today?" anika turned around at the sound of pauls voice.

with her luck, alessandro had disappeared from the kitchen and she was stuck with paul. it didn't need to be seen as a bad thing but it felt like it, felt like she was suffocating from the unknown.

being grabbed by fear, or even making her self distant from anxiety.

all that from paul, the person she trusted most in her entire life, her favourite person ever although she would never admit this to her mother.

"don't have any...was just going to lay in bed all day" anika shrugged

she could lock herself in her room or maybe run out of the house and go to kimi's, maybe even dino's to hang out with elvira. but it seemed she was stuck with paul...once again.

"great! i'll join you" anika gave paul a tight smile before turning around again.

she knew she would have to do at least something about her little crush on paul, just not yet. but it was going to be one yell of a job to try and not act weirder than she already was.

paul got himself comfy on anika's bed while she got changed in her bathroom. he was messing around with the controls on the tv after somehow making the screen glitch out. it was a wonder how one could break things so easily.

"did you break the tv?" paul's head whipped around to anika. she stood at the other side of the bed with her arms crossed.

wearing one of her new tops, a white low neck with laced edges and a small bow at her chest. elvira had actually paid anika to buy the shirt with desperation. claiming if she wasn't going to buy it she would, and she did and shoved it right into anika's bag.

her outfit was pared with some black flared leggings that fit snug against her figure. they were her favourite leggings of all time, anika had a habit of wearing them almost everywhere unless told not to but who was she to listen to them.

"no—its just glitching" the sight of anika let paul speechless, the words he planned to say left with his mouth feeling dry instead.

it wasn't even the new shirt that did it for him, it was her. anika had paul wrapped around her finger even if she didn't even know. every flaw she pointed out was beautiful in paul's eyes, he didn't know someone could be so angelic until he met her.

his life was flipped upside down by the best person imaginable. but his world would flip again if she even knew about his secret that only he and the other two boys knew about. he didn't want to put their friendship on the line. he didn't want to risk loosing her for some crush he's been having on her, even if its been for half of his life.

"what if i hit the tv?" paul asked as he got up

"what—no! are you crazy, you really will break it then"

"nah trust me" paul just waved her off

paul hit the corner of the tv and surprisingly the glitch out went away. where there was once a grey screen with different colours flickering through is now the video that was playing in the background.

"huh...i'm surprised that worked"

"me too" paul breathed out. he hadn't expected it to work in fact he thought he was going to break the screen but to his wishes he didn't.

authors note,
i promise next chapter things will get more entertaining...
but i just needed to get a chapter out today and this is all i could manage!
NOT edited and proofread!!