nora went to sleep fairly easy that night. when her eyes fluttered open, though, she had quite a scare.

at first her vision was blurry because she was still waking up, but she could tell someone was there. she jumped awake, suddenly alert. the figure jumped back too. nora wipes her eyes and realized it was miles.

"what were you doing? how long were you staring at me? why were you staring at me? the fuck!?"

"you look peaceful when you sleep." miles told her. he said it so simply and with no expression it sent chills down noras spine, in a bad way this time.

"you're fucking creepy, miles." he shrugged.

"you should see flora..." he said, scratching his head.

"she's a little kid. it's not that bad. what does she do?"

"sleep walks. scares the shit out of people. one time she walked into our pool. if i was asleep she probably would've drowned. she didn't wake up even after she fell." noras eyes widened, sort of believing it, sort of not.

silence fell over them like a sheet of snow fell over new york city in the winter. noras eyes wandered around her room. she was bored.

"you don't stare at people when they sleep." nora told him, looking at the ground.

"there's no rule. no rules here." and then miles left, before nora could ask any questions to what miles just said. but nora wasn't having it, she wanted to talk to him. to understand him.

she got up off her bed and started walking out of her room following miles foot steps. the floor was cold against her warm feet. she was wearing sweat pants and a short sleeve t-shirt, messy hair with a few tangles. she looked like her mom quite a bit. same hair color, eye color. the only difference was nora had visible freckles and her hair was longer.

nora saw that his room door was shut. she stood there for a minute, just staring at the door, debating if she should go in there or not. the final answer was yes.

she slowly creaked the door open, peaking in the sliver she made. he was sitting in the floor, facing the wall, playing a guitar. nora felt a small smile grow on her face. he was cute, definitely. mrs grose had been right about that. but she didn't want anyone to know the reason she tolerated him (and wanted to tolerate him) was because of that. she didn't even want to believe it herself.

"miles?" she asked, stepping inside the room. this time she didn't look around and observe, her gaze stayed at miles and miles only. he stopped playing the guitar and turned his head around, but not his full body.

"yea?" he hummed, making eye contact with the short teen.

"why'd you leave my room so quickly?" she invited herself to sit down beside him. miles didn't object her actions.

"because i knew you'd ask me a question." he snickered a little, and nora playfully rolled her eyes at him.

"of course. y'know questions aren't such a bad thing? why can't you just answer some of them?" miles took his guitar out of his lap and set down, shifting his body to face her.

"i'm not dumb nora. i know. ask me a question, i'll answer it." half of nora didn't believe it, but she still asked him one anyways.

"why did you play the drums so loudly the other night? when it was late?" the boy closed his eyes and leaned his neck all the way back, so his face was looking up at the ceiling.

"what?" asked nora, smiling "this was my first question that i didn't get an answer too. i'm determined!" miles brought his head back down and looked at her. noras heart didn't hesitate to pick up it's pace.

"there's a lot you don't know about me." he said mysteriously. "and if i answer that question you're gonna ask me more questions. so i think i'm not gonna tell you." nora groaned. miles smiled at her.

"well can i at least guess why?" she asked him, coming her head to the right. her tangled hair fell to the side slightly.

"sure, knock yourself out." miles rearranged the way he was sitting.

"sooo, you said you don't like music, right?"

"well-"

"but if you have instruments, that makes no sense. are you forced to practice?" he immediately shook his head.

"i'm not forced to do anything."

"well aren't you lucky." nora remarked. this made both of them giggle.

"any other questions?" he asked. nora thought for a second or two.

"ummm, nope. no more."

"r-really?" miles was completely shocked. he was acting more dramatic than he should've been though. "i'm surprised."

"mhm"

"so are you sure? you had so many the other-"

"oh wait no, i got one." she said, cutting miles off. his expression softened, waiting to hear the question.

"why is it that you act like we're friends but then you'll randomly pull a hatred card on me?"

"hatred card?" he laughed. nora didn't though. she was serious about this.

"yeah. riddle me that."

"well," he got closer to nora. her body froze, but her facial expressions didn't. "that's already been answered. i told you," he popped his tongue in his mouth. "personality."

miles lifted noras chin up with his single index finger. he observed her lips carefully, smiling naturally. her heart pulsed inside of her chest, like an inmate in a prison cell, as if saying let me out! let me out!

he slowly dropped her chin, taking his finger back. even after that noras heart was still pounding.  she shook it off. this wasnt happening.

"buh-but that doesn't explain anything! how are you gonna blame your personality for that?"

"i didn't blame anything," he said, suddenly his voice so stale and cold. what happened? "i cant help the way i was raised. shit happens. get use to it."

"that! see that! that's your bitch side! notice how quickly your mood just randomly changed!" nora roared. normally miles would've smiled, but this time he didn't.

"hey, are you okay?" she asked him, her mood completely changed too. he stood up and walked over to his drum set and sat down, holding his drum sticks in hand. nora got up and stood in front of the drum set.

"look, i'm s-" she jerked back by the sudden bang of the drums.

"what are you?-" bang but this time louder. she back away, but didn't leave. she continued to watch him, not saying anything.

he beat the drums as a psychopath would beat a dog for fun. each hit louder than the other, until it reached a maximum volume level. it was pretty loud, but nora could handle it.

the sound of the drums died down ever so slowly, but nora was patient. she watched him contently. his expression was sad. hurt. upset.

there was no lustful look in his eyes at this moment, which was different. he just seemed so... sorrowed. nora didn't like seeing miles like this. it hurt her a little bit too. especially because it was so abrupt. she walked closer to him.

"i think you answered my question." she told him softly. he was looking down at his legs, hands molding shaking (still holding the sticks). he looked up at her, a sad glisten in his eyes.

"you play the drums to let out anger."