Sun Upon Dark Clouds

49: Bad Actress

Margo ended up sleeping over at the Farley siblings’ apartment since Nora insisted that it would be better to stay over instead of walking across the silent dark street alone where danger was not certain to occur; though she basically just missed sleeping with the purple-haired woman on the same bed. Of course, who was Margo to say no anyway?

The next day, the Farley siblings were completely passed out that the red-haired woman did not even move when Margo got up from the bed to have a glass of water. Fortunately, Noah opens his shop in the afternoon every Sunday which was why he did not have to worry about sleeping until late morning. It was obvious that none of the siblings would not be getting up before lunchtime as Margo decided to go to the grocery store to get some hangover drinks for them instead of going back to bed with Nora.

The purple-haired woman took her cap off her head as she stepped in the grocery store since the sun was literally blazing down that would just worsen the headache that she was having. Her eyes immediately looked for the refrigerator where she could find drinks that would help reduce hangover as she started with the first refrigerator. Margo was grateful that the music that was playing from the speakers on the corners of the ceiling was soft ballad music and not something loud.

While Margo was scanning her eyes on the drinks, she suddenly felt as if someone was looking at her. Just when she started to realize that the person staring at her from her peripheral vision, she decided to turn her head as she met the brown orbs of the raven.

“Hey,” Margo decided to walk toward her as she briefly waved at her.

“Are Noah and Nora still passed out?” Ghrae asked.

“How did you know that I slept at their place?” The purple-haired woman looked at her in surprise though the latter did not even look surprised.

“I’d be surprised if you didn’t,” Margo let out a light chuckle. “By the way, are you still going to open your record shop today?”

“I don’t open at Sundays.”

“Well, that’s good. It’s always okay to have a rest day,” said Ghrae.

The both of them took some bottles of pear juice that were enough for all five of them since the raven mentioned that she once read that pear juice helps in reducing symptoms of hangover. While they were together, the purple-haired woman asked the raven about how her first experience in a club was. Thanks to them, the raven admitted that she did have fun last night even though the consequence was to have a severe headache that felt as if big rocks were being thrown to her head nonstop.

“So, Ghrae,” Margo started as she cleared her throat.

“Yeah?” Ghrae glanced at her before returning her attention to getting different kinds of chocolate bars with the thought of Coley in her head.

The purple-haired woman looked away as she debated in her head whether to tell the raven or not. She knew that Ghrae was always an honest and pleasant person, which was why she was the first person that she thought to ask for a feedback of something that she had been working on. Ghrae was not the type to make fun or ask plenty of questions about something, which made Margo like her. Still, she could not help but be shyly hesitant as she pretended to be looking at the candies that were on the shelf.

Noticing that the purple-haired woman seemed to be hesitant about something that she wanted to tell her, the raven turned to her as she gave all of her attention with her warm eyes.

“What is it?” the raven softly asked.

Margo let out a sigh as she thought that being shy would not do her anything good before finally speaking her, “I am currently composing a song and nobody knows about it.”

“Mhm,” Ghrae nodded as she gestured her to continue while she saved the questions that she wanted to ask for later.

“You’re honest and easy to talk to, so I thought that you would be the best person to be the one who would give me feedback about the song that I’m working on.”

The raven formed her mouth in an ‘O’ as she finally understood what the purple-haired woman was trying to say to her. It did make sense that Margo would be interested in making music since she owned a record shop, after all. The curiosity within Ghrae grew as she tried to imagine how her voice would sound like while singing since her natural voice was a mixture of mellow and low pitched, which meant that her singing voice was likely to sound calm and soothing. Of course, Ghrae would not even hesitate to decline.

“I’m honored to be the first person who will get to listen to your song,” Ghrae said with a small smile on her face.

“You’re going to give me feedback?” Margo asked. Relief was in her hazel eyes.

“Sure, I’d be glad to.”

A sigh of relief left the taller woman’s lips as the corners of her lips lifted into a smile. Margo felt dumb for even overthinking that the shorter woman would say no when it was Ghrae Kanori that she was referring to.

Margo decided to have Ghrae over to her record shop later in the afternoon as they continued to buy everything that they needed for their hangover. The purple-haired woman mentioned that last night would probably be the last time that she would agree in going to a club. Ghrae, of course, did not believe that since Margo would do anything if she ever gets one call from Nora. The woman who was intimidating on the outside was actually a soft and whipped person for the playful red-haired musician.

***

The clicking sound of the door filled the silence in the room as the brunette buried her face under the pillow and shut her eyes tightly. She did her best to stay still and not move a limb as she calmed her breathing to make it seem like she was actually sleeping. Despite the painful hammering on her head, the brunette did her best to look calm and innocent as she always looked like while sleeping.

For some reason, waking up on the same bed as Ghrae just made Coley panic and worry about the possible events that could have happened last night while she was totally drunk. Okay, she did want to sleep with the raven at first but thinking about that being possible did not entirely make her happy since she was worried about the impact that could happen on their current relationship that she could not even bear to face the raven even though she knew for a fact that she could not just pretend to sleep on bed for the whole day.

Ghrae, on the other hand, noticed that something felt off as she entered the bedroom. She looked at Coley whose front was lying flat on the bed with her head resting under a pillow like a dead person. The raven intended on waking the brunette up once she arrived home anyway since she bought hangover soup for the both of them because it was already lunchtime. She slowly walked toward the taller woman that was sleeping on the bed and crouched down next to the bed. An eyebrow raised when she noticed the unsteady pattern of her breathing. Without a doubt, Ghrae had already known that Coley was just pretending to be asleep at that point.

The raven placed her arms on the soft mattress as she rested her chin on top of her hands while staring at the pillow as if she could see through it and see Coley’s face with her eyes open. Ghrae thought that Coley should never even try to have acting as her career as she saw how she could not even breathe normally while pretending to sleep; the way her breathing pattern starts in a fast pace then to a slow pace in no order, it was obvious that the brunette was feeling nervous to get caught. For some reason, the raven could not help but stretch her lips into a smile of amusement as she thought about how adorable the brunette was being.

Knowing that Coley was most probably thinking that Ghrae did not know that she was already conscious, she finally decided to speak, “Coley.”

The brunette widened her eyes under the pillow and shut her eyes even tighter as she stretched her lips around to relax them. Coley knew that she was already caught by the raven and that she could take the pillow off her face now anytime yet she still refused to get up. Coley was basically not Coley if she was not petty in almost every situation, after all.

“Coley, I know you’re awake,” Ghrae softly spoke as she continued to stare at the pillow intently to catch any tiny movement though the brunette was just stubborn enough to continue keeping it up.

I’m not awake, Coley said in her thoughts.

“You’re just suffocating yourself, babe.”

Just as expected, the brunette widened her eyes as her head suddenly made a short and quick movement after hearing the last word that left the raven’s lips. Coley knew that her heart was racing because of nervousness at that moment yet at that point, she was starting to think twice whether that was really the reason. Seeing how Coley reacted at the term of endearment that she used, Ghrae smirked as she tilted her head to the side while trying to take a peek through the little space between the pillow and mattress though she could see nothing but darkness.

You are not letting Ghrae win, Coley! Coley shouted to herself internally as she did her best to silently and slowly take a deep breath since the raven was right—she was suffocating under the pillow.

“You know I don’t like it when you suffer, right babe?”

Ghrae wanted to rub her palms on her face in embarrassment as she realized that she was actually using the flirting skills that Coley had been teaching her for the past few days. She could not believe that she was flirting like Coley at that moment. The raven shut her eyes briefly before letting out a silent sigh. It would be worth the shame anyway since it would definitely be effective in making the brunette to get up from bed.

Ghrae was right.

“H-Huh?” Coley slowly took the pillow off her face as she faced the ceiling while squinting and stretching her arms upward as if she just woke up. “G-Ghrae?”

“You’re not a good actress, Coley.”

Ignoring what the raven just said, Coley slowly opened her eyes as she put on a fake shocked expression on her face after turning to see the raven who was leaning on the mattress while staring at her with a poker face. As much as the brunette wanted to grin widely in happiness for having a pretty woman trying to wake her up by her side, she succeeded in preventing it from stretching across her face as she continued in acting innocent until the end.

“Oh, hey. Good morning, Ghrae,” That was when Coley let the suppressed grin from stretching across her face.