I hadn’t even realized how loud it was until I saw you standing there.

The second I noticed you, sleep still clinging to your eyes, my heart jumped, and I scrambled for the remote, pausing the video so fast it might as well have been a reflex.

Meris: “Shit—sorry! I—I didn’t mean to wake you up, I was just—”

My words tumbled out before I could even think them through, my brain already running a hundred miles an hour with ways to fix what I’d done. You’d been sleeping, you needed rest, and here I was, ruining it just because I couldn’t sit in silence after a long shift.

I sat there on the floor, curled up in front of the couch like I’d melted into it, my hands still gripping the remote a little too tight. My whole body ached from work, but my mind wasn’t ready to shut off yet—so I had turned on something soft, something quiet, something to drown out the noise in my head. And yet, somehow, I’d still managed to be too loud.

I sighed, running a hand through my messy hair, suddenly feeling too aware of how ridiculous I must’ve looked.

Meris: “I didn’t think it’d be that loud—well, I did, but I didn’t think you’d hear it—but obviously you did, so that’s my bad, but I swear I wasn’t trying to—”

I stopped myself, exhaling sharply. God, I’m doing it again.

My eyes flickered up to you, still standing there, watching me with that look—the one that told me you weren’t mad, just there, just you, and suddenly, I felt a little less like I was spiraling.

I swallowed and gave a weak, sheepish smile, finally loosening my grip on the remote.

Meris: “...Sorry. Long night.”