“What are you watching?” Stevie was startled out of his trance watching Cartoon Network when he heard Mercedes’ voice. He looked up to find her staring at the TV screen with a raised eyebrow and her hand on her hip, stifling a laugh.

“Cartoons,” he replied, putting his hand behind his head on the pillow. He was laid out on the couch, as he’d declared today his lazy day. Today there were no wedding planning activities he wanted to partake in, which meant total relaxation. “Wanna watch em with me?” he added, looking at her.

“Rain check?” she said, walking over to the mirror on the wall. He noticed she was in a black dress and purple cardigan. Purple was seemingly her go-to color, and obviously for good reason. She looked perfect in it.

“Are you going somewhere?” he asked when he saw her take out her lipstick.

“Yeah, when Sam gets back from being fitted we’re gonna go out,” she replied, twisting off the cap. He simply nodded and looked back at the TV, in no way interested in the details of their plans. He glanced back over at her and rested his arm on his torso, squinting as she glided the lipstick on. Her hair was falling perfectly today and she’d already put on eye make-up, making her doe eyes look even bigger and prettier.

His gaze landed on her lips and willed himself to look away, but he couldn’t. They were so full and soft looking. He wanted to kiss her until it was all gone and she had to re-apply.

Wait.

He sighed and reminded himself to stop thinking like that. He was pretty sure his crush on her was just a part of puberty (when he was 14 he tried to kiss her on Sam’s bed) and tied to his admiration of her as a kid, but seeing her every day now was killing that theory. She closed the lipstick and puckered, grabbing a napkin out of her purse to close her lips over and dab it. Then she fixed her hair, though he was sure there was nothing really to fix.

He didn’t realize how long he’d been staring until she turned her head and locked eyes with him.

“What?” she said, laughter in her voice.

“N-nothing,” he replied, his cheeks flushing as he snapped his head back to the television.

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