"Laurie?" I whispered, our faces inches away from each other, his eyes firmly closed. He whined, scrunching his nose, I giggled. If there was anything that Laurie loved, it was sleeping, and my questions were irritating him. "Laurie?" I grumbled, standing over him on the couch, bobbing up and down. He whined again, prizing open an eye, lazily staring up at me.

"What do you want baby?" He asked, his voice gruff from sleep, his hands lying limply by his side. I cocked my head to the side, pouting at him. He sighed, smiling, before stretching his arms above his head. My eyes were fixed on his tattoos, watching them move like little animated beings whenever he did. His hands grabbed my ankles as I stood over him, eyes sleepily locking onto mine. I was bored - well beyond that, as I had been lovingly staring up at him for a number of moments. "What?" He asked, voice croaking, blowing his messy hair from his face.

"Am I allowed to go outside for a run? I promise that I won't be long." I said with an obnoxious grin, watching him smile, knowing how desperately he wanted to go back to sleep. He replied with a nod, no words, helping me down off the couch.

The room was warm, warm enough for me to parade around with no clothes on; I decided against that idea, as sunlight wandered in through the curtains. I was okay with Laurie getting a glimpse of my naked body, but the general public were probably not ready for that yet. Their eyes would burn, probably mistaking me for the living dead, dropping down in the street like flies over the grotesque thinness of my body. Shivering, I grabbed my arms as I left the room, hearing the couch groan as Laurie curled up into a ball. As much as he enjoyed having me around, he was probably relieved to have some alone time. I was a handful. A stubborn, emotional handful, that liked to get what I wanted; that thing being his attention. That man was a God, a thing of pure physical perfection – even if he was a control-freak, getting his kicks from telling me what I was and wasn't allowed from him. A kiss, and a hug were among the things that I was allowed for free, but anything more than that I had to earn.

Shaking my head, I jogged up the stairs into the dark corridor, fumbling around in the dark instead of flicking on the light. Goosebumps covered my body, despite the boiling heat of the summer, hands trailing along the wall to find the door to my room. My fingers dug into the white frame, other hand pushing the door open. Standing in the doorway, I was compelled to look out of the window in front of me. I noticed a figure standing in the distance, looking up at the window, as if they had been waiting for me to appear for some time. Frowning, I quickly moved away into the safety of the darkness, climbing over the bed to close the curtains. Whoever it was probably didn't want to see me naked, the only person that had convinced themselves that they wanted to see something so gross was Laurie. The perk of that was that I go to see his; it was a biological work of art. It was colder in my room, I rubbed at my arms to try and restore some heat, before looking around on the floor for something to wear.

I donned my usual running attire, the shorts and the old shirt, shoving my feet into a pair of old trainers. I loved running, my mind was so free, free from Laurie's endless rules. As much as I loved him, my life was so structured – which was enough to make me miss my mother and her lax way of living. I tied my shoelaces, tucking my hands into my pockets, leaving my room.

I hoped that the figure from moments before wasn't hanging around outside my house anymore, I wasn't in the mood for any confrontations. I didn't know the neighbourhood kids, I only knew Theo, and I was sure that he had work at the weekends.

After one impromptu glance at Laurie, who had stretched himself out on the couch, I smiled, heading out of the front door. I locked it, making sure that my Laurie couldn't escape, before looking up at the blue morning sky. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the sun was already warming my body. Eyes closed, I held my head in the air, clearing my mind of any and all thoughts so that I could run without mental torment. I heard somebody clearing their throat, startling me, I held a hand to my chest.

Low and behold, it was Theo, standing there in black joggers, chest out and exposed to the elements. My eyes were drawn to it; I knew instantly that this was one of his bids to get me hooked on him. Shaking my head, I rolled my eyes, before wearing a smile to try and neutralise the situation. Nodding at him, I started stretching, whilst he took a spot on the warm cement. "William." he asked, trying to distract me from my moment of zen. "William." He said again, crossing his legs, resting his head in the palm of his hand.

"Theo." I replied, trying my hardest not to lose my patience with him.

"Can I run with you?" He asked, his cheek squished in his hand, I sighed.

"Fine. I don't want to be long, though. I have school work to do." I lied, starting to walk down the street. I heard his trainers scrape against the concrete, jogging after me as I made my way down the street. The morning was beautiful, and I wasn't able to soak up every second of it, thanks to Theo and his persistence. He was mumbling to himself as we walked towards the forest. He was trying to talk to me about something, something that I wasn't overtly interested in; mostly due to the fact that I couldn't hear him.

The ground crunched underneath our feet, and I began to run, drowning out his thoughts with the sounds of the singing birds. He stammered and choked on his words, running after me, before he grabbed my arm, pulling me close to him. I groaned, as he dragged me behind a tree, pushing me up against the trunk. I furrowed my brow, cocking my head to the side in confusion.

"Will you stop ignoring me?" He yelled, face red, screwed up into an ugly mess. My mouth dropped open, the only thing that I wanted was to go for my morning run. I didn't want any confrontation, especially from a clearly emotional Theo. He was probably still getting over his relationship with the younger neighbour, as it had ended so bitterly in the street a few nights before. "I-I'm trying to tell you how I feel and you're just ignoring me. I think that that's very rude." He said, his bottom lip trembling. I sighed, chewing my lips.

"Okay, go ahead, tell me, you might as well as we're alone, and you have me pinned against a tree." I said softly, watching his eyes light up. I could tell that he had been waiting for this moment for a while, and why he couldn't wait for his mother's barbeque earlier in the day. But, I supposed that what he wanted to tell me was important to him, so, rather than be assaulted in the forest, I would humour him.

"I-I really like you. You're different to other boys that I've been around, you know? I want to get to know you more." He said, his head slightly tilted to the side. One hand hung limply by his side, eyes imploring me to say something; I didn't know what to say to him. I felt a little uncomfortable, despite his handsome looks – if anything I wished that I was still in Laurie's arms. I grimaced, looking at the ground again. "Are you coming tonight?" He asked desperately.

"Yes, Theo. My father and I are coming to your mother's party tonight. I-I need to go, he's going to be mad that I'm taking too long. Can I talk to you then, please?" I said in a patronising tone, watching light return to his scarily dark eyes. He smiled, stepping back, I ran a hand through my hair, tucking a hand into my pocket. He shook his head, apologising with a smile, before jogging back towards the way we entered.

I didn't know what, but I knew that there was something wrong with Theo. One thing was for sure, that he didn't handle rejection too well – the possibility of it, anyway. Frowning, I turned on my heel, jogging away from that small moment of hostility. I shuddered as I ran, trying to think of how I was going to conduct myself at his mother's party. One thing was for sure, I would probably fail in acting against his controlling charm.

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Day Eleven:  A song you never get tired of - This Charming Man by The Smiths

A.N

I have been attempting to write this update for WEEKS! ABSOLUTELY BLOODY WEEKS!! College is taking up so much of my time its actually soul-crushing. How dare I try to go to university!! Managed to take a break from Hamlet revision to bring you this awful filler chapter. I'm going to work on chapter twelve which is arguably more juicer/meatier than this one.

Sorry for the mega super ultra long wait between chapter updates, I got a lot on in my boring life ): Please don't abandon me just yet.