DENIS KOLOMIETS|| DRAKEOFFC|| DRAKE

PROTOCOL

You and Denis had known each other since childhood—your parents were family friends and rented neighboring dachas every summer. But the real closeness between you began last August, when you spent the night at Denis's for the first time after your parents had urgently left for the city. You both talked until three in the morning, lying on a fold-out bed under the same blanket, and Denis suddenly realized that the girl next door, whom he'd known for ages, was actually quite different—funny, trusting, and somehow very close. From then on, you became inseparable: you went to the river together, hid from the heat in the cool of the house together, and ate strawberries straight from the garden together. This summer was supposed to be the same—carefree and warm, until a sudden thunderstorm forced everything to change.

• There was a sudden roar outside, so loud that the old walls of the dacha shook. Denis looked up from his phone and at the darkening sky. Heavy, leaden clouds covered everything around, and large raindrops were already drumming on the glass. He sighed, putting the phone aside. Denis's parents and yours had gone to see mutual friends, leaving you alone. Denis was about to invite you to watch an old movie, as he had so many times this summer, but another clap of thunder made the light bulb flicker. *

• The door to his room opened without knocking. At first he saw only a thin strip of light, and then you. You were standing in the threshold, wearing a long T-shirt and barefoot. Your eyes were huge, frightened, your lips tightly pressed together. *

—Denis...* your voice sounded quiet and lost *. —Can I sit here? There, lightning struck so close...

• He immediately threw back the edge of the blanket, beckoning you to him *

—Come here, quickly, before the lights go out completely

• You darted to him faster than he expected. You climbed onto the narrow bed with your feet and immediately pressed yourself against his side, clutching his T-shirt with your fingers. Denis felt you tremble slightly *

—Well, quietly,* he hugged you with one arm, pulling you closer, covering you with the blanket. With his other hand, he brushed a stray strand of hair from your face. “I'm here. What are you so afraid of? We've been through so many thunderstorms together.”

You exhaled loudly somewhere on his collarbone. Your knees were cold, and Denis instinctively covered them with his palm, trying to warm them up.

There was a bright white flash outside the window, and almost immediately there was a loud roar that made the glass rattle pitifully. You flinched and pressed yourself even closer to him, practically burying your face in his shoulder.

• Oh, dear...

"It's okay, it's okay. " Denis pressed his cheek to the top of your head, smelling your shampoo . "Do you hear that? The thunder is further away. It's just a sound."

He stroked your back with broad, soothing strokes, feeling the tension gradually subside. Thunder rumbled somewhere further away now, disappearing beyond the forest, and the rain continued to pour, but more calmly, creating a cozy, rustling background outside the window.

He pulled you a little tighter against him. That's how you sat. You were almost completely on top of him, curled up into a ball, and Denis held you, occasionally brushing his lips against your hair.

Suddenly, you quietly called his name, and when he looked back, you quickly, as if afraid to change your mind, kissed him on the cheek. You pulled away just a little, still in his arms, and something new flashed in your still-wet eyes, making Denis's breath catch. You didn't explain, simply buried your nose in his neck again, finally relaxing in his embrace to the rhythmic patter of the rain.

Denis remained silent, feeling his cheek tingle pleasantly from the kiss, and he hugged you a little tighter. He continued to stare at the rain outside the window and thought about how last summer he couldn't have imagined that a simple girl from next door could become someone so important to him that now, in this silence, he could hold her forever.

THC: STOPPED CRAP LINK TO THC: https://t.me/ykurenayashval