Page 21 of Daydream

“Do you promise?”

“I’m on an air mattress that definitely has a slow puncture, Halle. Why would I have sex with you then not sleep beside you?”

“That isn’t an answer, Henry,” she says.

“Yes, I promise we didn’t have sex last night,” I say. Her shoulders relax. The tension in her face begins to disappear. “I don’t have sex with women who have more alcohol in their system than any other fluid.”

“If we didn’t have sex”—she clears her throat—“then why am I naked in your bed?”

“You didn’t want to leave with your friends and I was worried about you not being able to look after yourself, since I know you live alone. I wanted to put you in the empty room next door but Mattie took someone in there,” I explain. “So I found my air mattress and brought you in here.”

She takes another drink from the water bottle. “Yes, but why am Inaked?”

“I don’t know. I went back downstairs because you left your purse in the den, and when I came back upstairs your clothes were gone. I offered you something to sleep in and you told me no.”

Her eyes widen again, and while she has whatever internal crisis she’s having, I recap what I just said to work out what was the thing that triggered it. Finally, long after I’ve given up recapping, she speaks again. “You saw me naked.”

Oh, there we go. “I’ve seen a lot of people naked.”

“You saw me naked,” she repeats, but I don’t think she’s talkingtome.

“Friends sometimes see friends naked. It’s not a big deal.”

“It’s a big deal to me that you saw me naked. People don’t see me naked.”

She has no reason to feel insecure. “People are missing out then.” I wanted the joke to boost her confidence, but it doesn’t land. At all. Her cheeks flush pink and she goes back to looking unhappy. I don’t want her to feel bad, but sometimes when I open my mouth I just make things worse. “Do you want to see me naked to even things out?”

She laughs at that one, but that one wasn’t a joke. “As glorious as I’m sure it is, I’ll pass. God, you must think I’m so embarrassing. I’m so sorry. Drinking is a new thing for me and I think I overdid it. Again.”

“Can you stop apologizing for everything? It’s really unnecessary. I don’t think you’re embarrassing.”

“I bet the place is a mess after last night. I can totally help you clean up if you want me to, or I could get everyone breakfast. No, that’s silly. I can just get out of your hair so people don’t know I was here.”

“You don’t have to do anything. You’re not in my hair. People already know you’re here. Aurora checked to see if we wanted breakfast but you were asleep and I didn’t want to wake you. Plus, it’s lunchtime now and I think everyone went out.”

“It’s lunchtime? Oh my God, I never sleep in this late. I’m so sorry.” I watch as she starts to spiral and I’m beginning to think maybe she’s never woken up in someone’s bed before, so I don’t point out that she just apologized to me,again.

“This is a bigger deal to you than it is to me,” I say before she can say sorry for anything else. “I like that you’re here and I’m happy you came to the party. You’re not the first naked drunk person I’ve looked after, Halle. You’re not even the first naked drunk person this week. You really don’t need to feel embarrassed. It isn’t embarrassing.”

“I think I’ll just grab my clothes and get out of your way. I really appreciate you for being so cool about this.”

“We’re friends,” I say. “Have a shower. It will help you feel better. The box of stuff is under my sink and clean towels are on the rack.”

She nods but doesn’t move. When nothing happens, she smiles properly for the first time since she woke up. “Could you maybe, um, cover your eyes or something? I know you’ve already seen it, but I might die if I have to do this sober.”

Oh shit. “Yeah.” I lean back against my near-empty mattress and press the pillow to my face. As soon as I hear the shower turn on, I get back to my book.

“HENRY?”

“Yeah?”

“Could you pass me my dress, please?”

“Do you want to wear something of mine? You seem to be pretty against nudity, and your dress doesn’t do much to combat that.”

I’m not exaggerating. I nearly choked on my drink when I saw her and her tiny, shimmery minidress. I’m used to the floral dresses and the cardigans. I overheard her tell Aurora that she borrowed it from Cami’s roommate. It seems like she’s made more friends recently, which makes me happy. Judging from the groan that comes from the bathroom, I think she’s embarrassed again.

“I’m a big fan of the dress and you in it,” I add. “You just might be more comfortable in my clothes.”

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