Page 41 of Maybe You

Another beat of silence.

“I am. Just on the couch,” he finally says.

Well, that doesn’t sound fair. I try to sit up, but somehow I manage to get myself tangled in the covers, and the more I move, the more wrapped up I get.

“Here.” Sutton’s voice is filled with held-back laughter as he comes and unwraps me.

“Thanks,” I say, a bit winded from my fight. “Why are you on the couch?”

“One of my rare displays of gentlemanliness.”

“Well that’s stupid. Just sleep here like a normal person.”

My heart picks up speed while I wait for his decision. Because here’s the thing. It’ll be a lot more difficult to seduce somebody who’s asleep in the other room.

It takes him a whole lot of time to finally say something, and even then, the only thing that comes out of his mouth is something that sounds like a mumbled curse. But then there’s some moving around. A door closing with a quiet snick. The distant sound of water flowing. A door opening again. Then soft footsteps. The mattress dips, and Sutton gets into the bed.

I’m wide awake now. The room is so quiet you’d never think there were two people in here. At the same time, my brain is going a mile a minute.

I’m in bed with Sutton.

It’s what I was aiming for.

Sort of.

We’re both wearing clothes, and nothing about this moment seems to suggest we’re headed toward being sans the clothes, but that’s a pessimist’s view of the situation. I could also very well look at this as an opportunity. A first step toward the end goal.

“Sutton?” I whisper, and my voice sounds eerily loud in the quiet room.

“Yeah?” he says from somewhere on my right.

“Are you asleep?”

There’s some shuffling, and I watch him turn to his side so he’s facing me.

“I never understood the point of that question. If I was asleep I wouldn’t answer.”

“And then I’d have my answer.”

“I already said yeah. That didn’t tip you off that I was up?” His voice is filled with humor once again.

I grin into the darkness. “I wanted to be really sure.”

He mulls that over for a second before he says, “Okay. A hypothetical. What if after saying ‘yeah,’ I didn’t answer the second question? Then what?”

“Then I would’ve had to shake you just to make sure you weren’t dead.”

He snorts. “How likely would it be that I’d died silently in the few seconds between me reacting to my name and you asking the question?”

I roll my eyes. “It’s not about how likely it is. It’s about if it’s possible.”

“So the conclusion is that even if I had been asleep, I won’t be after you ask me if I am asleep?”

I take a moment to think about it. “Pretty much,” I say. “But, I mean, you’ll thank me on the off chance I’ll save your life.”

“I thought I was already dead in that scenario.”

“You could also be in the middle of dying.”

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