Page 100 of Game Point
‘It’s just a bed. I share one with friends all the time.’ The word tasted sour on my lips. Friends. Like I was back at square one pretending that’s all I felt for him. I hadn’t even bothered to remind myself that we were supposed to ‘just be friends’ in weeks. I was tired of trying to clown myself into believing. ‘And tomorrow, we will go and get you a proper bed to sleep on.’
‘This feels like such a bad idea.’
‘I don’t see why,’ I lied, clearly seeing every single reason and ignoring each one. ‘It’s the perfect middle ground. It’s this, or I sleep on that god-awful air mattress you’ve been subjected to.’
He took a moment, grimacing at the idea. ‘Fine.’ I fought the urge to die on the spot. Whether it was in celebration of winning or grief at a lost night of sleep, I wasn’t sure. He continued, raising an eyebrow, ‘But if anything happens …’
A small daring smirk grew across my lips. ‘What?’ I asked. ‘You’ll punish me if I’m bad?’
His head fell forward, shaking slightly as he mumbled, ‘I hate this already.’
34
Dylan
Bed Chem – Sabrina Carpenter
‘Will you move over?’ I complained, turning around again.
‘I can’t! I’m on the edge.’
‘I doubt that very much.’ I pushed up, looking over at his half of the bed. ‘Look there’s still all this room over here.’ I pointed to the sliver of space.
He sighed heavily. ‘That is not empty, it’s where my arm goes.’
‘Could you not lie on your side? You’ll take up less room.’
‘But I sleep on my back.’
‘You usually sleep on the couch,’ I retorted.
‘And I’ll go back there if you don’t stop complaining,’ Oliver threatened. ‘You were the one who forced me here.’
‘I didn’t force you,’ I corrected, ‘I simply said that if you didn’t sleep in the bed, I wouldn’t either.’
‘There was a degree of coercion.’ He pressed his hands to his face, wiping the sleep away from his eyes.
‘Well, maybe if I’d realized before how much space you’d take up, I wouldn’t have pushed the idea.’ I poked his arm as it pushed over to me, his elbow nearly hitting me in the face.
‘Are you trying to drive me downstairs?’ His words were muffled by his hands.
‘No …’ I said, unable to keep the playful smile from my face. ‘Is it working?’
He let out a loud, annoyed groan. I began to wonder if I’d maybe pushed him a little too far. ‘Go to sleep, Dylan.’
This time, I decided to heed the warning in his voice and settled on my side, facing out of the bed. I told myself that if I closed my eyes, eventually there was a chance in hell of me forgetting he was lying right next to me.
How had I gotten myself into this position? Oh yeah! I practically forced him to share the room with me.
I took deep breaths, remembering the anxiety techniques, following the instructions to try and visualize the stress floating away. Five minutes later, I was still awake. I moved my legs, trying to adjust the covers so they covered my feet completely. In the darkness, I miscalculated, accidentally connecting my leg with the firm rock of Oliver.
‘Ow! Why did you kick me?’ he muttered sleepily.
‘Sorry,’ I whispered into the darkness.
‘Can you stay still for a moment?’
‘I think it’s impossible,’ I said, still struggling to get comfy. There was something about how aware I was of the closeness of his body that left me unable to settle, to stay still. As if my body was caught up in the current of him, his energy pulling me on a wave.
