Bex
When I open my eyes, sunlight streams through a break in the curtains. Squinting, I let my vision come into focus, searching my memory for when I pulled the curtains. But the curtains don’t look like mine. Mine are rose-colored and long…or at least I thought they were.
Slowly, the realization hits me that I’m not in my apartment in LA, but waking up on the couch in my new house in North Carolina. I take a moment to look around, my heart doing a little patter when I spot Harley on the floor curled up next to someone who looks like…Austin?
I sit up and take a big breath, and also a moment to close and open my eyes again. So, last night really happened. Austin’s here. That wasn’t a dream. He came over to apologize, and judging by the way his arm is curled around Harley, he stayed for the puppy cuddles.
Austin’s body is turned my way, his eyes closed and his chest moving with each breath he takes, while I sit here wondering if I’ll get Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde when he gets up. Shrugging the blanket off my body, I swallow a laugh. The irony. The injured player comes over to say he’s sorry and ends up taking care of the person he’s been mean to.
The reminder of the way I felt yesterday isn’t a distant thought, but it helps that I’m feeling better today. I’m so used to this, it’s honestly no skin off my nose. I know I stressed myself out and pushed myself too far, and now I need to pull it back. The move has happened, I’ve got a job. I just need to make sure I have peace around my home and then I’ll feel like I’ve conquered the trifecta.
Austin begins to stir, his eyes fluttering open as he snaps them in my direction. If I’m not mistaken, those big, deep blue eyes of his are actually sparkling this morning.
“Hi.”
“Morning.” Standing up, I toss the blanket on the back of the couch. “Want some coffee?”
“Sure,” he says as Harley stretches out even longer beside him, burrowing into his body even further. “I’d get up to make it for us…”
“No, please. Stay with that horrible beast,” I say with a giggle. I stroll into the kitchen and brew a carafe of coffee for us, and take the time to pull a few pieces of fruit out and some muffins I’d picked up at the store the other day. In a few minutes, I’m back in the living room setting up our morning nourishment on the coffee table.
“Thanks,” Austin says as he takes a sip.
“I’m usually not this together. You got lucky,” I tease. I point to the pre-packaged muffins. “As you can see, they’re homemade.”
He holds it up and looks at it closely, turning it around in his hand. “Hey, you bought it, it’s yours. You can call it what you want.”
I hold my mug in the air and toast him. “Hear, hear.”
This feels easy.
Austin pops one of the mini-muffins in his mouth and grins. “I was going to sneak out before you woke up.”
“And leave me here wondering if your visit was my imagination?”
“Pretty much. Actually, the movie pulled me in and I needed to stay and see how Hugh would get the girl.”
Laughing, I allow myself to sink back into the couch cushions. “Did you like the ending?”
“I did, but I was falling asleep.” His eyes slide down to Harley, who has taken to a downward dog pose as she wakes up for the day herself. “And this one started shaking and would only stop if I was here with my hand on her body and petting her back. So I figured I was helping both of you if I stayed and kept Harley calm.”
I don’t miss that his mouth twitches as he says it. Biting my lip, I put my mug down while keeping an eye on him.
“Needless to say, last night was unexpected.”
“Yeah, I feel like I caught you with your guard down?”
“Pretty much. If I hadn’t been feeling so awful, I probably wouldn’t have let you in—but I guess I was feeling generous,” I tease.
“I’m glad you were,” Austin acknowledges with a dip of his head and his eyes locked with mine. There’s something so simple and easy in this moment, as if there’s a lot being said yet no words dare happen, nothing verbal. Our only communication is our energy and a look.
I’m getting lost in the confusion I’m feeling around this not-quite-awake moment we seem to be having, so it’s no wonder that when his phone suddenly dings I almost jump out of my skin.
“Sorry,” Austin says with a chuckle as he grabs his phone from the table. He glances at the screen and furrows his brow as he goes to stand up. “Give me a second, I need to make a call real quick.”
“Sure,” I say as he disappears into the kitchen. I hear the door open and close as he lets himself outside, Harley hot on his heels.
Sitting alone, I can unravel a little more of what happened yesterday. Right?
