Page 59 of Fruit
CHAPTER ELEVEN
It’s the first time I wake up next to someone in a long time.
It had been too early to go to bed after we had sex yesterday, but we’d lazed the rest of the day away, making sandwiches for dinner and eating them practically naked on the couch. We’d ended up with Sebastián draped over me, head on my shoulder as I scratched my nails lightly over his scalp. Nina had joined the party, cuddling up to us. Autumn was just starting but it was still warm in Sebastián’s apartment, and any heat that might have been lacking, we provided ourselves.
We’d gotten ready for bed sleepily. By the time I remembered I hadn’t even asked him if I was going to share his bed, I was already slipping into it. Sebastián was an unapologetic cuddler, and he’d spooned around me instantly, putting all my doubts to rest.
It had been easy to fall asleep.
Now, though, as I open my eyes to see him sleeping for the first time, I’m struck by the fact that this is almost unheard of for me. I like casual relationships, and sometimes that means sleeping over, but not like this. Not with the expectation of staying the whole day, of sleeping here again. Not with this soft feeling inside me, shy to the touch, its skin thin and vulnerable.
I watch him for a while. Slats of sunlight peek through the blinds, striping him in gold. Dust passes through the light, making the moment seem to have slipped through from another world to show me something.
Sebastián surfaces into awareness slowly. I can see his eyelids flutter, the muscles above his cheekbone twitching slightly. His eyes open. He blinks and then focuses on me. He smiles.
Everything feels so warm and soft, it almost hurts.
As if without thinking, he slides forwards to kiss me, just a press of lips. I close my eyes as my chest tightens with feeling.
“Hey,” he says, voice rough with sleep.
“Hey. I was watching you sleep creepily. I hope that’s okay.”
Sebastián chuckles. “It’s okay.”
The bed and he are warm, so we stay in it for a while. We don’t talk, or even kiss, just lie pressed against each other, his hand stroking my skin lightly as I breathe him in.
It’s one of those moments that aren’t abundant in life. When you can just rest and not have anything to do. Not want to be anywhere else. When you just are, and that’s enough.
I’d expected Sebastián to be the kind of person that springs awake as soon as they get up, but he’s hilariously dozy until he’s taken his shower. I take one after him, much longer as I take care of my hair, and step out into the living room with it still damp and hanging over my shoulders and down my back.
He pulls out some boring granola bullshit for his breakfast and then, to my surprise, a box of a sugary cereal I love. He hands it over to me, and I notice it’s unopened.
“Sebastián…did you get this just for me?” I ask. He shrugs.
“Well, I knew you were staying for breakfast. And I just saw your face when I pulled this out,” he says, shaking the granola box, “So don’t tell me it was the wrong call.”
“Nope, I love this cereal. Well done, Donkey.”
“Do we have to do this every time I’m nice to you?”
“Yes.”
“Great.”
I grin at him and bump him with my hip. He shakes his head at me, but he’s smiling.
We go take a walk soon after breakfast. It’s a little chillier, and I wear one of Sebastián’s hoodies, the same one he’d lent me the first time I had gone to his house, drenched to the bone. It’s a connecting thread that makes me realise how much has changed between us.
We pass a tattoo parlour as we head back. “How many tattoos do you have?” I ask Sebastián.
“I’ve kind of lost count.”
“Your arms and the one on your chest, right? Which was the first one?”
“The one on my chest.”
The one over his heart. “The forget-me-not, right?”
