Page 29 of Convergence

“Wait, you should look at it,” I said, sobering after the lust high. “What if it’s about what she said to me?”

Nate sighed and sat up and opened his phone. He gasped, almost dropped it, and scrambled like he was deleting something. I caught only the smallest glimpse, and it was very flesh toned. He jumped out of the bed as he deleted it and slammed his phone on the dresser. He picked up his deodorant and tried to smash his phone with it, but the case on his phone held.

“What?!” I asked, not sure if I should laugh or not.

“It was- holy shit! What the fuck? It was a picture of her- I’m not even going to tell you. But the second text was the title of her… artwork. It was titled after me and Ev and a certain part of her body,” Nate said, a flush crept over his chest.

I tried to hold my laughter. It was really not funny. It was basically assault. But I didn’t know what to do with the information and emotions attached, so I just laughed. Laughed at her audacity. Laughed at her effort. Laughed at the absolute failure of her attempt.

Nate calmed down and then laughed with me. He brought his phone back to the bed and opened up TikTok. “I think that killed the mood; don’t you think?” I nodded in response as he reclaimed his spot next to me. Nate pulled the blanket over us, and we settled against his pillows and watched videos on his phone until we were both heavy with sleep. I was aware of him setting his phone down on the nightstand, the warm comfort of his body next to mine, the scent of him surrounding me, and then I was aware of nothing else until morning.

10

Iawoke feeling warm. In fact, I was sweating. For a moment I worried I had gotten sick, maybe contracted an illness in the lab, but when Nate sighed in his sleep next to me, I understood the warmth. He was like a furnace, even though he was only wearing his boxer briefs. I felt his forehead, but he was at a normal temperature. He opened his eyes at my touch and smiled.

“I’m a sweater,” he said in a sleepy, gruff voice. “Hence the underwear.”

I giggled. “Just checking.”

“I think we missed our run,” he said and stretched.

“Yeah, I hope Ev didn’t come looking,” I yawned. I looked at his phone on the nightstand and the clock read eight fifteen.

“Oh shit, yeah,” Nate said and sat up and pulled on a pair of sweatpants that had been in a pile of clothes on his floor.

I followed him out of bed and stretched. He crowded my space and dropped a kiss onto my lips. “Good morning,” he said in his sleepy voice.

“Good morning,” I replied and smiled up at him.

“It’ll be hard to keep my hands off of you today,” he said quietly and ran his hands lightly over my arms, causing goosebumps to surface. I shivered.

“Ditto,” I whispered, running my hands over his broad chest, feeling the coarse hair under my fingers.

He groaned. “Let’s stay in bed.”

I giggled again. “We’ve got work to do. Now, let’s go eat some breakfast and find Ev.”

Downstairs was quiet and dark. Ev was nowhere to be seen in the kitchen or living room. “Is he still sleeping?” Nate asked as he pressed start on the coffee maker.

I shrugged and went to Everett’s bedroom. I knocked lightly and didn’t hear a response. Opening the door, I had a moment of panic in case Daisy was in his room. We were still in a limited contact phase, so she could be around. What if she had also sent that picture to Everett and he invited her over? But as the door opened further, I saw he was alone in his bed. I smiled at the sight of a soundly sleeping and sleep rumpled Everett. I had only ever seen him put together and groomed, so seeing him this way felt like a treat. The beard he had grown since beginning the project was becoming a full ginger beard with a few little spots of blonde throughout. His blonde hair had grown out too and was curling around his ears. We had regularly made fun of him for having a ginger beard and blonde hair, but as his hair grew out, I could see the tones of auburn through it. His face was relaxed in sleep, without either his worried, wrinkled brow or his sly smirk.

I tiptoed into his room. Even if we weren’t running, we needed to get to the lab. “Hey, Ev,” I whispered.

He didn’t budge, so I tiptoed further into the room. He was curled up on his side, facing the door, with his blankets to his chin. I kneeled on the bed to gently shake him. “Ev, we need to get to work. Are you alright?”

He inhaled deeply and opened his eyes. His bright blue eyes blinked a few times before focusing on me. He sat up, his blankets falling to his lap, exposing his bare and sculpted torso. I swallowed, taking in his defined muscles. “Hey, what are you doing in here?” He asked in a hoarse whisper and reached out for my hand. He hadn’t sounded upset at seeing me in his room. In fact, he sounded pleasantly surprised. My mouth watered and my hand tightened on his.

“You’re still in bed,” I said for an explanation. “It’s almost eight thirty.”

“They closed the campus because of the storm. I figured we wouldn’t go running,” he informed me and rubbed a hand over his jaw.

“We have to get to the lab. Strain thirty-seven is ready to be tested,” I said, pulling my hand back from his grasp.

“Sure, yeah,” he said then smiled. “We’ve got time. We can stay in for a bit.”

He held up the covers as if to invite me into his bed. I hesitated a moment after sliding into the sheets- I thought of both Nate and Daisy. I looked around his room and saw it was the same as mine and Nate’s, though his was tidy compared to Nate’s messy room. A stack of books sat on his nightstand with bookmarks sticking out of each of them. His bed was warm from his body and his clean soap scent surrounded me. The door remained open, and I heard Nate shuffling around, getting coffee and breakfast.

“Maybe he’ll bring us breakfast in bed,” Ev suggested warmly.

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