Page 88 of Told You So
Sitting up, I glance around for him, but he’s not in the room. Soft light filters in from the hallway.
I glance at the clock. It’s midnight.
Knowing his night hours are strange, working at the bar a few nights a week, I can only imagine his sleeping patterns are wonky, so I climb out of bed, wrapping the top blanket around me, and walk to the bedroom door. When I creak it open, I hear his voice, low in the living room.
“...I care more about her than I realized,” he says.
I stop, dead in my tracks, not wanting to intrude but knowing I shouldn’t linger in the hallway either.
“No. It’s not like that. We’re just friends.” He pauses a moment and my heart hammers in my chest.We’re just friends?Is he even talking about me? Or does he just not want anyone to know we’re more than what we are? I feel sick thinking about it, but I can’t stop my feet from moving toward him.
The floor creaks beneath my feet, and Nick looks up from his hunched position on the couch. He smiles immediately, which calms me. “Hey, man, I gotta go. I’ll catch you tomorrow.” He laughs at something the person says on the other end, and drops his phone on the coffee table.
“Hey, did I wake you?”
I shake my head. “I don’t think so. I just, I woke up and you were gone.”
“You looked so peaceful while you were sleeping, I didn’t want to wake you, but I couldn’t sleep.”
He saunters over to me in his pajama bottoms and eyes me up and down. “As much as I like you in my sheets,” he says, leaning in for a kiss. “I like you in my bed even more.” He lifts me into his arms and carries me back into his room.
His smile is the stuff of romance novels and sweet, dirty dreams. I could get lost in him, in his eyes and the way he looks at me, like he can’t believe I’m real.
After Nick sets me in bed, he leans in to kiss me. It’s sweet and soft, and his mouth lingers against mine. “Are you going to get back in bed?” I ask more feebly than I like, but I want him in here with me. I want him to lie with me so I know he’s real and that he’s mine.
“Hell yeah, I am.” He tucks the blankets around me and walks around the bed to crawl in beside me. In one swift motion, he pulls me against him, squeezing me tighter as he inhales and kisses my shoulder.
“You should go back to sleep,” he says. “You have to get Jesse in a few hours.”
“I don’t want to sleep,” I tell him, turning in his arms to face him. I peer into the dark shadows of his face, wishing we could lie like this forever.
Pressing a kiss to his lips, I commit the feeling of this moment to memory. Parents, school, the future—none of it matters right now because I have strong, amazing Nick, and for the first time in my life, I don’t feel alone.
I brush his jaw with my thumb and lean back ever so slightly. “Thank you,” I tell him.
“For what?” he whispers.
“For all of this.”
Nick stares at me for a few breaths and runs his fingers through the ends of my hair. Then, he kisses me, a featherlight touch that holds an inexplicable promise.
Forty-Seven
Bethany
The next morning is rough, but not because I didn’t get much sleep. I don’t want to go to class or deal with real life. Not yet. But want and reality rarely go together, so I roll my ass out of bed and pull on my jeans and a fresh t-shirt.
As soon as I hear Nick shut off the shower, I grab my toiletry case so that I can squeeze into the bathroom to finish getting ready.
“You shower longer than I do,” I shout, uncertain if he can hear me.
He creaks the bathroom door open. “What?”
“You shower like a girl,” I repeat.
“I already told you, I work hard to look this good.”
Smiling, I shove the pajamas I didn’t even wear into my bag.
