Page 52 of The List of Things

CHAPTERTHIRTEEN

TATTOOS TOGETHER BY LAUV

We wentfor milkshakes and checked off yet another thing from the list with everyone. The other couples left before Bellamy and me. We ended up getting a basket of fries to share before we wanted to leave. We got home extremely late, and I was scared for my life when we were driving home. Bellamy truly isn’t a bad driver, but when the man is tired it’s like he never even legally obtained a driver’s license and I’m not being over dramatic.

I made him sleep on my couch. Now I regret that because I’m staring at my bedroom door, wondering if I should walk out into the living room or not. I’m also contemplating if I should have just let him sleep in my bed. I mean... He could have. I wouldn’t have minded, but I also hate rejection, and the thought of him telling me no, and that he’d rather not made my soul leave my body for a few minutes so I didn’t even ask.

What happens if he’s not awake? What if I wake him up? What if he’s left my apartment and I had no idea, and he’s gone, and I’m overreacting? Even if he’s here I know I’m overreacting because this is my apartment, but still. The thoughts swirling around my head are enough to make a grown man cry. Okay, maybe not. But again, it doesn’t matter.

I take a deep breath and reach for the door, knowing if I think about it too long I’ll stay in my bedroom all day. I’m wearing a t-shirt, no pants, and a pair of socks. My hair is in two long braids and is probably messy but I don’t care. I look at my couch and see Bellamy Archer, awake, and cuddling the stuffed golden retriever he won me a few days ago as he watches The Notebook on the TV.

“Good morning,” He chirps, and I find myself smiling at the scene in front of me.

He opens up the blanket he lays under, and nods his head. The stuffed animal is discarded on the floor, and I don’t hesitate to scurry toward him. I jump on the spacious couch, and he closes the blanket around me, capturing the warmth around us. His arms are also around me now, resting around the front of my stomach. He pulls me back, crushing my body to his, and I realize right away he has no shirt on, and no pants either.

He’s only in boxers. I don’t panic, not outwardly at least, but inside I feel like I might combust. My body might light up, and burn altogether due to the thought of being pressed to him like this with no mental warning at all. There’s no turning back now.

“You’re so warm,” I speak out as his other arm rests under my body, now curling around me to pull me even closer.

He spoons me. My back pressed to his chest, his arms tight around me.

“And you’re freezing... Are you cold blooded?” His voice is deep, and gruff in the morning. Hot.

“Yes, I’m secretly a snake.”

He only holds me tighter.

My mind wanders to the last time the two of us were on this couch. I was tutoring him, we had never touched unless it was in passing. Now we have, we are right now. Now I can’t look at his hands without shaking in my fucking boots.

There’s a lot that has changed between Bellamy and me. I feel more comfortable around him. There’s not as much annoyance sitting between us. I feel like I could probably talk to him if I need something... Or someone. I don’t know how to explain it except for the word comfort. He’s like a human form of comfort.

“What do you want to do today?” He asks as I feel his chest rise and fall behind me, against me.

“Isn’t that your job to know that?” I look over my shoulder at him.

“Normally it would be, but I haven’t planned anything for today,” He admits.

I turn my full body toward him now, disconnecting his hands from me. We face each other, and I get a good look at his face now. He’s got hazy eyes, they’re more gray than blue in the morning, but still pretty. His hair is messy and sloppy. He’s cute this early. I could quite literally cuddle up to him, and go right back to bed I think.

“Well, then get to planning. You’re the one with the list, not me,” I tell him, and he groans, and pushes himself up.

I sink into the couch as he moves over me, holding himself up with one arm as his other reaches toward the coffee table in front of him. He grabs his wallet, and then falls right back down next to me, opening it. I see a picture, it looks old. I take his wallet in my hands, looking at the photos he has inside. There’s a picture of him and his two roommates. Then there’s a picture of a family. Two younger kids, and two incredibly beautiful parents.

“Who is this?” I’m pretty sure I already know, but I don’t want to assume anything.

“Me, my mom, my dad, and my sister when she was really young,” He points to everyone in the photo.

It must have been Halloween because everyone is in a costume. Bellamy’s parents are firefighters, and he and his sister are dressed as Dalmatian dogs. I smile at the photo and the young Bellamy.

“This is such a cute picture,” I pass his wallet back to him.

“You think that’s cute, you should see my other baby pictures,” He opens his wallet, and pulls out a folded piece of paper.

He unfolds the paper, revealing my list, and I don’t know why the thought of him carrying around that silly list makes my stomach heat up, but it does. He holds it over us, and my memory is instantly refreshed.

?Ferris Wheel Kiss.

?Win stuffed animal at an arcade.

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