Us.
Perched on the edge of my bed, I stared at him again. He didn’t look at me for a moment, eyes still shut. Only when I continued to stare at how he looked so at home against the wall my bed was pressed up against, where I often hit my head when I rolled over, did he open his eyes.
“Are you sure this is okay?”
He was giving me an easy out. I could take it if I wanted to.
But for some reason, after tonight, I barely paused.
“It’s fine. I said that it was fine before even though we’ve been …”Weird.
That was the only word for it. We’d been weird since the other night. We hadn’t been happy or angry, and we weren’t fighting, even after the kiss and whatever else that was, but it was all just still weird.
Why not amp it up some more?
One leg at a time, I crawled in next to him. There was only a little space left between us. I took a deep breath as I leaned back onto my elbow. My other hand yanked my pillow away from him and settled it beneath me. He didn’t flinch, let alone argue. The rest of his fancy comforts could stay where they were. He did look rather comfortable with pillows and blankets curved around his mussed head.
“It’s fine,” he repeated my words. “The bed or the curse?”
“We’ll figure it out.”
He shut his eyes again slowly and nodded. “Figured as much.”
“We are doing all we should be at this point. Staying close to minimize the damage basically.”
“Why am I not sure if you are saying that as a good or bad thing?”
“Because we hate each other.”
Dom gave a short, warm laugh, as if that were the most humorous of statements. I wasn’t sure he’d ever laughed at me since he had arrived. Maybe it was the sleep deprivation he was experiencing. Or maybe not.
I licked my lips before pressing them together. There wasn’t much more to say right now. “I’m … I’m sorry, Dom.”
His hand reached out—maybe before he could think better of it, or maybe he didn’t think much of it at all. He squeezed my bare thigh. The touch sent shock waves all the way through me.
“Let’s just sleep. Okay, Ana? Let’s just take tonight and sleep till morning for once.”
“Okay,” I whispered.
“I really don’t remember your bed being so comfortable.”
My chest ached. I shut my eyes. “I’m glad you think so because I also have something else to tell you.”
He peeked an eye open. “What?”
“We have to go to a college graduation.”
He shut his eyes with a long exhale.
I didn’t ask why.
“I’m sleeping.”
“I must be too,” Dom whispered right back. “How else could we ever explain this?”
14
SUMMER
