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“Cute. I was just thinking about how you've taken such excellent care of us since we got here, cooking every night and everything. I want to return the favor. I know a really nice restaurant in downtown Galveston, we could get all fancy, paint the town, all that shit,” he suggested, digging out his cigarettes. She sighed and kicked away from the edge of the pool, pulling herself upright.
“Sounds awesome. I haven’t had good food in a really long time. Not that your dive bars and restaurants aren’t totally awesome,” she laughed. He started laughing as well when lightning suddenly streaked across the sky. Paige shrieked just as thunder boomed almost directly over them.
“Oh yeah, did I mention it’s supposed to storm tonight?” Parker asked. Paige glared at him as she quickly swam to the edge of the pool and pulled herself out.
“No! That scared the shit out of me! How long is it supposed to last?” she asked, grabbing a towel off a nearby lounge chair. Just as he opened his mouth to answer her, a torrential downpour started. She looked up at him with wide eyes.
“I don’t know. Sometimes they just blow through, but sometimes these storms can last days,” he told her, blowing a smoke ring over her head. She frowned and wrapped the towel around herself.
“And you forgot to mention to me that we might be in the middle of a hurricane?” she asked in an exasperated voice. Parker laughed and another bolt of lightning split the sky. She jumped just as the thunder started.
“This is hardly a hurricane. Are you scared of storms, Paige?” he asked with a laugh before taking a long drag on his cigarette. She glared up at him.
“I would’ve thought you'd learned by now that not very much scares me,” she told him. He laughed softly
“I think that’s a lie if I ever heard one,” he replied. She stared at him for a second longer before rolling her eyes and pushing past him.
“You can stand out here and listen to that downpour. I’m going inside where it’s warm and dry,” she informed him before stomping through the sliding glass door.
Parker finished his cigarette and by the time he got inside, it was really storming outside. Paige was nowhere to be seen, so he made his way upstairs and found her standing in her room, her lights all off. She'd changed into clothing and had her hands pressed against the sliding glass door that led to the terrace. He walked up so he was standing right behind her.
“What are you doing?” he asked, almost whispering. She flicked her head to the side to glance at him before looking back outside.
“Just looking. It doesn’t creep you out, just a little?” she asked. He shook his head, watching her.
“Not really. It’s not a hurricane, just a bad thunderstorm. It’ll pass through,” he assured her. She shuddered.
“It’s really mostly the wind that freaks me out,” she started to explain when lightning lit up the whole room, thunder right on top of it. She continued, “I worry that something is gonna come flying through the window.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it, it’s not blowing quite that hard, plus the windows up here make hard targets. I promise you, nothing will come crashing through your window. If something does, you can come wake me up,” he told her. She finally looked over her shoulder at him.
“You can bet your ass I will, because if that happens, this room becomes your room,” she informed him.
He smiled down at her. She looked smaller somehow. Usually her height made her almost intimidating, but standing barefoot and wet in the dark, looking scared of the storm raging outside, she seemed small. Almost fragile. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and pull her against his chest. Hold her. Protect her.
“Well,” he started, realizing he'd been staring at her. “I’m gonna head to bed. If you get scared, you can come get me.” She smiled at him.
“Thanks, Parker. Good night.”
He made his way to his room and hopped in the shower. He thought the hot water might distract him, but he couldn’t get the way she looked out of his head. He finally climbed into bed, the image of her silhouetted against her window burned into his brain. It was a while before he was able to fall asleep.
He didn’t know how long he'd been out for, though, when something woke him up. Not long enough to dream, but enough that he could feel time had passed. There was a scratching noise behind him. He yawned and rolled over, facing the glass doors. He was startled to see a person in the darkness walking away from the door. He sat up.
“It’s me.”
The voice was a hoarse whisper but his brain registered that it was Paige. He rubbed a hand over his face and glanced at the clock next to him. It was around two in morning. He yawned and scratched his head, looking around for her. She'd disappeared into the shadows.
“What’s going on? Are you okay? Did something -”
He stopped talking when he felt the mattress depress next to him. She was climbing into his bed.
She's getting into bed with me.
He forgot how to breathe and froze in his half sitting up position. He felt her lay down.
“I lied,” she whispered. He cleared his throat and slowly laid down, almost afraid that if he moved too quickly, she would be scared away, as if she were a cat.
“About what?” he whispered back, staring at the ceiling. The bed was a king size so even though she was on the bed, he couldn’t really feel her next to him. He bet if stretched his arm out to the side, he would barely touch her.
