AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What are you doing?”
“Can I take your photo?” Dakota lowers the camera with a soft smile. I am putty from it.
“S-Sure,” I stutter.
Dakota stands up and offers her hand. I take it hesitantly. She interlocks her fingers with mine and I can’t help but notice how easily they fit together. She leads me to the middle of the bridge, holds my hand out and lifts the camera with the other.
“What do I do?” I ask nervously.
“Be yourself.” She smiles, and I feel an ease. A smile softens my face and I try to relax. She holds my hand in front of the camera, trying to go for some kind of angle like we’re both in the frame. I don’t know how it looks but I try not to overthink anything. She wants natural, so I focus on Dakota’s bright blue curls, her dark eye makeup, and the way both still looks flawless after the night we had.
“Perfect.” She lets go of my hand and I instantly miss the connection. “Come see.” She waves me over to behind the camera and shows me a bunch of photos that actually make me look pretty good.
“Wow,” I admire. It isn’t just me, the whole photo together looks so natural and amazing. The sun is rising behind me and I hadn’t even noticed.
“You ready to head back?” she asks and I nod. I want more time with her but I also know we have brunch reservations in a few hours. Fuck, less than six hours from now. I yawn instinctively.
“Tired?” She chuckles.
“Hey, there was a long flight.”
“God, I can’t believe that was today.” It was true, we had done so much and it was in less than twenty-four hours.
We walk back to the hotel room quietly, we don’t want to be those drunk assholes making noise through the halls. When we get back to the room we are met with our bed. The one and only bed. Dakota puts her camera down and I look for something I can wear as pajamas. I’m not someone who usually slept in clothes so it feels weird to be putting clothes on to go to sleep. I find one of my oversized t-shirts to do the trick with a pair of under dress shorts.
“Do you care if I don’t wear pants? I kind of hate wearing them to bed.” I turn around to see Dakota standing before me in a crop top exposing her bare stomach and bellybutton piercing. But I only have a second to notice that because she’s wearing a pair of bright pink panties and nothing else.
“T-that’s fine.” I stutter and try to bring my eyes back to her face. God, I am as bad as a man.
“Cool.” She smiles and heads into the bathroom. I use some makeup wipes to clean my face and hop into the bed, claiming one side as my own.
I don’t know how this will work. Are we going to put up pillows? Stay on separate sides? I have a tendency to move around a lot in my sleep but I don’t want her to think I am a weirdo. Maybe it will be like when Kate or Grace and I share a bed and have a sleepover. I am probably overthinking it because I am still thinking about the fact that she will only be wearing a thin layer of clothing. I can feel a fire between my thighs as I think about it.
“Can I hit the lights?” Dakota asks, coming out of the bathroom.
“Yeah,” I mumble and pull the comforter over me. This is the moment of truth.
Dakota shuts off the lights but with the sun up, we still had a dim light coming in from the curtains that don’t fully close. So I can see the side of her face as she climbs into bed next to me, and I hold in my breath as she moves around. Her foot touches my leg and I don’t mean to, but my eyes widen.
“I’m sorry,” she says, immediately apologizing. “I was trying not to touch you but also trying to get comfortable. I don’t know how to act.”
“Oh my gosh, me either,” I admit with a laugh. She turns to lay her head on the pillow facing me so I do the same. We’re inches apart and I can’t help but notice how pink and soft her lips look.
“I don’t mind if you touch me. Fuck, why does everything sound so dirty? I just mean I don’t mind if you touch me accidentally when I’m sleeping. It’s bound to happen and I want us to be comfortable.”
“Okay, I don’t mind either.” I nod.
“Okay, then we can both relax.” She smiles and I feel more relaxed having talked about it.
“It’s just like a sleepover,” I add.
“Exactly.”
Except neither of us closes our eyes or makes any other movements. The quiet around us suddenly becomes deafening as I become aware of how loud my breathing is. Has it always been that loud? Am I out of shape or something? Maybe I have sleep apnea. Dakota’s breathing is so light, which probably means she can hear my insanely heavy breathing. Fuck. Great, now I’m not breathing and she probably thinks I am dying. I try to steady my breathing but nothing seems natural anymore. Somewhere in the middle of my wide eyed overthinking, Dakota closes her eyes and I’m able to relax a bit. I tell myself she’s sleeping and with that, I’m able to lull myself into a deep slumber.
Violet
In the morning,I wake with my arms wrapped around Dakota’s body and her leg thrown over mine. Wide eyed, I’m immediately reminded of how pantless she is and how casual this was supposed to be. My phone buzzes on the nightstand and I reach for it, carefully untangling myself from her. She turns over but doesn’t wake so I pick up my phone and take it to the bathroom.
