Before you knew

15. Sleep.

I change into the shirt he gave me while he goes to change in the bathroom. When he's coming in I'm sitting on the bed under the sheets and on my phone. 'You sure this is okay?' He asks. 'I won't even notice you're there when I'm asleep.' I say. He chuckles 'right.' He gets in bed as well, and the side that's against the wall seeing him I've been sitting on the edge. 'Just don't kick me out.' I say as I lay down and lay my phone on the ground next to the bed. When I roll onto my back he's still sitting up uncomfortably. 'Are you okay with this?' I ask. 'Well if you are I am, I don't want to cross a line or anything.' He says.

How he always offers hugs instead of giving them just like that comes to mind. Him pulling his hand back when Eric pointed out he was touching me. How he hugs so carefully and sweetly. I smile as I look up to his worried green eyes. 'It's fine, just lay down.' I say

As soon as he lays down I notice how there's not enough room for both of us to lay on our backs. 'So how do we do this? Back to back, face to face?' He asks. I roll onto my side, facing him and snuggling half my face under the covers. 'Figure it out, I'm sleeping like this.' I say. He chuckles 'alright.' He lays still and closes his eyes. It's really warm this close to one another. My face heats up. I dare to open my eyes and peek up at the taller man. Such a soft family man. I'm happy to have met him.

In the middle of the night I wake up after something pushes me, moving me and making me nearly slip out of bed. 'Cl-' my arm gets grabbed and I get stopped from falling out. 'Shh don't wake the others.' He whispers. I hold onto his arm as he pulls me further onto the bed. His muscles move under my touch. 'You have muscles?' I ask. 'What?' He asks in a loud whisper. 'I didn't know.' I say as I let his arm go. 'What?' He asks again as he's still laughing quietly. 'You hide under your hoodies, how could I have know?' I say. He wheezes and rolls his back to me.

Now wide awake because of nearly falling out of bed, I stare at Clays back. His shoulders rise and fall at a steady pace. I move a little closer, scared to fall out of bed, and hold on to the hem of his shirt. 'What are you doing?' He asks as I hold it in my hand. 'Safety measures.' I say. He rolls over and lays on his back. He scoots over till he's against the wall on his left. 'All that space is yours, I'll be more careful, I promise.' He says. I nod and get further under the covers 'alright.'

With that I drift off to sleep again.