Cowgirls Don't Cry

Ch 9

Chapter 9

Kip

Lynn is heavy. She's not a big girl, but right now she's all dead weight makin' it extremely hard to carry her up the stairs. It also doesn't help that she keeps goddamn wiggling. I almost drop her twice, once when Bear was under my feet, and the second time when she flopped her leg out of my hold and came within inches of kicking me in the groin. I flop her down into bed and get to work at pullin' her boots off her feet. By the time I get both off and her covered up, I'm sweaty and exhausted.

"Night Lynn" I grumble, ready for a shower.

"Wait," she flings herself half out of bed and grabs my arm. Of course, now she wakes up. "Stay."

My heart stops, she must be drunker than I thought. It's not that I don't find her attractive, she's beautiful, and I just, I would never take advantage of her. I mean if she was sober, maybe... Wait! No, what am I saying, this it Lynn.

"Lynn, hun, you're drunk." I start to say, moving her back into bed so she's layin' down again. She doesn't let go of my arm.

"I don't wanna be alone." She says, tears creepin' into her voice. I'm about to tell her I could never do that to her, when she opens her eyes. "This house is scary at night. I've never been alone here. I miss daddy. I don't wanna be alone, Kip."

I swallow hard. I feel like an idiot. She didn't want to be alone 'cause she was scared, not 'cause she wanted me. I sit on the edge of her bed, strokin' her hair. She picks herself up a couple of inches and moves so her heads on my lap. I suck in my breath, letting it out shakily. I position myself so she's not in an awkward angle. I keep rubbin' her back, hating myself for not seein' this sooner. She locked all the doors, for god sake! I hate that she was scared. I know that nothing would ever happen, I'm not even 100 feet away. I'd never let anything close to hurtin' her. I close my eyes, leanin' back against the pillow, waiting for her to fall asleep.

~~~

I'm warm, and something smells sweet, like honeysuckle and hay, like summer. I move closer, closer to the warmth, to the smell, to the softness. I smile when I reach it, pulling the source into my arms. I'm holding summer, I'm holding... Lynn.

My eyes shoot open, waking from my dreamlike state. Lynn is laying in my arms, her face pressed against my chest, looking up at me, make-up smeared under her eyes. She looks like a little girl. I try and detangle myself from her without waking her. As soon as I'm out of bed, she spreads out, soaking up the warmth I just left. I'm almost out the door when I hear her soft whimper. I look down at her and I can't leave. I grab a blanket off the end of her bed and curl up on the window seat.

Lynn

I wake up to the sound of birds chirping outside my open window, normally it would be a great way to wake up, but at the moment I have the world's worst headache, the starting of what I can only presume is going to be the worst hang over of my life. I take one of my pillows and pull it over my head, trying to block out the light and noise. The birds keep chirping. I pat clumsily around my bed till I find my other pillow, and toss it into the general direction of the window.

"Ophf"

I sit up so fast my head spins and I have to lay back down out of fear of vomiting. I turn my head towards the voice and see kip sitting up from where he was laying on my window seat.

"Good mornin' to you too, sunshine." His voice is groggy like he didn't get much sleep, which he probably didn't. That window seat is about four feet long, not nearly enough to fit his six foot plus frame.

"What are you doing there, Kip?" I ask, the sun hurting my eyes.

"Waitin' for the tooth fairy, what do you think, Lynn?" He stands up and cracks his back loudly.

"You didn't have to stay," I feel bad he was in pain all night to make sure I was ok.

Kip gives me a funny look, "you asked me too."

"What?"

"You asked me to stay last night," he says, "I wasn't gonna leave you."

"Oh, thank you." I don't remember saying that and that scares me, what else did I say or do that I don't remember?

He starts to leave but pauses in the door way.

"If its okay with you, I think I'm gonna sleep on the couch till your dad gets released," he's looking at the floor by my bed as he speaks, "I just don't feel right having you in the house all by yourself... Is that alright,"

I nod, then realizing he's not looking at me I speak up, "you can if you want to. I don't know how comfortable the sofa will be though."

"Can't be any worse than the cot I already sleep on," he pats my feet at the end of the bed and leaves, shutting the door behind him.

I stay in bed all day, leaving it only when Alice shows up to get her car. I watch as she gets out of a rusted old pickup with a horse trailer attached. She kisses the driver, picking something out of his hair and they both laugh. I wait until he's halfway up the drive before I grab her arm pulling her onto the porch.

"And who, may I ask, is that?" I hiss.

"Chris... You met him last night." She says giving me a funny look.

"I did?" I groan, and let my head fall into my hands, "I don't remember anything."

"You did drink a lot," she says laughing. "I know you're done when you start takin shots."

"Why didn't you stop me!" I say slapping her arm.

She laughs, "You were with lover boy!"

I groan again and she laughs.

After she leaves I park myself on the sofa for the rest of the night watching crappy TV. Kip comes in with double bacon cheeseburgers from Coopers down the street. My stomach is empty, and food doesn't sound appetizing, but Kip insists and once I take my first bite I end up devouring the whole thing. Kip laughs quietly from his spot on the sofa, still working on his burger. I curl up on my end of the sofa, pulling the blanket up under my chin.

"How's your head?" he asks pulling my feet into his lap. He starts rubbing my feet, making it hard to focus on his question. "Lynn?"

"Head, right, um" I suppress a moan when he hits the right spot on my foot, "My head feels fine but if you wanna massage my calves too I wouldn't complain."

He laughs again, but his hands move to my calves. Thirty minutes later he's still rubbing and my eyelids have gotten heavy, and it's getting harder to keep them open. I'm tempted to just fall asleep her, but then I remember he's sleeping on the couch tonight, so I force myself to sit up.

"I need to go to bed," I say rubbing my eyes.

"Sorry, I have magic fingers," he says, wiggling his fingers at me. I feel a blush creep to my cheeks, and watch as the double meaning of what he just said sinks in. his cheeks turn pink, and I laugh. It's not hard to make Kip blush.

"Goodnight, Kip." I run my hand over his shoulder as I pass behind the couch on my way to the stairs. I'm about halfway up when I hear the tags on bears collar jingle as he fallows me.

"Traitor!" Kip yells after him, making me laugh.

Kip

I didn't come in here to look at her. I came in to let Bear, who was scratching at the door, out; but when I saw her, laying there, I couldn't help but watch her for a second. Her hair sprawled every which way on the pillow, the light from the hall shinning off the strands the sun has made lighter makin' it look like she had a halo 'round her head. She looks so peaceful, her face all soft with sleep. I tell myself me starin' don't mean nothing, but when she snuggles deeper into her pillow, her lips partin' ever so slightly and I imagine myself climbing into bed next to her and kissing her awake, I know that whatever this is that I'm feeling, means more than 'nothing'.

"Fuck."