Expectations (wlw)

Chapter 10

Fairul peered out at me from beyond the chains, having cracked the door open to see who was knocking.

"What are you doing here?"

She scowled and started unlatching things. "I should be asking you that. Aren't you supposed to be back wherever you came from? It hasn't been a week yet."

Mildly distracted because she hadn't bothered to put on clothes before letting me in, I took my jacket off and flung it across the back of my chair before replying. "Well, I could say the same thing about you. I've been to your house, I know you don't live here."

Her pretty mouth pulled into a tight line, and she turned to reinstall the locks. I kicked off my shoes and fell into bed. She followed, lying prone on my sheets next to me, watching my face.

"You look awful."

A fair statement. I caught a glimpse of myself in her vanity mirror-of bloodshot eyes in a face that screamed exhaustion.

"We can't all be you, can we? I didn't get enough sleep." I heard her chuckle under her breath.

Fairul leaned closer to press her nose against the side of my face and kiss at the angle of my jaw.

"Not now--"

"I know, I know. Sorry, I wasn't trying to-" She spoke in that rare, soft voice of hers. In lieu of talking, though, she brought a hand to the top of my head. "Get some rest. You have all the time in the world. Well, a week."

I actually liked sleep, when I could get it. Fairul stroked at my hair and I drifted off almost instantaneously, though not before I heard her mutter something like missed you.

"I missed you too," I said, patting her cheek. She laughed.

The next thing I know was that I had my face cradled against the curve of Fairul's breast. I reeled back.

Fortunately, she was in a deeper sleep than I was. It was late in the quiet afternoon, and I watched the steady rise and fall of her chest. She was on her back and had one arm around me, as I was tucked against her side. I decided to savor it.

After a while, she started making those sounds a person makes when they're about to get out of a real good nap.

"Hi," I said, cheek perched on her shoulder.

"Mmgh," she grumbled.

"What?"

"My arm is numb." Instinctively, I raised myself off of her. She pulled me back.

"Stay here a moment. I have sleep inertia."

"Is that a thing?"

She only made another unintelligible sound in reply, but we were pressed against each other and I didn't care. Her fingers were cold as she snuck them into the back of my shirt.

"I thought you were going back to sleep?"

"Mm, how about you wake me up?"

We had to stop when the dinner bell sounded, and I had to refuse Fairul's pleas.

"Am I not enough of a meal for you?" She was draped across my bed, posing herself like a model. I looked away.

"I don't know where you get your lines, but you need better ones." She threw a pillow at me.

"They work! On you, anyway."

"Put on a shirt," I hissed at her, just as I slipped into mine and bent to put on my shoes.

She stopped preening and got out of bed, and when I straightened back up, she was zipping herself into my discarded jacket.

"Can I borrow this?" She looked good; it was tight around her shoulders and the arms were just a bit too short, but she looked good in it. I averted my eyes.