Missing [ST]

Thirty Three

A/N
Just imagine waking up next to Steven. My heart would literally die. 😩🥹😭

<>

When Leah first woke up, she was convinced she was still dreaming.

Her eyes remained closed, and her snuggled body felt weightless in a layer of warmth that kept her sound in a conscious doze.

It was only when light breathing out of time with her own breached her ears, that her fingers and toes twitched in a new matter of alertness. In doing so, it registered the touch of bare skin under the palm of one hand, and on the backs of her knuckles on the other.

The lazy squint through an invading piece of her hair confirmed Leah was not lying on the same side she had drifted off from. And the more she opened her eyes, with the presence of daylight around the curtains providing her clarity, neither was Steven.

At what point during the night they had both rolled over, Leah didn't know, but she had woken up very comfortable, and very calm, which was a first for quite some time. She blinked at him, every few seconds, maybe less, and she was realising just how close she was to a sleeping Steven, and how their limbs had crisscrossed with one another in practically every way possible.

Her foot rested against the side of his calf, and the knuckles of one of her hands moved gently in time with the rise and fall of his chest. Her other hand rested over his arm that had made a home on her pillow above her head, and she was fairly sure his fingers were loosely tangled in the back of her hair.

Steven's pillows were squashed against the headboard by the bent arm that disappeared underneath, but it meant his face was at the perfect eye line without her having to move an inch and she really didn't want to, in case he woke up.

The angle of his cheek pressed into the corner of his pillow may have obscured half of his face, but it was so easy to note how stressed he looked as he slept, contradicting his slow, measured breathing.

His dark hair had been pushed messily to one side of his forehead so Leah could see the neat hairs of his eyebrows that almost met in the middle, knit together, and drop down over his eyelids in a ghosted frown. Smooth skin covered the expanse of his cheekbone and wove into tiny lines around the edge of his visible eye, and darkened in faint rings underneath the feather of his eyelashes. The slope of his nose was gentle to the point at the end and was stuffed against his pillow that caved with every puff of air he drew out in his sleep.

The returning hint of stubble dotted his under his chin and over the resting pout of his mouth, and his lips were so outrageous, they gave her a double take every time. It was also where her burning trail lingered, in a cocoon of irresistible warmth, and Leah was left to wonder how he had inherited such luscious genes.

<>

"Mornin' sleepy!"

Leah frowned, pulling the tassels on her hoodie tightly so her face disappeared from view. The cheeky snickering in the background did not help her enjoy the nickname any more.

Making her way to one of the higher cupboards, and ignoring whatever Joey was doing, Leah grabbed a clean glass and flipped the cold tap running. Once full, she brought the glass to her parched lips and looked out the window where the peaceful greenery of the gardens weren't masked by bucketing rain fall.

"How was the new room?"

Leah tried not to choke on her innocent sip of water, but the swallow was a lot more uncomfortable than she would have liked.

She turned, the blue tinted glass held tensely in her hand, and saw a look of expectation from Joey, who had paused in the door of the fridge.

"Mhm great," she managed, mortified by how unrecognisable her voice was.