Hunting the Fairy Tale

Chapter 45 - Tuesday: The Morning After the Night Before

Hunter

Cuddling Rover feels unusually good right now and she smells amazing. Has she always smelled this good? Since when does she wash with stuff that smells like lemon and roses?

I stroke her hair, a little confused by how long it's grown and she moans softly, the sound sending delicious ripples through my entire body. It also wakes me up completely since Rover doesn't sound like that and she's never had this kind of effect on me before. Not ever!

What the hell?

It's not Rover snuggling in my arms, it's Willow and most of my body is becoming way too happy to see her. She will not feel safe if she wakes up now. This might be one of those weird things I shouldn't be doing my dad was talking about yesterday morning. I carefully extract my arms from around her and roll over to get out of her bed.

I'm probably not quite as awake as I think I am because I unceremoniously land on the floor with a loud grunt. Seriously, whenever I'm exposed to too much Willow, I turn into Superman with a piece of kryptonite stuck up his butt.

"What?" Willow mutters, waking up now too. 

No, no, no! I don't want her to wake up yet! 

I need to be gone first so that I can pretend that I didn't spend the night sleeping with her in my arms. This is going to be way too awkward and Willow might just jump out the window and go live on the roof in Rover's shelter. How will I explain that to our parents? Too late! She's sitting up, blinking at me kneeling next to her bed. She is dishevelled, half asleep and seriously adorable.

Shit, when did she become so friggin' beautiful?

"Good morning," I say, trying to act as if this is not weird at all. Nope, we do this every morning after all, don't we? I wonder how much she remembers of last night. I really hope she doesn't get the wrong idea about my presence in her bedroom. She might refuse to agree that this is a normal part of our morning routine.

"Good morning," she whispers, looking at me with a confused frown between her eyes. "What are you doing?" Just as I expected, she is not agreeing that this is normal.

"Going to the bathroom. Getting ready for school... you know? Normal things..." If I were someone who could become extremely embarrassed, I definitely would be doing that right now. Fortunately, my capacity for being embarrassed dissolved many years ago due to prolonged exposure to the Davenports and their extended family. Those arseholes have no shame.

"Do you always crawl to the bathroom?" she asks.

Has she always been this cruel?

She is clearly amused at my slight discomfort and minor awkwardness. Yes! It's so slight and minor, that it's barely worth mentioning! My ears are just a bit hot, that's why they're all red and glow-in-the-dark right now. That is all. I don't do embarrassed... well, I didn't use to. 

What is it about this girl?!

"Uh-huh... is there a better way?" There definitely isn't one right now. Trust me! I should not stand up right now!

Willow giggles, shaking her head. Seriously, is she trying to kill me? "Isn't it a bit early?"

"It's never too early to crawl to the bathroom, Missy," I grin at her and turning away I... well, crawl into the bathroom.

♪

"Nothing happened last night, Missy, I just want to assure you of that," I tell Willow while we're having breakfast in the kitchen. Both of us are dressed and ready for school.