Freed From Desire

Part 22

Nora

I held up my promise and woke up in Katie's bed. My head was snuggled into the crook of her neck, her arm protectively around my waist. She was still asleep, her chest rising and falling in a calm rhythm, which meant I had a moment to take it all in. 

This time there was no headache and grogginess from too many drinks the night before. I felt rested and actually.. really good. I had wondered when reality was gonna hit and all courage would leave me, causing that same old reflex to kick in and every molecule in my body to tell me to run before it got too real.

Well this was definitely real. No longer casual or something that we'd later blame on alcohol. And I didn't want to run. Matter of fact, I didn't even want to get up to use the bathroom, but I eventually didn't have a choice.

I had barely moved an inch when Katie's grip around me tightened and she stirred in her sleep. Memories of last night came back. The way she'd asked me to stay, that heartbroken look in her eyes. I hadn't realized how much I'd hurt her with this hot and cold game. I wouldn't do it again.

Moving closer instead, I pressed my lips on her neck, trailing kisses up her jawline. By the time I reached her lips, she was alert enough to kiss me back, struggling to stop herself from smiling through the kiss.

I smiled too, as I pulled away to watch her slowly waking up. It took a couple of tries for Katie's eyes to adjust to the light coming in from the window. Eventually she locked in her focus on my face and smiled even brighter. "Morning," she said in her raspy voice and tried pulling me back in for a kiss, but that was a sure way of us never making it out of bed.

"Morning, sleepyhead," I said in return and gave in for just a second, giving her lips a soft peck before sitting up. The movement was met with a mumbled protest which made me laugh. "I'll be right back, stop being so grumpy."

I headed to the bathroom, not bothering to cover up and knowing very well that Katie's eyes were trailing after me. Once there, I assessed the situation from the mirror. My hair was a bit of a birds nest, but all in all it wasn't too bad. We'd actually been proper and took our makeup off somewhere between rounds two and three. Or three and four? Either way, a wise idea.

I did all the necessary bathroom procedures, along with splashing some cold water on my face and stealing one of Katie's hairties to put my blonde locks up in a ponytail. When I got back to the bedroom, Katie was fully awake and sat up on the bed, looking through her phone. She put it back on the nightstand though and patted the empty space next to her.

"Come back here," she pleaded with her best puppy eyes that almost broke me. But I was tough and instead grabbed one of her shirts from her closet, putting it on. She had a preference towards oversized shirts and with me being shorter than she was, it covered all the important bits. Which Katie did not like one bit.

"It's breakfast time," I laughed, walking over and reaching my hand out to pull her out of bed. 

"But I woke up soo rested and have all this energy," Katie smirked, her expression telling me all I needed to know about where her head was at.

"Good, we can go on a morning run then!" I laughed as she grabbed my hand.

"Sure, I'll save some energy for that too," Katie nodded and instead of being pulled up by me, gave my hand a tug instead, effectively making me land in her arms.

"Katiee.." I laughed, my attempts to get back up proving ti be quite pointless. "But breakfast," I tried enticing her. She loved food, as did I, and I had grand plans of cooking for her.