Hearts and Heels

21 // in which jen gets a little too comfortable

"Someone please explain what the hell's going on here."

"Is that Tim?" Claire mutters next to me with a groggy voice. Then, I feel her snuggle closer to me, her hair itching my face.

Without even opening my eyes, I reply, "Yeah."

"Go away, Tim."

He scoffs. "I live here, Claire bear."

Layla groans, and I feel the vibration from her chest to my back. My eyebrows slightly furrow as I wonder what kind of position we're in. But I ignore it, and try to go back to sleep.

However, Tim's not willing to let that happen.

"Hey, sleeping beauties," Tim announces out loud, tugging on our sheets now. "Do you have any idea what time—"

"No one cares, Tim," Layla interjects grumpily. I feel her move behind me now, tossing to the other side, her back facing me. "Just leave us alone."

There's no way I can go back to sleep like this. Not when Claire's hair keeps itching my face, or when I can barely move since they're sticking so close to me, or when Tim isn't going to give up any second.

I take a deep breath, and suddenly, I'm sniffing strawberries. I flutter my eyes open to see a mop of black hair right on my face, and sigh. Of course, it's Claire. I twist my neck to glance at Tim standing opposite the headboard of Layla's bed. "You suck balls."

He crosses his arms over his chest. "Well, aren't you cranky this afternoon."

I can't do this. I don't have any energy to think of a witty remark. So I rest my eyes by closing them, and get out of bed without trying to move too much. Otherwise, I'd have to two moody girls. Yeah, no thanks.

Once I'm out of the sheets and bed, I hear Tim say, "Uh, Jen, you're in your bra and underwear."

As I pass by him, I shove my hand on his face as a sign to shut him up. He lets out a few noises from the back of his throat in surprise. "It's nothing you haven't seen before."

"Yeah, but—"

"Shut up, Tim. Let them have their sleep."

He snorts, then murmurs, "Fine. Whatever."

My hand searches for the doorknob. However, it just keeps sliding and knocking against the door instead of actually touching the knob. So I groggily open my eyes, and drop my hand on the knob once I find it. I twist it, and swing the door open. A glass of water is all I really need first thing in the morning; or in this case, when I first wake up.

I have the map of Layla's and Tim's apartment imprinted in my head so I trot towards the kitchen with no difficulty. Besides, everything in this apartment seems to look exactly like mine. It's as if I'm back at my apartment.

As I step into the room, my eyebrows raise in surprise at the sight of a certain friend. Except his back is facing me, but I can distinctively recognize his tallness, brown hair, and fit arms despite my morning and slightly hungover haziness. If I were stable and sober, I would probably slap myself for checking Joshua freaking Carter out, but this time is exceptional since I can't even think straight.

He seems to be making something. And this brings me back to all the times I always watch him as he's cooking for the both of us. He's always chopping, rinsing, slicing, cleansing, frying, boiling, and everything else. It's always been nice to watch him cook even though he constantly tells me to actually observe what he's doing so I can learn.

Now it really feels like I'm at home.

"Hey," I call out softly, standing behind the counter that's right opposite his back. "What are you doing?"