ғʀᴏᴍ ᴘᴏʀᴛʟᴀɴᴅ ᴛᴏ ʟ.ᴀ. » ᴅᴀɴɪᴇʟ sᴇᴀᴠᴇʏ

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

I rise to consciousness out of the lull of sleep to have my senses discover that a hand is on my shoulder.

"Kai," is spoken softly into the air.

Daniel.

My mind races as I become more fully awake, wondering if I should open my eyes.

Then, slowly, hesitantly, gently fingertips brush along my shoulder to my neck and from there... cup behind my ear and hold my cheek.

I wonder if he can feel the pounding of my heart through the skin beneath his hand.

Silence stretches out tight like a rubber band. I struggle to breath normally.

"How do I tell you?" he whispers, so, so quietly. If I didn't know him - which I do - I wouldn't have caught the wistful tone of his voice.

Tell me... what?

He pulls away from me and lets out an audible breath.

I pray with every will in my body that my cheeks will not flush, knowing that he's probably looking at me-

"Shorty," he begins to sing. He settles on repeating that over and over again until I groan aloud and squint an eye open in his direction.

He chuckles as I notice that he's on his knees, half leaning against my mattress.

"Hey," he says.

I close my eyes against the light coming in through the window.

"Hey," I mumble back.

"After all of those early mornings for JTB, I think your body's still trying to catch up on sleep," he says with obvious amusement.

"What time is it?" I ask as my lips pull into a small smile.

"Eleven," he answers.

"Why did you wake me up, then?" I say, stretching my arms above my head.

"I have to show you something."

I finally open my eyes to see him grinning at me.

Goodness, there I go, falling harder.

I sit up lazily and throw a look at him that conveys that his reasoning behind this better be good. I expect him to start explaining right away, but he just stares at me with that grin continuously tugging at the edges of his mouth.

"What?" I say incredulously. He laughs, never taking his eyes off of me.

"It's just... most girls would be rushing to fix their hair or change or something right when they wake up, especially in front of a guy."

I send him a goofy look and shrug carelessly.

"Eh," I say, throwing my hands up in the air. "I know you don't judge me, so why would I care how I look in the morning?"