Endless

Guardian Angel

ANGEL'S POV

The following morning, I woke with a sore hand and Sage's arm still wrapped securely around my waist. I peered over at the nightstand, eyes landing on the alarm clock.

10:52

I gently wiggled out of Sage's grip, rubbing my eyes and pulling on a pair of sweatpants. Sleepily, I brushed my teeth and headed to the kitchen, finding Ben and Leo at the table.

"Hey, Angel," Leo greeted. I smiled, grabbing some water before sitting across from the couple.

"Good morning." Ben smiled sympathetically.

"How's Sage doing?" He questioned warily, his voice lowered.

"He's still sleeping." I hesitated before continuing, fiddling with my glass. "Do you guys... Do you think he's acting like this because of me?"

"What do you mean because of you?"

"Well, I mean, what if he's... What if he doesn't want to be with me anymore?" I wondered softly. Leo's eyebrows furrowed.

"That's insane." I shrugged softly.

"Angel, he's crazy about you. All he does is talk about you and how much he loves you and how happy he is that he met you. You have nothing to worry about with that," Ben assured me, and while his words helped, I couldn't bring my mind to ease.

Moments later, Sage staggered into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes. Ben and Leo watched as he pulled a beer out of the fridge, gulping it down, but I turned away, unable to see this again. Leo frowned.

"Sage, it's barely eleven," he stated disapprovingly. Sage's head snapped up and he met Leo's eyes first, then Ben's, then mine.

"How's your hand?" He asked, scanning my face.

"Huh?"

"Your hand. How is it?" I glanced down at my reddened knuckles, shrugging.

"Fine, I guess." He quirked an eyebrow.

"You guess?"

"Well, I didn't think you'd remember that."

"Of course I remember." I averted my gaze, chest tightening.

"Wait, what happened to your hand?" Leo wondered.

"This guy was messing with Sage last night. I just, I took care of it," I answered with a shrug, flexing my fingers. Leo's eyes widened.

"You punched someone? Who was it?" I opened my mouth to speak, only to clamp it shut when I remembered that Sage didn't know that Paulie bothered me, too.

"Um, I don't really remember." Sage narrowed his eyes at me, confused.

"It was Paulie. At his party, remember?" I shut my eyes, sighing deeply.

"What? You were at Paulie's party?" Ben asked, eyes hardening.

"Yeah, he's my friend. We have Psych together." Ben only seemed to be getting angrier, and Leo was perplexed. I dropped my head to my hands, bouncing my leg nervously.

"How can you still be friends with him?" Ben accused, rising and glancing at me.

"What are you talking about?" Sage snapped, growing frustrated. Ben met my eyes, his expression softening in realization.

"You didn't tell him?" I shook my head slowly, sighing. Sage frowned.

"Tell me what?" I was unresponsive so he turned to Ben expectantly.