To Be A Leader

Chapter 42: Good Life

I wake up sore and cold.

Pain clings to my muscles as I reach out blindly for warmth, only to frown find when I find none. When I open my eyes and push myself up, I find I'm alone. Not exactly what I was hoping to wake up to when I went to bed last night.

The lights are on, which is probably what woke me up. I groggily rub the sleep from my eyes, forcing myself to stand on shaky, tired legs. The run yesterday wasn't extremely long, but it wore me out, mostly because our orchestra insisted on playing for us to show their gratitude. They didn't seem to care about the fact that it was around two o'clock in the morning, even though other residents made it very apparent they did care by shouting and cursing at them. A few people even threw their slippers at them in attempt to shut them up.

They didn't.

The orchestra also insisted I sit and listen, since I was the one who drove that lorry off the cliff and all that. I didn't want to. I wanted to go to bed. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go to sleep until over an hour later, and I barely managed to shower and change for falling into bed and clinging onto Sam for warmth.

And now he's gone.

I walk to the desk, just to see if he left a note or something. There's nothing, which is disappointing. With a sigh and a stretch that hurts a bit more than normal, I grab a hairbrush from the drawer and some clothes from the other room.

It only takes a minute to get into my faded jeans and T-shirt. They're the last few pieces of clothing I have that's clean, although I don't have many clothes to begin with. I brush through my tangled brown mess of hair that, in all honesty, looks like a bird's nest on my head. The amount of frizz I have going on today doesn't help much either, and I wonder if I could ask about using some of the hair products we have saved for runners who've done well on missions. I haven't used any luxury items since Sam proposed, so I don't think Jody or Janine would disapprove.

I hear the doorknob click and turn, and I look back into the main coms room. Sam steps in with a small bag and drink in hand, his hair brushed out, unlike how it was when I saw him last night, and dressed for the day in a blue T-shirt and jeans.

"Morning, gorgeous," I say with a yawn, still pulling my brush through my tangled hair.

"Pretty sure I'm supposed to say that to you," He grins, closing the door. I shrug, grabbing a ponytail holder.

"Should've been quicker."

"In my defense, I didn't think you'd be up. If I did, I would have said it."

"You can still say it now."

He sighs. "Yeah, but you'd be expecting it, so your response wouldn't be as genuine, even though you are gorgeous this morning."

I smile as I put my hair into a ponytail. "That's how you know it's true love. You call me gorgeous even though I still kind of look like I just woke up, because I did."

Sam rolls his eyes, a soft smile on his face that I can't help but mirror. "Well, you know what else is true love?" He holds up the bag and drink before setting it down on his coms desk. "I didn't know whether you'd be up before breakfast ended, so I grabbed some and brought it back with me."

I gasp in delight, walking over and sitting down when he gestures me to. "Thank you."

He shrugs. "I didn't want you to wake up hungry, and I didn't want to wake you up since you didn't get to go to sleep until late last night because of the orchestra."

"I'm pretty half the township is mad at me because of that," I joke, reaching in the bag and gasping again when I see a muffin. "They made muffins this morning?"