The Bucket List

13

                I scooted over and Colby crawled into bed next to me. He was super respectful about it, not taking up too much space or touching me. I laid there silently, listening to his even breaths. Maybe Jess was right about him having feelings for me.

And maybe I had some feelings for him, too.

I slowly inched closer to him, hoping he'd be awake enough to reach out and pull me against him or something. But I had no such luck. He was asleep.

"Colby," I whispered. He didn't respond. "Colby."

"Mm," he grunted in his sleep. I smiled at the response. There weren't many guys that were genuinely good people, but he was. I was extremely thankful that I had him here with me, thankful that he'd come in when he had. I could have been dead right now, unable to experience laying here with him. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The pill was working, I was beginning to feel my eyelids droop with sleep.

Before I let the sleep take me over, I felt something touch my hand. I opened my eyes to see Colby's fingers laced through mine, but his eyes were still closed. I smiled to myself and lightly squeezed his hand before closing my own eyes and falling asleep with my hand in his.

I woke up to the godawful sound of the default iPhone alarm sound.

"Turn it off," I groaned. Colby didn't answer. How could he sleep through that wretched noise? I found his phone under his pillow and stopped the alarm, then sat up. I looked down to see his hand still gently holding mine.

"Hey," I said, squeezing his hand hard.

"Hm," he grunted.

"Wake up, loser," I laughed. His eyes cracked open and he let out a big yawn, rolling onto his back.

"How you feeling?" he asked.

"Good," I replied. He sat up, letting his hand fall out of mine.

"Oh shit, my bad," he said, looking down at where our hands had been.

"No, it's okay," I said shyly, unable to contain my small smile.

"Let's get ready to go to work," he said.

"What? You're coming with me to work?" I asked.

"Mhm. Twenty four hours, remember? You have to wait till midnight to get rid of me," he said.

"You really want to go sit in a Starbucks for literal hours until 8pm?" I asked.

"No. But I'm going to," he said.

"I'll be there with people," I pointed out. "Jess will be there."

"Did Jess sign a legal document saying she'd watch you for 24 hours?" Colby asked.

"Well, no," I replied.

"Then let's get ready for work," he said.

He let me get dressed alone in my closet, but had me leave the door open and turned around so he wouldn't see. I pulled on my all-black outfit and braided my long black hair before putting on my Vans.

"Want to go to your place so you can change?" I asked.

"Yeah," he responded. I grabbed my work hat and nametag, then followed Colby over to the Traphouse. We walked into the house to hear a bunch of excited yells from the kitchen.