The Periods of Being

Chapter XXXVI

Chapter XXXVI

Olive is woken up in the early morning by a hand gently nudging her. She groans at the hand and shifts to try to get away from it when she feels another nudge on her shoulder. She cups her hand over her eyes to stay asleep, but then there is another push on her shoulder. Irritated now, she slaps it away without opening her eyes. "Mark, stop," she sighs. "It's too early. Let me sleep."

    "Olive," a voice that isn't Mark's calls out. "We fell asleep in the library."

    Olive's eyes open and she turns her head to find Neil's eyes looking down at her. Her eyebrows shot up in confusion as to why he is looking down at her until she realizes that her head is resting on his lap. Without any indication of a warning, her head shoots up, their foreheads bang together. She falls back on his lap while his head swings back.

    "Christ," she hears slip through Neil's lip like an awful curse. They both rub their pounding heads. Olive's lips tempt to curse along with him as a headache throbbed behind her hand. She closes her eyes tightly to try to heal her headache by rubbing her palm along her forehead.

    "I'm going to sit up, now," she tells him this time to warn him to move his head.

    "Thanks for the warning," he teases as she sits up.

     She opens her eyes and the sudden light blinds her. Her eyes take their time to adjust and when they do, that's when she realizes their predicament. They fell asleep in the library. On the same couch. She somehow fell asleep on his lap. How? And when? She doesn't know. Her hand falls on her chest and she squeezes her robe close by instinct while her other hand stays rubbing her headache away.

     "When did we—?"

     "I don't know," he answers before she could finish. "All I know is that I don't remember falling asleep that fast before."

    Her lips part to confess the same, but she keeps the confession to herself, not sure what it entails about their endeavors of sleeping in the library. Why did I come into the library again? She wraps her mind around the question and tries to understand what brought her here when she remembers about the letters and the letter that she was going to write until she was caught by Neil, who was already in the library from the start. She sighs and goes to stand when Neil stops her.

    "Where are you going?" He asks.

    She turns to him with a frown. She wishes to stay with him but she can't. She needs to go back into her room and call for Julie to dress her for the day. She can't stay in her nightgown all day. Besides, she will be seeing him at breakfast. She sends a smile to him when she remembers that. Her stomach growls in rejoice at the thought of food.

    "I'll see you at breakfast," she tells him. He smiles at the remembrance that they will be together again in the dining room soon enough. He allows her to stand this time and when she is about to open the door, he calls out to her.

    "Wait!" He cries out to her.

    She glances back over to him, wondering what he has to say now. The more time she stays in here the more that Mark is watching them, wondering what is happening here. She doesn't even know what is happening here. She figures that this isn't what her heart believes it to be. Her thoughts about what a man wants are tainted by Andrew, but she knows that Neil would never. At this moment, and the last moments of last night, it created a new bond between. Like a brother and sister. One that she hasn't felt in a long time between her own sister.

    "Yes?" She can't help but huff out. Her hand slowly stretches out to the doorknob while she waits for him to answer. He is silent for a moment, almost like he is thinking of whether or not he should say what he was planning to say. She thinks that he will just let her leave in silence when he opens her mouth to speak.