Final Call for Mercy

11

With my eyes shut and a goofy smile on my face, I welcomed the new day. I wiggled closer to Nicolas, who had his arms wrapped around me and a leg thrown over my waist. He must've been a Venus flytrap in his past life. 

"Morning, Sia," he mumbles against the skin of my back. I sigh blissfully and turn a little to look at him. His eyes are puffy from sleep and a pout is on his lips. I smile.

"Morning."

"You think we can stay in bed all day today? Just--" he yawns, making me yawn and he laughs lightly upon seeing me. "Just take a day off and maybe cuddle the whole morning and go on little dates the rest of today? We haven't had much time for us lately. I miss you."

I wiggled around to face him. He pulled his leg closer to me and pushed me to him. I trailed my finger along his jaw and hummed in approval. "I'd love that. Where do you want to go?"

"I don't care, really. You?"

"Well," I bit my lip. "I've been craving some desserts for a while now. Maybe we could go eat breakfast and have some sugar? Didn't you want to buy a new bike, too? We could do that today."

"My Sia," he mumbled. "Always the planner. Sounds awesome. Can we stay here a little longer, though?"

I smiled, nuzzling into his neck. "Obviously."

I shut my eyes and slowly drifted back to sleep. When I woke up again, Nicolas was stroking my hair. "Hey, baby."

"Hey. What time is it?" The sleepiness in my voice made my words tumble over each other.

He kissed my forehead. "Eleven. Want to go get some breakfast?"

I nodded, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. After stretching my arms, I got off the bed. "I want some coffee first, though. I'm so exhausted."

Nicolas got off the bed, grabbing my hand and pulling me up. I groaned at him and fell back on the bed. Mocking a frown, he held onto my hand and put a hand on his hip. "Sia Bianchi, what is this behavior? Don't be a child."

I scrunched my nose at him and whined. "I'm tired. You shouldn't have let me sleep again."

"What am I?" He scoffed, "your babysitter?"

I grinned at him, "no. You're my baby giver."

He gave me a crazy look before laughing. "That was so bad."

I sat up and jut my chin out. "No, it was very clever. You would have never thought about it."

"And I wouldn't have wanted to." The overt sass in his tone made me snort. "You know, you're a hypocrite. Chastising me for making dirty remarks and then turning my few innocents words into something rated R. I am a victim of your manipulation."

Standing up, I walked to the door and threw a smug look over my shoulder at him. "Cry about it."

I laughed as I heard him follow behind me. He brought out the child in me so often. Nicolas Alfonsi is the only person that could have me giggling as I ran down the stairs. He ran down, too, giggling right along with me as he got closer. I jumped the last three steps and ran to the kitchen, bumping into one of the tables and a flower vase shaking unstably. Mateo and Veronica, who were sitting on the couches, stared at us as we zoomed by.

I reached the kitchen, crashing against the counter and turning around with a carefree grin on my face. Nicolas reached shortly after, his feet sliding against the floor. He stuck his arms out and stopped himself at the wall, eyes wild and grin huge as he stalked the way towards me. He gripped my hips and pulled me to him. "You think you can mock me and then run away?"