Page 38 of Some Things Never Change

I expected to hear him clamor drunkenly into the house with a giggling, beautiful girl hanging off of his lips. But I haven’t yet. In fact, he never really came home drunk either. He was always slightly buzzed and super giddy when we’d bump into each other, but that was usually it.

“No. Never. I like being with you, Andy. Even when we’re doing nothing together or not saying anything to one another. I just like being with you.”

“Julie, you’re a bit needy and clingy. Aren’t you?”

His voice was light, and I felt myself perk up a bit at the way he said my name. He let out a light chuckle. I pulled the throw over my shoulders as I scoffed.

“Shut up, pretty boy.” I threw a tiny punch into his hard biceps. “By the way, thank you.”

“For?”

I smiled. “For pushing me to start flipping and restoring furniture again and for telling me to trust the process. I forgot how much I loved doing all of this.”

Andy smiled back. "You’re welcome, Tink.”

I let my body sink into the softness of the couch again as we fell into a comfy silence for a time. Our shoulders lightly grazed one another as my eyelids became heavy. I felt my head tip toward Andy. I blinked slowly as I felt him rest my head on his shoulder. The beautiful actor and actress on the TV became blurry in my peripheral vision. I closed my eyes to shut out the image of their pretty faces.

“I’m only going to put my head on your shoulder for a bit. Let me know when this movie ends. I’ll go to bed then.”

Andy chuckled. He was snacking quietly on his healthy popcorn beside me. “Sure thing, Tink.”

“Thank you for taking care of me, Sweetheart.” I heard myself slurring. My voice was distant and not entirely my own.

Andy paused for a breath before saying, “Always.”

Before I knew it, I was already asleep.

The alarm was ear-splitting loud as it forced me awake. I sat up immediately, completely disoriented about where I was. Confused, I quickly leaned over the large body pillow next to me to hit the snooze button on my phone on the small table in front of me. I quickly laid back down and pulled the covers over my shoulders. To get some of the warmth I lost back, I snuggled my face into the warm pillow at my side. I barely fell asleep for a few seconds when the alarm went off again.

But before I could sit up to turn it off, my body pillow shifted, and I instantly felt its arms move around me as well. That was when my eyes flew open. My jaw dropped as I stared straight at Andy’s chest. I had fallen asleep on his deep sectional couch in his arms with the thick, plush throw blanket we used last night tugged over us.

In response to the shock, I sat up and stared down at him. I knew he was awake because he tried to reach over to the coffee table to turn off the blaring alarm, to no avail with his eyes still closed. I sighed and reached over to turn it off instead.

By the time I glanced at the time and looked back at Andy, his eyes were already open and peering up at me expectantly. I stayed hovering over him for a moment as we looked at one another, unblinking. Then, I realized my long hair was loosely dangled over my shoulders and into his face.

“Sorry,” I said. I quickly sat up straight and pushed my hair out of my face.

I was about to get out of the thin cocoon the throw created when I felt Andy’s hand on my wrist, lightly tugging me back toward his chest. “Stay for another few minutes,” he said. His voice was raspy and deep as it came out as a whisper. “Please? It’s cold.”

“Come on, Andy. You know we can’t. We have to go to get ready for work.” I climbed over his enormous frame.

We both agreed yesterday morning that today was going to be a rest day for the both of us. Thankfully, the alarm wasn’t waking us up at ass o’clock to go to the gym. I would probably be fuming if it was. I shivered as my feet touched the cold hardwood floor, but Andy continued to lie on the couch. After a moment, he grumbled and finally sat up with the blanket tightly wrapped around him.

With his mussed fringe in his sleepy eyes, he looked up at me. I let out a small chuckle and reached down to push his hair out of his eyes. He crooned into the palm of my hand, like a cat.

“Good morning, sleepyhead.”

“Hmm, good morning.” His hand reached up to tuck my wild bed hair behind my ear. His warm fingers brushed against my earlobe for a second longer.

My cheeks started to burn a little hotter. But instead of hiding my face from him like I usually did, I grabbed both his hands and yanked him to his feet and lightly pulled him toward our rooms.

“Come on, pretty boy. Go get ready. We’ll be late if you keep stalling us.”

He groaned after two steps, planting his feet right in front of me. He left little-to-no room between the two of us as he continued to hold my hands in his. “Wait. I want to suggest something we can do tonight before I forget.”

“I don’t think I really want to go out this weekend, even to the thrift stores, Andy. I’m pooped.”

I quickly pulled my hands out of his gentle grip to pull my hair into a bun with a scrunchie from the coffee table. He peered down at me as he towered over me. I could tell he was looking at me closely, probably at the horrible dark circles under my eyes.

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