Page 29 of Forever After All

Opening the door to Alice's bedroom, I fumble for the light switch, turning it on and bathing the room in a warm light. I’m faced with a super king-size bed with a pink comforter, lots of pillows, and a large dressing table with a chair to match, that has some of Alice's clothes thrown over the back of it. There are a couple doors off to the left, one open and one closed. I presume one for the en suite and one for the closet.

Looking at the bed, my eyelids lower a little and my shoulders relax, thinking about the comfort of sleep. I head for the open door first. It's a fifty-fifty chance, right? I peak inside and find the en suite. The walls are dark green and grey, there is a large white clawfoot tub and a shower than spans the back wall. I turn the shower on and grab a towel that hangs on the hook near the tub.

Stepping into the steamy shower, I place my hands against the wall, resting my head on the tile, then let the heat from the jets pummel my shoulders and back. I grab the closest bottle of whatever I can find and flick the lid open. It releases a deep aroma. I have no idea how to describe it, the bottle sayswarm amber—whatever the fuck that's supposed to be. As the body wash mixes with the steam in the shower, it intensifies the perfume and it smells just like her, so I close my eyes and breathe in deeper.

Of course it smells like her, you're in her fucking shower, dumbass.

I lather the body wash in my hands and rub myself clean with it. After a couple of minutes, there’s a small knock on the door and Alice says, "The coffee will be ready soon. I'll leave some of my old sweats on the bed for you. Feel free to wear them."

Well, that's a change from a girl stealing my hoodie to me stealing a girl's sweats. She's tall enough, so at least I know they'llfit.

I step out of the shower, grab the towel, and dry myself off, tying it around my waist when I'm done. Looking at myself in the mirror, I brush my fingers through my damp hair and exhale heavily as the reality of tonight sets in.

I open the bedroom door and step in to see Alice bent over, dropping down some black sweatpants on the bed. Instead of being wrapped in her blanket, she's now in an oversized white tee, some slouchy socks, and some short type of red underwear, which I know because her beautiful fucking ass is staring me right in the face. She quickly stands, brushing her hands down over her tee to cover herself, which seems a little silly to me, given what we were doing within the space of the last hour.

Alice quickly turns to look at me and her face is no longer covered in smears of mascara. She looks fresh, her cheeks a little pink and her lips a little puffy. Her wet hair is swept up into a messy ponytail that trails down over her shoulder, and little beads of water drip from the bottom of it, leaving a wet patch on her shirt. She's wearing her glasses again. Both times I've seen Alice wearing glasses, it throws me a little, because I never usually see her with them on, but, fuck, it's sexy.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She blushes a little as she looks at me, which gives me no end of satisfaction. "I needed to grab myself something comfy to wear too and I didn't think you'd be outof the shower so quick. I showered down the hall in the main bathroom. I was just dropping these in for you. I'll leave you to it."

"Nothing to be sorry about, Alice. You saw me naked ten minutes ago. Why are you getting flustered now that I'm covered in a towel?"

"Honestly, no idea." She laughs and pushes her glasses up on to the bridge of her nose. "It probably seems a little silly, doesn't it?"

"Well, it's only going to be awkward if we let it be, and I don't plan to let it be awkward, do you?" My words come out a little blunt even though I don’t mean it to.

"Nope, I guess I don't," she confirms.

"Okay, great. Well, come over here and give your friend a hug then?" I say it like a question, then she beams at me, and comes over to snake her arms around my waist. We hug for a few seconds, and it feels like the most normal thing in the world.

"Thank you," she whispers, chin pressed against my shoulder.

"What for, Alice?" I ask, genuinely unsure.

"For being the friend I needed you to be. For listening. For—" She pauses for a long while. "For giving me what I needed. For helping me have fun when it would have been so easy not to."

Trust me, it definitely wouldn't have been easy not to.

"Hey." I pull away slightly, giving myself enough room tolook at her, and she returns the gesture. "Don't thank me. It was fun for me too." I squeeze her harder for a second, before breaking away from the hug. I think if I held on any longer, then I wouldn't have let go.

"I'll sleep on the couch tonight, Alice. You need to sleep. But I'm not leaving you, okay? I'll be right down the hall."

"Oh, okay…" She pauses, then bites her bottom lip slightly as her eyebrows pull together, forming a little line in between them. "Could you stay with me? I don't want to be alone."

I look across at the bed once more, noticing how big it is and how much room I can create between the two of us. This is one big mess already, might as well fuck it up some more.

"You realise that you snore, right? You did the night of the wedding, anyway." I laugh. "Sure, Alice, I'll stay in your bed with you. You're safe, remember? I've got you." I give her a genuine grin as her facial expression softens. I can't tell you how happy it makes me that she feels so safe with me.

I forget all about the coffee and walk towards the bed, pulling back one side of the comforter for Alice. She kicks off her socks, takes her hair down, and gets in bed as I go to the other side. Pulling back the comforter, I drop myself onto the bed and sink into the mattress. Fuck, it's comfy. As soon as I hit the pillow, sleep calls to me. I turn to face the middle of the bed and we stare at each other. Alice's masses of wet hair trails all over thepillows.

We say nothing, but I reach out to brush a strand of hair out of her face then move my hand away again. Under the comforter, Alice reaches out to put her foot on me, which I trap between my legs.

I close my eyes for just a moment.

The next time I open them, dawn is threatening to break through the blinds and Alice is gone.

Chapter 15

Alice

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