Page 56 of The Red Zone
“Maybe I even like you. Not all the time, but sometimes.”
“I can work with sometimes.”
“Any other confessions?”
“Yeah, one time in tenth grade, I broke in through your bedroom window, and snuck a bag of weed into the back pocket of a pair of your dirty jeans, so you’d get grounded.”
Much to my surprise, his big, bellowing laugh filled the room. “You’re the reason I got grounded for three weeks? To this day, I’ve never seen my mom as pissed as she was when she found that in my laundry basket. I missed prom because of that.”
“Are you mad at me?” I shrunk into myself.
At the time, I didn’t feel an ounce of remorse for what I’d done. Especially after he’d drawn a slew of penises on my brand-new car with permanent marker a few months earlier. Granted, my dads found it significantly funnier than I did, but they didn’t hold me back from moving forward with my little revenge plan either.
Now that October was being so nice to me, though, I felt like spilling all the pent-up secrets I’d been keeping for years. The guilt was starting to weigh on me more than I thought it would.
October cupped my face into his hands and whispered. “I’m not sure I ever really was.”
He bent down and kissed me softly, pulling away then going back in for another. There was something about that second kiss that felt different from the rest. Like there was some alternate meaning behind it my too tired brain couldn’t wrap my head around.
This time I was the one to pull away from his lips, slipping beneath the sheets and flopping back onto the pillows. I made a mental note to remind him to step up his pillow game if this was going to be a regular occurrence, because not only were there only three pillows on the whole bed, but all of them were completely flat.
Why did every man have flat pillows?
Such strange, strange creatures.
October left the room for a few minutes, and by the time he came back the temptation of sleep was threatening to take me under. Keeping my eyelids open for longer than a couple seconds was a small feat. As long as he didn’t kick me out of his bed come morning, I’d be sleeping in until noon.
“Eat this for me.” He held out a PB&J in front of my face.
“I’m too tired. You eat it.”
“Two bites. That’s it.”
I grabbed the sandwich and took one normal sized bite of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, chewing slowly. It was so delicious—grape jelly, my favorite. Arguably the best meal I’d had in days—then again, that could’ve just been the exhaustion talking.
“One more. Make it a big one.”
“That’s what she said,” I joked, which won me a burst of laughter as I took another giant bite before sticking my hand out for October to take it and finish the rest.
“Good girl. Now, take a few sips so we can go to sleep.” He traded the sandwich for a glass of water and I fought a groan as I took two giant gulps and slumped back under the sheets.
I listened as October peeled back the covers on his side of the bed and shuffled his way under the sheets. Butterflies erupted in my stomach as he wrapped his arm around my waist and tugged me against his chest.
Another night, I would’ve over thought it. Maybe even pushed him away and made some snide remark about him letting his feelings get involved. Tonight, though, I didn’t mind. Not one bit.
He placed a few kisses below my ear and my skin erupted in goosebumps as he whispered in a low voice. “You we’re right, you know.”
“About what?” I mumbled, dozing in and out of consciousness.
“This really has become your sex house.”
“Stop talking and go to sleep.”
October reached up and turned my face toward his to give me a quick goodnight kiss before wrapping his arm around my waist once again.
Something deep, deep down told me that if I let my walls down enough that I could get used to this.
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