Nineteen
Eli
I woke up with a feeling I was way too familiar with.
Surprisingly, I didn’t have a headache. I was just very nauseated.
I always regretted my actions the morning after, though that never stopped me from doing it again.
I groaned as I wrapped the covers tighter around myself and snuggled into the unusually comfortable bed. It felt like I was sleeping on a cloud.
I rubbed my eyes and opened them slightly.
I looked around deliriously and tried to figure out where I was at.
It normally took me a few seconds each morning to be able to fully process things, but right now it was taking longer than normal.
I gasped when I finally realized that this was definitely not my bed.
"Holy shit, I've actually been kidnapped," I whispered to myself as my eyes widened.
That was when I registered the arm draped over my chest and the body pressed against me.
No wonder I slept so comfortably, I had been wrapped up in the comfort of someone's arms all night. I began to silently panic in fear that I ended up in a random classmate’s bed after the party.
That always made for an uncomfortable conversation in the morning.
I shakily sucked in a breath of air and began to smell the familiar scent of fresh vanilla.
It was a comforting scent that only belonged to one person I knew.
I turned my head over my shoulder and there was Javier sleeping peacefully while pressed against me.
I let out the breath of relief I was holding.
But my air was stolen from me again when I realized I was cuddled up with Javier.
I couldn't remember everything that had happened the night before. I recalled being with him for the majority of the party and then leaving with him, but I didn't remember him bringing me to his house. I didn’t remember climbing into his bed next to him.
Not knowing what else to do, I tried to squirm out of his embrace. I did not want to deal with the awkwardness that would come of us waking up hugging. Javi began to shift and his arm pressed against my stomach tighter, the hardness of his forearm keeping me in place.
That’s not the only thing that’s hard.
My heartbeat quickened when I felt something press against my ass.
Javier’s freaking hard-on was pressed against me in his sleep, and it made my stomach do a flip.
It was probably just morning wood, but it still made me feel more flustered than I had ever felt.
Though, I had to admit, the idea of him being hard because of me sent a throb between my legs.
Then, much to my demise, he began to stir awake. His arm secured firmly around my stomach loosened as he let out a groan. I used that opportunity to escape from his embrace.
I tried to get out of the bed and stand on my feet, but when my leg got caught and wrapped in the sheets, I couldn’t stop my body from crashing to the floor. A loud thud sounded through the bedroom and I winced at the obnoxious noise.
I wanted to speed out of his room and then out of the front door.
I wanted to spare myself of the conversation that was going to be had when my rival fully awakened, but I couldn’t.
First of all, I was shirtless. Walking through his house with his family lurking was a terrible idea.
Second, Javier was already awake. Sneaking away wasn’t an option anymore.
So I decided to give up and lay there until he spoke first.
"It's too early in the morning for this," his groggy voice muttered after a few seconds.
It was too early indeed. I kept my head tilted down and my eyes focused on my lap because I didn’t want to see the look on his face. Instead, I got to see that not only was I shirtless, but I was also in my underwear.
Meanwhile, I listened to the rustling and shifting of the bed. Javier let out a light groan and muttered something to himself. I had no clue what he had said because he was speaking in Spanish, but the slight strain in his voice told me he wasn’t exactly thrilled.
"Good morning," Javier greeted me with a yawn. He was sitting upright with a lazy smile on his face as I was still sprawled out on the floor in front of him. Despite how tired he clearly was, he still found the situation amusing.
"Morning," I mumbled as I squeezed my eyes shut. My leg was still stuck between the sheets dangling off the bed while the rest of my body was on the floor, so I was lying at an awkward angle. I heard him chuckle as he moved to get a better look at me. Meanwhile, I was hoping that I’d miraculously discover the power of invisibility.
The bed creaked as he swung his legs to the side of the bed I was on, the duvet draping over him from waist down. He smirked. "How's the floor?"
"Piss off," I grumbled and shot a glare his way.
My attitude didn't faze him, it never really did. “Do you need help?”
“I’ve got it.” I began to undo my leg from the jail they were encased in with frustration. Once I had successfully removed my leg from the sheets, I climbed back on top of the bed and covered my lap with them.
I didn’t believe I had low self-esteem when it came to my appearance.
I never felt ugly, but I wouldn’t have called myself a super model either.
The only thing I wished for was to be a little taller.
I was average height for a male, but I had a dream of being the height of an average basketball player. It simply appealed to me.
I had been in just underwear in front of my siblings, my friends, and even my classmates. In middle school gym class we had to change in front of each other in the boys’ locker room and it never phased me. I didn’t pay much attention to it.
However, I was currently feeling self-conscious and exposed. I had been embarrassed about a lot of shit, but not my body. I couldn’t explain why I suddenly felt so vulnerable in front of him.
Javi was wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt, so he had a lot more fabric on than I did.
I could only imagine how fit he looked under that shirt.
He probably had perfectly toned abs and firm chest, the kind that was perfect to fall asleep on.
I had never seen him work out, but I was still convinced that was what was under his shirt.
This was the guy who excelled at everything without an ounce of effort, of course he had to have the body to go along with it.
I cleared my throat. "Where are my clothes?"
His body moved closer to mine. "You mean your costume? In the washing machine.”
"Why?"
“You puked on yourself last night.”
"I never asked you to do that," I said sternly.
Javier’s lips parted and shut a couple of times before he spoke. “I didn’t want to, but I did not want you to sleep like that.”
"Okay, but did you have to take my costume off?" I asked harshly as my nostrils flared.
"How else was I supposed to put it in the washing machine?" he asked carefully.
"Fuck, I don't know." I buried my head in my palms, frustrated with both myself and the world for making me feel so shitty this morning. "Goddammit, Javi."
"I'm sorry?" His apology came out in the form of a question. He hadn’t done a thing wrong, yet here he was still trying to be compassionate. He then repeated in a more sincere tone, "I am sorry."
Of course I didn’t want him to leave me in my clothes with chunks of processed food scattered all over them. I was taking my own anger out on him even though he had been nothing but great to me. I didn’t mean to be a dick, but I struggled not to be.
I took a couple of deep breaths to both calm myself down and help with overwhelming nausea. "No, you're fine. It's me, I'm the problem."
It was quiet again. The faint sound of the revving up of a lawn mower filled the room from a neighborhood beginning to cut their grass. Damn, it was seven in the morning. Why did people feel the need to start their day so early?
“I liked it, by the way,” Javi said. “Your costume.”
“Really? You don’t think I looked dumb.”
I bit my lip to suppress the smile I felt forcing its way on my face.
“Of course not. I think you look good in everything you wear.”
He says shit like that like it doesn’t knock the breath out of me every time.
“There’s water on the nightstand that you need to drink. I can grab medicine from downstairs if you need it,” he said as he chewed on his fingernail. “How do you feel? If I was as wasted as you were last night, I would be hungover for days.”
Javier was so close to me that if I moved even the slightest bit our shoulders would collide. He wasn’t that close initially and I didn’t know if it was he or I who moved closer. Though, I didn’t mind. It was comforting in a way.
“My head doesn’t hurt, I’m just really nauseous.
I’ll take the water,” I said to which he replied with a nod.
He reached to the nightstand and grabbed the bottle of water to hand to me.
As I took it from him and untwisted the cap, he sat and watched me go through the motions of drinking it.
Javier was making sure I got water in my system.
Part of me was hoping that it was because he cared about my well-being.
As we sat there, I began to think about the night prior.
I could remember bits and pieces but there were large gaps in my memory.
How in the world could the events of the night before lead to me sleeping in his bed?
It had happened once before, but that time he slept on the couch while I slept in his bed. This time we both slept in his bed.
Oh my God, did we…? No, we couldn’t have. Javier had gotten dumped last night—I remembered that much. By a girl, at that. He liked women, so no way did we do anything more than sleep in the bed.
And even if he did like men, there was no way he could like me.
But what if…?
Christ, what were these thoughts? This is my rival I was talking about.