12. Chapter 12
Chapter 12
Matt
“S hit,” an unfamiliar voice whisper yelled. My eyes shot open to taking my surroundings. I was on a couch with a throw blanket tucked around me. My neck ached. The arm of the couch dug into my side. Riley’s body curled against the other side of my body, her head resting against my chest and my cheek was pressed against the back of her head. My arm wrapped around her back was asleep. My other arm rested around her soft stomach holding her in place against me. Her hair tickled my face now that it was freed from its clip and draped around us. “Y'all could have at least gone to your room,” the voice said. I closed my eyes, not ready to wake up and end today.
“Emery?” Riley asked. “What time is it?”
Emery laughed and Riley shifted to sit up. Her movement sent tingles down my arm as blood rushed back through it. I let my head follow until my face rested in the space between her shoulder and neck. “It feels later,” Riley said, pulling away more.
I didn’t want to know what time it was. Our time together in June hadn’t been long enough and our time today felt like a blink of an eye. Her hand squeezed my arm that was around her waist. I pressed my eyes closed tighter.
“You’re just getting old. Is he staying the night? You could have warned me.”
I nuzzled my face against her neck taking in her warm floral scent, the thought of brushing my lips against her skin flashed through my mind. She squeezed my arm again. “Matt? We’ve been caught.”
“We’re all adults. If you want to have someone stay the night, it’s fine. Just a little warning would have been nice.” I opened one eye to see Emery's shadowy figure kick off her shoes and hang her keys on the hook by the door.
“Five more minutes,” I said against Riley’s neck. She felt perfect pressed against me like this. I couldn’t remember how we ended up in this position. We spent all that time setting boundaries but somehow we had ended up here, smushed together and asleep, like they didn’t exist at all.
Emery and Riley burst out laughing, forcing me to give up trying to pretend like I was still asleep. I pulled my arm from around her to rub my eyes. Without my arm holding her in place Riley scooted away until we were no longer touching.
“I think we fell asleep,” I laughed. We were talking, shifting slowly closer and closer together as we did. It had been daylight outside last I remembered. Now the only light was the soft glow coming from the kitchen. It had been a long day for both of us and the longer we were together the more we’d relaxed around each other. My neck and shoulders ached. It was worth it.
Emery flipped the light on, and I threw a hand over my face. “Seriously, Ri, we’ve gone this long without me catching you red handed. I thought you were sneakier than this.” Her lips trembled as she fought to keep a straight face before more laughter bubbled out of her. “I thought you guys were just going to talk.”
“I should probably get going,” I said. I felt around the couch until I located my phone between the cushion and armrest. “I’ll, um, text you when I get home?” I asked Riley, making sure I wasn’t overstepping. Even with the boundaries we had established I still wasn’t sure what was okay. Falling asleep cuddling on her couch had probably been asking for trouble. Did she still want to give me a chance after that?
“Yeah, yeah, that’s fine.”
I kissed the top of her head and whispered in her ear, “Thank you for giving me a chance.”
She opened her mouth like she to say something only to snap it closed. She gave me a nod and a smile. I wanted to say something else; I was sure she did too. Trying to say anything felt like too much of a risk, like if I opened my mouth all the wrong words would fall out.
Emery held the door open for me. “God, big sister, you really do suck at this,” she said to Riley like I wasn’t even there. The door slammed behind me, blocking out their conversation.