Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Peter
If I thought I was having a hard time falling asleep before, the night after Sophie’s date with Jake is something else entirely.
After confessing nearly a decade of feelings for Sophie to Willa and Archer—and drinking Archer’s very expensive bourbon—I came back to Sophie’s to sulk on my own, sure that her Jake the pediatrician with the wavy hair and perfect smile was her soulmate.
I’m relieved now that I know it’s not true, but I can’t keep doing this to myself over and over.
I was completely useless tonight. I had work I needed to do, but I just sat around. Sat and thought and felt sorry for myself because the woman I love is actively trying to love someone else— anyone else. And I’m supposed to be her trusty sidekick in making it happen.
I punch my pillow and roll over so I’m facing the back of Sophie’s couch. It really is a comfortable couch. I should be sleeping like a baby. But my thoughts are my biggest enemy, and I cannot figure out how to turn them off.
I could just be honest with her. I should just be honest with her.
I shift again, rolling onto my back and stare into the darkness. Maybe if I intentionally try to keep my eyes open, a little self-imposed reverse psychology, I’ll start to feel tired.
I’m almost convinced it’s working, but then a crash sounds outside, and I sit up, heart pounding as I lean toward the window, straining my ears to hear whatever is on the other side of the glass.
“Peter!” Sophie whisper yells from her room. “Did you hear that?”
I stand and slowly creep through the kitchen and down the hall to Sophie’s bedroom.
“Hey,” I say from the doorway. “You okay?”
Even with the nightlight in the corner of Sophie’s room, the room is too heavily shadowed for me to make out her face. I can only see the shape of her sitting up in the center of her bed.
“I’m okay,” she says, her voice shaky, “but I think I heard something scratching at the glass.”
I move across her room, stopping in front of her window. Sophie has curtains instead of blinds, and they’re currently drawn, so I slowly pull one to the side to peek into the alley on the other side of the glass.
“Don’t!” Sophie says, startling me enough that I drop the curtain, and it falls back into place. “They’ll see you!”
“Who’s they ?” I whisper back.
“Whoever is trying to get in my window.”
“It’s probably just the possums Archer dealt with,” I say as I reach for the curtains a second time. But then I hear the noise again, and it definitely sounds more human than possum.
I lean toward the window. Footsteps, a grunt, a low rumble of laughter. More footsteps. Then the sound of a window sliding up on its rickety frame.
Sophie lets out a gasp. “Was that in my apartment? Please tell me it isn’t my apartment.”
“All your windows are locked,” I say, something I’m sure about because I checked them before I went to sleep. I even came in here and checked the ones in Sophie’s room while she was in the shower.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure,” I say. “I checked them myself.” I peek around the curtain one more time, but from this angle, I can’t see anything but the empty alleyway.
“Stay here, okay?” I say to Sophie. “I’m going to check through the living room windows.”
“Okay, but come straight back,” Sophie says, her voice sounding smaller than I’ve ever heard it before.
The living room is darker than Sophie’s bedroom, so it’s actually easier to see more outside. Someone is there, but it’s not anyone we need to be afraid of. I unlock Sophie’s window and slide it up, the old wood sticking in multiple places.
“Hey! Reggie,” I call once the window is open enough for me to lean through. “What are you doing out here, man?”
Reggie, a college-aged guy who lives directly next door to Sophie, turns and looks at me. “Peter? Is that you?”
“Yeah. It’s me. You know it’s one in the morning, right?”
“Dude, I’m so happy to see you,” he says, like he didn’t even hear my complaint about the late hour. “I’m locked out of the building, and I lost my key. I’m pretty sure I left my window open, but I couldn’t figure out which one was mine.” He points. “That one is Sophie’s?”
I breathe out a sigh. “Yeah. Which means the one right in front of you is yours.”
He leans toward the window and hoists it a little further up.
“Sweet,” Reggie says. “Thanks, man. I owe you one.” He’s halfway through his window when he leans back out, one leg inside and one leg out, and says, “Should we have a conversation about what you’re doing at Sophie’s in the middle of the night? Shirtless?”
“We should not, Reggie,” I say, and the younger man chuckles.
“Got it. Understood, man. I’ll stop hitting on her so much.”
I frown. Reggie has been hitting on Sophie?
“Goodnight, Reggie,” I say as he disappears inside his apartment. I wait until I hear the sound of his window closing, then I shut Sophie’s window and make sure it’s locked.
I’m not sure how much of our conversation Sophie was able to hear, so I head back to her bedroom to tell her everything is okay.
“What was it?” she asks when I appear in her doorway.
“It was Reggie,” I say. “Trying to break into his own apartment.”
“Oh, my gosh. Stupid Reggie,” she says. “I thought I was going to have a heart attack.”
I move over to her bed. “It’s okay. Everything’s okay.”
She holds her hands up in front of her. “I’m still shaking.”
Sure enough, her hands are both trembling. I take them in mine, pressing her palms together and rubbing the backs of them. “Just breathe,” I say. “You’re safe.”
She takes another deep breath, holding it for a few seconds before she blows it out. “Logically, I know that, but…” She hesitates and clears her throat. “Geez, I don’t know why I got so worked up. That really scared me.”
“Understandably,” I say. “What do you need? What can I get you? Some water? Tea? Just name it.”
“Nothing,” she says. “But…can you just stay with me a minute? I don’t really want to be alone right now.”
“Sure,” I say, not really thinking about the implications of what this means. Because of course I’ll stay with her. I’ll give her whatever she needs.
Sophie scoots over, making room for me on her bed, and I recline into her pillows. She throws the blankets back then tugs them up and over me before nestling herself into the crook of my shoulder, her arm draped over my midsection.
I drop my arm across her back, rubbing smooth circles up and down.
“Is this weird?” Sophie says, her voice soft. “I don’t want this to be weird. I just…need an anchor right now.”
“It’s not weird,” I say. And it’s not a lie. Weird is not the word I would use for what this is right now.
Magical. Amazing. Incredible. Blissful.
Those all feel a lot more applicable than weird.
“I’m here,” I say, trying to keep my tone gentle. “Maybe try to match your breathing with mine? It might help you relax.”
We breathe silently for a few moments before Sophie says, “I think that’s helping.”
“Really? I was pretty much shooting in the dark.”
She chuckles, and her grip around my waist tightens. “Shut up.”
“Hey, does Reggie really hit on you all the time?”
“Daily,” she says without hesitation. “But it’s harmless. I think he’s on a mission to find the most ridiculous pickup lines ever. It’s turned into a joke between us now.”
“Yeah, um, he might not do that anymore,” I say.
“Really?” Sophie yawns, which has to be a good sign. That she’s relaxed enough to feel sleepy.
“I mean, he saw me in your window, in your apartment, in the middle of the night.”
She lifts her hand and pats it against my chest. “Shirtless.”
“Exactly. He told me he’d stop the flirting.”
I wait to see how she’ll respond, if she’ll protest against the idea of her neighbor thinking we’re together.
But she doesn’t respond at all. Instead, her breathing settles and falls into an easy, peaceful rhythm.
It’s funny. As much as I was struggling to fall asleep before, with Sophie beside me, it’s only a matter of minutes before I drift off as well.