Chapter 30 - Fletcher
thirty
Fletcher
Islept better last night than I ever have in my life.
Something about Tate being next to me, something about everything being out in the open, was like a weight lifted off my shoulders.
It wasn’t even the first time Tate and I had ever shared a bed, but this was different. It meant so much more than all of the sleepovers we’d had before.
I don’t even remember falling asleep last night. We were just talking, and then suddenly, I’m waking up in my bed—
Alone.
I suppose she was worried about the guys coming home and someone finding us, not that it would matter; I know they would be happy for us, but I understand her not wanting them to find out that way.
I just wish she had left a note or something.
Or woken me up.
It’s only six am, but I’ve been up earlier for travel days and training.
I groan and try to drag myself out of bed, but as I do, my door slowly opens, and a disheveled Tate sneaks in, holding two coffee cups and wearing nothing but one of my sweatshirts.
“Good morning,” she whispers, handing me one of the cups and sitting on the edge of the bed. “How’d you sleep?”
“You’re still here?” I don’t even bother fighting the smile forming on my face as I place my coffee cup on my side table.
“Yeah.” She laughs. “Did you want me to leave? I assumed this was more than a one-time thing.”
I brush some of her curls out of her face and sit up in my bed enough to lean in and kiss her.
“When I woke up and you were gone, I guess I assumed—”
“I wanted to go make some coffee before the guys woke up. And then I wanted to come back in here and cuddle with you until I absolutely had to run back to my place and shower.”
“I like that plan.”
I grab her coffee cup from her hand and place it next to mine on the side table.
She grins as I cup her cheeks and pull her lips to mine.
It still doesn’t feel real.
I’m kissing the girl of my dreams and don’t have to worry about her running the other way. I don’t have to worry about what this means for us.
I can just take it all and kiss the girl who stole my heart the second we met.
She wraps her arms around my neck and adjusts her body so her legs are straddling my body.
I could get used to this.
Waking up every morning to her.
Her nails graze up my back and find their way into my hair as I brush her bare thighs.
“I like this,” she mumbles against my lips. “I like waking up with you.”
“Me too. I don’t know why we fought it for so long.”
Her mouth meets mine again, deepening the kiss as I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her body flush against mine.
“If we were at my place instead of yours, this would be the start of a repeat of last night.” She brushes her lips against mine. “But I don’t really want our friends to hear me getting laid.”
I laugh.
“The walls are pretty thick.” I raise my eyebrows teasingly.
“Really?” she asks. “You’ve never heard Zeke with one of his many conquests?”
She leans back slightly, using her hands on my shoulders to keep her from falling back entirely.
“Not… every time. Just the really loud ones. And honestly, no one recently.”
“Yeah, not gonna happen. The guys know better than to know you’re getting laid. They would think someone’s murdering you and catch us in the act.”
“Didn’t this all start because I was getting laid?” I tease, and her eyes narrow.
“Not typically what you say to a girl you’re hoping to sleep with again.”
She tries to get off my lap, but I pull her into me and roll us over on my bed so I’m hovering above her.
“I was kidding. But you do have to admit that our jealousy is the reason you’re lying in my bed right now.”
“When were you jealous?”
“With that MSU guy.” I drop onto my side, and she matches my position, so we’re looking at each other. “And when I saw you with Isaiah Walker.”
“You got jealous when you saw me with Isaiah?” Her mouth widens.
“Yeah, I think I was.”
“Nothing happened there. I swear. He was all flirt but no action. Not that I wanted action.” She chuckles.
“He dated Becca… or they were something. She doesn’t really talk about it, but she wanted me to warn you about him.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I didn’t want you to think I was jealous.”
“But you were.”
“Now you see my dilemma.”
“I didn’t like seeing you with Casey, but you already knew that.” She looks down at her hands, picking at a callus on her finger. “What happened there?”
“I told you, we weren’t really anything. It was nice for my mind not to be completely overrun with thoughts about you. We talked a few times after the New Year, but any possible relationship between us went away a few weeks into January.”
“Why?”
“You. I told her that I wasn’t looking for anything serious right now, especially something long-distance. She told me she didn’t want long distance either, but there was another reason I was tapping out.”
“Me?”
“You.” I run my hand down her arm, connecting my hand with hers.
“When I told her I didn’t know what she was talking about, all she said was Tate, and then she hung up.
I sat looking at that screen for hours. I mean, if everyone could see it, if everyone knew I had feelings for you, why couldn’t you? ”
“I hope you know I felt the same way. The girls were always telling me there was more between us, but I thought they were telling me what I wanted to hear.”
“And now?”
“Well, now I hope we’re on the same page. I’ve learned recently that I’m not a big fan of casual relationships, so if we’re doing this, then you have to be all in.”
“I’ve been all in for years.” I rest my forehead against hers. “I’m just happy we’re finally on the same page.”
“Just took almost losing each other for that to happen,” she teases, scrunching her nose.
“Who cares how we got here?” I kiss her. “All that matters is that we did.”
We probably should’ve gotten out of bed a while ago, but it was nice to just lie together.
I think we even fell asleep again for a little bit, but Tate is supposed to meet Brinley at Greystone to show her the most recent song Tate recorded.
If she wasn’t doing that, I’d probably follow Tate back to her apartment and spend the rest of the day making up for lost time.
“Morning, sleepyheads.” Jeremy pours a cup of coffee as we hop down the last few stairs.
“It’s nine-thirty.” Tate crosses her arms. “For a day, I don’t have class; this is quite early.”
“I take it things are better?” Jere ignores her comment and then looks at me before looking back at Tate.
It’s almost like he knows.
Like, he knows what happened last night.
“What do you mean?” I lean against the island, resting my coffee cup out for him to refill it.
“I mean, you two seem back to how things were.” He takes a sip of his coffee. “Or better. Yeah, things seem… better.”
“We talked last night.” Tate walks around Jere and refills her own cup. “And things are good.”
I don’t blame her for not mentioning last night to him. We both know what we want from what happened last night, and I think we both know we want that without the input of our friends.
We know they’d be happy for us. They’ve been waiting for “Fate” to happen since before we even had our first kiss. Still, we don’t want all of the comments about us finally being together to take away from the fact that we’re finally together.
I’m not even sure if that makes sense.
All I know is how she makes me feel, and I don’t want anyone’s input on our relationship to ruin the foundation we want to build.
“Good.”
“Good,” I add, Jere’s eyes not leaving mine. “Wh—”
“It’s a party down here this morning.” Declan runs his hands through his hair as he walks down the stairs with Ember not far behind him.
Tate walks out of the kitchen and freezes in front of me.
“I’m sorry. Did you stay the night?” Tate grins, and Ember rolls her eyes.
“Cam knows about us,” Declan says.
“Oh man, that’s great.” I take a step forward, and he shakes his head. “Oh, it’s not great?”
“He kind of walked in on us.”
“What do you mean?” My eyes slowly widen as the realization hits me. “Oh, you’re fucked, man. He’s going to kill you.”
“Yeah, well, until things get resolved, we have a new roommate.”
“You sleep with him once and then move in with him.” Tate walks forward, poking Ember in the abdomen. “Ember Bowman, you crazy girl. I didn’t know you had it in you.”
“Can we please talk about something else?” Ember begs.
“Yeah, like, who left out perfectly good ice cream last night?” Declan walks to the fridge and grabs a bottle of water. “When we got here last night, there was like half a pint of Phish Food melting on the coffee table. And the TV was just playing random romance movies."
"Hm, I have no idea.” Jeremy walks around the counter, glancing over his shoulder as he walks toward his room. “I just got home about thirty minutes ago. Maybe Tate knows. Or Fletcher?”
He knows.
That motherfucker totally knows.
“Oh, uh, I fell asleep on the couch.” Tate defends. “The water was out at my apartment yesterday, so Jere said I could come here, and I must’ve fallen asleep. Fletcher carried me upstairs, I guess when he got home.”
“Yup.” I agree. “I meant to come back down but was just absolutely wiped and forgot.”
“I should get going. Brin hates it when I’m late.” She polishes off her coffee.
“Brin is literally always late.” Declan scoffs. “You’ll be fine.”
“Em, you want to come with me?”
“So you guys can badger me for details about yesterday?”
“Obviously.” Tate doesn’t even let Ember respond; she grabs her arm and pulls her toward the front door. “Bye! See you guys later.”
I smile at the closed door until I hear Declan cough and realize he’s still standing there.
“Aside from Cam finding out, I take it you guys had a good Valentine’s Day?”
“It was perfect.” His smile is so bright it reaches his eyes. “What about you? What’d you get up to?”
“Nothing crazy,” I respond and sip my coffee.
I don’t tell him it was a perfect day for me, too.
But it was.
Honestly, it was better than perfect.
And I didn’t know that was possible.