Chapter 15
NICO
‘You’re hogging the bed,’ I tell her as I stir awake.
‘Am I? Or are you?’ she replies.
‘Well, technically, it’s my bed, so you’re the intruder…’
‘Or I’m the guest,’ she says, rolling onto her side to face me.
I don’t know what time it is – early morning – too early to get up, that’s for sure. It’s still a little dark out but I can see her, Sammie, staring at me.
There’s a sparkle in her eye, something that wasn’t there last night. She’s smiling at me, like she’s pleased to see me – which is the last thing I was expecting. She looks lighter though, happier, not at all like she’s regretting the plans we made when we were tipsy, which is good.
‘You know you said that, when you’ve shared the bed with other people, they haven’t been next to you…’ she reminds me.
‘I was only joking,’ I insist.
‘That’s a shame,’ she says, her voice low and breathy. ‘I was hoping you’d show me how it’s done, how we fit together…’
What?!
She’s biting her lip like she means business.
‘How we…’ My voice trails off.
‘Something like this, maybe?’
Sammie whips away the covers and then the T-shirt I let her borrow – almost in one swift motion.
I look down and realise I must have taken my boxers off at some point…
in my sleep? Before I can figure it out, Sammie climbs on top of me.
She places my hands on her hips before putting her own hands on my chest.
‘Is this what you want?’ she asks me.
‘Yes,’ I practically groan. ‘Yes… I…’
‘You want me?’ she asks, rocking her hips back and forth.
‘I do… I… want you… I…’
I take a sharp breath in as my eyes open wide. The light hits them, immediately forcing them shut again. It takes a few seconds for me to come around.
Oh my gosh. Oh no, I… I was dreaming. I was having a sex dream about Sammie.
Shit! She is still here though, but not next to me, almost on top of me.
She’s snuggled up to me – presumably in her sleep.
And no one can be blamed for things that happen while they’re sleeping.
Look at my dream, I didn’t ask for that.
It felt real though. Really, truly real.
She is cuddled up to me, her hand on my chest, her left leg draped across my body.
I must have somehow noticed, while I was asleep, and turned it into a dream, that’s all. An autopilot glitch.
Of course, my body hasn’t quite got the memo that it was all a dream yet – I need to calm down, before she wakes up.
Wow, she does look beautiful when she sleeps though.
When she truly relaxes, when she isn’t stressing, or looking at me like she wants to kill me…
she’s gorgeous. There’s something almost angelic about the way her blonde hair is everywhere, like ivy growing on a building, making everything it covers that little bit more beautiful. I wonder if…
‘Decent?’ I hear my dad’s voice call from the other side of the door.
‘I, er…’
It all happens so quickly. Dad walks through the door and Sammie wakes up. She realises she’s cuddling me first, then that my dad is in the room – it all happens in a second, but it’s enough time for her reflexes to kick in. She stays exactly where she is.
‘Bloody hell, Dad, don’t wait for an invitation, will you?’ I tick him off.
‘I thought you called me in?’ he replies.
‘No…’
‘You said “hiya” – I assumed that was you welcoming me in?’ he reasons.
‘When have I ever said “hiya”?’ I ask.
I feel Sammie’s muffled giggles vibrate against my chest.
‘I don’t know – you’re surprising me all of the time at the moment, Romeo,’ Dad says, laughing to himself.
I notice his vibe shift. When he first walked in the room he looked stunned to see us in bed together – uneasy, I thought – but now that he’s been in here for a couple of minutes, talking to us, he looks nothing short of delighted.
‘I only popped in to say good morning, and that breakfast will be ready soon,’ he says far too casually for a man witnessing whatever this is. ‘If you want to join me and your mum.’
He’s obviously only talking to Sammie when he says that, but I could swear I feel her flinch.
Neither of us moves.
Dad chuckles as he heads for the door.
‘No rush though,’ he says before he leaves us to it – or thinks he does, at least. The only thing he’s leaving us to is one hell of an awkward conversation.
The door closes, plunging us into silence. Sammie still hasn’t moved. Neither have I. Someone needs to do something, to—
Sammie makes the first move, quickly edging away from me.
‘Oh my gosh, Nico, sorry, I don’t know what I… I must have…’
‘It’s okay,’ I assure her.
‘No, it’s not, I was literally on top of you,’ she insists.
Oh, she doesn’t know how right she is.
‘You were asleep, it’s okay…’
‘I never do… that, get in people’s space,’ she says, horrified. ‘I barely moved, sharing with Mum. I usually stay completely on my side. I… I know it’s hard.’
My brain short-circuits.
‘You were sort of on top of me,’ I say in my defence.
Sammie blinks.
‘What?’
There’s a horrible beat where I realise she means the situation is hard.
‘I mean, you were only sort of on top of me, I hardly noticed, it’s nothing to worry about,’ I assure her. I 180 so fast it almost gives me whiplash. I almost embarrassed myself in a way that I could never have recovered from there.
She exhales deeply.
‘It’s not all bad, I guess,’ she says. ‘Your dad definitely thinks we slept together – he’s probably already told my mum.’
‘Words I never thought I would hear anyone say,’ I point out. ‘And things I never thought I would be pleased to hear.’
‘It’s definitely a weird one,’ she agrees, climbing carefully out of bed now. ‘I really didn’t mean to cuddle you. That’s genuinely horrifying for both of us.’
‘You were deep in character,’ I reassure her.
‘Yeah, I think maybe that’s what it was.
’ She pauses for a second, as though she might be about to say something, but she doesn’t.
‘Anyway, it sounds like breakfast is nearly ready, so I’d better head to my room, get changed into my own clothes, brush my teeth – see you at breakfast? We’ll see if our plan really did work…’
‘Sounds good,’ I reply.
I’m still in bed, the covers still firmly over my body.
‘You okay?’ she asks.
I nod.
‘I’m great,’ I insist.
She laughs at me, like I’m being weird, but she doesn’t quite know why.
‘Fair enough – see you at breakfast.’
‘See you at breakfast,’ I reply.
She heads out, closing the cabin door behind her. I fall backwards against my pillows and stare at the ceiling.
How has this got out of hand so quickly? What were we thinking, coming up with this plan, thinking it would work? Is it working? Because my dad actually looked happy for me. The only thing that could make this worse would be me ruining his happiness for himself, and his happiness for me.
The plan was supposed to be foolproof. A way to get rid of Sammie. Instead I’m, what? Having sex dreams about her?!
I need to sort myself out, shake off my dream – no, no, not like that! I mean I need to get a grip on myself – why does everything sound so dirty all of a sudden? Is it because I fancy her? Obviously I do, on a physical level, but on a personal level the two of us just don’t gel.
None of it changes what the actual goal here is, does it? It was just a silly dream. Getting off the boat, that’s the real dream, that’s what I really want… isn’t it?