Kat
I layflat on my back, head sinking into the too-fluffy hotel pillow, arms atop the covers, and stare at the ceiling. Next to me, I can hear Silas breathing steadily. I’m pretty sure he’s in the exact same position I am, both of us on the edges of this massive king bed.
It’s weird. It would be weird no matter what, but at least for me, it’s about three times weirder because not too long ago, I ate a maraschino cherry from his hand and then we made out on a couch while Evan and Olivia apparently watched from across the patio and honestly, what is even happening? Why is this my life?
I’m pretty sure there are people out there who make reasonable, rational choices at every turn and not… whatever the hell I’ve been doing for the past year. I can’t even tell when I went wrong to begin with. Was it when my hot coworker asked me out three years ago, and I said yes? Was it when I threw my life into disarray and moved to Sprucevale, where I knew precisely one person? Was it when I told Evan that Silas was my lover?
On the other side of the bed, Silas heaves a deep breath and crosses his arms over his head on the pillow. I push myself up on one elbow to look at him. After a moment, he opens his eyes.
“Are you watching me sleep?”
“You’re not sleeping.”
“I was working on it.”
“How was that going?”
He rolls onto his side to face me, a blurry shape with his head pillowed on one bicep, and my heart stutters a little. I could touch him. Right now, I could reach out and touch him. In the dark. In this bed. Maybe he’d kiss me back where no one could see.
In other words, if I wanted to, I could make it weird.
“Are we being creepy?” I blurt out.
“Watching me sleep? Yes,” he says, and I can’t see the smile but I can hear it.
“Looking at you to see if you’re awake isn’t watching you sleep,” I point out. “If I were going to watch you sleep I’d pull up an armchair or some shit and really make an evening of it.”
“So you’ve made a plan?”
I narrow my eyes at the blurry shape in front of me.
“Are you disappointed that I don’t want to watch you sleep?” I ask. “If you want it that much, I guess I could arrange something. As a favor to you.”
“Sure. To me,” he says. I sigh, then flop back onto my pillow.
“We followed my ex-boyfriend on vacation,” I tell the ceiling, and if Silas listens it’s okay.
“Fiancé.”
“Let me forget one bad decision.”
I can hear him chuckle in the dark.
“It would be creepy if we followed them around all day tomorrow and started dry-humping every time they turned to look at us,” he says, voice so low and slow I can almost pretend Silas didn’t just say dry-humping. “But we happen to be hanging out at the same resort.”
He sounds so confident that I nearly believe that my actions are not those of a madwoman.
“Maybe we won’t run into them again,” I tell the ceiling.
“Running into them is the point, Kat.”
He’s right, of course. Never mind that earlier, I wished they weren’t there so we could keep making out on the patio. Maybe we’d be naked in this bed right now instead of wearing pajamas and discussing our business deal.
I tighten my hands in the comforter and chase the thought away.
“Right. I know,” I say, and we lapse into silence for a while.
Eventually, Silas clears his throat.