Misguided Truths: Part Two (Misjudged #4) (10 page)

“Thanks.”

I think alcohol might be just the thing to steady my nerves. Am I nervous? No, I wouldn’t say it was that, but from where I’m standing I can see right down her shirt again. I might well be able to control my mind, most of the time, but there’s no way I can control my buddy …
down there.

I blink my eyes open and closed a couple of times while I head over and dim the lights, still trying to get the image of her breasts from out of my m
ind. They’re perfectly shaped, and her cleavage is pretty damn impressive.
I had my hands on them only a few days ago.
I remember them being a little more than a handful. Yeah, I know.
Awesome boobies.

When I walk back over to sit down beside her, I notice she tenses in her seat when my leg accidentally brushes against hers, but I try and ignore any feelings that are threatening
to overcome me.
Okay, friend’s time
. I grab a hold of the glass of wine from off of the table, and offer it over to her as I bring my bottle of beer around until it’s in front of the both of us, “Friends?”
Friends
. I hate that fucking word, almost as much as she and I both hate the word
nice.

“Friends,” she repeats after me, tilting her glass forward until it clinks with the neck of my bottle. Good. Yeah. Friends.
It’s a start. She avoids my gaze, and when I bring mine down to where her eyes are now focused, my gut starts to twist in the same way it has so many other times over this past week. “What do they mean?” She asks, never once taking her eyes away from my bicep. Yeah, I knew that was coming.

“This one,” I say, and lean forward while
placing my beer down on the coffee table in front of us. “This means loyalty.” I watch as her eyes roam over me again, and then turn around until she has a clear view of the one on my other arm.
Just say it. You don’t need to explain why you got them or what your reasons for getting them were.
“This one, um … this one means faithful.” She’s gonna ask me, I know she is. I can already see the questioning look that’s crossing into her eyes. I think that it’s time to put a stop to this. It’s already starting to feel a little weird between us, and all I wanted was for us to be able to spend a little easy time together. “Listen, if you’re just gonna be checking me out through the movie, I think I’ll go grab a shirt.” I smirk before taking a mouthful of beer, and then head through to my bedroom.

You think that I’m full of myself? Well, I’m not. It’s just Alexis doesn’t hide the fact that she finds me attractive
, or the way she’s always checking me out. But then, maybe she thinks that she does and that I don’t notice her doing it. She was looking at me in the same way she did at the ball, when I walked her home from the bar on Saturday, and when we were down by the lake. This isn’t gonna be as easy as I originally thought it was gonna be.

I grab one of my vests from out of my bag, and throw it on before making my way back through to the living area. When I approach the couch, I remember the bowl of popcorn that’s still sitting over on the counter behind her. I head over and grab it before sitting back down beside her again.

She made herself a little more comfortable when the movie started, and we’ve both been staring at the screen for a good half an hour now. She seemed to think that it would be highly amusing to make out that she wasn’t into this movie, and she even had the audacity to steal the bowl of popcorn from under my nose. Between you and me, though, I don’t really like the stuff. However, I did make it known that I was gonna get her back for playing a trick on me.

I
can hear her breathing, and her breaths sound a little heavy. When I glance over to make sure she’s alright, I notice her eyes are starting to close. Well, it is pretty late. I check my watch and see that it’s turned two in the morning already. I study her for a couple more minutes, and she certainly looks as though she’s trying to keep them open, but she’s in no way winning the battle.

She got me, it’s time for payback.
How dare she fall asleep when we’re supposed to be hanging out together? It’s rude and totally uncool.

Reaching over, I take a handful of the leftover popcorn from the bowl, and try not to disturb her. She doesn’t seem to be paying any attention to what I’m doing
, so I get into position. The next time she closes her eyes I’m gonna ….
Ha! Right on the forehead!

She bolts up
, and then immediately shakes her head at me, but this only makes me laugh harder. If the look in her eyes is anything to go by then it sure as hell looks like she’s plotting something. Yeah, I’m not so sure throwing popcorn at her while she was trying to sleep was really a great idea after all.

She stands
up and I see her reaching for the bowl. Oh, hell no! I quickly stand because I’m starting to get the feeling that she’s gonna ….
Yep
. She just tipped the whole contents of the glass bowl right over me. A large smile forms over my mouth when I hear her starting to laugh out loud, “Not cool, Alexis.” I shake some of the popcorn off of me, and then move forward and grab her by the waist, pressing her down until she’s laying on the couch. Sweet, it seems that she’s also a little ticklish. I climb on top of her, running my fingers first under her ribs, and then down to her waist as she thrashes her whole body from side to side while she tries, but miserably fails, to escape from my hold.

Some stray pieces of popcorn fall out from my hair
, and I notice them fall onto her chest, which only makes her laugh even harder. It’s good to see her like this. It’s the first time I’ve actually seen her look happy. Her smile is wide, and when my eyes land on her lips, it’s now that I realize I’m lying right on top of her. My dick is starting to swell, and I wanna lean down and taste her on me again, but her laughter subsides and her smile falters.
Shit.
I need to do something.

I need to break the gaze. Stop this before I show any sign of weakness. A stray piece of popcorn is resting by her neck, and I slowly lean forward, taking it in-between me teeth, my lips stroking over her soft skin. Do I wanna kiss her? Yeah. Am I enjoying being this close to her while wanting to brush my lips over every single inch of her body? Most definitely. Will I? I think you and I both know the answer to that.

“Tastes good,” I murmur against her skin before lifting myself away. And, no. I didn’t mean the piece of popcorn, but she doesn’t need to know that. Her face falls some, and I figure she didn’t find my cheap shot at trying to mask this uncomfortable situation so amusing. She looks like she’s begging for me to give her something; to give her more. I lift myself away and sit myself back against the couch, keeping a watch on her as she hastily reaches for her glass of wine. She takes a sip, and then twists away until she’s fully facing the widescreen again.
Yeah, trust me, I wanted me to kiss you too, beautiful.

“Alexis, come here,” I say softly, and offer my arm out to her. “Come and rest your head on me.” She shuffles over
, and rests her head on my chest, bringing her legs up until she’s curled up beside me. I wrap my arm around her, and place my hand by her waist, softly stroking my fingers along her lower back while resting my chin in her hair.
Deep breaths.
Friends can do shit like this. If I can’t kiss her then I need to at least have her close to me.

When the credits roll up the screen, I wait for her to move. But, she doesn’t
. Her face is still nestled against my chest, and I stroke my fingers through her hair a couple of times. I glance to my watch and see that it’s almost four o’clock now.

I spend a few minutes debating on whether or not I should wake her, but she looked tired way before she even came over here. No, I’ll let her sleep. Though, this wouldn’t be such a problem if I didn’t nee
d to use the goddamn bathroom. I move to the side, and scoop her up in my arms before carrying her through to my room, the small noise that leaves her lips when she makes herself more comfortable against me starts to do strange things to my insides.

I lay her down on my bed, pill
one of the blankets over her, and then watch her for a couple of minutes.
Shit
. She’s even beautiful when she’s asleep. I shake my head and sit beside her, but when my eyes land on the picture frame beside my bed, agonizing pain threatens to take over me again. I let out a heavy sigh, reach forward, and whisper ‘I’m sorry’ before taking a hold of the photograph of me and Holls, and placing it inside the top drawer of my nightstand.
She really doesn’t need to be seeing this.

Once I’ve headed
back through to the living area and cleaned up the mess we made earlier, I smile when I remember the look of mischief that flitted into her eyes before she dumped the popcorn over my head. It’s only just four-thirty as I make my way back through to my room again. When I kneel down beside the bed, I notice that Alexis’ hair is covering most of her face, and I thread my fingers through it, lifting it out of the way, “Sleep well, beautiful.” I whisper, lean closer, and place a feather light kiss on her right cheek before grabbing the spare blanket and pillow from beside her.

Where am I going? Well, the floor of course. Why not my bed? Well, I don’t think it would really be all that appropriate or one of the greatest of ideas if she were to wake up and see me lying beside her somehow.

I make myself as comfortable as I possibly can on the hard floor that’s beneath me, and rest my head on the pillow before lifting my hands up behind my neck.

I don’t know why, but it feels pretty serene in here. I feel peaceful. I’m even starting to shut my eyes, but what’s different this time is that I don’t see Holly as soon as my lids fully close. Instead, I see Alexis’ face, and a wide smile beaming widely across those li
ps. A smile forms over my mouth, and I inhale a deep breath, feeling happy that I might actually manage to catch a couple of hours after all. God only knows that it’s been a while.

My eyes snap open, and my hearts thrashing against my chest.
What the fuck is that?
I bolt upright and my breaths are heavy. The room is much lighter, and I have no idea how long I’ve been asleep, but then I hear it again. The loud noise that obviously woke me up. It wasn’t night terrors that caused me to wake from my surprising, but welcome, sleep this time. Nope. It was that sound. The one I’m hearing right now. I glance over in the direction it’s coming from, and my eyes widen up some more. Oh.
Wow.

I kick the blanket away from my legs
, and crawl slowly over to the side of the bed. Cocking my head to the side, I study her.
Huh
. How can someone sleep through that noise? No, wait. Let me rephrase that. How is it possible for somebody so small, peaceful looking, to make that god-awful sound? Yep. You’ve guessed it. She’s snoring. But, before you cast this aside as a guy thing, let me explain. It’s not normal. If you could hear what I’m hearing then you’d fully agree with me. I lean in closer and observe her some more, but it only gets louder and I rest back on my heels. I check the time, and it’s a little before six. My class doesn’t start until ten today, but there’s no way in hell I’m gonna be able to get back to sleep now. Her dodgy nasal passage has made damn sure of that.

I decided to go and grab a shower, setting the coffee machine up on
my way through to the bathroom before going to wake her up. She’s got her audition for the show first thing, and the likelihood that she’s gonna need to head home and change first is pretty high.

I crouch down beside the bed
, and then take a moment to watch her. Well, at least the snoring has subsided, “Alexis …” I whisper.
Nothing.
I lean in a little closer and find myself to swallow, hard. “Alexis.” I whisper a little louder this time, but still, nothing. I run my fingers through her hair, and then rest my hand on her shoulder, shaking her softly.

“Mmm …” Okay, well that seems to have worked a little better.

“It’s almost daylight,” I say a louder this time. Her eyes start to flicker open, and then I find myself to be staring directly into her deep, brown eyes. She looks confused, but I’ve gotta do it. There’s no way I can avoid not saying anything at all because I’ve never seen or heard anything like it. “You snore.” I smirk, and watch her sit up, her eyes scanning around the room.
Yep. You’re in my room.

“What? Um …Why didn’t you
stop me from falling asleep?” Her voice is hoarse, and she clears her throat.

“You looked like you needed to rest,” I say, and press my hands on the side of the bed as I go to stand on my feet. “It’s almost six.” I reach over and grab the coffee I made
for her from off of the nightstand, and pass it over to her, noticing that her eyes have instantly brightened.
Note to self: caffeine addict.
I throw her a smile, and then head back out of my room to give her a little time to wake up and climb out of my bed. When I hear her footsteps across the floor, I head back inside, and she instantly turns to face me.

“Where did
you sleep?” I clear my throat when she asks me this, and then take a moment to think about how to answer her question. We’re not there yet. What I mean by this is that we’re not comfortable around each other enough to be able to joke about things. If I were to tell her that I hardly slept because of the growling noises she made when she was asleep, then it’s likely I’m gonna offend her, and that’s not something I wanna be doing.