Being Alive [Charlie Barber]

Chapter 9: Gone

Waking up with Charlie Barber's arms wrapped around you was like a fucking dream.

You weren't exactly sure what time the two of you fell asleep but you remembered that you could see peaks of sunlight coming in through the curtains on the window, indicating that it was early hours of the morning.

You and Charlie spent hours and hours sitting up in bed, drinking beer, eating pizza that he ordered the two of you and just getting to know each other. You had made a casual comment earlier that night, about how Charlie didn't know that much about you, and he took that as a challenge. He wanted to know everything about you.

The two of you went back and forth, sharing seemingly useless information about yourselves. Things like what got you into theater, your favorite music, what you did in your free time. It was all surface level for the most part but you had never felt closer to him. He was so easy to talk to.

The best part was, you lost track of the amount of times that you two laughed together. At one point you even had tears in your eyes from the way that he was cracking you up. It felt so easy, way too natural for the situation that you were in with him.

Of course, you couldn't help yourselves from having sex another time before you fell asleep. This second act was lazier than before, more comfortable. You trusted him with your body now so there was no need to worry, you were able to enjoy it even more. He held you close after he came and told you that you were beautiful and you had felt like your heart might explode.

You glanced over at the alarm clock on the bedside table, blinking to adjust to the light of the morning so that you were able to read the digital numbers: ten-thirty.

A yawn escaped your lips as you adjusted in Charlie's embrace so that you were able to look him over. You needed a physical reminder that last night was real, it felt too good to be true.

He was shirtless, wearing his boxers and his watch was ticking away on his wrist. His dark hair was splayed over the white pillow case beneath him and a gentle snore was leaving his chest. You were certain that you'd never seen someone so handsome and the fact that he was holding you close to him made you feel so lucky. 

You couldn't help yourself from reaching up and moving some stray hairs away from his closed eyes. Your touch lingered on his skin as you did so, finding it difficult to not touch him when he was in such close proximity to you.

Feeling the contact, Charlie's eyes slowly fluttered open, waking up. It took him a few moments to remember where he was and who he was with. The memories of the night before flooded through his mind and a sleepy grin made its way onto his face at the way it made him feel. "Hi, sweetheart." He said to you, his voice was deep and raspy, affected by how much the two of you had talked the night before and the lack of sleep.

Even in your fatigued state, you felt butterflies in your stomach to hear him address you that way. "Hi." You said to him. Your hand was still in his hair, gently stroking through his fluffy waves. "Good morning."

Charlie hummed in agreement. It was a very good morning. "You're still here." He commented.

You paused your relaxing motions through his hair, frowning. "Did you want me to leave?" You asked, suddenly feeling stupid. You wondered if he hadn't wanted to actually stay the night, you'd never slept with a married man before, maybe you weren't doing this right.

"No." Charlie replied quickly, "No." He repeated. He tightened his arms around you, one of his hands squeezing you, as if to reiterate his point. "I just thought you might want to."

Really, Charlie thought that the two of you had an amazing night with eachother but he didn't expect you to be there when he woke up. This was a man who was used to sleeping alone on a couch that was too small for him. The idea of waking up to you on his chest in a comfortable bed, was unheard of for him. But he was so glad that it was the case, he was so happy that you were still there.