Summer At The Store

Afterglow

Peter's eyes lazily blinked awake. He felt Lara Jean's breath on his chest and instantly fell in love all over again. He shook his head slightly just to make sure this wasn't just a dream. He reached up his arm that wasn't held down by Lara Jean and gently pet her hair. He always loved wrapping his fingers within its thick strands and playing with it any chance he got. It fascinated him how her hair could be so long and strong but delicate at the same time, kind of like her. She snuggled her head into him, like a cat. It was still dark out. He looked over at the dull red of the alarm clock on the bedside table. 2:12. He took a moment to stare at the ceiling. He felt a sense of peace over him that he hadn't had since their breakup. Her delicate arm moved up and down on his chest with his breaths. This was his perfect moment.

He closed his eyes again, trying to remember every sense of this moment in case this was all over in the morning. The TV still glowed dim in the corner. An infomercial about a super strong adhesive droned in the background. He could hear her hum in her sleep. It was faint, but just loud enough to hear through her sleepy smile. She smiled in her sleep like an actual angel. The room smelled humid, probably from Lara Jean's clothes that were drying over the air conditioning unit. He licked his lips trying to feel her on them one more time.

He stared out the window. The glow from the light in the parking lot shined through the small breaks in the room's plastic blinds. It was dark, but he could tell it had stopped raining. In the past 12 hours, rain had become his new favorite type of weather. He would be eternally thankful for any weather pattern that would bring Lara Jean back to him.

He leaned down to kiss her forehead. She nuzzled his chest and let out a long breath. He gingerly closed his eyes again knowing that any dream his brain could come up with, was nothing compared to reality.

When Peter awoke in the morning, Lara Jean was gone from his chest. He sat up almost instantly, hoping nothing bad had happened to her. He whipped his head around the room frantically before hearing that the shower was going in the bathroom. He flopped back down and smiled for a moment in pure bliss. He heard a buzz from the dresser and finally got up. It wasn't his phone. It was Lara Jean's. John was calling.

He had tried to push his former friend out of his brain the last week. Since John and Lara Jean were not on good terms, Peter made an effort to just make LJ feel appreciated. The way Peter always wanted to make her feel. He looked down at the vibrating phone and scrunched his face. He couldn't answer it for her without causing her problems which was not his goal.

He turned around as he heard the shower turn off. He ran for yesterday's Adler Lacrosse T shirt and jolted it onto his torso. He ran his hands through his curls and coughed in front of his hand to make sure his breath smelled alright. If they were going to kiss again, he needed to be ready. He sat at the edge of the bed, phone his in hand. He was reading messages from Trevor about practice being cancelled since the fields were rained out when she emerged in yesterday's jean shorts and stripped V-neck t shirt. "Good morning." She said just above a whisper.

"Good morning!" He tried to hide his beaming smile. She looked so perfect in the morning light. Her face, still a little puffy from sleep, smiled back at him. He wanted to get up and wrap her in his arms, but held back. He suddenly realized that she may not be as into this as he was. She did still have the John stuff to deal with. His palms became slightly sweaty as his nervous thoughts took over his brain. "Did you sleep well?"

"Better than in a while." She pushed her hair behind her ears. "Looks like it finally stopped raining."

"It did. Trevor texted me that that everything was rained out at home too. Practice got cancelled because the field was flooded." There was an awkwardness hanging in the room. The two of them weren't used to this. Even when they weren't friends, they always had an ease between them.