Accidental Savior

Chapter 5: Slumber Parties

We made it to the door of my building just as lightning struck a tree right down the street, causing me to jump and scramble to get under the overhang. Jon joined me, his hair dripping into his eyes as he regarded the storm bearing down upon us. The wind was picking up, too, and I half worried I'd get blown away before I entered my code into the keypad.

Even knowing this, my fingers hovered there over the metal numbers as I felt myself grappling with a decision I'd already made in my heart.

I was one big, goddamn idiot for even thinking about doing this.

When he saw my hesitation and the fact that I was grappling with some sort of indecision, Jon spoke loud enough that I could hear him over the near-constant thunder. "Thank you for your kindness, Lottie. You should get inside before this storm worsens."

"I've seen way worse storms. Listen..."

The man's amber eyes widened in surprise as he waited patiently for me to come up with what I wanted to say all while the howling of the wind made it nearly impossible to think.

After several moments, I spoke. "I had an ex-boyfriend with gauged ears. At first, I thought it was cute. Then he kept making his earlobes bigger and bigger until I one day made a Dumbo joke. Then he got really annoyed, and he yelled at me cause I didn't like his ears. So, I broke up with him because it wasn't his ears that I didn't like, but it was his shitty attitude. He also smelled like pickles. Not sure what that was about."

The pointy-eared man cocked his head to the side, and I watched the water run down his chest in rivulets as my words faltered and I got lost staring at him while the wind wipped my hair around wildly.

"Lottie—"

"Huh? Oh! Anyway, what was I talking about? Oh yeah. Ears." My words had me looking at the tips of his ears peeking out from under his dark hair as thunder crashed again, encouraging me to hurry and finish whatever strange and meandering tirade I was going on. "You don't have anywhere to go, right?"

He smiled genuinely, and I found that smirk comforting. "No. But I'll be alright. You head home. You're freezing."

I was freezing, but I wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was right. I didn't need anyone to tell me how I was supposed to feel. With a dramatic sigh, I spoke.

"Okay... fine. If you promise not to kill me, you can stay, but only for tonight. And on the floor. Cause I don't have room for a couch. I've got lots of pillows, though. I'm one of those types of people who puts all her throw pillows on the bed. My bed's more pillow than mattress, to be honest, so I can pretty much build an entire bed for you out of them."

"Are you sure?"

Jon's words drew me to look at his bewildered expression. Despite the calm energy in his voice, his exhaustion was abundantly clear thanks to the gigantic bags under his eyes and the dullness of his brilliantly colored irises.

"Yeah. I'm definitely sure that I've got a lot of pillows. I just can't stop buying them because they're soft and—"

"No. Not the pillows, Lottie." He shook his head, sending droplets of water flying in my direction, not that I minded as I felt the heat from the nearness of his body chasing away the chill from the rain, "Are you sure that you want to invite me in. To stay with you. You've already saved my life. I couldn't bear the thought of imposing on you any further."

I blushed as I hid my embarrassment by turning and entering my code into the pad by the door. "Stop talking like a romance novel. Who says 'I couldn't bear the thought' of something nowadays? And yes, I'm sure. I wouldn't invite you if I wasn't sure. Just... wipe your feet, don't use my towel, and don't murder me. Those are my three rules."