𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐄 | 𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘔𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘯

𝐯. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭

~ five. the nina project ~

***

Val woke first that morning. With the anchor of another person next to her, it was easy to fall back to sleep - this time without the nightmares - granting her body the rest it so badly needed. She was still a little shaken but paying her subconscious too much attention would only drive her insane so, instead, she focused on question based more in reality. More specifically: what was Eddie's arm doing around her waist?

There was still a fair distance between them but, at some point during the night, that gap had been breached. He was still fast asleep, oblivious to the hysteria he was causing and, likely, the reason why. Unless putting his arm there wasn't an unconscious decision and he knew exactly what he was doing but that would only make things worse because what would that mean? Did she want it to be deliberate? 

Val had only just got used to the idea of calling Eddie a friend - she hadn't even thought about the possibility of him becoming something more. Well, that wasn't strictly true but they weren't thoughts she was taking seriously... although maybe she should be. Her breakup with Patrick was still fresh so the mature, sensible decision would be to wait a while before rushing into anything with someone new... but weren't her parents always telling her 'sensible is just a nice way of saying boring?' No - she was getting way ahead of herself; she didn't even like Eddie like that. Her brain was clearly just running out of things to talk about. She had been away from civilisation for too long. 

She unravelled herself from the bed and made her way to the bathroom where her clothes were hanging up, waiting for her. The last thing she wanted to do was put on clothes she had already worn for three days straight but the outfit she slept in hardly classed as a suitable alternative. If they couldn't shower, Val at least wanted to wash and dry her one outfit overnight but the lack of any clean water rendered that idea futile. All the more reason to return to normal society as soon as possible.

"Did you sleep okay?" A groggy voice came from the door frame. Rubbing his eyes and squinting at the light, Eddie yawned as if he hadn't just slept through the better part of the morning. Val laughed to herself, thinking about how he - no, she had to get a grip. Those thoughts weren't doing anyone, least of all herself, any favours.

"Fine," She said, throwing him his Hellfire shirt and jacket before swiftly removing herself from the room. These butterflies were just her body's bizarre way of coping with everything going on - nothing more, nothing less.

"Do you, um, want to talk about last night?"

No, she most certainly did not. 

"About your nightmare?"

Oh - the other thing. Still a hard pass.

"What's there to talk about?" She shrugged as he followed her downstairs, foiling her plans to escape him. "It was just a nightmare, it wasn't real."