Love At First Lie | Herophine Fic

Our Story To Concoct

HERO

Slowly, my eyes begin to blink open with an echoing noise in the distance. The noise is constant and ongoing in threes. I've no idea what it could be. So, rolling over, I pull the duvet closer to me enjoying the warmth before resettling back down into the unbelievably comfy bed again. But the noise still persists. In sequence, three louder and louder thrums sound between me and something else.

Sighing, admitting defeat, I slowly sit up and rub my tired eyes. I'm not hungover from last night per se, but I certainly don't feel spritely or fresh... Shit, last night. The plans Jo and I made for breakfast hit my brain, whirring through too quickly for me to remember. We said 9am. Fuck, what time is it? I also said I'd get her...

I frantically reach for the small, digital clock standing on the nightstand beside me and turn it to face me. My heart sinks with shame as my eyes focus on the time displayed. 9:31am. Shit. Fuck. Bollocks. Knowing what the noise is now, I whip the duvet off me, feeling the cold pull goosebumps onto my skin and pace around the bed towards the source of the knocking. The front door. Knowing who'll be on the other side, just as a first knock sounds again, I pull the door open cutting the second and undoubtedly third knock out to find her standing there, dressed and ready. Just like I expected her to be.

"Good... morning," she says, coyly nodding down slightly before moving and cementing her gaze to mine. It's only then I realise how I'm greeting her. With nothing on... apart from my boxers. And the evidence of blatantly obvious morning wood. Fuck my life. I feel my eyes widen as I realise the situations I have in front of me. One, I've overslept which right now is probably the least of my worries. Two, I'm barely dressed, greeting Jo at the door and three, just to add insult to injury with morning wood. This could only happen to me.

It's too late for me to cover up. It's more than grabbed her attention so quickly, I place my hand on her shoulder and pull her into my room. Slamming the door shut, hearing her soft giggles behind me, I quickly pace to the wardrobe on the other side of the room and take out the robe hanging in there. Why didn't I just grab this before I opened the door? No, that would have been too easy. And for some reason, I was too curious to open the door and see the source of the noise. Even though I knew who it was. Dipshit.

"Ugh, I'm sorry. I overslept," Jo's soft giggles float further into the room before she takes a seat on my messy bed. Slowly, she turns her head around to me and thankfully - more so for me than her - it's safe to look. Or rather, safer.

"I thought you might have. And don't worry about... that. It's normal," her soft, somewhat tired eyes lift up to meet my surprised gaze. I mean, she's not wrong, it is normal. But it's really not how I wanted to greet her this morning considering our plans. Which seemingly have gone out of the window now thanks to my oversleeping. This is what happens when I don't have my phone alarm, I'm too reliant on that bloody thing. I wanted to greet her - like a proper boyfriend should - pick her up and take her to breakfast. Just like we'd planned. But no. My mind and body had different ideas.

"Yeah... Honestly, I'm really sorry. I - erm - let me just go and get dressed then we'll head down for breakfast," Jo nods, telling me that sounds good all while sounding completely unaffected by this. I feel like a bumbling hormonal teenager around her. I've never been like this with anyone. At all. Not even when I was an actual teenager being dragged through the hell that is puberty. She just has this effect on me. Her calm, even Australian accent and complete nonchalance only add to my confusion.

I expected her to be repulsed and head back to her room after telling me to have a wank or something. Not that I'd blame her if she did. Like I said, it would be expected. But instead, she's sitting patiently waiting on my bed for me. The more I think about it, perhaps she's thinking now - maybe as I should be more - what would a real couple do? Today is all about perfecting what we need to convey as an us. To make sure people look at us and treat us a couple in readiness for the competition to start. Because that's what it is. A race to the finish.