Miracle- Noah Sebastian (SEQUEL TO THE GREY)

four

*Sutton's POV*

I stirred awake in my bed, feeling the weight of Penny on my stomach. I gently moved her, going to go to the bathroom since she had been pushing all of her weight into my bladder.

I noticed that Danielle was awake, but went back to my room to have some more time to wake up by myself. I did send Noah a Snapchat of Penny looking pissed off, still betrayed that I shoved her off of me. It was 9 am, so I didn't expect a response for a while. I scrolled through Twitter for a while, gathering updates on the state of the world. COVID is getting a million times worse, and they're beginning the process to create vaccines for it. I felt my stomach twist in anxiety, deciding to go downstairs and make some coffee.

I'm glad that I'm not in a position like many are right now, where they're having to just go back to work as though things are normal, even though it's getting worse every day. Dillon said that they're anticipating opening back up in a few weeks, and I can't even imagine justifying going to work in these conditions. I'm eternally grateful that I landed this position with Bad Omens when I did, especially since I make enough money for Danielle to take her time to job hunt. She's thinking about trying to find something remote, but wanting to be careful about what she applies for. I'm totally okay with covering things until then, plus I have all of my savings from selling the car.

I took my coffee with me back upstairs, still depressed with the emptiness of the living room. I coaxed Jemma to come upstairs with me, her laying by my bed. I checked my phone, surprised Noah was awake. He sent a Snapchat of him smiling, him captioning it with some laughing emojis and "good morning, Pen." I smiled, thinking about how I probably made him laugh as soon as he woke up. I sent back a Snapchat of Penny, now sleeping on the bed, captioning it "good morning, Noah" with some hearts, feeling stupid about it.

"Danielle!" I called out to her room. I heard her get up and poke her head into my room, smiling at Jemma. "I'm bored, and also the living room depresses me," I said with a laugh, making her laugh at me.

"Are you suggesting retail therapy? In this economy?" She said with a laugh, making me laugh.

"Come help me order things, I don't want to go out into the world," I said with a smile, making her do the same.

"Shit is getting scary, isn't it?" She mused, sad as well.

"Yeah, it's... a lot. Dillon said they're opening back up in a few weeks." She raised her eyebrows at me. "Yeah... they'll require masks and stuff, but we still don't know if things are transferring through stuff like money."

"I hate that for her," she mused sadly as I pulled up IKEA, a Snapchat popping up from Noah. "How's that going?" She asked, nudging my arm.

I felt the blush rising in my cheeks as I met her eyes for a second. "Kind of just... incredible," I said bashfully, making her giggle with me. I recalled our date from a couple of nights ago, leaving out the shower stuff, since he's like a brother to her. "He's just so incredible, and I don't know what I've done to deserve him, but I love him so much." Her jaw dropped more than it already was, and she gave me a playful shove.

"You looooove him," she taunted, making me blush more. "Oh my God, did he paint that?" She asked, pointing at the painting he did that I had put above my dresser.

"He sure did," I said with a proud smile. "Our first date was at the Norfolk botanical gardens and the Japanese cherry blossoms were easily our favorite part," I explained, making her squeal in cuteness. "He did pretty good," I admired.

"He really did," she said with a chuckle. "So are you throwing a label on it or anything?"

"Not yet, I don't know whose call that should be, or if it even matters at all," I admitted with a small chuckle. "Oooo, look at this table," I said as I showed my screen to her.