Sickening Desire

16. Nightmare

(Aspen)

We walk back into his apartment and I'm already dreading the next words that leave my mouth. "Can I have something to sleep in?" He turns around to meet my tired eyes and nods while going into his room the get me something. He comes out after a short while and hands me a white shirt. I thank him and walk into his bathroom to change. I fold my clothes and put them to one side and put the white shirt over my head, pulling it down my body. Apart from his shirt all I'm wearing are my black underwear but luckily the shirt fits big on me and reaches down just below my mid thighs.

I walk out of the bathroom holding my folded clothes in my hands and see him leaning on his small kitchen island waiting for me. When he looks up and sees me his eyes drop to his shirt and them to my legs, then back up to my face. His lips part but no words come out so I break the silence while putting my folded clothes on his sofa, "Thanks for the shirt." "Yeah, don't mention it." He says slowly while eyeing me up and down.

Just as I go to lay down on his sofa he stops me, "No no I'll sleep on there you can take the bed." He says. "No it's your bed, I'll be fine here." I insist but he's already shaking his head before I can even finish my sentence but before he can say anything I quickly add on, "I'm serious Theo, please just go to bed. I'm tired and you don't need to act all gentlemanly for me." I laugh a little when I say my last few words. He sighs in defeat after a few more moments on denial and gets a pillow and blanket for me from his room. I thanks him and say goodnight, he hesitates for a few more moments just looking at me. Like he wants to say something.

Eventually he walks away and shuts his bedroom door after him. I sigh and close my eyes as I attempt to get comfortable. I pull the throw blanket up to my chin and curl my legs so I can keep warm. My eyes begin to droop and I eventually fall asleep.

(Theo)

My eyes flutter open and I roll over to check the time on my phone, it's 1:13 am. Shit I'm tired. I go to shut my eyes again but my mouth is dry as fuck so I reluctantly get out of bed and stumble to my door and walk into the kitchen. I glance over my shoulder at Aspen on the couch, she's asleep. I still feel guilty I let her sleep on there, but she's stubborn as fuck and I know there's no way she would have slept in my bed. I get a glass from the side and put it under the tap to fill it.

I hear Aspens quite voice from the sofa but when I turn to look at her I see she's still asleep. My brows furrow, I could swear I heard her. I place the glass down on the side and walk slowly over to her. I crouch down next to her and see her eyes closed. Maybe she was just dreaming or something?

I stand back up and walk to the kitchen, I bring the glass of water to my lips and take a sip, the cold liquid sliding smoothly down my throat and refreshing my mouth. However I stop when I hear soft cries from Aspens direction, I set the glass down again as my head snaps her way but when I see her legs thrashing under the blanket my body automatically starts moving her way. Her cries get louder and tears are running down her beautiful face. My hands move to her body and lightly shake her while chanting in her ear, "Aspen wake up! Aspen! Aspen wake up! Wake up!"

Finally she wakes and her body jolts up, moving into a sitting position. Her hand comes to her chest and covers her fast beating heart. She's panting like she's just run up a steep hill and tears still pour from her eyes. She must finally come around because she looks down at my hands on her body and then looks up to meet my stare. "What the fuck was that?" I ask,
also breathlessly because she just scared the shit out of me. She tucks strands of her blue hair behind her ears as I search her glossy eyes. "It was just a nightmare." She says like it's nothing. "Just a nightmare? I've had nightmares before and None of them have looked like that." I state.

She swallows, "I know, it's just a personal thing. Just forget about it okay? Go back to sleep." She says in a tired voice. I stop her before she can relax and fall asleep again by grabbing her arm and throwing the blanket off of her. "Hey I'm cold!" She protests. Her body turns to face me and I take advantage of her new placement by lifting her up and holding her in my arms while walking to my bedroom. "What are you doing, put me down Theo!" She protests again. "Your sleeping in my room, if you end up having another nightmare I'd rather be here for it." I reply to her.

I place her on my bed and she yawns into her palm while protesting once again, "I'm not staying in your stupid bed Theo." But she's putting her head into the pillow and snuggling into the mattress. I huff out a laugh and slide in next to her. I'm pretty sure she's asleep when her hand comes out to rest on my bare chest. I think about removing it but I let her keep it there. My body slide down further into the bed and I angle myself so I'm closer to her.

She's cold and I'm warm so I'm really just trying to help her.

As I'm drifting off to sleep I can't help but wonder what her nightmare was. What it was, who was in it, why did she have it, does she always have them, why does she have them? A million questions ran though my mind but only one stood out to me in a terribly terrifying way....

Why is she so goddamn pretty?