bury you by my side| dream x oc

5

Waking up in a confused state, I jolted up, hands darting for my phone. 2 pm. How did I manage to actually fall asleep at a decent hour, and stay asleep without the constant waking up and tossing and turning. As I gathered more consciousness, I realized that I was not in my own bed, I glanced over to find Clays arm, wrapped around my waist, still blissfully sleeping. My heart fluttered, taking in the scene. Remembering the events of last night, and how Clay held me while I poured my heart out to him.

Suddenly my phone began to ring, snapping me back into reality, it was my boss. I let out a disappointed sigh and slid to answer it. "Hello?", "Eva! I'm going to need you to come in early than scheduled tonight, some stuff came up and you need to relieve someone" he said, "is there any chance I can deny that? I'm kind of in orlando right now and won't be able to make it in time-" I was quickly cut off, "it's mandatory, your job is on the line." He stated,before I could even respond, he hung up. I turn to Clay and when I was about to wake him, he says "you know that's illegal for him to do.", "what?" I say, confused. "Threaten your job if you don't come in earlier than you're supposed to, that's illegal. You honestly should just quit. It seems like he walks all over you and takes advantage of your work ethic." "I can't afford to quit, I kind of really need that job so-" I was cut off, "you don't need that, just quit, and I'll help you find another job, and don't worry about your bills or anything. I can pay them".

I paused. Staring blankly at him. "Clay, I can't ask you to do that. That's absurd.", I was quickly cut off once again. "Move in with us then, we have an extra room. You don't have to worry about paying anything until you get back on your feet.". "Really?" After another brief pause, he chimes in, "what are friends for? I told you I'm here for you, for whatever". "Clay I won't even know what to say to him-".

"Let me do it for you then" Clay says reaching his hand out to grab it. I put in the passcode and watched as he opened the messages between my boss. He wasted no time on typing his message.

Eva:
Hello, after tough consideration, I feel like I'm being taken advantage of, I am worth more than that, therefore I will not be in today, or any day moving forward. Thank you for the experience, and best wishes moving forward.

Almost immediately the message was read. Anxiety rushed over me as the grey text bubble appeared, then disappeared, only to appear again.

Boss:
👍

Clay hands me back my phone. "See there you go" he says. "Now let's go to your house and pack some stuff, George and Nick can help". I genuinely don't know how to feel about this. But I feel... relieved?? Here's to new steps in life I guess?

The whole ride to my house I kept getting waves of panic over me. The same thoughts wandering my brain. Why are they being so helpful to me? Nobody cares this much right? I haven't been around this many men since that night? I quickly shut my thoughts away. They aren't like that. Clay wouldn't put me through that after seeing me so hurt would he? No. I'm overthinking.

"We're here" Clay says excitedly, bringing me back into reality once again. I fidget through my purse to find my keys and pull them out, "let's go then" I say before unbuckling, only to realize that Clay, once again is making his way to my door to let me out. I can feel the heat rush to my cheeks and I step out and make eye contact, into his sparkling, beautiful, green eyes. "Simp" Nick says, breaking the moment. I shake it off because there's no way he's simping, he's just trying to be a good friend. As we walk up to the door, I let out a sigh, knowing that with my mental state lately, I haven't cleaned up, in months. But to my surprise upon opening the door, neither of the 3 even batted an eye, they just stepped in and started asking me what I found essential to take.

After almost 4 hours of them running back and forth to the car with armfuls of my belongings, we were finally done. The whole time I felt guilty, none of them wanted me to help carry anything to the car. "I think that I should tidy up a bit before you tell your landlord about the move" George says. Nick and Clay almost immediately jumping to help him, they all assigned each other jobs. While once again I was stuck watching them with guilt built up in my chest. "Anything you need me to help with?" I shyly say to anyone who would listen. "No, we're here to help you, please just relax. We don't want anymore stress on you" Clay exclaims. Sigh.

A/N: sorry this seemed long, I'm trying to build up some info before jumping deep into the story. Again please leave some comments for criticism or even positive feedback. I just wanna make sure I'm doing okay!