What's a Heart to a Soul

2.8 Strong Together

⚠️ WARNING ⚠️ This chapter contains situations involving sexual assault that may be triggering to some individuals.

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Last night was the first dreamless night I'd had in years. I hadn't felt so rested, possibly ever, and the feeling of waking up next to Carter was unexplainably familiar and amazing. It felt like Christmas morning but we weren't even through October yet. Everything, every moment, every kiss, every touch, every laugh, every everything, felt nothing short of perfectly right with her. I could hardly remember a moment in my life feeling as happy as I did every second in her presence and I honestly didn't want to try. It was crazy really, to be so obsessed and comfortable with someone so quickly. I mean hell, here I was cuddled up with her the morning after our first date, not to mention our first kiss, without having had sex. There was something so incredibly intimate about the notion of sleeping with someone without sleeping with them. I reached out and brushed a strand of her long blonde hair behind her ear and her eyes fluttered open.

"Good morning beautiful." She mumbled out, her voice low and raspy from having just woken up.

I smiled, melting at her words "Good morning gorgeous."

"What time is it?" She questioned as she snuggled closer to me.

"A little past nine." I replied, running my fingers through her hair.

"I'm hungry." She whined.

I laughed at her adorable grumpiness "I can have some breakfast delivered to my house by this amazing little bakery I know so that it gets there before we grab the book if you'd like."

She lay with her eyes closed, her arms tightly wrapped around me. She seemed peaceful in this moment, the outside world foreign to her mind.

"The book?" She mumbled out, her eyes opening wide and meeting mine "Oh right, the dream chasing mission."

"Yeah," I bit my lip tilting my head slightly to the side as I looked back at her "that is if you're still down for it?"

She hesitantly nodded, "Yeah I am, I guess I just got so caught up in the shock of it all that I didn't think about the logistics of it."

"You mean the fact that our biggest lead is across the country?" I stated more so than questioned back to her.

Admittedly the whole plan was a little half baked. We didn't have any idea what we were even going to find once we got there.

I mean hell the house could've burned down for all I know!

"Yeah that among other things but," she paused, her eyes softening as she gazed back at me "I want to figure out what this is."

"The dream drawings or us?"

"Both."

The silence that followed was like a mutual understanding of the weight carried by our current situation. Last night there had been so much adrenaline and nerves mixed in with the shock and confusion. I was certain neither of us had fully processed the true implication of these dream drawings tying us together like our fate were written in the stars.

I brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and felt my cheeks growing hot "Me too."

We slowly, and regretfully, made our way out of bed and I had stolen a new toothbrush from a pack in Carter's bathroom.

I mean I couldn't possibly kiss her with morning breath now could I?

The tangles in my hair were wild, but Carter had let me use her detangler and hairbrush to ever so slightly tame the monstrosity. I had then put back on my same dress for yesterday and said a silent thank you to the universe that no one but Carter had seen me in it yesterday.