Lifeline (Marc Guiu)

Chapter 10

The thing about casual sex was that it didn't usually include things like cuddles or anything remotely romantic. In the case of Alicia and Marc, it didn't include falling asleep and waking up together. So that stay in Castellón was the first time they did that. Marc woke up first and at first he didn't recognised where he was. He also needed a couple of seconds to remember why there was a woman's head resting on his shoulder. But the moment he remembered it was Alicia, he smiled.

Marc wasn't stupid and had guessed he felt more for Alicia than Alicia felt for him. He could tell he was ready for more while she wasn't. And it was fine...for now. He was just happy to have her in his life but feared the day he needed more and couldn't just be content with their current situation.

When he noticed Alicia moving, Marc closed his eyes so she wouldn't know he had been looking at her sleeping for at least ten minutes. It was their first time waking up together but he didn't want it to be the last. So better not to creep her out or something.

Alicia also needed a second to remember where she was but she didn't smile when she saw Marc by her side. She got scared. Scared of those feelings that she kept refusing to face. So she tried to move away from him slowly but, when he noticed, Marc took that chance to open his eyes.

"Good morning".

"Morning", she whispered, trying to tell all those feelings to please shut up. "I...I need to go to the bathroom. Be right back".

Marc nodded and looked at Alicia leaving the bed and walking to the bathroom. She closed the door and leaned against it, breathing as slowly as possible. But...how could Marc look so cute when he had just woken up? It wasn't fair. Alicia's hair was a mess and she felt like her face looked so puffy. She felt ugly and then remembered the way Marc had looked and...why was he with her? It didn't make sense.

Obviously, he wasn't with her as in dating. They were friends. Just that. Well, friends who had sex sometimes. Very often, actually. But just that. Of course, because Alicia knew she wasn't pretty enough to date a guy like Marc anyway. She had always known Victoria was the pretty one out of the two of them. Victoria could be Marc's girlfriend and they would look so good together. Though just thinking about it made Alicia feel a little sick but it was just an example. Victoria was obsessed with Fermín and wasn't going to date anyone else.

"What time is it?", asked Marc to himself before picking up his phone from the bedside table.

He kept staring at the bathroom's door every couple of seconds. Alicia was taking too long but he didn't want to bother her. He was too busy remembering how beautiful she had looked sleeping with her head on his shoulder. How good it felt to feel her arms around his waist. And her sleepy face was adorable. He wanted to see that face every time he woke up now but knew that wasn't going to happen.

"We need to be downstairs in 20 minutes", said Alicia when she finally got out of the bathroom.

"Ok. Do you want to shower first or...why is your face wet?", Marc lifted his hand to touch Alicia's face and frowned.

"I like splashing cold water on my face to fully wake up", she lied. She didn't. It was horrible but she hated how puffy she looked so she thought maybe the cold water would help.

"Doesn't sound very fun", he laughed. "So...shower?"

"You go first. I'm going to catch up with texts and all that".

Alicia did just that but she also put her headphones on to listen to some music. She was too distracted humming along to Taylor Swift songs while she checked Instagram to notice Marc was out of the shower and out of the bathroom. When she didn't answer his question, Marc noticed Alicia was listening to something and couldn't resist the temptation of scaring her.