Can I Lean On You | Finley & Harlyn #2

Chapter 16

Finley

Harlyn wakes up twice during the night, but he doesn't actually throw up, which I take as a good sign. When I wake up to my eight am alarm, I shut it off as quickly as I can, so it won't wake Harlyn. I carefully extract my arm from under his head and tuck the duvet back around him. He doesn't even move. For a wild second, I wait to see his chest rise and fall under the blankets, just to be sure.

When I pass through the kitchen on the way to the bathroom, I run into Elly. She's looking a little less bright eyed and bushy tailed than normal. Not that she's much of a morning person to begin with.

"Morning, babes," she says, sipping from her freshly poured cup of coffee.

"Morning, El." Once I've done my business, I join her at the dining table where she's scrolling through her phone and nibbling on toast. "You're up early. Ish."

She arches an eyebrow at me. "Not all of us start work at noon, Finley." I stick my tongue out at her. "Very mature. Anyway, turns out 'I was partying too late last night' is not an acceptable reason to call out of work."

"Learn that the hard way, did you?" She sticks her tongue out at me this time. "Very mature, El."

"Yeah, well, that's why I only had a couple drinks last night. Unlike some people's boyfriends." She raises an eyebrow again over the edge of her mug.

"He's, uh...yeah. He's dead to the world up there." I slouch against the table. "I'm going to make him some eggs and toast. I don't think he has class until eleven today, and he shouldn't have work. But I've got class in an hour and a half, so I gotta be quick."

Elly nods. "Did he talk to you last night?"

"He did. I tried to get him to wait until this morning, but he insisted." I bite my lip. "The, uh, thing with Brandon and Hannah really freaked him out. But, of course, he's Harlyn, so he didn't want to inconvenience me or anyone. Didn't want to downplay my bad coming out experiences. Didn't know how to talk about everything he was thinking about."

"Oh, Harlyn," Elly says with equal parts fondness, exasperation, and worry.

"I know. But I think he'll be ok." I push aside my own lingering anxiety to sort through when I'm alone. I don't need to worry Elly with it now.

As Elly heads out for work, I start scrambling some eggs and making toast. Fran's boyfriend, Nate, strolls past me shirtless to get to the bathroom, and I try not to stare. He's a good-looking guy - tall, taller than Fran, tan, and fit. Not just "British fit" as in good looking. "Fit" as in he looks like he works out every day. I still don't know much about him, but from what I can gather, he does manual labor for a construction company and wants to work his way up to project management. Fran is head over heels for him.

Speaking of Fran, she comes through the kitchen only a few moments later wearing a silky robe and a smirk. She freezes when she sees me and blushes to the tips of her ears.

"Oh, morning," she chirps, looking between me and the bathroom door. The shower starts up, and a slow smile creeps across my face. She blushes deeper. "Shut up, Finley."

"I didn't say anything," I say, still grinning. "Go get your man, girl."

She rolls her eyes but immediately slips through the bathroom door.

I'm still grinning when I get up to my room with two plates of food. I only have forty-five minutes before I need to leave for class, so I change as quickly as I can and then sit next to Harlyn with my food. I'm torn between wanting him to wake up so I can say goodbye before I leave and wanting him to stay asleep so I can watch him. I've watched him sleep before, so it's nothing new. But it still makes me all giddy.