Baby Lips

Chapter 21

Because I almost passed out in the shower and conked in my bowl of Rice Crispies, I decided taking a nap would be the best way to cure my exhaustion. After throwing on a warm pair of sweat pants and shutting off all the lights in my flat, I flopped on my stomach; sprawling out my limbs and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the cotton pillow case. 

I had a deep sleep. I had no dreams. I was just surrounded by darkness. A few flashes of color came into view every so often to remind me that I was still conscious. I’m positive I didn’t move once and I’m also positive that I was snoring more than usual.  

As the darkness that I saw began to morph into shades of gray, signaling the end of my nap, I heard the melody of my phone vibrating against my night stand. At the time, it sounded like an earth quake was rippling through the house causing my whole room to shake. My eyes slowly opened and I was surprised that it was just as dark in my room as it was in my sleep. 

I threw my hand closer to the night stand, hoping that it would stretch far enough where I wouldn’t have to move my body towards it. With luck I grasped the vibrating device and pushed it to my ear, my cheek still smushed against the pillow as I croaked out a greeting. 

“Hello?” My eyes shut again, but quickly opened and darted in the direction of the glowing red numbers on my alarm clock. They relaxed when I noticed I still had about two hours until my class. 

“So how come I didn’t get a good bye this morning?” My shoulders tensed at his voice and I suddenly became aware at how much of a man I probably sounded when I answered the phone in my groggy post-sleep voice. I quickly cleared my throat and noticed a pain in the back of it. Oh, please don’t let me get sick. I thought as I propped myself up on my elbows. 

“Sorry,” I reached to flick on the lamp and winced at the new light that blinded my sensitive hazel eyes. “It was early... I didn’t want to wake you.” I heard Harry laugh on the other side of the line.  

“I’ll forgive you, I guess.” I rolled my eyes and clutched a patch of my still-damp hair. 

“Gee, thanks.” I released my hair and ran my fingers through it. 

“Don’t sound too excited.” Harry giggled. I pushed out a laugh before he continued. “You know I wasn’t so surprised that you actually came last night.” I quirked an eyebrow and thought back to what Zayn had told me about his and Harry’s little bet. Harry believed that I wasn’t coming. So... shouldn’t he have been some what shocked to see me actually show up? 

“Oh? But Zayn told me about your stupid bet.” There was a quick silence before Harry replied in a hushed tone. 

“He told you about that?” He sounded alarmed, like Zayn had actually told me what him and Louis do behind closed doors.  

“Yeah, he told me how you didn’t think I was going to come last night, so naturally I did.” I laughed lightly, a bit amused by my recent actions to defy Harry. He sighed, which made me more confused. 

“Oh, right... that. I thought you were talking about something else.” And if I wasn’t bemused then I definitely was now. I pushed myself off my stomach and rolled over, leaning my back against the headboard of my bed. 

“Something else?” I questioned, rolling a chunk of hair between my index finger and thumb. 

“Oh, yeah... Zayn and I we, um, we bet all the time. I get a lot of them confused that’s all.” Harry spoke slowly as he struggled to find the right words. The way he responded did not clear anything up, but I decided to let it go. It probably wasn’t anything worth my concern anyway.