Kaden | ✓

part thirteen ♚ moribund

After I got changed and ready to go to sleep, I found Emmaline with a pillow and thin blanket on my couch. She stretched her legs out over the blanket.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "What are you doing?"

Her head snapped up. "I'm getting ready to sleep...?"

"Why are you on the couch?"

"Because I'm sleeping here? What kind of question is that?"

I shook my head. "You're not sleeping on the couch, Emmaline."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "It's your room, Kaden."

"I don't care. Sleep on the bed."

"No."

I let out a sigh. "Emmaline, you're sleeping on the bed if I have to tie you down to it."

"Kaden-"

I crossed the room in five long strides. I slid one arm beneath her knees and wrapped the other around her back. I lifted her effortlessly, ignoring her loud protests. When I tossed her on my bed, she glared up at me.

"I hate you."

"Good." I said. "Now go to sleep."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "No."

"Emmaline."

"No."

"What's so wrong with you taking the bed?"

"It's your bed."

"And you're the guest."

"Kaden, I can sleep on the couch. It's probably more comfortable than my bed at home."

"I can sleep on the couch." I said. "Stop arguing. You're already on the bed."

"You picked me up and threw me onto it!"

I waved it off. "Technicalities."

She groaned loudly. "Seriously, Kaden. Let me take the couch. It's one night. It won't kill me."

"It won't kill me either." I said. "So you take the bed. I'm done arguing about it." I sat on the couch and shifted the pillows while Emmaline examined where she was sitting.

"You know," she said. "This bed's pretty big. We...we could both fit on it."

I made sure she couldn't see my face. "Are you suggesting that we sleep together?"

"Stop smirking." She snapped. "And yes, I happen to be."

"I'm not smirking."

"I know you are. Stop lying."

"I'm not lying."

"Kaden, I can see your face." She shook her head. "Well? Are you going to make me regret making a suggestion by ignoring it, or are you going to give me an answer?"

"I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

She threw her head back and laughed. "I'd be more uncomfortable with you sleeping on the couch."

We put a pillow between us to distinguish the "boundary". My face was hot the entire time, and her cheeks were a bright pink. Once it was all settled, she rushed out a good night and flipped onto her side, her back facing me. I chuckled and rolled onto my stomach, my face turned away from the pillow. I was expecting to be up for hours thinking, but I fell asleep immediately.

♚

When I woke up, someone was in my arms. Hair tickled the skin of my forearms and my neck, and my legs were tangled with the other person's. I was surprisingly warm and comfortable, even though my arm was twisted beneath a person and my legs were bent at an odd angle. I opened my eyes.