The feeling of something warm and soft touching my stomach causes me to wake. I open up my eyes, seeing the darkness outside. It looks like it must be really early in the morning.
I realize I must have fallen down into the couch, with Hunter upon me. She is laying on me like I did on her the last time we fell asleep on the sofa. But Hunter's hand has managed to get under my shirt and onto my skin.
Her hand is warm and so soft. She is lying cuddled and curled up on me, even though it is Saturday we should get up before mom and dad comes down.
I really do not want to wake her. She looks so adorable with her hair messed up on both of us. I like the sound of her breathing and the way she moves. I brush her hair away from her face.
"Hunter?" I say her name, but no response. I try again.
"Hunter?"
"Hmm?" She mumbles, it sounded so cute and it made me smile.
"We need to move." I tell her.
"No." She says and turns her head around to the other side. Her hand under my shirt moved just some inches on my stomach, but it was enough to send a shiver through my body.
I am not sure if she thinks this is a dream or not, but I need to get her up to bed before dad and mom gets up. I shake her and call her name again.
"Hunter gets up." I chuckle. She moves her head laying straight forward on me and opens her eyes, slowly. Her eyes widen and I know, so before anything could happen, I cup her face in my hands and whisper.
"It's okay." Her tired eyes are staring into my mine. There is a hint of shock in there, maybe she is good at hiding it, or I calmed her down. I hope it is the second one.
"Hunter, it's just me, okay?" She nods. I let her go and she sits up. I study her and I can see on her face that she is beating herself up in there.
When she does it, she has this frozen look in her eyes, where she is starring out in the air. It scares me when she has that look in her eyes because I can't read her thoughts. I don't know what is going on in her head.
"What you are thinking?" I ask and sit up next to her.
"Nothing." She answers and yawn.
"I think we should go up and get some sleep." I tell her.
"You can go. I am probably not going to fall asleep again. Even if I do, I am going to wake up not long after." I take her hand in mine. She looks down at them and then up to me. Her blue eyes filled with sadness.
"I think I know what the problem is." I tell her, now she looks confused. After a while of thinking, I do not think it's watching a movie is the reason for her to fall asleep. I think the reason for her not sleeping is because she feels exposed and unsafe when she is alone.
When we have been sleeping on the couch, she has seemed fine, and she looked for me when she slept. Both of the times, we have always ended up with each other. I think she is scared and lonely.
"Come with me." I stand up with her hand in mine. She moves up and follows me up the stairs. I lead her into my room.
"What are you doing?" She asks, looking skeptical.
"I think the problem of why you have these nightmares is because what ever happened to you happened at night," she looks down at the floor, looking more vulnerable than ever.
"And I think you need to feel safe when you sleep because you are afraid it will happen again. I do not know what happened to you Hunter, but I want to help you to make some of the pain fade. I think we can start with the sleeping," She looks at me now thoughtful, processing all of this.
"If that is okay with you? Because I have noticed you sleep when I am next to you." I know it can be a problem with the touching, but it seems like it has eased a little around me. I have been holding her hand for a while now and she hasn't even protested. She looks unsure.
"You don't have to Hunter, but for me, it seems like it is the answer for you to get some sleep, and I know you are aching for it." After the incident of her breaking down in front of me really hurt. It was like I could feel all of her pain in my bones. She looks at me like she can't decide.
"Skylar, I am not sure. I can be very restless and I can hurt you if I..."
"No, you won't. Hunter, you were so peaceful when you slept with me." I can see her cheeks redden, and it is adorable. I can't even prevent the smile coming on my face and I think I blushed as well. It may have sounded weird the way I said it, but there is no other way to describe it. She uses her free hand to rub her eye, and she is blinking her eyes more than she should.
"Do I have to beg you, because it is kind of painful to watch you like this." She looks at me like I told her my biggest secret, her eyes focused on me like I am the only person in this world. Then finally, she nods. I felt the victory in me, making me smile.
"Okay, good." I tell her. I walk with her hand in mine to the bed. Since my bed is laying into a wall, I lay down first and then she lies beside me. Then I take the duvet over both of us. Her eyes on me, she looks like she is about to pass out. She is so draining that it is scary, but I hope this is going to work.
"Now you're the one staring." I say, she looks down and her cheeks are burning red."Sorry." There is a hint of a laugh in her voice.
"It's okay." I chuckle. She moves to look at me again.
"I can't keep my eyes open." She says, I know she is about to fall asleep again, I can hear it in her voice and her breathing.
"It's okay, Hunter." I promise her. After a while, she fell asleep and I am glad she did. She deserves it so much. I don't know what her nightmares are about, but considering she reacted to my words, whatever happened to her was in the night.
To be honest, I am not sure if I want to know what happened to her that causes her nightmares. It must have been awful since she is struggling to sleep. The sound of Hunter's breathing is relaxing to listen to and now my eyes are hard to keep open. I give in and close them.
I open my eyes finding myself buried in Hunter's neck, she lies with her back to me. My hand is laying around her stomach and she is so warm and soft. I never though waking up next to someone would feel so wonderful. The clock on the wall says it is twelve in the morning. Mom and dad must already be awake.
"Hunter." I whisper. Her breathing tells me she did not hear me, she is sleeping deeply.
"Hunter." I say her name louder. Instead of waking up, she moves around and placing her arm around me, her face so close to mine. I study her and find a small scar over her left eyebrow; it seems old since it has most likely faded as much as it can.
"Hunter." I say her name much louder this time. She opens her eyes fast and they widen just as she saw me up so close. Hunter moves back, falling down on the floor. I burst out in laughter and move to the edge of the bed watching Hunter rubbing her temple.
"You- you okay?" I ask and I am laughing so hard that my stomach is hurting and I can't breathe. She moves to sit on her knees and I can see her red cheeks. I calm myself down and take the happy tears away from my eyes.
"Yes, you just scared me." She admits.
"Sorry that I laughed, but it was a little funny." And adorable. That is something she doesn't need to know. The sound of plates clinking downstairs cause both of us to stand up on the floor."We should probably go change, and walk downstairs." Hunter agrees with a nod.
"See you later then." She says and starts walking out.
"Yeah." I answer and then she is gone.
YOU ARE READING
I'll Reach For You (GirlXGirl)
RomanceSkylar Mason lives the perfect life with her parents, but one day her father, a social worker, decides to bring home a girl who he has been struggling to find a home to. Skylar hates the idea of sharing the house with a girl she does not know except...