Florecer

Try It Again

     Breathing in the first breath of the morning, Lily stretched and yawned, blinking groggily up at the ceiling. The gray hour was leaking in through the window and she figured it was about six in the morning. Then she realized that the window was not where it should be. She lifted her head in confusion and found herself in neither her or Tracy's bedroom. And June was there, lying beside her, asleep. Then she remembered. She was at June's and had accidentally spent the night.

     She stretched a little more, feeling better now that she knew where she was, then checked her body to make sure everything was in order. She was wearing everything she had on yesterday except for her shoes. Her feet wore only socks. June was wearing the same thing from the day before, too, and was also missing shoes. Well, at least that was consistent.

     Lily lifted to a sitting position and roamed her gaze over June's sleeping form. June was lying on her back, an arm limp at her side, the other loosely covering her lower stomach. It was a polite and protective sleeping position, and Lily smiled at how proper it looked.

     After a minute Lily brought her legs to herself and extended her arms above her head until her shoulder cracked. She groaned in contentment then dropped her arms so her hands slapped the bed. The sudden noise ripped June from her slumber, and Lily felt bad for having done it.

     "What?" June grumbled, licking her dry lips. She rolled her head in Lily's direction. "Lily?"

     "Yeah. Sorry for waking you."

     June made cute waking noises and moved to sit. She yawned then blinked at Lily. "No, it's fine. What time is it?"

     "Early, I'm guessing." Lily motioned toward the window. "Sun's not even fully awake yet." She watched June drag her legs off the bed and set her feet on the ground. "Sorry for falling asleep. I didn't mean to bother you."

     June turned her head to peek over her shoulder. "It's fine. Really."

     Lily swung her legs over the bed and found her shoes sitting there on the floor, side by side, cold. "Why didn't you wake me?"

     "I tried. You were knocked out."

     "Took off my shoes?"

     "Who sleeps with their shoes on?"

     Lily chuckled. "Fair enough." She pulled out her phone to check the exact time and found dozens of messages from Tracy and even more phone calls. Cringing, she pressed her cell to her ear and started listening to the voicemails. They started playful, then morphed into worried, then shifted to anger. Lily groaned and stopped listening, instead switching to see what texts Tracy had sent. They were essentially the same as the voicemails.

     "Did Tracy blow up your phone, too?" June asked.

     Lily turned to look at June. "Did she cuss at you?"

     "No. She was actually pretty polite considering."

     "Lucky you." Lily stuffed her phone into her pocket then stood. "But since she's already mad, want to get breakfast? My treat."

     "I can make breakfast if you're willing to wait for it."

     "I can't ask you to do that. You already cooked me dinner last night, and I totally took over your bed, too."

     June smiled, standing as well, and swept a hand over her bed playfully. "You finally got to sleep on a nice mattress. Besides," she added, "The bed's so big it was nice to have someone share it with me."

     Lily bent over and started shoving her feet in her shoes. "Well, your bed is heaven. Invite me over again and I'll gladly sleep with you." She laughed to herself without thinking about her phrasing, and since she was bent over, she didn't notice June's expression. She stood up when her laces were tied tight and placed her hands on her hips. "So what do you say? Can I treat you to breakfast?"