Alaina Clark

Chapter 16

"DEAN!" I yell smacking the back of his head with a small pillow. Looking down at him from where I'm standing next to his bed. He's sprawled out on his stomach with a dense blanket covering the lower half of his body, showcasing the toned muscles of his bare back. 

"Wake the fuck up!" I hit him once again. He groans in annoyance. 

"Go away." He buries his head deeper into his pillow. I smile and playfully roll my eyes at the sound of his voice, thick and groggily.

"Dean, we have to get shit done before Claire shows up." I urge him to wake up.

Today is Sunday, December 19, exactly one week before Christmas and guess which dumbass hasn't gotten anything done yet. That's right it's the queen of procrastination Alaina Clark, the laziest motherfucker you'll ever come across.

But in my defense, I have been busy. Two weeks after my interview I got the call that to my surprise didn't proclaim my failure. I actually got the job. So far, things are great.

Other than the occasional run into Crystal the receptionist, the one who hates me for no reason might I add, everything is fine.

I work Monday through Thursday, nine to five and the work is rather enjoyable. I'm kind of like a paralegal, assisting with whatever I'm assigned.

The rest of November rolled by peacefully, except for Thanksgiving but that's another story for another day.

And December has been fine, except for the fact that it feels nothing like winter. But that's to be expected when you live in Tucson, Arizona.

Now I'm just trying to get Dean, who hasn't gotten anything done either, to get his Christmas shopping done. We always do our Christmas shopping together. We need to do this before Dean's cousin Claire comes to visit for the holidays.

Claire lives in Phoenix which is only about an hour and a half drive away, but this is the only time a year she gets to stay for two full weeks one before Christmas and one after.

She's a pretty great person, easy to get along with since she's only four years older than me and one year older than Dean, although you'd never be able to tell by simply looking at her. She looks like she's seventeen rather than of twenty-two.

And I know that once she shows up, we'll end up spending most of our time with her and then we're royally screwed because we're master procrastinators. I cannot begin to explain how much of a procrastinator I am. There's a good chance I might be immortal because dying sounds like too much work, I'd probably just continue to put it off for an eternity. When something is too much work (or any work at all), I'd rather just ignore it and hope it goes away, I hate when people tell me to "just do it". No thanks, I can "just do it... tomorrow" fuck you, Nike. My procrastination skills are platinum. Which is unfortunate times like these.

"Dean!" He ignores me and pulls the blanket over his head, fueling my frustration. I toss the pillow on the bed and grip the blanket before yanking it and exposing his legs clad in a pair of light gray sweat pants. Dean groans in response.

"Sparkles why don't you fuck off, it's too early for your bullshit." I keep the blanket in my hand as I pull the thick navy blue curtains apart, making Dean cover his head with a pillow to hide from the sunlight.

"Dean it's almost noon." I laugh at his remark about it being 'too early for my bullshit'. "Come on Dean, Claire will be here later today." I take a seat on his bed facing him and pull the pillow away from his face. 

"Ugh, fine." He gives in and sits up. 

His eyes are lidded and his hair looks like it fought a war with itself... and lost. It's truly an adorable sight.

It's impossible not to smile as my eyes try to take in every nicety. Each and every freckle scattered across his tan skin, from his nose to his chest to his abs.

I catch myself staring and quickly bring my gaze back to his face. It doesn't get any better than this.

He proves me wrong when he smiles.

My hands hastily jerk the top off of my camera cover and expertly click the power button as I bring it up to my eye level in order to look through the viewfinder and snap a picture as an attempt to capture this fleeting moment.

The camera whirs as a small white sheet egresses from the slit at the top of the instant camera. Taking the empty frame in my hand, I watch in rapt as the color seeps in.

Dean's profile comes first, the details quickly following. The picture forming into one of my favorites so far.

Dean doesn't even question my need to take pictures as I stuff the picture into the camera bag where I know it won't get wrinkled, he got used to my obsession with capturing random moments long ago.