It all started with Freshers.....

Part eight - Twelve weeks

A month later we were lazing in his living room on the sofa. His niece was in bed upstairs. We'd agreed to babysit for his sister and her fiancé while they had a cheeky night out, their first in a long time. Stephen was holding my hand in his and we were half sitting, half slouched on the corner sofa. I wriggled trying to get comfortable.

"Why don't you just lie down?" Stephen asked me.

"Nah I don't want to fall asleep," I admitted with a nervous chuckle.

"I'll wake you if you do, gorgeous. Just chill."

He shifted so his feet were up on the sofa. I turned a little to cuddle into him and lifted my feet off the floor. Stephen wrapped a blanket around us tightly. I rested my head on his chest and was lulled a little by the even, gentle beat of his heart and the soft sounds of his breathing. I was wedged between Stephen's warmth and the back of the sofa.

"I'm not going to sleep though," I argued weakly. I knew I was seconds away from sleep.

"That's alright. Just be comfy though," he replied, brushing a stray strand of hair away from my face.

I relaxed against him like I always had done. He started playing with my fingers idly as we settled to watch a sappy rom com. Needless to say I was asleep in minutes.

I didn't wake until two in the morning. I was woke by the gentle shakes of Stephen's sister, Cali. She looked tired and she held her heels in her other hand.

"Sorry to wake you babes, was she good for you?" She murmured. Cali and I were fairly close due to the fact I'd been running in and out of their house for years. I treated it almost like home.

"Yeh really good. Sorry was wrecked." I tried to stretch but Stephen had an iron grip on my waist. When I flicked my sleepy eyes towards his face I realised he was out for the count. Completely exhausted.

"No, it's fine. Just thought I'd try and wake you two, yous will be comfier upstairs."

Cali gently woke Stephen and he blinked a few times in surprise. When he saw Cali I watched as he screwed up his face in confusion then nodded as the pieces clicked into place. He had remembered we had been babysitting.

"Don't talk too much. I'll fall back over in bed," Stephen muttered.

We headed up to his room in bleary eyed silence. Cali wasn't far behind with her fiancé Mark already upstairs.

I stripped down to my underwear and pulled on Stephen's t shirt so I could sleep. Stephen stripped down to his boxers and he and I climbed into his bed. I claimed the left side and he claimed the right. I cuddled close to him and fell back over to sleep. Just completely exhausted.

I was woke nice at early at six thirty by Stephen's niece jumping on the bed. Cathy was two. She had obviously escaped the bed and found herself with no one to wake. Cathy enjoyed waking the country. She was singing as she bounced, cheerily.

"Ba ba ba!" She sang. Her own little made up tune. It vaguely resembled the tune of jingle bells but I wasn't sure.

With slight irritation I kicked Stephen awake. He'd sleep through this but the motion was turning my stomach. Cathy would ignore me with a quick shake of her head and a quick flash of her blue eyes and then I'd see her laughing at her brazen defiance.

Stephen jumped and frowned as he watched Cathy jumping on the bed. With an urgency I flung myself out of the bed and raced to his main bathroom. I didn't make it that far. The motion combined with the early morning wake up had turned me. I vomited all over the floor in the hall. Thank goodness it was a wooden floor.