Rosebud

Ch. 3 | Bright lights

"He wished to be seized by passion and pinioned, held in its palm forever--he could not imagine any other existence as embracing any real happiness."
-East of the Mountains by David Guterson

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I woke up and felt a hard surface under me. I looked up and saw Daniel smiling down at me. I jumped a bit and snuggled back into him. My heart was racing as the memories of last night came back to me. The movie, the talking, the kissing, and falling asleep while cuddling with Daniel. Oh this is bad.

"What's that?" Daniel asked.

I snapped my head up and asked, "did I say that out loud?"

"Yes, now are you getting up or not? I'm starving."

"I'll get up, just wait a minute, pinhead." We untangled our limbs and got out of bed, while walking out of the room we stopped in our tracks when we saw Todd standing in the doorway with a triumphant smirk on his face. Daniel came up and stood in halfway in front of me to, I guess, keep Todd from questioning me and put it on him.

"What do you want," Daniel demanded.

"What happened here?" Todd asked, sounding very curious.

"Nothing," Daniel said with a cold glare.

"Nothing doesn't end with two people tangled together in a bed," Todd came back with.

"It's none of your business," I said.

Todd's gaze snapped to me. "She speaks. How are you doing, sleeping beauty?"

"Screw off," I tell him.

"Whatever, I came to tell you lovebirds that breakfast is ready," he left down the hallway and I let out an angry breath when I heard footsteps go down the stairs.

"We need to talk about this," I tell Daniel.

"I know, I don't know what happened. I mean I do but I don't know how to explain it. It's just that we were talking and I felt something, and I thought you did too. And I was like 'what the heck, might as well go for it' and I kinda went for it. Then you kissed me back and I didn't feel that lost, really, on the whole 'us' thing and I don't do this kind of thing oft-"

"Daniel," his gaze switched from the floor to me. I walked up to him and took his hand. "We can talk about it in a bit. Your rambling. We can figure it out in a bit, before the party."

"Party?"

"The girls are having a party, will you go with me? We can talk then and not be bothered by anyone, everyone will be enjoying the party."

"Well, sure, if that's what you want, of course," he said sheepishly.

"I hope you don't stand me up, now let's go get breakfast, I smell pancakes." We headed downstairs and Todd had left a note on the fridge saying "be back later" and that's it. He left us blueberry pancakes, an assortment of fruit, and scrambled eggs. Throughout breakfast Daniel was very considerate of my space and didn't try to make any moves on me. We talked about anything and everything, just like the night before, and we ended back up in his room a while later.

"Well I guess I should be getting back, Jane is going to freak out. But keep this to us, okay?" I say to Daniel. He gives me a smile and I grab my bag from beside his bed. On the way out of his room I grab his hand to make him walk me out. If I did have a friend with benefits right now, might as well use him good.

"Remember, party tonight, don't ditch me," I tell him with a smile.

"Wouldn't miss it," he says back. We stopped by the door and he reached for the doorknob, but I pulled him down by the collar on his shirt and kissed him. He relaxed after a moment and deepened the kiss. Our mouths moved in a synchronized dance and our hearts sped up. We were probably there for five minutes until we both pulled away. "That," he said breathless, "was a surprise. Don't do that to me."