Awkward Hugs

{Chapter 1} I'll Protect You

I wandered into the office, not even caring about letting the door slam and poked at the boy's shoulder who slumped in an old, worn down, black leather office chair until one of his eyes slowly cracked open and his mouth closed as he swallowed. I ruffled his blonde hair and made it point in all different directions.

"Oh, your head mop just gave up on being one direction. I think it's looking for a solo career, Zayne? Is that you?" I snicker, laughing harder at my joke than I probably should. Reece just groans and begins to comb down his hair with his bony fingers, an exhausted expression plastered on his face.

"You're a dork." He muttered lazily, his late night, deep voice still strongly weaved into his speech.

I placed my head on his shoulder casually and peeked at his computer screen, squinting from the brightness. But, just as I started to read the words on the screen his strong hands swatted my cheek away and guided me out of his bedroom by placing his hands on my shoulder blades and nudging me towards the door.

"Mkay bye!" He said cheerfully with a high pitched voice and a girly wave in which every finger folded down after the other like dominoes.

With that, the door clicked shut and faint footsteps led back to the dark wooden desk. However, I was still determined to cure my boredom and pressed my ear up to the door and listened as the leather seat sunk down with his weight, the air whistling out of it. Soon enough, subtle tapping of keys echoed into the room with the occasional pause, click of the mouse, or multiple backspaces. I enjoyed the sound and leaned my back against the wall beside the door, closing my eyes as I listened closely to the noises like nature sounds that lulled me to a deep sleep.

A few hours later I awoke unaware of my surroundings. There was a blanket loosely draped over my shoulder that had a strong scent of men's body spray. I pulled it closer to soak in the fragrance, however, when I tugged on the cloth it took more effort than a two-pound blanket should. A soft breath was heard behind me and hot air rested on my neck, at the same time an arm that I didn't previously notice flexed and pulled me closer by the waist. I squirmed out of his embrace in shock and fell over as I stumbled off the soft mattress, my knees giving out. I hit the carpeted flooring with a muffled thud, soon after a creak that didn't come from me filled my ears and I spun around with wide eyes to see Reece's calm, concerned face, now awake and sitting up. He climbed out of bed and held a calloused hand out to me which I took hesitantly, and allowed him to pull me up off the floor.

"W-Why were you," I paused searching for the right words, still flustered from the whole situation, "I-"

"You fell asleep outside my door, what did you expect?" Reece interrupted and pulled on a plain white T-shirt, covering up muscles I never knew he had. I turned around quickly to avoid staring and pretended to be interested in the pictures on his nightstand that I never bothered to look at before. He walked beside me and glanced at them too with a blank expression as if lost in thought. Though it didn't last for long he rubbed at his ear as he walked away, towards his computer. He shut down the computer and turned off the monitor then stuck a hand in his sweatpants pocket and pulled out his phone. 

"You wanna go to the carnival?" He asked, looking up from his phone. 

"Of course!" I chirped and nodded my head, grateful that he moved on for me. For a second I thought he was into me. pfft, that's silly.