Trouvaille (#featured)

· f o u r ·

Faye was awake but she didn't dare open her eyes. She knew it was still too early in the morning – likely before the crack of dawn, if her body clock was still in operation – and she wanted to go back to sleep. It was her vacation. Her sabbatical. Her time of rest. Waking up before the crack of dawn was just not something that constitutes a restful holiday.

There were different ways of going back to sleep that she knew of, that didn't involve getting out of bed – because if she did get out of bed, it would be impossible to get back to sleep – but none of them worked. They had worked before when she rested during the holidays where no one wanted to work, but now, they were just ineffective.

Finally, she resorted to go back to the night's events. In a nutshell, it was nothing exciting. It was such a relief that even as the day ended, the room was empty and claimed the bed for her own. She had been expecting a comeback from Nathan, but they did not see each other. She went around the cruise ship by herself inspecting what places she could go to entertain herself always wary about the possibility that he might rear his ugly head – well, no longer ugly, but she would always have the pleasure of calling him ugly. And after a complete self-tour of the ship, she had outlined an itinerary of what to do to keep her from getting bored in the days to come.

Thinking about those only brought Faye awake even more, until she finally gave up and resorted to watching the sunrise. She had not seen a sunrise ever since elementary when her aunt woke her up just to see it with her. It had been so long ago that she forgot why she had been so fascinated by it as a child.

As soon as she opened her eyes, she screamed and flailed about, holding the covers up to her chin.

Nathan glared at her from the ground rubbing his back. "Push harder, will you? I don't think I died just yet."

"What the hell are you doing on my bed?" She growled at him.

His glare disappeared, only to be replaced by mocking amusement. "Your bed? I think I made it clear that the bed is mine."

"I don't see your name on it."

"Well, if you don't like sleeping with me, you can go for the couch like I said." He shrugged and climbed back on the object of their dispute. "I'm sleeping on this bed whether or not you're in it. Oh, and you look pretty hot in that shirt. You have anything underneath that?"

She threw a pillow at him, which he, disappointingly, easily caught. "Don't you have an ounce of gentlemanly quality inside of you?"

"Of course I do," he answered as if shocked. "But why would I waste it with someone like you? You're no lady. You're a pack mule who just keeps on working your ass off until you die. Now, that's totally not sexy."

"Why would anyone even try to be sexy around you?" she rolled her eyes at him.

"My girlfriend could probably give you a detailed explanation."