Sweet as a Strawberry

30 ~ Sour as an Old Hag

A/N: I hope you like it :) and you better love me for what I did! Dedicated to Sidthesloth1 because of her absolutely gorgeous banner that she made me!

Chapter 30: Sour as an Old Hag

I woke up to the feel of a crick in my neck, an object pressing into my hip, and a body huddled against my side. With a large yawn, I blinked open my eyes and realised that I had a crick because I was slumped against a wall, that the object was my laptop, and the little body that clutched onto my torso was...Lottie.

I scrubbed the sand out of my eyes and sort of froze when I realised that I had a Lottie cuddling me in her sleep. The shirt she wore, my shirt, had risen almost to her hips, and I gulped hard before stretching the arm that wasn't curled around her head and tugging the shirt it back over her legs.

I rubbed my face and shut my laptop, putting it back on my desk. Then I shuffled down on the bed until I was actually lying down, and I pulled Lottie with me. She made a cute little sleepy noise, and then smashed her face against one of the pillows that I had awkwardly put near her head.

I breathed in and out and tried to focus on anything other than the little sleeping beauty I had attached to my body. She wasn't even doing anything sexy, but I could feel my face grow hot anyways. I needed to calm down.

I made the mistake of looking down at her just nestled against me, and my heart started beating like a pair of drums in a rock band. Her face was planted into the pillow, but I could hear the little sigh she made every time she breathed out and I could feel her body moving up and down as she continued breathing.

She was so kind and caring and she stuck up for me, and she got angry from me (twice). I didn't want to scare her off, because besides Clark and my brother, she had become one of the most important people in my life. And if I scared her off with my advances, I wouldn't know what to do with myself.

Remembering all those poor guys she unknowingly friend zoned, I didn't want to end up bitter like them. I have to be okay with what I already had, because at least I had something.

I breathed out, and Lottie's head rose on my chest. She smiled in her sleep, and then made another one of her weird noises.

Maybe I should just go back to sleep before I hurt myself.

***

A hand smacking me in the jaw woke me up next. I jumped and opened my eyes to see Lottie stretching.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said in a sleepy voice.

I hoped she would move her head away from my chest, because my heart was beating out of control. "How are you doing?" I asked her. I cleared my throat when she raised her head slightly, her mop of curly brown hair falling in her eyes. 

She smiled with her eyes closed and fell back on her pillow. "I had a fantastic sleep, Benny, what about you?"

"I did too," I said quietly. I'd had the best night's rest I've gotten in months, and it was most likely because of my cuddle buddy.

"What time is it?" she asked, her voice still heavy with sleep.

I shuffled out from under her and sat up, grabbing my phone from my desk. "It's nine."

"Not too shabby," she said. "I'm so sorry, did I suffocate you in your sleep?" she asked worriedly, using one hand to comb through her hair. It was taking real work to keep myself calm, but fuck, she looked so cute just sitting there awkwardly.

I snorted. "As if you're big enough."

She smiled. "I hope you didn't mind me last night. I'm a hardcore cuddler, and it seems like you got the brunt of the impact. You should've just shoved a pillow at me to leave you alone."