I woke up in the middle of the night. I didn't know what woke me up, but my heart was thudding and skidding across my chest. I sat up in the swivel chair, bringing the blanket Lucas gave me up to my chin. I looked around. Darkness everywhere. Rubbing my eyes, I rolled back to the laptop and opened it. It was on hibernate, thank God. My work was saved, too. I didn't turn on the lights and shuddered, coolness enveloping me even in a fuzzy duvet.
With my eyes barely open, I finished my Friday's hot topic and printed it out. The time read 3:19 a.m. I wondered what woke me up all of a sudden. It was probably the article that I yet to finish, it had to be that or I didn't know what this bad intuition was. Or this foreboding feeling. As I lifted off of my chair, I felt my butt hurt and sighed. With the blanket still clasped around me, I yawned and walked around the family room like a zombie. I hoped I wasn't sleep‐walking. I was awake, with no intention of falling back asleep.
I had no idea where I was going in that dizziness, until I hit my knee against the edge of something. I yelped and toppled to the ground. I pinched my eyes, my knee throbbing in pain as if an anchor fell on it. Not so later, I heard footsteps and arms wrapping around my small body.
"What have you gotten yourself into?" I heard, gruff from sleep. I could recognize that voice anywhere. It seemed like Lucas was murmuring to himself as he lifted me up. I opened my eyes, taking a deep breath when I realized his arm secured around my waist.
"Huh?" I said, my voice raspy.
"Are you drunk?" he asked me.
"No," I replied. I got on my feet, gripping his shoulders and standing up. He let go of me and I turned to look at him. "I woke up in the middle of night."
"And you decided to sleep on the ground?" he said, crossing his arms.
"No," I said, slowly regaining my thoughts. "I was walking around and I hit something." I couldn't see his expression very well in the dark. "Well, I'm sorry I woke you up."
He took a second to turn on the lights, and I squinted. He had tousled hair, lazily falling over his eyes. My eyes dropped, where he was shirtless again. Did he make a habit of sleeping this way? All the time? I found that familiar tattoo on his shoulder and couldn't look away. He said he had a name on it.
"You look curious," Lucas said, leaning against the wall with a smug look on his face. My stomach dropped and rose and I looked away before he noticed my red cheeks.
"I was only wondering about the tattoo," I said. When I looked back at him, he didn't move a muscle except look at me expressionless. "What does it say?"
"Why do you want to know?" he said.
"Because we played two truths and a lie and you were supposed to tell me what the tattoo said," I reminded him. He smirked, not saying anything. "You're not being fair!"
"Shouldn't you go back to sleep?" he said.
With his amazing body half‐showing and glowing like that, I didn't think I could close my eyes for more than two minutes. I had to pry my eyes away and focus on something else. Like the water bottle he left on the table for me last night.
"Am I bothering you?" he said coyly, like he had no idea what I was thinking about.
"You always do," I retorted, forcing my eyes to meet his. "If I go to sleep, will you go away?"
"Maybe," he said. I took two short steps towards the doorway before he said something else. Something very cocky. "Or I understand if you want to keep looking at me."
I flushed and quickly walked by him, not once regretting it. Lucas quickly grabbed my blanket, yanking me back into a bear hug. I widened my eyes when he held me tightly before I could sprint away.
