Foster Brother |BXB|✓

Chapter 10: The Unlikely Cuddler

Deb and April are long gone when we get home from school today, leaving just a note on the kitchen counter reminding us that Preston will be around tonight and to please not destroy the house. After my conversation yesterday with Deb I'm starting to actually feel much more comfortable in the house, it even feels like it's partly mine, a feeling that doesn't come around often in foster homes. I even told Matt about the conversation on our way to school this morning and he was beyond embarrassed, it was kinda cute.

"Wanna do something?" I ask Matt, we are really trying to stay civil with each other.

"I'm kinda tired," he mumbled out before making his way up the stairs, "I'm gunna just watch some Netflix in my room and maybe crash, you can join me if you want."

I followed him up to his room and plopped down on his bed as he set up his tv to play Netflix, as I silently watched him I could see how tired he actually was. His shoulders were slumped over and he had large, black circles under both eyes.

He turned his attention to me with the tv remote in his hand, the show That '70s Show was highlighted in blue, he pointed at the screen and asked, "this fine?"

I nodded my head yes and made myself comfortable on the right side of his bed. I had my right arm folded under my head with my left arm draped over my stomach. After selecting the show, Matt settled down on to the bed with me. At first, he seemed a bit uncomfortable, every few seconds readjusting himself on the mattress. When he finally settled down his head was only a few inches away from mine, his body position perfectly mirroring mine, leaving nothing but dead air separating our heads. The episode he started was about halfway through when I heard his breathing change to a shallow, low pattern, signaling to me that he has fallen asleep. The rest of the episode goes by with me silently laughing to myself at the funny parts and side-eyeing Matt to see if he was still sleeping.

A little while later I started feeling my eyelids getting heavier and heavier with each passing second and eventually I gave in to the sleep my body was craving. I woke up sometime later to the feeling of the pillow moving under me, I was refusing to open my eyes because I was seriously enjoying my sleep so instead, I pushed my head down slightly harder into it. And that's when I felt it, the pillow was hard, almost bony. My eyes snapped open and were greeted with a blue t-shirt that was covering the skin of my foster brother. When I lifted my head, the confusion started to disappear, I was cuddled up against Matt, my head resting on his shoulder and my arm draped over his chest and stomach. I slowly retracted myself from Matt's body, the confusion of where I was gone but now replaced with a different confusion. As I pulled away I realized Matt was awake, staring at me with narrowed eyes, it startled me and I flinched back hard, almost causing me to roll off the bed.

"Who would think you would be the cuddling type," Matt's raspy, sleepy voice cut through the thick air. I could not even get myself to look at him.

"How long have you been awake?" I asked, even though I was terrified to know the answer.

"Uh, I think like 10 minutes."