Sleep Paralysis - Josh Franchesci, You Me At Six AU (COMPLETED)

2.5

R O S E ' S  P O V

The next morning I awoke with Josh's arm still locked around my waist, his face buried in the crook of my neck as his low, warm breaths rhythmically hit my skin. I smoothly lifted his arm off of my body and slipped out of bed as he stirred slightly and turned. I grabbed fresh clothes and went about what you could call a morning routine.

When I re-entered the bedroom, Josh was awake and had changed. He smiled as he noticed my presence.

"Good morning, love," he greeted as he stood up, walking over to me and kissing me softly.

"Good morning," I answered back with minimal enthusiasm after our kiss ended. I still wasn't one-hundred percent adjusted to his... compassion and calmness - I was ready for him to lash out as he used to at any moment.

"How about we have some breakfast, yeah?" he mused, holding my hand and guiding me into the living area before situating me at the island counter. He made us toast and coffee which I ate promptly. Some mornings I felt utterly starved. We roughly finished at the same time and after Josh rinsed our dishes, he came over to my side of the island counter.

"What do you feel like doing today?" he asked as he slid his arm around my waist.

"I chose yesterday - what do you want to do?" I rebutted. I was too drained to avoid Josh today, so I decided to embrace his attempt to have us become closer. Hopefully my sudden lack of interest will hurt him. He stood in thought for a moment and tossed up all his options. A simper creeped upon his face.

"Wait here," he commanded, making his way back to the bedroom. A few minutes later he returned, a swimsuit for both of us in each hand. I felt a burst of happiness and let a gasp come from me.

"In the ocean?" I questioned eagerly. He nodded and I threw myself at him, wrapping my arms around his neck. Josh was swift to return the gesture and coiled his arms around my back. We quickly broke and I snatched the swimsuit from his grasp, running off to the en suite and getting changed. Ready to go, I made my way back to the living area as fast as I could. Josh was just as ready as I was, now in a pair of board shorts.

"Let's go," he grinned, slipping his hand into mine before we left the house and walked down to the beach.

As if the barrier was never there, Josh led us into the water immediately and let go of my hand to dive into the refreshing water covering our body. I waded in to about shoulder length and engulfed myself fully. I was unable to keep myself from beaming as I spent my time in the water. Josh played with me, placing me upon his shoulders and doing other teasing games. It felt unreal having a sense of comfort around him, but I couldn't stop the sensation from appearing. His kind gestures only mad it harder to repress these new-found positive connotations.

We spent hours lazying around in the water, going back to the beach every so often to take a break. It wasn't until the sun hid behind the ocean line that we decided to return inside. I silently said goodbye to the ocean as we left, not knowing how long it would be until I saw it again. It was quite late when we entered, so after having our dinner we individually bathed before entering bed.

I fell asleep to dreams of oceans, imagining myself diving into the waves and swimming without looking back.

---

"Rose?" My eyes immediately snapped open as I heard Dan's whisper travel along the room. I quietly and stiffly sat up, my eyes flickering over to Josh. He was in a deep sleep, giving me access to sneak around. I went to leave the bed but paused. What if this is a trick? What if he finds out? A million different scenarios ran through my head as I considered my dilemma. My heart screamed at me to go, so I chose to. I lightly lifted the sheets and skimmed across the room to the living area.