Feeling a hand gentle shaking my shoulder, I drag my eyes open to see Joe smiling down at me.
“Sorry, but I didn’t want you to sleep on the couch. It’s not that comfy.” His voice is low, and sitting up properly to stretch, I look around the dimly lit living room.
“What time is it?” I mumble through a yawn, ignoring the chuckling coming from the person sat next to me.
“Late. Come on, you can take the guest room.” Joe stands and offers me a helping hand to stand, and I take it, letting him lead me down the hall into the guest bedroom.
“Sorry for falling asleep, didn’t mean to ruin our best friend movie night.” I run a hand through my hair, moving it out of my face.
“It’s no problem. Clearly you were tired.” He smirks at me and I stick a tongue out. “You know where the stuff is, so I’ll see you in the morning?”
After a quick hug, he turns and heads back down the hall towards his own bed, leaving me to get ready and crawl into my temporary bed for the night.
An hour later, I turn over in the bed again, unable to fall asleep.
Frustrated, I throw the covers off and swing my feet over the side of the bed to stand up. I listen for any sounds before making my way out of the door and down the hall, walking quietly towards Joe’s bedroom.
I stop outside the door for a moment, contemplating turning back and not disturbing Joe, but then mentally scold myself because he’s my best friend,and I know he’d be mad at me for not talking to him. With that thought, I open the door and peak my head in.
I can see the outline of Joe sprawled across the bed, and even though its dark I can mentally see the peaceful look on his face as he sleeps.
“Joe?” I call out quietly, seeing the body shift slightly. “Joe?” I try again, this time moving fully into the room.
“Huh?!” Joe sits up suddenly, looking around before landing on me. “Y/N?” He rubs his face, shifting to sit properly so he can look at me. “Everything okay?”
“Uhm, yeah.” I rub one arm with the opposite hand. “Well, no.” Joe gives me a questioning look. “I can’t sleep.”
“Oh, come here.” Joe pats the bed beside him and I make the short journey from the doorway to the bed, slipping under the covers beside him. “Why can’t you sleep? You had no problem earlier on the couch.”
We sit with our backs against the headboard, our sides touching. I nod as I trace patterns into the blanket, feeling bad about waking him up.
“I’ve had troubles sleeping lately..but when I’m near someone I seem to be able to sleep better.”
“Well then, guess you’ll just have to sleep in here.” Joe says it so simply, like I didn’t just wake him from his dreams.
“Are you sure?” I ask, looking up at him, and he nods.
“What kind of best friend would I be if I didn’t help you sleep better?”
“Any time,” Joe stops to yawn. “You should have just said something earlier.”
“I know, sorry.” I apologize as we both slip down on the bed to lie down, facing each other in the darkness.
“Stop being sorry, Y/N. There is nothing to apologize for, okay?” He asks, finding my hand under the blanket. I nod as he twists our fingers together, thankful for the blanket of darkness that hides the blush I’m sure is growing on my face.
“Good night.” Joe says. I move my head to give him a kiss on the cheek at the same time he moves forward, and next thing I know our lips have connected.
I pull back quickly, and bury my face into the pillow, my face burning at what just happened.
Silence falls across the room.
“Y/N?” Joe breaks the silence, his voice barely a whisper. I can’t bring myself to move from my hiding spot, not wanting to see his reaction.
I had been hiding my feelings for my best friend for a while, not wanting to risk ruining our friendship. But now I had just kissed him, well we had kissed each other, and yes it had been a complete accident, but it had happened.
“Please look at me.” Joe spoke again, giving the hand he still had in his a small squeeze. Knowing I was making it worse by ignoring him, I turn my head away from the pillow to look at him.
“I’m sorry, that was not supposed to happen.” I mumble, barely meeting his eyes.
“It’s fine.” Joe says, and those two words feel like a stab at my heart. No one wants to hear the word fine when they’ve just kissed their crush. “But, maybe we can do it again?”
This time, I do look him in the eyes, needing to know if I was actually dreaming and he didn’t just say those words. Joe smiles at me, his eyes shining in the dark.
“What?” Is all I can manage to get out.
“Well, I wanted our first kiss to be a bit better than that.” He shifts closer, releasing my hand to wrap it around my waist, pulling me flush against him. “So can we do it again, but better?” My heart is racing as Joe moves in closer, our lips millimetres away from each other.
“Yeah, I suppose we could.” As I speak, our lips brush against each other just the slightest, but enough to encourage Joe to close the small distance.
My heart explodes as our lips move against each other, fitting together perfectly. I move my one hand up to his cheek and into his hair, loving the feeling of his soft hair.
When we pull back, our foreheads remain connected, and we both have smiles on our face.
“Much better.” Joe says, and I can’t help but giggle slightly.
“I am so glad you couldn’t sleep.”
“Me too.” I agree, snuggling into his arms, letting his warmth spread across my body as I close my eyes.
“Good night, Joe.” I barely get the words out, already falling asleep within the safety and comfort of Joe’s arms. I feel him place a small kiss on the top of my head before slipping into the dream world.
