OMG that “I cant sleep” NP imagine is everything!! PLEASE do a part two!! (I love your writing if you couldn’t tell!)
Okay! Nonnie… I love you so much (and this series) that I had a breakdown when I lost the first version of this. We’ll call that a rough draft… rough of my mood and rough to bounce back from.
But you know what… this grease monster… He’s worth it.
Stay the Night Part 2
Word Count: 1639
Stay with You: Part One Part Three Part Four
You laughed at his comment about TK and brushed off the feeling his touch had caused, but your skin still tingled where he’d touched it. You clamped down on the gasp as soon as you could, but it was audible even over Nolan’s quip about Teeks.
He hummed softly and you could almost hear the smile on his face. “What was that?” He asked, his fingers dancing across your waist with the lightest touch. “I didn’t catch that.”
His touch sent a shiver through your body, involuntary. It was frustrating how easily you reacted to him considering until recently you’d been able to ignore and even hide your feelings for him. “Nothing,” you said swatting his hand away. “I’m tired and you’re distracting.”
His hand didn’t move from its spot on your hip, where it had come to rest like you’d wanted it to. His grip tightened slightly, and he pulled you a bit closer. “I could be distracting in other ways,” he offered, lips a breath away from your ear.
Your eyes closed and a soft sigh slipped from your lips. You didn’t understand what was happening or what had gotten into him, but you didn’t dare to trust that this wasn’t just him messing with you. Or worse, a dream. Perhaps you had finally fallen asleep and this was the cruelness of your imagination realized. “Nol, stop,” you told him, pulling away from him a little. Not enough to break contact but enough to be able to look back at him. Your eyes searching his. “What has gotten into you?”
There was a flash of something behind his blue eyes, an emotion you recognized but not one you understood the context of. Not when it was Nolan. His eyes were always the most expressive thing about him, but if you didn’t know to look, you wouldn’t notice it. He could be so focused, so level. People often said he was flat and emotionless. It couldn’t be farther from the truth.
“Nothing, I just…” He trailed off, his hand slipping from your waist. “It’s late. We should sleep.”
Your eyes narrow dangerously as he brushes past you, annoyance spiking in your sleep deprived state. You were never very good at handling being tired. You got grumpy and cranky and people generally gave you a wide berth. Nolan should have known this.
“No, you’re not getting off that easy, Nol. You don’t get to tease me like that and then just… stop.”
“You’re the one that told me to stop,” he countered.
His point hit the mark and you stop in your tracks, words failing you. “I just… I don’t want to be teased. It’s not nice and I’m too tired to find the joke.”
“I wasn’t teasing, you. I mean…” He rolled his eyes a little, looking involuntarily cute, “I was teasing you, but I wasn’t joking around. Teeks, was a joke. You’re not.”
Your hands cupped your cheeks, smooshing them without thought while you tried to process what he was saying. It wasn’t computing for you. Your mind supplied you with plenty of scenarios that could have happened, but this, whatever it was, wasn’t one of them. Had he figured it out? Had someone told him and he was… “If this is you messing with me because you found out I liked you,” you said, eyes canted down to the ground, “I don’t find it very funny,” Your voice was muffled by the way you held your face, but you couldn’t let go. It was almost as though you were holding yourself together. “I just… was hoping to crash here for the night. I wasn’t looking to be the butt of a joke. Maybe I should just…” you shrugged, heart sinking, “leave.”
You’d spent years ignoring your feelings for your best friend, years of watching him date this person or that person. Years of watching silently from the sidelines as he got his heart broken, always there to help pick up the pieces when it happened. You had known, going into this, that you would have been better off staying away from Philly and Nolan. Let him have his life, you would have yours. You could find happiness and he could find his.
Yet there you were, gainfully employed and living exactly where you shouldn’t for the exact reason that you shouldn’t. You hated yourself for following after him like a lost puppy in need of an owner. You hated how your heart skipped and a knot of anxiety turned in your stomach when you saw him. But most of all, you hated how jealousy burned through your veins and nestled in your bones. You hated yourself for the way you felt about him and the kind of person it turned you into.
“I’m not messing with you,” he said, forcing you to focus on him, at least mentally. You were extremely aware of where he was and what he was saying, but you couldn’t bring yourself to look at him. Perhaps if you hadn’t been so tired the anxiety and self-loathing wouldn’t have been so palpable, but you had very little control over how dark your mind got. You were practically convinced that the man you knew your whole life would be capable of hurting you intentionally.
He moved forward, hands spreading over yours where they rested on your cheeks. You felt the breath in your chest catch, constricting your heart and fear prickling at the corners of your eyes. Your head moved, his strong hands guiding the motion until he could look into your eyes and see everything going through your head. His eyes were bright and full of an emotion you didn’t dare put a label on. If you hadn’t already forgotten how to breathe, that look would have been your undoing. “I was trying…” his words dropped off as he sucked in his bottom.
How you wished for just a moment that you were that bottom lip. You wished you had any idea what he was going to say, but you had none. You were left standing there, staring at him, waiting for him to let you go or keep talking. It seemed the perfect analogy for your relationship with him. It was a mess and completely one-sided. A simple look held you rooted to the spot, waiting for him to give you more. “Maybe you’ll understand better if I don’t talk.”
Your eyebrows pinched together, confusion coloring your features. Whatever could be seen between your lovely impression of a child making a fish face. You really were exhausted, Nolan had stopped making any sense about the time he’d knocked on your car window. Perhaps you were stuck in a dream. Perhaps you were still in your car, asleep in his driveway, rather than standing there in his hallway, a breath away from a nice cozy bed and sleep.
Fingers gripped through yours to pry them away from your face, encouraging you to drop them at your side. It didn’t take much effort to coax them down. Nolan’s hands fell to your hips and tugged you closer to him. Your heart picked up, the pace dangerously fast, in your opinion. You could feel your pulse jumping in your throat.
You hadn’t anticipated Nolan’s actions, your brain too bogged down by thoughts of inadequacy and fear. The moment his lips met yourself was almost startling. A gasp caught in your throat, but it didn’t last. Nolan had taken the opportunity to deepen the kiss, to test you. A fire burned through your veins warmed your body and heated your soul. You were a phoenix reborn, from ash to flame. You’d never felt so alive as you did at that moment. Your hands, lifeless and limp came to life just as you started to respond to his kiss.
Fingers carded through soft long hair, wrapping around strands and holding on. You didn’t want to let go, but all too soon it was over and Nolan was pulling back. His chest rose with a deep breath and he ducked his head to look you in the eyes.
“Clear?” He asked, a smile on his now kiss-swollen lips.
“As mud,” you responded, still confused by the whole situation.
Nolan’s head fell back, a groan vibrating from his throat. “Why are you being so thick tonight? It’s you, Y/N,” He said when he looked down at you again. “You’re the other person.”
“Oh,” you said lamely, a soft smile on your lips. “I told you I was tired.”
He laughed and shook his head. “We can fix that. You’re not sleeping on the couch…Unless you want to?” It was his turn to look unsure. Like the kiss had changed the way they were supposed to sleep.
Perhaps it should have, but you weren’t interested in changing anything like that. You just wanted to be able to kiss him a little more. And maybe get a little carnal with him. “Your couch sucks,” you told him. You’d told him that the day he bought it and every day after. It only made him laugh.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
You couldn’t deny what you couldn’t deny. You hated that couch more than anything. You’d rather sleep on the floor, which… was nearly a possibility but it didn’t seem like it was anymore.
“Can I ask you out, now?” Nolan said, suddenly, catching you off guard a bit. The idea of dating him was kind of funny to you considering how long you’d known each other.
“Ask me again in the morning and the answer will be yes. Right now, no. I need to sleep.” Your fingers threaded through his, a smile on your face as you pulled him through the doorway of the bedroom.
You still weren’t sure if you were asleep in your car or not, but the morning would shed more light on everything. You were both excited and fearful of that.