AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Fine," I pouted. "Keep your secrets, all of you. What do I care?"
They all knew I lied.
I didn't care a whit about that.
"I'll go tell Dash you're staying over," I told them as I turned around and headed towards the stairs. "We'll make up the couch for you."
"Ariel," Rain called out before my foot touched down on that first stair. I stopped and gripped the handrail.
"Yes?" I asked hesitantly without turning around to face him. I didn't know why, but I was really bothered about that pet remark and felt he was keeping some large secret from me. I was surprised to feel that way because I had just met the man, and I shouldn't have been able to pick up on those sorts of things from him. Perhaps it was because I had read those letters and it made me feel like I knew him.
I needed to be careful with my damn emotions and guard myself better than this.
"I'm not sleeping on the couch," he told me.
That had me turning my head, seeking his face out. He looked far too serious for my liking.
"Then where will you sleep?" I asked. "I'm sorry, Rain, I really am, but it's just my bedroom and Dash's bedroom. The only place we have here for you to sleep is the couch. I guess if you really are uncomfortable sleeping down there, then I will have to be okay with you going back to the cabin where you're staying, and will impatiently await your return tomorrow. I'm seriously sorry, I should have thought more about your comfort than my needs, Rain, really."
I was an a-hole and I didn't like feeling like one. My feelings and needs weren't the only ones that mattered. I had gotten caught up in my own emotions and my need to be loved, and I'd forgotten that Rain was an actual person himself and wasn't just here to cater to me.
Rain shook his head and the corner of his mouth lifted in a tiny smirk. "No," he said. "I'm not leaving tonight, you've talked me into staying. And, honestly, you didn't have to try all that hard because I wanted to stay anyways. I'm not sleeping on the couch because I'm going to sleep on the floor in your room. All I need is a sleeping bag, if you've got one, and a pillow. If you don't have them, then I will take a blanket and be good with it."
Something heavy in my chest loosened at hearing his words, and I hadn't even noticed it's weight before it left me.
He wasn't leaving me, he was staying.
And he planned on sleeping on the floor in my bedroom.
I could so easily love him.
"I have pillows and blankets," I told him quietly.
I watched in fascination as he smiled softly at me.
He had a great smile, a beautiful smile.
He had my smile.
Because he was my flesh and blood.
***
No one protested Rain's impromptu sleepover. In fact, some of them even seemed to encourage it. They didn't trust that he wouldn't disappear on us, either. I'd like to say it felt good to not be alone in my thoughts, but it would be a lie when it came to that particular one. I wanted someone to hold my hand and tell me that this wasn't all a dream and that everything would all be alright.
I wanted someone to tell me that it was safe to blink, because, if I did, Rain wouldn't vanish into thin air.
If I had only asked out loud for someone to hold my hand I'm sure I would have had several volunteers. But I refused to give my thoughts a voice, because then they'd become more real, and I didn't want that. Not about the hand holding, I could always use a little bit of that from one of the guys.
Dash dug out two sleeping bags for Rain instead of just the one he'd originally asked for. Dash claimed he'd want the other one to put under the one he slept in, because the floor was really hard and uncomfortable, and any extra padding would be a must he'd be thankful for in the morning when his back wasn't aching like a crippled old man. Rain took both without a word of protest or thanks.
I took both from Rain claiming that if he was staying over and sleeping on my floor then the least I could do for him was make his bed. This hedidprotest, because he didn't want me to go through any trouble for him.
I just smiled at him sweetly as I ran off in the direction of the stairs with my arms full of both sleeping bags. If he wanted me to not go through the trouble for him, which was really no trouble at all, then he would have to wrestle the sleeping bags away from me.
No one followed me up the stairs, and for that I was grateful. I needed a moment to myself, my time in the shower hadn't been enough because I had rushed through it to get back to Rain. I had worried for him because I'd left him alone with the others to fend for himself, knowing some of them didn't seem to care for him all that much. And, I wasn't stupid, I knew why Julian and Damien had followed Rain up to my room. They did it because they didn't trust him and wanted to give him a hard time. I hadn't expected it out of those two, maybe a few of the other ones, though. Like, Quinton.... then again, they seemed like they were buddies, so maybe not. The twins sure enjoyed giving people a hard time. I knew Dash wouldn't do it, if he had something he wanted to say to Rain he'd do it in front of everyone and without hesitation. It was one of the many things I liked about him. But Julian and Damien? No, I hadn't expected that at all.
I dropped the sleeping bags on the floor just inside my bedroom. I hustled over to where my pretty wicker bench sat below the only window in my room and picked up the folded comforter that had come from Mr. Cole's house with me in the move here. I moved over to the other side of the bed and unfolded the blanket, I left it folded in half though. I laid the blanket down like that beside the wall, still folded in half. I agreed with Dash that the floor was unforgiving and way too hard to sleep on and I wished I had more blankets to put under the sleeping bag Rain would be sleeping in.
