(RIVALS) The Upside of Falling ✔️

Chapter 32: Simplicity

Becca

I woke up in a bed that wasn't my own. I stared at the grey sheets in confusion, wondering what happened to my light yellow ones. My eyes roamed around the room, taking in the minimal black furniture that decorated the large space. The room looked unlived in, unlike my own where books and random objects covered every surface.

Where am I? My head struggled to answer this simple question. The answer seemed obvious, hovering at the front of my mind but slipping backwards before I could grab onto it.

I turned around quickly and my arm smacked into something, no someone, and I shrieked. My hands flew to my mouth, heat rising to my cheeks when I realized the person beside me was Brett.

"This isn't going to work out if you scream every morning," he mumbled, his voice low and deep in its sleepy state.

Your boyfriend, my mind reminded me.

He opened one eye and stared at me, his mouth turning up into a lopsided grin at my frazzled state. I stared back at him frozen, my eyes wide in shock and my cheeks hot in embarrassment.

"I...I forgot..." I trailed off, rolling onto my stomach and burying my head in my pillow, blocking my face from his view.

I could hear him laughing beside me, then felt his lips press into the top of my head.

"I didn't think I was that forgettable," he mumbled into my hair. I groaned at his comment, wanting to sink into the bed and never wake up.

I could feel Brett wrap his arm around my waist, gently pulling me to him. His fingers grazed the bare skin on my hip from where my t-shirt rod up while I was asleep. I felt it tingle under his touch, like every nerve in my body suddenly flew to that one spot. He then rested his head on the middle of my back, nestling his head into my body until he was comfortable. I stayed deathly still, unsure what to do with myself. A minute later he began to snore softly.

He fell asleep on top of me. His weight pinning my body down and making it impossible to move without waking him. I slowly turned my head to the side and lifted my chin up, trying to catch a glimpse of a clock. Red numbers glowed on the nightstand on Brett's side of the bed, it was seven-thirty in the morning.

"Brett," I whispered quickly, reaching my hand around my back blindly and awkwardly patting his head. "Get up or we'll be late for class."

I waited for him to answer. One second passed. Then two. No response. He was still snoring softly.

I contemplated my two options: wake up Brett and make it to class on time or let him sleep a little longer and go to first period late. I pondered the two and reluctantly decided on the first. I wasn't one to go to class late and I wasn't going to start changing my habits because I have a boyfriend now.

Boyfriend. The guy sleeping on my back and preventing me from moving.

I wiggled to my left, inching closer to the edge of the bed slowly, hoping that Brett's head would sort of move off my back and plop onto the bed without waking him up. I could feel Brett's head slowly slide off my back the further I got from him, until I was free of his grasp.

I breathed a sigh of relief and slowly rolled over so that I was laying on my back. I paused for a moment and watched Brett sleep, he looked at peace. Him laying there on the grey sheets, hair tousled slightly, stubble dotting his jaw and his muscular arms exposed from his t-shirt, I could imagine myself waking up to this every single morning.