We can only learn to love by loving

Part 13

Mel's pov

As I stirred awake, I checked the time on my phone which read 6.38am "ugh" I mumbled under my breath. My head was hurting from the alcohol intake; however, I knew I was desperate to use the bathroom. At some stage throughout the night, Leah had turned to spoon me, her arm was still tightly wrapped around my waist as she held my body against her chest.

Gently removing myself from her grip, I made my way towards the bathroom. I caught a glimpse of myself in the bathroom mirror, and it was safe to say I looked exactly how I felt. Awful. Before returning to the bedroom, I decided to splash my face with water, hoping somehow this would freshen me up.

Returning to the bedroom, I pulled back the duvet cover to climb into Leah's arms when I noticed blood on the bed sheet. As I got closer, I realized Leah's shorts were also full of blood. She must have come on. I thought to myself.

Tapping her shoulder consciously I decided the best thing to do was to wake her up so we could get her cleaned up. "Leah, wake up."

There was no movement, but a loud groan left her mouth.

"Leah, you need to wake up, I think you've come on" I spoke a little bit louder now so she could hear me, but quiet enough to startle her.

Immediately sitting upright on the bed, her back now leaning against her headboard, she frantically lifted the duvet which displayed the blood on the sheets under the position she had just been laid in. Her eyes rapidly moved from the sheets to me.

"I'm so sorry! You should go" she blurted out. Her face was now turning a deeper shade of pink.

Go? Why would I go?

"Don't be silly, we just need to get you freshened up. It happens to us all." I slowly took her hand in mine lifting her up out of bed.

I could see the nervousness of the blonde girl stood in front of me as she sheepishly avoided eye contact. "Why don't you go and get in the shower, and I will change the bed sheets?" I whispered before pulling her into me gently offering her a reassuring hug.

Without another word, Leah headed towards the bathroom to shower, and I began to look around her house for the spare duvet covers. After around 5 minutes or so, I had located the spare bedding and had begun to change the sheets, placing the dirty ones into a pile ready to be loaded into the washing machine.

The house stood in silence, the only sounds which could be heard were the shower being switched on in the bathroom and the faint sound of the birds chirping outside. Once I had loaded the washing machine and completed changing the bedding, I got Leah a fresh pair of shorts and t-shirt and left them outside of the bathroom ready for once she had freshened up.

"Le, I've left some clean clothes outside the bathroom door for you when you're ready."

Leaving her to shower in peace, I returned to the bedroom and got into the freshly made bed, rolling onto my side facing towards Leah's side of the bed ready for Leah to return.

Shortly after, I heard the bathroom door slowly open as Leah re-entered the bedroom. Her cheeks were still slightly flushed from earlier, but I knew she was just overreacting, we've all been there.

"hey, come here, you don't need to be embarrassed" I assured her, opening my arms awaiting for her to climb into them for a cuddle.

For a moment or two Leah stood at the side of the bed awkwardly before finally placing herself into my arms, laying her head on my shoulder with her face buried in my neck. I could tell from the way she was acting there was something playing on her mind. Although I didn't want to pry or pressure her into telling me, I didn't like the thought of her feeling awkward or embarrassed.

"Are you okay?" I whispered, drawing patterns on her arm trying to put her at ease.

"Yeah, I'm just slightly embarrassed." Her lips were pressed against my neck as she spoke, the warmness of her breath and the feel of her lips against my skin caused goosebumps to appear across my body.

"I told you; you don't need to be embarrassed, it can't always be helped"

"It's just –"

There was a pause between her last sentence as she struggled to find the words.

"you don't have to tell me, but if you want to talk about anything, you know I'm always here." I assured her.

"I know, I want to tell you. I said last night about allowing myself to be vulnerable, its just hard to explain."

"Take your time Le"

"I know you said it happens to the best of us, and it can't always be helped. But It happens to me more frequently than others. I have endometriosis which means sometimes my periods can be heavy, which causes me to be in a severe amount of pain, and other times it can be just like a normal period. I wasn't even due on yet but I guess it came early. I'm so sorry if I would have known I was going to come on I wouldn't of asked you to stay –"

"Le it's fine, please stop stressing. I don't care about the bedsheets; I just care that you're okay. I understand it must be hard having to go through that but if there's ever anything I can do to help then I want you to know that I always will."

Pulling her closer to me I placed a loving kiss onto the side of her cheek before beginning to run my fingers through her hair as I attempted to calm her down and reassure her, I meant the words that I had just said.

"There is one thing that you can do to help." Leah had now lifted her head slightly, her eyes locking onto mine as a smug grin spread across her face.

"And what's that?" I questioned, holding the loving gaze.

"Can you please hold me for a while" the grin had now disappeared from her face as I could see she was becoming anxious, in fear of rejection.

"Of course silly, c'mere" I giggled, pulling her back into my arms and holding her against my body.

In the space of a couple of hours, Leah had really opened up about her feelings and on two occasions has allowed herself to be vulnerable around me, which caused my heart to warm. It meant a lot to know Leah felt comfortable enough to now open up and be honest with me, which was causing me to fall deeper and deeper for her. This was a side to Leah that not many people see, and I felt content in knowing that I was one of the lucky ones she would now allow herself to be like this around.