Lovers of Yesterday

Chapter 12 • Bed?

I groaned and stretched, waking up to sunlight pouring through the blinds. I rolled over and buried myself farther under the comforter and into the cushioning mattress. Wait, mattress? My eyes shot open as I pushed myself up. I was, in fact, in the bed in the guest room. So where was Lynch?

I shoved the blanket back and swung my legs over the side of the bed. It took a moment to get used to the sudden chill but I climbed out quickly. I need to find Lynch. I need to know why I'm in the guest room and he isn't.

While I was woken up to sunlight, it was only to beginnings of it, meaning the sun was only just rising. I crept out into the hallway, grateful for the little nightlight Dria kept plugged in. The dim light was enough for me to see my way out into the living room. Even though the sun could be seen in the bedroom, it was only lighter in the living room.

The first thing I noticed was feet hanging over the arm of the couch. As I got closer, I could see over the back. Like I expected, Lynch was stretched out on the couch. He was on his back with his arm tucked under the pillow that was supporting his head. The blankets which covered me weren't cutting it for him. They were suited for a twin sized bed, making them small, while he was probably close to six foot and required at least a full size bed.

I took in his uncomfortable expression as I observed him. He wasn't comfortable yet he chose to give up the bed in exchange for the couch. My mission to come out here and drag him back to the bed was foregone. Now, I hesitated. Everything Liam told me not to do was flooding my head. Fear was overriding my system again.

Instead of succumbing to it, I walked around the length of the couch and sat on the coffee table. I needed to stick with my purpose for coming out here. He shifted in his sleep and settled quickly. It took me another minute to finally build up the courage to tap his shoulder. He must've been extremely uncomfortable because he was awake, though groggy, instantly.

He looked around for a second before his eyes focused on me and he relaxed back into the couch. I clasped my hands on my lap and looked down at them.

"Why're you up, Ryder?" His question made me raise my head to look at him.

I picked at the cuticle of one of my nails, "Why are you sleeping on the couch? Why did you move me to the bed?"

Lynch pushed himself up so he was sitting and facing me. He ran a hand through his messy hair like it was doing to tame it somehow. The unruly locks weren't going to flatten out until he ran a brush through it.

"I usually wake up in the middle of the night for water or something like that and when I came out here, you were...restless. When I finally saw your face, I realized you were crying in your sleep. A bad dream or whatever it might have been but you weren't ok.

"I figured I could move you to the bed which is much more comfortable than the couch so maybe it would help you sleep better."

I slouched and looked down at my hands once again, "Oh."

"Is..." He hesitated, "Is there something going on that's bothering you? Something that would make you cry in your sleep?"

I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from answering. Everything's fine. Everything is perfectly fine. I have no reason to cry. I have a great boyfriend who loves me and great friends that surround me. I'm ok.

"No, there's nothing that's bothering me. I'm ok."

He stared at me a little longer before quietly accepting my answer with a nod of his head. I didn't say anything else for a while, we just sat there facing each other. When the room brightened enough for me to see properly, I stood up and headed to the kitchen. I heard Lynch follow but didn't say anything else to him.

I started on coffee for the three of us because I know Dria will be tired when she wakes up and Lynch needs to get to work soon. I felt weird not preparing to go to work. After a few years of waking up at seven, my body has naturally gotten used to it. When I woke up eariler, the alarm clock on the night stand read six fifty-eight am.

While the coffee brewed, I leaned against the counter. My phone was somewhere and I wasn't going to find it right now. Lynch was sitting at the table, turned sideways in the chair with his back against the wall. He looked tired and I knew it was because he chose to sleep on the couch.

"You should've kept the bed. I would have been fine on the couch and Bridget said I don't have to work today so I don't have to worry about sleep," I voiced my thoughts.

He lifted his head to look at me, "I could give less of a shit about sleep. I used to work night shifts a lot back in high school and I continued to until a few years back. This is nothing compared to that."

I gave a little nod and looked down at my arms which were folded over my chest. At my response, he added, "Thank you for caring, though."

I nodded again and it fell silent. I could hear Dria's bed groaning as she stirred. It wouldn't be much longer before she woke up. She only starts to roll over when she's coming out of sleep.

"Who was the guy that you were talking to yesterday at the café?" I jumped at Lynch's question, startled by the sudden noise.

I thought it over before answering, "That was Liam, my boyfriend."

His eyes bore into mine and made me fidget, "Ok."

I was confused when he didn't ask more questions. I know what he saw yesterday so why wasn't he asking about it? I didn't bother asking him because I honestly didn't want to explain why he was angry. I would probably raise more questions until he was also saying that Liam was bad for me.

When I heard Dria's door open and then another open and close, I took it as an opportunity to remove myself. The coffee was done and waiting and I was starting to feel suffocated. I heard water running in the bathroom as I passed to get to the spare room.

My eyes landed on the night stand first when I entered and I found my phone there, plugged into a charger. Notification bubbles waited for me to open or dismiss them. Still being a few feet away, I recognized the color of a missed call notification and a text message notification.

Fear settled in my stomach as I walked the short distance to my phone. When I lifted it, the screen turned on automatically and showed me what I missed. Six missed calls from Liam. Seventeen unread texts from Liam. Three voice mails. Everything else was a blur of unimportant and useless notifications.

I clicked on the texts first and let them open. I scanned over them before realizing what they were. Drunk texts.

Baby, I niss yoi
Whert dod   you go?
Do you live me anymirw?
Answer your phone, baby
Pick up your phone
You syupod fuvking whore!
Answer the godann phoen!

I cringed at what some of the later messages said and my heart sunk. After reading the texts, I was too scared to open the voice mails. When I heard muffled footsteps heading to my room, I hurriedly deleted the drunk texts. I'll hold on to the voice mails for now.

Dria poked her head in a second later and I had to keep a tight grip on my phone to hide my shaking hands.

"Thanks for the coffee, Ry. I'm going to drop off Lynch and then we'll hang out for a while."

I forced a smile and a nod at her words. A day for hanging out with Dria sounds nice. Maybe it'll help the horrible feeling pressing down on my chest.