Asher King's life has revolved around putting up an involuntary mask to hide his true self. With successful parents boasting about his 'pretend' success, Asher feels as though the life he is living was never his to begin with, and a home of happines...
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I slowly start waking up but am not quite ready to open my eyes.
Instead of waking up in my usual empty bed, my arms are wrapped around something warm. I snuggle further into whatever it is and throw my leg over it as well. I then feel a warm sensation rub up and down on my thigh in a soothing manner. I practically melt at the feeling.
My mind is so fuzzy that I don't even notice the voices around me. It also sounds like a camera is clicking in the background, but I think that's just my imagination. I am about to drift back to sleep when I focus on what the voices are actually saying.
"I'm going to fucking kill y'all," a voice whispers from above me, definitely a little bit of threat in their tone.
"Can you blame us? It's too freaking cute."
"You're going to wake him up. If you guys aren't gone within the next five seconds, I'm going to set you on fire in your sleep," the voice grits, and I can feel the vibrations in the person's chest as they whisper aggressively.
After a few more camera clicks, I hear the door gently shut.
The more I wake up, the more I realize what's going on.
I'm not at my house. I am definitely at the hotel by the beach. I must've fallen asleep when Leo and I watched the movie yesterday. Speaking of Leo...
I'm not just hugging something. It's him. He's the one delicately running his hand up and down the thigh of my leg that I threw across his lap. My face is squished up against his shoulder in a way that I am sure is not attractive. My body tenses up, knowing that Leo had to deal with me being this way all night.
"Baby?" Leo questions softly. "Are you up?"
I nod my head into his shoulder and open my eyes, but I am too embarrassed to say or do anything.
His hand stills on my leg, and he is about to take it away before I unwrap my arm from his waist and set my hand on top of his.
"Keep going," I mumble shyly. "It feels nice."
He chuckles and the soothing sensation of his hand running up and down my thigh continues.
My body relaxes again and I close my eyes.
After a minute, that's when I realize.
Baby. He called me baby.
I didn't know that was something I wanted to hear, but now I just keep repeating that moment in my head, hoping it will happen again soon.
I can't help but think about a life where Leo's my boyfriend. That thought should scare me, but it's pretty comforting.
I imagine waking up next to him every morning in the same way. Him picking me up for school every day with a kiss on the cheek. Him giving me an endless amount of Lisianthus flowers. Him never being able to keep the smile off my face.
