Roommates

Chapter 10

Jude woke up that next morning to a mop of light brown hair tickling his nose and chin. Now this wasn't particularly surprising to him; Jude fully expected to wake up in bed with someone else. No, what was the most surprising thing was that he was actually in his room, and more curiously, the only pain he felt was that which came from his hangover, and on top of all that, he was fully clothed. Finally Jude looked down, trying to figure out the identity of the boy in bed with him, feeling the shockwaves rippling through his body as he realized who it was.

Connor. Connor was in his bed, cuddled up into his side. Connor was in his bed, their legs tangled together. Connor was in his fucking bed! He searched his memory, trying to remember some detail, anything that would tell him just why Connor was in his bed, snuggled into him. But the alcohol was clouding his memory, and there were only flashes that came back to him. After seeing how hurt Connor was, Jude had gone to find a party and drank and drank, the only things he could remember being the "bartender" taking his phone and Connor showing up at the party, but other than that, Jude couldn't remember anything else.

"Connor?" Jude said softly, bringing his hand up and gently ruffling Connor's hair. It was the least awkward gesture Jude could think of; Connor was pressed in too closely to him to be shaken awake, and any kind of kiss, well obviously that was definitely out of the question. Connor groaned in response, burrowing his head deeper into the crook of Jude's neck.

"What time is it?" Connor mumbled, his warm breath washing over Jude's neck and his morning stubble lightly poking at Jude's skin.

"I don't know, I haven't looked at my phone yet," Jude replied. "But it's Sunday anyway, why does it matter?"

"S'cause I need to know whether you woke me up too early," Connor explained, his face still firmly pressed up again Jude, muffling his words. Jude found Connor's behavior fully puzzling; he was acting like waking up with his arms around Jude was something normal, to be expected. Jude didn't understand why, and at this point, he didn't want to understand, but rather just enjoy this moment, this feeling, because Jude was sure it wouldn't last past this morning.

"It's probably at least noon, I mean I think I was out late last night so I wouldn't even wake up much before then," Jude answered, still gently running his hand through Connor's thick, soft hair.

"You weren't out as late as you might think," Connor countered, finally pulling his head back and wiggling around and adjusting his body so that his head was on the pillow, facing Jude, eyes still closed. Connor giggled as Jude exhaled onto his face. "You have really awful morning breath Jude!"

"Well no one ever said you had to move your face this close," Jude retorted, giggling along with Connor.

"Whatever," Connor muttered, his eyes slowly fluttering open, blinking rapidly as his eyelids washed away the sleep from his eyes and Jude came into focus. "So you feeling okay this morning?" Connor continued, his face screwing into an expression of concern.

"Same as any morning when I have a hangover," Jude whispered, grimacing slightly as Connor's voice grew louder, causing the throbbing in his head to intensify. "So about as good as I can feel."

"You want me to get you something?" Connor asked, quickly bringing his voice down.

"No Connor, I'm alright for now," Jude lied. He honestly would've loved to take a few painkillers for his headache, but he didn't want Connor to get out of his bed, because that would be the end of—whatever this was. "Hey Connor, I just want you to know that I'm really—"

"Jude, if you're going to apologize about what you said yesterday, you don't need to. You did about a thousand times last night after I found you at that party," Connor said, cutting Jude off firmly.