Link Dane

TWENTY-SIX

The unfamiliar kindness and sincerity that was coming out of Link that very night would have thrown me off balance if I wasn't sitting down. 

"Would you mind?"

It was going against everything I worked hard for. All these past few weeks I've been trying to show Link no sign of weakness, no sign of any petty individual that couldn't take a few hits here and there. To have a mere dream cause a rush of quivers over me, render me speechless and lead to admitting that I was scared, was a massive kick to the face. For Link, it could have been a triumph moment.

But the kindness and sincerity was still present and he did nothing to take advantage of this moment.

"No," he replied back with, reaching behind me for the duvet cover. He threw it over both of us, more me than him so I was fully engulfed by the cover. "Not in the slightest."

****

I was a nervous wreck the following morning.

My face was already heated up before I got to the kitchen. My palms were sweaty and I kept wiping them on my jeans but it was to no avail. I kept breathing in and out, trying to find a clear pattern so my breathing did not sound laboured.

"Oh who cares if you slept in the same bed," I muttered to myself. "You were both fully clothed."

Maybe that was the problem. The fact that we were both fully clothed and the possibility that it could have been the total opposite. We pretty much made it into bed together and had sex minus the sex.

"We both slept." I said through gritted teeth. I had to tell my own stupid head that sleeping in one bed together did not always lead to sex and the fact that I even thought of it should be beyond weird and borderline diabolical.

"But I woke up with my head on his chest and my arm-" I cut my rambling short as my mind conjured up an image of what I woke up to.

The early morning started off with my head on a warm platform. It was hard yet the most comfortable thing and I couldn't help but snuggle into it more.

My eyes were still firmly shut as my legs moved and slid up against my own heater. They were so satisfied with the touch that one leg threw itself over, hugging it more closer.

A soft smile etched onto my mouth and a content sigh escaped out my mouth.

"Ori we have to get up."

My eyes shut open.

I shook my head rigorously, trying to stop it from going back to that moment and reliving it again. It already took every ounce of courage in my body to go face him this morning that I couldn't allow anything to damper it.

Slowly walking into the kitchen, I made sure to keep my eyes plastered on the coffee machine. As I got closer, I saw my own mug was filled with fresh, hot coffee so my wish of avoiding the person sitting on the table flushed down the drain.

"Link just poured you a cup because he heard you come down the stairs," Palmer let me know with her sweet voice.

I turned out and shot her a small smile, all the while, trying to avoid making any kind of eye contact with Link.