Eighteen Weeks After: A Short Story

Part VI

I woke up the next morning with a warm arm draped across my waist, my back pressed flush against the chest of the person whose legs were tangled in my own. For a moment I nestled further into the embrace, cradled by the heat that begged for me to surrender again to the world of my dreams. It was a sense of relief and security I had craved for so long; a comfort that pleaded I never leave.

His breaths were hot against the nape of my neck; deep and even as he slept. The crisp scent of woody pine and dewy soil filled my lungs, and I would have shivered in the breeze that washed over us had I not been wrapped in an envelope of warmth. He shifted in the midst of his slumber, drawing me closer and pulling my body tighter to his, and I couldn't help but be lured into his company as our breaths moved in sync.

It wasn't until I remembered where I was that my eyes shot open.

My heart flew into a rapid rhythm as my face flushed with heat. I was suddenly all too aware of the way his body pressed against mine, and the rapid rush that pulsed through my veins and scorched my skin made the toasty sleeping bag feel more like a pocket of blistering heat that I most definitely needed to escape. Slowly I worked on dragging myself from the fiery depths of the silken chamber, my endeavor hastening the moment I felt him shift and rouse from the trance of his very own world of dreams.

I staggered out into the frigid air at the precise moment Kael rolled onto his back and squinted against the golden morning rays, still disoriented from being stirred into consciousness. Instantly I stumbled towards our packs, tearing a bottle of water from my own and willing it to drown the flame that rose up my neck and burned my cheeks, making a point to ignore his drowsy gaze as he propped himself on his elbow.

"Morning."

I tried not to heed the thick huskiness of sleep that stuck to his voice and sent an unfamiliar wave rolling through my stomach. I almost growled in frustration when I noticed the water had done no good in dampening the warmth of my skin.

"Morning," still I refused to catch his eye as I busied myself rummaging through my knapsack with absolutely no objective whatsoever. I fought the urge to glance up as he stood and started into the woods, muttering a raspy "I'll be back in a second" before disappearing behind the trees and dense scrub.

As soon as my eyes ceased to capture the sight of his retreating form I set to rolling the lone sleeping bag into a tight bundle before fighting to force the bulky material into its cover, which proved to be a feat in itself. I struggled to prevent my mind from wandering to thoughts of the proximity in which we'd slept – thoughts of the way his heat had fused with mine, and the way the arm he kept slung over my waist had felt as though it would protect me against even the most brutal trials of this world, and the way his very nearness had made my stomach swirl with an irritating and yet undeniably endearing tension.

I muttered a stream of silent curses under my breath.

Curse him for being the only person left to inhabit the face of this world. Curse him for making me feel things I could never have imagined feeling before. And curse him for having only one sleeping bag.

My head snapped up the moment my ears pricked with the echoes of footsteps flattening the damp leaves to the soil, bringing a halt to my effort to cram the bag back into Kael's knapsack. Before I could reel in my roaming gaze I found myself observing the way his arms stretched above his head and a drowsy yawn swam across his mouth while he lengthened his lean body to its full potential. His deep golden locks were tousled and disheveled, his dark eyes still glossy with the early hours of dawn, and I forced myself to look away before my stare could slide down to the shred of his torso revealed by the rise of his jacket as it climbed above his hips.