Waiting for Sunrise

Spectraflame Green

"A-Asher?" I struggled to get his name out of my dry mouth. I tried calling him once again, with more confidence. "Asher?" 

My heart beat a little harder in my chest as I sat up, while body ached and cracked like an old abandon house. With a grunt, I pressed toes against the carpet floor and stumble a bit looking for the light switch. As light flooded the room I couldn't control the heat that crawled up my neck and settled on my cheeks. Now, that I was finally lucid, I realized where I had been sleeping.

This was his room. His bed, his bookshelf, his- Hot Wheels Car? My boyish giddiness suddenly turned perplexed as I walked closer to the night stand by the bed. Sitting on the table was a small green car with a note. My eyes lit up as I picked up the car first. It was an original Custom Camaro from the first line of Hot Wheels released in 1968. I tried to suppress a grin as I admired the detail of the car. It felt heavy in my hand, yet I was afraid, if I so much as close my palm, the whole thing would crush to bits. After another minute or so of nerding out over the toy car, I placed it back on the nightstand and picked up the note.

Paid a pretty penny for this, try not to throw it at my head when you're mad at me.

-A

P.S. If it's not apparent, Happy Birthday.

I read the card the card a few times over, with my smile growing wider each time. He had scribbled out a few lines and rewrote over other ones. Honestly it would have been better if he had just figured out what he was going to write and just put it on a new card. Yet, by the third time around, I was beaming and I only realized after I nearly made my lip bleed from chewing on it so hard. 

I took a deep breath. I was getting way too carried away. Once I calmed down, I put the note and the car in the pockets of the shorts Asher gave me and walked out of the room. 

The first thing I had to do was thank Asher for saving my life, and for treating me while I was sick, and for the present. I walked into his living room, to find him lounging on the couch with the T.V. on. His arm dangled over his face, so it was hard to see his expression. He made the couch look like it was meant for a child. His limbs barely managed to fit on the cushions and I could see his human form was just as intimidating as his wolf form. 

"Hey-" I started as I reached the couch, but immediately lowered my voice. Asher was fast asleep. For a moment, I just watched him sleep. His chest rose and fell with ease, while the rest of his body looked somewhat stiff, like he was ready to fight any second. It made me wonder if he was actually asleep. I scrunched up my nose a little noticing all the scratches I gave him while we were on the beach. He was mostly healed now, just light pink lines etched into his skin. 

I knelt down to get a closer look at his face, when he grabbed me. My eyes grew wide as he tried to pull me into the couch that definitely didn't have enough room for the both of us. Yet, it didn't stop him from wrapping his arms around me and squeezing me like a I was some kind of stress ball.

"Wait! Wait!" I said in a panic and he froze in his tracks. I could feel the car in my pocket pressing against the couch and I shimmied my arm out of Asher's grasp to grab it and place it on the floor next to us. The second it touched the ground, Asher immediately went back to trying morph my body into the couch. He managed to find away for me to have less than an inch of room and in order to for me to not fall off, he kept his arms around me.

"I knew you weren't asleep."