DREAM POV
I ended up going to bed soon after Sydney did. I introduced myself to the girls briefly and hung out for a few minutes before making an excuse to go upstairs. I wanted to let the boys hang out with Mina and Catherine, and I also wanted to be alone before I'd have to spend the next few days constantly around her. I spent most of the night tossing and turning, unable to fully fall asleep because my mind was racing. Around three in the morning, I heard shuffling that quickly turned into muffled screaming. It took me a second to figure out where exactly the sound was coming from, and then I realized it was coming from the next room over, where Sydney was staying. Before I could even comprehend what I was doing -- let alone stop myself -- I was suddenly hovering over a still-partially asleep yet very distressed Sydney. I could tell that she was yelling at something or someone, but I couldn't quite make it out. I didn't even mean to do it, but I sat down next to her and pulled her into my arms.
"Hey, you're okay," I whispered, as she jolted awake, sheer terror in her eyes. "You're okay," I knew she was out of it because she didn't even push me away or yell at me for coming in. I pulled down the blankets so we could get underneath and realized she wasn't wearing pants, just a t-shirt and underwear. I tried to peel my eyes away, but I wasn't very successful. I felt like a total creep, but I couldn't help but look at her legs as she curled into me. I almost kissed the top of her head but managed to stop myself. She continued crying into my chest for a minute while I rubbed her back as it heaved before she finally realized what was going on.
"Why the fuck are you in here?" She asked, scooting as far away from me as she could get while hastily wiping away her tears. She tried to cover herself once she realized what she was wearing. "Are you trying to assault me or something?"
"Fuck no, Syd!" I snarled, "I'm not a monster. I might be an asshole but I'm not going to fucking hurt you," I regretted it almost immediately as tears welled up in her eyes again. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you again. I heard you screaming and I came in and you were still half-asleep, but you looked like you were absolutely terrified. I was just trying to calm you down."
She squinted her eyes at me for a moment. "Okay, well, I'm fine now. I'm the calmest person alive. You can go." Her shaky voice betrayed her instantly.
"What were you dreaming about?" I asked, even though I knew she probably wouldn't tell me.
"My dad," she whispered, letting her head fall into her hands to try to hide her tears. "He used to beat the shit out of my mom and me. Whenever I sleep in a new place I always dream about him finding me again. You woke me up before he killed me, which is usually the end result," she said, avoiding my gaze and wiping her tears away. She opened her mouth to keep going but hesitated for a second. "I don't know why the fuck I'm telling you this, forget it... and don't tell anyone about this," she laughed bitterly.
"I won't tell anyone," I said, my voice low and quiet. I finally understood why she picked the charity she did for her stream. "Do you want me to leave?"
"Again, don't tell a fucking soul about this," she started, "but could you maybe stay? Usually, Mina and Catherine would sleep with me, but they're not really an option right now."
I smirked a little, and even though I knew this wasn't the time to tease her, I couldn't help it. "Aw, does little Squid want me to comfort her?"
"Please shut the fuck up. Please," she begged, sliding further down under the covers and placing a pillow between us. "I just need another person in here so I don't feel alone. Do not touch me, do not look at me, and do not tell anyone about this."
"You're safe with me," I breathed, "I mean, your secret is safe with me." I tried to correct myself but she had already heard it. I was grateful she let it go and turned her back on me to go to sleep. I was thankful that she managed to fall back asleep quite quickly, laying there in silence would have been too awkward for me to handle.
I laid back and looked up at the ceiling. I started to feel even worse about the way I had treated her. She had been through a lot, and I just kept piling it on her. I still found her generally quite annoying, but I decided that I would be nicer to her -- if only to limit the pain I knew I was causing. I thought back to the charity stream. What she said about her organization had stuck with me, and I wondered what exactly she had meant by "personal experiences", but now I knew. I looked over at her, sleeping much more peacefully than before, albeit curled up into the tiniest little ball I'd ever seen a human curl into. I was kind of amazed she could make herself that small, considering how tall she was, but I also knew that it was probably a defense mechanism that she had been forced to learn long ago. I could've fucking killed her dad right then and there. I wanted to reach over and rub her back as she slept, but I didn't. I also wanted to punch myself in the face for even having that thought. I listened to her rhythmic breathing for another hour before I finally drifted off myself.
I woke up a few times to her laying on me, clutching my shirt, and burying her head into my neck. I had to admit, she was soft and she smelled so good that I couldn't help but wrap my arms around her and pull her closer. I couldn't bring myself to push her off of me until I noticed the sun come up. I didn't want her to wake up and be embarrassed, or be mad at me for not doing something about it. I managed to avoid waking her up as well, which I was grateful for. She looked peaceful, and I was happy that she managed to get some sleep after her nightmare. After pushing her off I laid there, awake and deep in thought for an hour and a half. I tried to shove the thoughts about kissing her out of my head, but I couldn't. I tried to remember why she annoyed me so much, but I couldn't.
SYDNEY POV
I woke up in the morning, extremely groggy and not entirely aware of my surroundings. I tried to stretch out but felt my fingers come into contact with something warm, and I forced myself to open my eyes. It was him. He was already awake, just staring at me.
"Thank you for staying," I said, and I meant it. I was grateful that he had.
"Not a problem, Squid. You only kicked me three or four times, so not too bad," He laughed, rubbing his eyes and sitting up. "I'm going to make coffee, do you want any?"
"Why are you being so nice?" I asked, sitting up too. I pulled the blankets around me to try to keep myself covered. "Please don't make fun of me for this on a stream."
"I already saw it, Syd, it's a little late," he laughed, gesturing to me fumbling with the blankets. "I just feel bad. I was super mean to you, and you were really scared last night, so I figured I could at least be nice to you today. And why would I make fun of you for having a shit dad and nightmares? I'm not that mean."
"Just don't poison it, please. Just put a little half and half in it -- no sugar, I'll be down once I get dressed," I said. I chose to ignore the last part, and I kind of felt bad for saying it in the first place. He was a dick, but that would be a little bit too far, even for him. "Is anyone else up?"
"I heard some movement downstairs earlier, but I don't know if they're still down there. I don't even know what time it is." He reached for the door, opening it and stepping outside. "See you in a few."
As soon as I heard him head down the stairs, I stood up and pulled on some leggings. "Did we just see what we think we just saw?" Mina said in a sing-song voice, standing next to Catherine in the doorway.
"And hear what we think we heard?" Catherine chimed in, doing a little dance.
"Guys, he came in because I had that nightmare about my dad. I was screaming and it woke him up," I groaned, rolling my eyes. "I asked him to stay in here because I figured you two might be a little busy getting your shit rocked and I couldn't be alone."
"He was being real nice to you," Catherine said, with an eyebrow raised. "Do you think he feels bad?"
"Yeah, I honestly don't know why. I guess he just can't be mean to my face, which is rich considering all the nasty shit he's thrown my way in the past," I laughed, "did either of you get busy last night?"
"No, we're taking it slow, you know how I am," Catherine said. "We just watched Netflix and talked, I swear mom!"
"We got a little frisky, but I couldn't let him hit on the first night," Mina said, smiling. "Are you proud?"
"Very proud of both of you," I laughed, and we all headed down the stairs. "Sister Maria would be too," the three of us giggled about Sister Maria as we walked into the kitchen together.
Clay was standing in the kitchen, finishing up pouring everyone coffee. Even though he saw me come down, he started making mine. "Is this alright?" He asked, showing me the contents of my mug. "Sorry if I fucked it up."
"It's a little too much creamer, but it's okay," I smiled as I took it, "thanks."
I hadn't even realized that Nick and George were downstairs too, and they both seemed a little confused by the pleasant interaction we were having. I'm sure they noticed him making me my coffee even though I was already in the room, and I'm sure they were wondering how he knew what I wanted in it. They looked at Mina and Catherine, slightly raising their eyebrows. I already knew that Mina and Catherine were going to spill the beans later, but I didn't want to get into it with them right now.
"Who is Sister Maria?" Clay asked, looking at the three of us.
"We all went to Catholic school our whole lives -- we were the scholarship kids so we kinda just kept to ourselves and hung out with the teachers. Our favorite nun was Sister Maria, but we gave that poor lady more than enough reasons to send us to detention or force us to attend more services," I laughed, thinking back to all of the times Sister Maria caught us doing something that we definitely should not have been doing.
"Sydney used to roll her skirt up to make it shorter before walking into mass just to piss her off. Sister Maria would grab her by the ear, drag her into the hall, and roll it down for her!" Catherine said, laughing with Mina.
The boys laughed, and Clay even hit tea-kettle levels of wheezing for a second.
"So, you three wore little schoolgirl uniforms?" Nick asked, looking Mina up and down like he was going to eat her alive right then and there. I could feel Clay's eyes on me as well, and I was grateful that Nick and George were too distracted by picturing their girls in uniform to notice Clay's gaze.
"Yes, but they were not really the sexy kind, they were the 'good Catholic girl' kind," I did air quotes around the last part.
"Well, we always got honked at while we walked home, so at least some people thought they were sexy," Catherine laughed, sitting down next to George.
"What are we doing today?" Nick asked, wrapping his arm around Mina as they sipped their coffee. "We all woke up super early so we have the whole day ahead of us." I glanced at the little digital clock on the oven, he was right -- it was only eight.
"We could go to the beach, but it looks like it might rain today and it's a little cold," Clay said, looking out the kitchen window to the clouds beginning to form.
"What if we did that tomorrow?" George said, "we could just kind of hang out here today, watch movies, maybe get a little drunk later?"
"I'm down for that," I said, looking at everyone else to see how they felt.
"Sounds good to me," Catherine said, leaning her head on George's shoulder. They were very sweet together, but it made sense considering how long they had been flirting with each other. Mina and Nick were also cute, but they had more awkward nerves around each other.
"I'm cool with that," Clay agreed. "We have some booze, but we should probably run to the store and get some more. We should also decide what we're doing for dinner tonight."
"Syd can cook!" Mina offered, and I glared at her. "She is the only reason the three of us eat anything besides take-out. You should make jambalaya, we'll help you!"
"Jumbo-what?" George said, and we all laughed.
"Hey, if you're going to be wifing up a Louisiana girl, you gotta know what jambalaya is!" I chuckled. "It's pretty easy to make, so I guess I'll do it. Do any of y'all have a shellfish allergy? I usually put shrimp in it but I can take it out."
Everyone shook their head no, and I pulled out my phone to start making a list. "I'll get some other stuff too so we don't just eat pizza for however many days straight, which if I had to guess, was going to be the plan."
"That was exactly the plan. I'll go with you to the store, I don't trust you to get the right alcohol," Clay said, laughing a little. "If you suck at cooking though I'm going right back to bullying you," I missed whatever look Nick shot at him, and I only caught Clay reaching across the table to slap his head. Mina kicked me under the table and I kicked her back.
"Uh, no thanks. I will be going alone," I said, standing up to go put on real clothes. "I can not even begin to imagine how torturous going to the grocery store with you would be. I hate going anyway, let alone going with someone so annoying."
"How are you planning on getting there then?" He quipped, standing up too.
"I'll Uber," I bit back, crossing my arms. "I do not want to go with you, you're irritating."
"Jesus, Squid, just please let me come with you, I swear I won't talk to you unless I have to," he said, rolling his eyes.
"Whatever. Be ready in ten or I'm leaving without you, and you'll end up with whatever I get for you at the store," I said, already heading up the stairs. He was close behind me, and I could hear the whispers in the kitchen. I knew that Mina and Catherine were telling them that they saw him coming out of my room this morning, and I wanted to punch them. I also wanted to punch Clay for not being more careful when he left. Suddenly, I felt Clay's hand wrap around my wrist.
"You better watch that mouth of yours," he said, leaning down to whisper in my ear. "I've been on my best behavior but you're getting really close to pissing me off."
"I didn't even fucking say anything that bad," I whispered back, unwrapping his fingers from my wrist. "Don't touch me!"
"You weren't saying that last night when you were all over me in your sleep," he breathed, grabbing my wrist again and pushing me up against the wall with his body. "You just could not get enough of me last night."
"I didn't get anywhere near you last night, we woke up on opposite sides of the bed," I said back, my voice getting slightly louder.
"Keep it down!" He hissed, putting his index finger from his free hand on my lips, "and that's because I pushed you off so you wouldn't be so embarrassed about being so in love with me."
"Fuck off and let me get dressed," I hissed back, breaking free from his hold and going into my room, closing the door behind me.