Calysta
On Saturday night, I feel wiped out from the day at the amusement park. It takes every ounce of my energy to get me out of bed in the middle of the night just for a glass of water when I know the rest of my family is sound asleep. And it takes even more energy to climb back up the two flights of stairs to reach my room but when I do, I stop cold. There's a dark figure looming next to the light coming through the glass window.
My body freezes but my heart picks up pace, beating so loud that I can hear it. I try to make out the shapes in the dark. Am I seeing things? I wonder until the figure moves toward me and I let out a small yelp but a hand covers my mouth. I stumble back in the attempt to get away but the figure pulls me closer before I can lose my footing.
"It's me," he whispers. "Asa."
He uncovers my mouth and I let out a shaky breath before collapsing against him. He holds onto me so I don't fall to the ground and his clean soapy smell fills my nose as I take a deep breath in an attempt to calm myself down.
"You freaking scared the shit out of me," I whisper fiercely and he lets out a low chuckle. "It's not funny. I would have screamed and woken up the whole house."
"Aren't you glad I covered your mouth?" his cocky response makes me see that he's still holding onto me and I quickly step away.
"I'd be glad if you didn't scare me shitless in the middle of the night," I shoot back and take one last deep breath. "What're you doing here?"
"I can't sleep on the couch," he answers, running a hand through his hair as I flop onto my mattress. "It's really uncomfortable."
"It's just for one night," I tell him. "Cece is leaving in the morning. Then Lennon and Yuna will go back to their room and you can have your bed back."
"What's Trixie's deal anyway?" He plops down next to me and I'm suddenly glad that it's dark so he can't see my cheeks burn. "Why does she need the whole room for a sleepover? Yuna and Lennon could have shared a bed or-"
I know what he's going to say next so I stop him. "We don't have an extra mattress or sleeping bag. And they are sharing a bed – your bed."
"Let me sleep here," he begs and even in the darkness, I can tell that he's trying to give me his best puppy dog look.
My heart is in my throat and I'm now hyperaware of how close he is to me. It also occurs to me that he's serious. He actually wants to spend the night in my room.
"Are you crazy?!" I demand. "If anyone sees you, they'll misunderstand-"
"Misunderstand what?" he asks playfully, leaning toward me. "That we're doing something we're not supposed to?"
He leans closer and I choke on the oxygen that my lungs are begging for. I put my hand on his chest and he makes this low growling noise. I quickly push him away and then tuck my hands underneath my crossed legs.
"Okay, sorry," he says quickly when he sees that I'm about to reject his request. "We can put a pillow between us if that makes you feel better."
That's when I hear footsteps coming up my stairs. Asa and I share a look of terror and I motion for him to hide somewhere when a pillow comes soaring through the open hatch. Lennon pokes her head through and her sleepy eyes land on Asa before me.
"What's going on?" she asks before climbing up.
"We were just talking," I say quickly and Asa nods. "What's wrong?"
"I can't sleep down there," Lennon complains and I fight against the urge to scream in frustration. "Yuna is really annoying to share a bed with. Let me sleep here."
"Aren't you scared?" I ask her because she doesn't usually voluntarily come up to my attic room, especially at night.
"I'm too tired to think about ghosts right now," she says, flinging her pillow into place on one end of my mattress.
She falls head first onto it and I sigh. Asa looks at me questioningly and I want to tell him no. I want to tell him that I don't have space for both of them but he quickly settles on the opposite side of me.
"No one can misunderstand now," he says quickly and softly. "We'll just say we couldn't sleep so we were talking and then fell asleep like this."
"Asa-" I whisper irritably but he isn't listening.
He grabs my arm and pulls me down so I'm lying in the middle of them. Lennon's eyes are already closed and her breathing is evened out. She's asleep.
"Don't say my name like that," he whispers, his breath tickling my forehead. "It makes me want to do things we're not supposed to."
He closes his eyes and I stare at him, speechless. What does he mean by that? My whole body suddenly feels like an inferno and I quickly turn my back to him so he doesn't open his eyes to see my face flushed. I scoot closer to Lennon in the hopes that I'm not touching Asa at all and I hear him let out a breath of air. I can almost sense him smiling behind my back.
Then he drapes an arm around my waist and I feel my body tense. My chest tightens as warmth spreads through me.
"Step two, open up to me a little. I won't bite."