Ben's POV
I opened my eyes only to see that both of us have fallen asleep in the middle of the movie marathon me and Erica were having yesterday. The TV in front of my bed has already turned off by itself and all of the uneaten snacks were on the tray table at the end of the bed.
Erica was still asleep and was resting her head on my shoulder. I guess my lack of sleep finally caught up to me last night, because I wasn't planning on sleeping in this room, definitely not next to Erica. But I would be lying if I said that it wasn't enjoyable.
She looked so peaceful and I wanted to stay here and continue to lay like this, but I knew I shouldn't, so as carefully as I could, I slowly lifted her head from my shoulder and set it down on the pillow, trying not to wake her up.
As I walked out of the room, I took the tray table with me and went into the kitchen. I'm not going to lie, the kitchen is an absolute mess. Yesterday I didn't bother to clean anything up, I just left it as it was. There were a lot of dirty dished lying around and some food scraps left on the counters.
"I really need to try not to turn my kitchen upside down the next time I decide to make something." I told myself.
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I was almost done with cleaning up the kitchen when I heard Erica slowly walking in the living room behind me.
"Good morning." I told her.
"Morning." She walked to the sofa and sat down. "What time is it?"
"Half past seven in the morning." As soon as I finished washing up the last plate, I walked up to her and sat down. "How are you feeling?"
"Better, I guess." Erica wasn't in a chatty mood today. Her eyes were closed and already she was laying down.
"Didn't sleep well?" As I asked that, she opened one of her eyes and looked at me.
"No. I slept like a baby. That's the reason why it's hard for me to wake up." She closed her eyes again. "I can't remember the last time I had this good of a nights sleep. I didn't want it to end."
"Then why did you come here?"
"I woke up because you moved. So basically you woke me up." She yawned and slowly sat up.
"Oh, sorry." I feel a bit bad now, but still stated: "You could have just continued to sleep."
"No, it wasn't as comfortable anymore" Wait, what?! What did she just say?
A second later I could see that Erica realized what she said and her eyes went wide: "No that's not what I meant. What I was trying to say was..."
"Did you basically just call me a comfortable pillow?" In my shock, I interrupted her.
"No, that's not what I wanted to say." She was trying to find the right words. "I meant... to say that... it was already time for me to wake up."
"What?"
"Oh, just drop it." She put one of her hands over her eyes and took a deep breath. When Erica removed her hand from her face, she had a pink blush on her cheeks. "Oh, get that smug look off your face."
I stopped daydreaming and realized that I have been looking at her for a while now, not even fully understanding that I was doing it. Now I was trying my hardest not to show the emotions I was feeling, but it didn't quite work. I was struggling not to smile.
"Ben, stop it." She gave me an intimidating look, but it didn't really give the warning she wanted because her blushing cheeks produced an opposite effect.
Soon my need to smile turned into a need to laugh. I was really trying to suppress my laughter, but it proved to be quite impossible.
"What are you laughing about?" Erica asked, so I replied.
"You know your signature look that says- stop doing that or I will kill you? It doesn't really work when you are blushing like a red tomato." I thought that I would see her blush more but instead I suddenly I felt pain rush through my arm. "Ouch! Why did you do that?"
"I think you know why."
"No, I actually don't. Please, enlighten me." I rubbed my arm to make the pain go away.
"I said drop the topic. Did you?"
"...No."
"Well then, do I need to go on?"
"No." I stood up and walked to the corridor. "I will go to the shop just down the street. Do you want anything? Do you feel well enough to eat breakfast?"
She turned around to look at me: "I think I would like some salad."
"Why am I not surprised?" I started to put on my shoes.
"Yeah, Yeah, I know. You are not surprised because that is the only thing I eat." Erica stood up as well. "While you are away I would like to take a shower. Where are the towels?"
"Do you think it is a good idea since you have a fever?"
"I'm not going to spend another day in bed. I will go mad if I do. So just give me a towel."
"What is the magic word?" I don't know where I am getting the guts to talk like this to Erica, but I will just go with it. A few years back, I definitely didn't have the courage to even disagree with her on an unimportant topic, but I guess I have changed more than I first thought and realized. I also think that somehow the fact that I'm now taller then Erica is the reason why I am more daring.
"Ben, really?!" I waited for the right words. She was annoyed at me but still, I received what I asked for. "Ben, can you please give me a towel..."
"Yes, you can. Wait here, I will bring it to you."
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Erica's POV
Well, this morning was... productive. I managed to say something that I didn't want to say and already embarrassed myself. What else do I want to do today? Cry? Slip and fall? I guess today is full of possibilities and I will blame it on the fact that I'm not feeling well.
I was standing in the shower and I don't want to move. I can just feel that my reflexes aren't what they normally are and I'm just generally slow and can't think straight. I feel like I am slowly falling apart.
Ben is already back from his short trip to the store and is now probably in the kitchen making the salad that I ordered. What would I actually do if he wouldn't want to help me? Go to my mother I guess, but that wouldn't really work, because with my mother still being an active spy it would be hard to hide the fact that I'm alive. Ben isn't a spy, so no one would really look into what he is doing.
I finished showering and put on some clothes. I still had to dress the wound, but the first aid kit that Ben used two days ago wasn't where I last saw it. So even if I didn't want to ask where it is, I had to.
"Ben!" I opened the door and called out. When I heard a reply came from the kitchen, I continued. "Where is the first aid kit?"
"Oh, I had to resupply it. Just a second, I will bring it to you." Of course, he will... "Can I come in?" After a minute, he called out, from the other side of the door.
"Yeah, come in." I was standing next to the mirror, looking at the stitched-up cut.
"Looks like it is healing up nicely." He walked up to me and examined it. " I was a bit scared that you have the fever because you got an infection through the cut, but looking at it, it's fine."
He handed me the first aid kit and I started dressing the cut. Soon I heard Ben speak up: "Do you want me to go and buy new pillows so you can have a good night sleep again?" Oh, why did he have to bring it up? I looked at him and he had a smug smile on his face.
"No." I was annoyed at him and embarrassed for myself.
"Ok, ok, I'm sorry." he was trying his hardest to hide his smile. "Look, I have to get you back in some way after you and Tom had the times of your lives embarrassing me a few days ago."
"Oh, so this is revenge." I stated.
"In a way, yes."
"You're unbelievable, did you know that?"
He gave me a smile and answered: "I mean you have to admit that I am braver, then I was a few years ago."
"Braver or stupider? Because you know I can easily destroy you, even when I'm sick."
"Oh, I know that, but I will take my chances." He turned around to walk out of the room, but before he did, Ben said: "The salad is ready by the way. Do you want to eat in bed or change things up and eat in the living room?"
"For my own sanity, I will eat in the living room. I don't think I can stand being in the same room all day anymore." I hate not moving and doing absolutely nothing.
Yeah... It feels like I have just woken up from the dead. Sorry for not updating in a while. This chapter was giving me a hard time, to be honest, and I still don't know how I feel about it. But I think it was about time for me to update the story.
The next chapter is halfway written already and I hope I will update soon... I hope. (Sadly no promises.)