Page 148 of On His Schedule
He shakes his head. “No, we have two away games this weekend. I won’t be back until Saturday.”
I process this. “Do you travel a lot for hockey?”
He nods. “Oh, yeah. All the time.”
“Huh,” I say.
“What?” he smiles.
I look at his teeth. “Do you like it?”
He nods. “Yeah. I love it.” He reaches over and brushes my wet hair behind my ear. “Ready for lights out?”
I nod.
He reaches over and clicks his lamp off. The room falls dark. The strip of streetlight through the gap in the curtain is the only light, and my eyes adjust slowly until I can see his face on the pillow next to me. My hands are on my stomach over the covers.
“Are you a cuddler?”
I smile to myself and think about whether I am or not. I haven’t ever shared a bed with a boy I liked, so I have no idea.
“I don’t know.”
He reaches for me, rubbing his hand on my shoulder. “You don’t know?”
His touch lights me up inside as I shake my head. “I’ve never cuddled.”
“Never?”
“No.”
He pauses, placing his arm around me. “I can fix that.”
I roll into him. My head finds the space between his shoulder and his jaw. My back is pressed against his chest. His arm comes around my body, tugging me flesh against him.
“Comfortable?” he whispers in my ear.
His Camdenth makes every hair on the back of my neck stand to attention. “Yes.”
“Me too.”
I close my eyes.
After a while, I can tell he is asleep from the rhythm of his chest on my back. His arm is still around me. I can’t believehe fell asleep. There’s something so nice about knowing he was comfortable enough to fall asleep on me. I keep my eyes closed, but I’m having a hard time falling asleep. My brain is too full. I lift my hand and trace a slow line down his arm with my fingertip.
After a moment, he murmurs into my hair without opening his eyes. “That feels nice.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t stop.”
I keep doing it. He pulls me in tighter. He kisses the top of my shoulder where the t-shirt has slipped.
“Goodnight, baby.”
“Night, Bens.”
He is asleep within a minute.
