Page 78 of Six Years
“Let’s make a deal,” I start and take the bowl with chicken soup from the nightstand. “You eat just a little bit and then we can cuddle for hours until you feel better.”
“I’d already feel better if you just hugged me.”
If only the flu would leave that easily. “Grey Davis, you have two choices. Eating and cuddling afterward. Or no eating and I’ll go back home.”
Even if he didn’t eat, I wouldn’t have it in me to leave him again so soon. Only God knows when I’d see him next.
“Fine,” he mumbles, somewhat sitting up straight. He was already half-sitting but not enough to eat in that position.
Because I fear he’d accidentally pour the whole hot bowl of soup over himself, I keep on holding it, slowly feeding him spoonfuls of soup. His face scrunches up every now and then when he swallows, and it breaks my heart every single time. I don’t like seeing Grey in pain, but I also have no idea what would help against a sore throat.
If I had to guess, it took us about twenty minutes for Grey to have eaten ten spoons of soup, but ten spoons in twenty minutes is better than none at all. Plus, it’s good to go slow, it won’t affect his stomach all too heavily that way.
Another five minutes later, I put the bowl away because I believe Grey is seconds away from falling asleep and the last thing I want is him to fall asleep sitting up.
“You can lie down now,” I tell him, and he does so immediately. I barely have the chance to lie down myself before Grey has his arm draped over my body and his head resting on my torso. I’m just glad his bedroom is warm since I am no longer wearing a shirt and I wholeheartedly believe that I will not get to move for the next few hours. Freezing to death was not on the top of my to-do list for today.
“I like you here with me,” Grey whispers before I can feel him press his lips to my chest.
“Go to sleep, Grey Davis.” I can’t possibly tell him that I like being around him as well. I could, but it feels wrong telling him when he might not even remember it in the morning.
“Okay, baby.”
My head falls deeper into the most comfortable pillow I have ever laid on, my eyes staring at the ceiling as I let that one single word sink in.
It’s just a pet name, nothing big, and he’s called me that before. Still, my stomach flutters, a smile as soft yet wide as ever making its way onto my face as that one word repeats itself in my head over and over again.
Right in this very moment, I realize that if someone came walking in here and shot Grey, I’d die right with him without the bullet ever touching me. It’s a scary realization. For the longest time in my life, I thought I’d never need anyone again. I used to think that I was meant to be alone because of all the people in my life, the only ones who stayed were my best friend and my parents.
Doro only stayed because she’s known mebeforeI fucked up my life. She has known me before I went crazy because of Charlie. And my parents stayed because they gave me life.
All this time I made people like me because I thought if I was being myself, nobody would ever care about me. That nobody would need me, and nobody needing me meant I didn’t need anybody either.
I was on my own, and I was okay with it. But now… thinking about having to be alone scares me more than the flutter in my heart does every time I look at the guy who’s currently in my arms. But there is one thing that scares meevenmore than the thought of dying alone.
That would be not being with Grey.
I can wait for months for his reply, I would wait a lifetime for a stupid text back because admitting my fantasy was never real is something I am not willing to do. I know that, should Grey and I never speak again from this day forth, I’d still be waiting for a text or call in sixty years all because just having him in my life as a thought is better than not having him there at all.
And if that isn’t scary, I don’t know what else ever could be.
I plant a kiss to the top of Grey’s head, lingering there for a short moment only so I can breathe him in for a while longer.
Chapter 5
“just a little more than just friend”—Just Friends by Ally Barron
March 2025
“How are you feeling?”Luan asks the second I come walking out of my bedroom, still rubbing one eye to make sure that I’ve woken up.
I swear, if I hadn’t woken upstillwearing a yellow hoodie, I would’ve been convinced I was hallucinating the past couple of days.
“You’re actually here.” He’s currently sitting by my kitchen island, drinking a coffee. I don’t think he likes coffee that much because his face scrunches up in disgust every time he takes a sip.
“Yup. Like I told you about twenty times in three days.” Luan smiles up at me, so wide and enthusiastically, I don’t even want to believe he is a real human being. It has got to be seven in the morning, who the hell is sojoyfulat this time?
Don’t get me wrong, I am a morning person. I wake up early every day, but I donotfeel joy after waking up.
