Page 130 of Tell Me I'm Enough

“Want me to take you back?”

She shakes her head. “Can…can I just stay here?”

Stop doing that, heart.

“Yeah, no, that’s fine.”

I hop off the bed, going to grab some sheets out of the closet.

When I come back to put them on the floor, she shakes her head and lifts the covers up. “You should be able to sleep in your own bed, Mason.”

“It’s okay, really,” I tell her.

“There’s no way the floor is comfortable…and I would hate for you to somehow fuck your back up from sleeping down there, and nowI’mthe reason you can’t play for the rest of the season.”

I let out a laugh. “Okay, that’s dramatic. It’s not that bad. I’ve definitely passed out on more than one odd surface before. My body is used to the neglect.”

She laughs now, too. “Okay, but what if…I wanted you to?”

I give her a questioning look.

“Nothing funny,” she says. “It would just…be nice to have some comfort.”

“If you just wanna cuddle with me, you don’t have to make up any lies,” I tease. “You could just ask.”

She rolls her eyes. “Would cuddling be so bad?”

You’re just friends…

I give her a playful smirk. “I refuse to be the small spoon, though.”

“But I’m always the big spoon,” she says, acting confused.

I laugh and walk over to the bed. “Turn over, pretty girl. I refuse to let anyone walk in this room and see you spooning me from behind.”

She gives me the cutest smile and turns over, giving me room to slide in behind her.

I’m glad she can’t see me right now, because I’m sure my face is giving away just how hard this is for me, being this close to her, being this vulnerable.

It’s so quiet, with just the background noise of a movie running in the room still.

I try not to touch her at first, be respectful, but she reaches back and finds my arm, pulling it over her body and tucking it under her arms.

I move closer, and I feel like I could melt right here on the spot. My body fits perfectly against every curve of her body, andI hate how good it feels to be touching her, how intoxicating she smells, how perfect she is in every possible way.

I hate the thought of anyone not handling her with care…not being what she needs. I hate that I wish I could be that for her.

I also hate that I know I never could.

I would never be good enough for someone like Simone.

She deserves the world, and I’m way too fucked up to give her that.

I just hope she finds someone one day who can.

33

Simone