“Nothing, man, I’m just tired,” he says, shifting in his seat like he’s uncomfortable.
I turn my head toward Rya as she looks between him and me and shrugs her shoulders with her lips turned downward.
That’s weird. Did something happen? Rya seems fine, as if she had a good time with him. I’m not going to dwell on it. He’s the one who wanted to go clubbing. If it caused this bad attitude, that’s on him.
“Hey, you’re finally awake?” I say as I mix batter for tomorrow’s cookie orders. Zayn has been sleeping all morning. It’s now late afternoon, and he’s barely waking up.
“Yeah. I couldn’t sleep last night,” he says as he takes a seat on the bar stool and leans his elbows on the kitchen island.
I grab the sugar and measure a cup and pour it into the bowl. “What’s going on? You didn’t sleep that good Friday night either.” After we came home from the club, I passed out but woke up every once in a while from Zay tossing and turning. He said he was having a hard time falling asleep. He stayed up all day Saturday so he could sleep that night, but the same thing happened.
He runs his hands through his hair and shakes his head. “I don’t know.”
I turn around and go into the pantry to get more ingredients. Zay startles me as wraps his arms around my midsection, pulling me close. I tilt my head, looking up at him, and he kisses my cheek. A slight smile forms. He hasn’t done something like this in years. It’s one of those things that just falls away after being with someone for so long.
I giggle a little as his heated breath makes my neck tingle. “What’s going on?”
“Why does anything have to be going on to kiss you?” he asks, wrapping his arms tighter around me.
“I don’t know. You haven’t done this in a while.”
He loosens his arms, and I turn around to face him. “How much more do you have to bake?”
“I’m done after this batch of cookies.”
He stares at me closely, almost like he’s in a daze. His facial expression is hard to read. I stare back at him, confused about what’s going on. Maybe he’s fatigued from a lack of sleep.
“Let’s stay in and watch movies.”
An echoed ping comes from his phone, followed by two more. He’s in a group chat with all his guy friends from work and they send each other memes all day long. It gets so annoying hearing his pings go off constantly when I’m with him. I have to tell him to silence his phone. Sometimes I wonder if the guys do anything at all when they’re not at work because his phone constantly goes off.
I follow Zay out of the pantry and set the ingredients down. When I look up at him, he’s reading over his phone with knitted brows, as if someone told him some harsh news. His Adam’s apple bobs up and down before he puts his phone on silent and slips it into his pocket.
“We can start a movie while these bake,” I say.
He nods and heads for the living room and turns on the TV.
After putting the cookies in the oven, I head over to the living room and slide next to Zay on the couch. He puts his phone away the moment he sees me next to him, which I appreciate because sometimes I can’t get him off his phone.
“What movie do you want to watch?”
He presses play on the remote. “I found a Liam Neeson movie. Your favorite actor.”
Liam Neeson is one of my favorite actors. You can never go wrong with his movies. The movieTakenstarts playing.
“We can watch all three. If you want?” Zay asks.
“Okay. I’m good with that.” I love rewatching movies. It’s just as good as rereading your favorite book.
I pull the ottoman over so we can put our feet up; just as I do that, Zay scoots over to my spot and spreads his legs. I eye him in question. Is he asking for what I think he’s asking for?
He rolls his eyes. “I’m not asking for that. Come sit between my legs.”
I chuckle and sit between his legs and rest my legs up onto the ottoman. I wiggle my way into him more, getting comfortable. He wraps his arms around me, holding me tight.
“Why are you so cuddly today?” I don’t mind it. In fact, I love it because physical touch is my love language. But his isn’t, and sometimes it’s hard for him to meet my needs.
“Why do you keep questioning me about cuddling you?”
