There’s no way Oliver can continue sleeping in here. He’s too big for the sofa, and now this loose spring will make sleeping difficult. I am very angry with Gary for not resolving the issue in the first place.
‘I need more time to find somewhere to live, but we need another sleeping arrangement.’
‘Yes, we do.’
He clears his throat. ‘Look, this is going to sound crazy, and I will respect it if it is… but my bed is big enough for two if we share…’
My eyebrows have risen so far up my forehead they are now in my hairline.
I hope he’s not expecting us to share a bed.
I have standards, and they are sky-high.
‘Hear me out, Nelly. I’ll be fully clothed, in full pyjamas, and I’ll build you the biggest wall made of pillows. It’ll be an impressive barricade.’
I think about his proposal. On two occasions, I haven’t seen anything when we have touched due to my glitchy curse. At some point, my curse will show me something about Oliver, and I am not sure I want to risk seeing something upsetting in bed, which has always been one of my safe places.
I think of his nocturnal habits. ‘Oliver, you are out late every night,’ I exclaim. ‘You typically arrive home in the early hours. What you do in your spare time is your business, but I have a full-time job, an aunt who is undergoing chemo, and I need my sleep.’ I let out a heavy sigh. If I am honest with myself, the threat of my curse is my biggest issue with his idea, but I am not about to tell him that. ‘Sharing a bed will be a nightmare as you will continually wake me up.’
My eyes roam over his messy bed hair, his fitted white T-shirt, which is hiding a defined physique, and his arms, which are a beautiful golden-brown colour. I lift my gaze to his dark, captivating eyes as my treacherous body silently screams,SAY YES!
To my surprise, he nods. ‘You make a fair point.’ He rises from the sofa and walks over to the large sash window. I watch him lean against it and look down at the busy street below.
‘I’m not partying. I want to make that clear.’
‘Oh.’ If he’s not partying – what is he doing?
‘Coming back here has been more complicated than I expected. I won’t bore you with my life story, but it’s been a struggle.’
‘Okay.’
Moving away from the window, he starts to pace. ‘The other night was a bit of a wake-up call for me.’
Was that when he lost the keys to my flat, chose not to sleep with Rory’s sister (whoever Rory is) and came home to have a crisis in my kitchen?
‘I need to stop going out all the time and, as Jamie says, “causing drama”. I am not going to lie, I have a lot on my mind, and I think I have been letting my emotions get the better of me. It’s not just causing me issues with you but with others as well.’
I nod, and he comes back to sit on the sofa. ‘Sharing a bed with you will force me to get out of this negative cycle. I’ll build the wall tonight. It will be so high they will be able to see it in space.’ He’s looking at me. ‘What do you think? I’m a decent person, and I respect your concerns about physical contact. I’m brilliant at building things. If my writing career dries up, I’ll turn to food and… bricklaying.’
The words ‘no way’ are jostling around on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t push them out.
I yawn and wonder whether this will result in me getting a good night’s sleep.
He can read my mind as he says, ‘No more middle-of-the-night wake-ups. I will be the perfect flatmate and bed sharer.’
I wish he wouldn’t make bold claims and follow them up with that dangerous smile of his.
‘If you wake me up in the early hours again this arrangement is over. I mean it, Oliver.’
‘Nelly, if that happens, I will return to this sofa and sleep with a loose spring digging into my bottom as punishment. In years to come, you’ll see me struggling to sit down at author events because of my injured behind.’
My face is getting warm at the thought of his rear end. ‘Can you stop talking about your bottom?’
He smiles. ‘What do you think?’
All want is a good night’s sleep. I can’t believe I am going to agree to this. ‘Yes.’
A huge smile spreads across his face. ‘That’s great. I will build the wall. Nelly, I need something like this as I can’t carry on living the way I have been, and I need to start writing again.’
