Jay's P.O.V.
I really did think I could make it through just one meal eating out. Sure, my head hurt, but I took painkillers before we left and figured I'd be fine.
Now my head is pounding and the harsh sunlight is bleeding through my eyelids, no matter how much I try to keep it out. I'm sitting on the ground of the parking lot, leaning against the car and breathing heavily, trying to get the pain to subdue.
Ben crouches down beside me. "Why didn't you tell me you felt this crappy? We could've gone home earlier." He says.
I shake my head, breathing starting to steady. "I thought I'd be fine. Plus you've got enough to worry about. Don't think I didn't notice how upset you were in the bathroom."
He sighs, running his hand through his hair and biting his lip. "That's not for you to be concerned about."
I look closer at him, the stressed expression, tired green eyes, and concern leaking through every pore. I reach up and catch his hand, bringing it away from his hair. My other hand automatically reaches to cup his face.
"Well, I am concerned about you," I say, searching his eyes and suddenly realizing how close we are. My breathing hitches.
"Hey guys, I scored free breadsticks from my mom!" Devon suddenly exclaims, running up to us. He stops suddenly and shifts around awkwardly upon seeing us.
Ben stands up and steps away, his face a bright red. "Uhhhhhh... cool." He says, avoiding eye contact with Devon.
Devon shoots me a questioning look and I look away, slowly standing up instead.
River walks up behind Devon and gets into the car, oblivious of our awkward tension. He starts to close the door and pauses. "You guys coming?"
I wordlessly climb into the backseat, ignoring Devon's pointed looks the entire way back.
We finally pull up to the apartment, and Devon gives up, telling us he's heading home. River yawns and decides to head out as well, leaving Ben and me at the apartment by ourselves after he grabs his stuff.
I keep the lights off in the living room and plop onto the couch in the darkness. My head is still throbbing, though the sun's now going down and I've pulled the curtains closed to block out any remaining light.
I close my eyes and rest my arm across my face, trying to relax, but for some reason, there's this nagging feeling that something's wrong.
I sit up again, though my head screams at me, and look toward the kitchen, where Ben is putting away the leftovers. He comes around the corner in a few moments, yawning and joining me on the couch.
I lean into him, closing my eyes again and pulling my legs onto the couch. It's really not that late, maybe 9 o'clock, but my body awareness is starting to slip away.
I blink lethargically when Ben nudges me, sleepily looking over at him.
"Are you ready to go to bed?" He asks, studying me. I nod and try to get up, nearly stumbling over my own feet. He catches me by the arm and helps me down the hall slowly.
We make it to his bed and I flop on top of the covers. He walks around to his side of the bed and climbs in, leaving only the glow of his laptop for light in the room.
I lay in the darkness for a good half hour while he works. My body is absolutely exhausted, but for some reason, my brain feels so on edge that I can't fall asleep.
I scoot closer to him with a little sniffle, and he turns to look at me. I quickly wipe away the tears that have fallen down my face, trying to keep him from noticing, but it's too late.
"Hey, what's wrong?" He asks, running his fingers down my arm. "Dunno," I mumble. He pats the space next to him. "Come here."
I scootch closer and silently snuggle into his side, watching him work on bookstore event things on his laptop for a while. He abruptly stops and sets the device aside on the nightstand, catching my gaze.
"What's wrong?" He asks, running his hand down my arm again. I turn to lay on my back, avoiding his eyes. "Dunno. Just feel on edge for some reason and it won't go away. That and my head hurting means I can't sleep." I mumble.
He shifts to lay down on the mattress so his body is even with mine, and turns my head toward him with a hand, locking his bright green eyes onto mine.
"Hey, look at me. It's perfectly fine to feel what you're feeling, but I need to know what will help. Do you want to be close or do you need some space? I can sleep on the floor if you need."
I shake my head. "No, stay close." "Okay. Let's go into the kitchen first and get you some water." He gently takes my hand and helps me out of bed, down the hall to the kitchen.
I sit on a stool by the counter and lean against the wall as he fills a glass, handing it to me.
I drink it slowly, but it slips out of my hands as a deep pain suddenly shoots through my head, making my hands immediately fly to my temples.
I breathe shakily as I wait in agony for the wave to pass. Eventually the black that has started to cloud my vision fades away and the pain disappears, just leaving me in a heavily-breathing mess as my head reverts to its usual throbbing.
I blink rapidly to notice Ben is standing right next to me, rubbing my back and talking softly by my ear in a comforting tone.
"Hey it's alright. Focus on your breathing. Let's try some deep breaths. You're doing great." He gently takes my hand and places it on his chest. "Try to match my breathing, that's in. Deep breath in, deep breath out."
I watch his chest rise and fall slowly and slowly adjust my breathing pattern to match his.
"Hey, do you still feel on edge?" He asks gently. I nod. He helps me off the stool and walks me over to the freezer, hand in mine.
He pulls out an ice cube and holds it out to me. I stare at him blankly. "Why does everyone look at me like that when I do this? Just put it in your mouth." He says exasperatedly.
I follow his instructions, and oddly enough, something about it seems to calm me down a bit.
He looks at my plastic cup on the floor with water spilling out of it, creating a puddle. "At least this time I learned not to give you a glass cup." He says, shaking his head with a smile.
I purse my lips and give him a look. "What? Come on, it's a little funny." He says, grinning at me.
Seeing his smile makes me smile, and I break eye contact to turn away and hide the blush that's quickly forming. Gosh, he's cute.
He picks up the cup and cleans up the puddle. I start to feel lightheaded standing there just watching him, so I slide down the wall, sinking down to sit on the floor.
He looks up. "You alright?" I take some deep shaky breaths. "Just lightheaded." I say, momentarily closing my eyes to focus on my breathing.
"Did you want painkillers for your head?" He asks, walking over to a cabinet. "There might be some out here." He digs around for a bit before pulling out the bottle, then getting me a new cup of water.
He walks over and crouches down next to me on the floor, holding each out. I don't even realize my hands are shaking until I try to take the cup. He puts his own hands over mine, steadying them as I wash down the pills.
"Thanks." I mumble, trying not to be too aware of the contact between our hands. He sets the cup on the counter and takes my hands again to slowly help me up.
"Ready to go back to bed?" I nod, and he pulls me up off the floor. We make our way down the hall, his arm wrapped around my waist to steady me. Our height difference isn't that noticeable, but it's big enough that he could easily lay his head on my shoulder, me being slightly taller.
We climb back into bed and he pulls out his laptop again, patting the space next to him when he notices I'm hesitantly sitting a good distance away.
I happily snuggle into his side and lay my head on his chest, turning so the front of my body is flush with his side even though my frame is much bigger than his lean one.
He smiles and wraps an arm around me, and I allow myself to close my eyes and just relax for once. I quickly start to doze off to the sound of him typing on his keyboard, exhaustion suddenly hitting me.
Ben's P.O.V.
It's early in the morning when I'm woken by a small child jumping on top of me. I grunt and sleepily open my eyes to find little Madelyn sitting on top of me with the biggest grin on her face.
I look over and find Jay still sleeping, cuddled up into my side. How she didn't wake him up too is beyond me. My mom peeks around the doorframe and I see her eyes widen before she smiles. She gestures to the living room and I nod.
Madelyn opens her mouth to talk but I hold my finger up to my mouth in a shush gesture and she copies me, quieting. I whisper, "We don't want to wake Jay up."
She nods and giggles. "He's pretty." She says. I smile, looking down at his head on my lower chest, the messy blond hair and the beautiful jaw line.
"Yeah he is." I say, my voice nearly catching in my throat. I clear my throat and she climbs off me, exaggeratedly tiptoeing across the room to the door.
I stifle a laugh and slowly slide out of bed, trying not to wake Jay. I freeze momentarily as he mumbles something, but he only readjusts and snuggles further into the blanket, still asleep.
Madelyn watches with wide eyes. I copy her movements and exaggeratedly tiptoe across the floor. She covers her mouth in an attempt to quiet her little giggle.
I scoop her off the floor into my arms, with her attaching herself to me like a baby monkey, and go out into the living room where my mom is waiting.
"Morning." I say, sitting on the couch with Madelyn. She smiles. "Good morning. Are you still free to watch her today while I take the boys to summer camp?" She asks.
"Oh, I forgot that was today. Yeah, we'll make it work." I say with a nod. Madelyn grins from my lap. "Yay!"
"Okay, but if it gets to be too much call your dad and maybe she can hang out at work with him if you need." She says, rising from the chair.
"I think we'll be alright." I say with a smile. "What do you want to do today little monkey?" I ask.
Her eyebrows scrunch together in thought before her entire face lights up with excitement. "Zoo?"
I smile. "Alright we'll take monkey to see the monkeys." I say with a laugh.
My mom smiles and I walk her to the door. "I'll be back as soon as I can." She says, pulling me into a hug.
She gives me one last wave as she leaves, telling Madelyn goodbye.
I go back to the living room and settle my sister in front of the tv with some cartoons. "I'm going to go check on Jay alright? You stay here and watch your show and I'll be right back." She nods distractedly, already absorbed in the screen.
I walk down the hall and turn the corner to the bedroom, stopping short at the sight that greets me.