Page 71 of Falling Together
“But you shouldn’t!” Blair’s voice was much louder than she meant for it to be, and she didn’t do a good job of hiding her annoyance, but wasn’t that kind of the point? “Not with me. You should be honest with me. And if we fight, you know what? Then we fight! And later, we make up. I’m not going to be scared away by one bad moment or even a bad day or month. You don’t have to be perfect with me. I’d prefer that you’re not.”
“Okay.”
“Okay? Really? That’s all?” Blair had to hold back a growl. She wasn’t sure if it was because she was sick, but right now she couldn’t handle Erin’s avoidance tactics. “Listen, I’m going to close my eyes and take a nap.”
“Are… are you mad at me?”
Erin sounded so sad. Even if Blair had been mad at her, that soft, sweet voice would’ve snapped her out of it. “I’m not mad. I’m just sick and also a little bit frustrated, but I’m not mad. I promise.”
“Do you want some space, or is it okay if I snuggle you?”
Blair smiled in spite of her frustration. “I would love it if you snuggled me.”
Erin smiled in relief and put her arm out. Blair snuggled into her and lay her head on Erin’s chest. As she fell asleep to the sound of Erin’s beating heart, Blair realized why she was so frustrated that Erin couldn’t seem to move on from her past. It was because while Erin was still holding onto past pain, Blair was slowly but surely falling in love with her.
Chapter 24
Erin
When Erin woke up the next day, her mind was racing. After the conversation with Blair about Bianca, things had been weird the rest of the day. Not bad, per se, but definitely different in a way she couldn’t put her finger on. And she hated it. She was supposed to be taking care of Blair, not making her feel worse. Blair hadn’t gone home at the end of the night, so that had to be a good sign, right? In fact, she was still lying next to Erin right now, looking completely content while Erin contemplated all of her life choices.
She didn’t want to wake Blair, but she also knew Nolan would likely come barging into the room any minute, so a wake up by her would be much less abrupt. She wasn’t sure how to go about waking up Blair, but she felt like she had a lot of making up to do after yesterday, so she decided to give her a kiss on the forehead. After the first kiss, Blair didn’t even stir, so Erin gently kissed her once again. This kiss caused the cutest little smile to spread across her face, but she still didn’t open her eyes.Time to pull out the big guns.Erin leaned forward and brought her lips to Blair’s and kissed her softly.
Blair’s smile grew even bigger, and this time, she did start to blink open her eyes. “I could definitely get used to this alarm clock,” she said sleepily.
God, Erin loved Blair’s sleepy voice so much. She wanted to hear it every day for the rest of her life, which also made her want to jump out of bed and never hear it again.Screw you, fucked up mental health.
“Oh yeah?” Erin tried her best to make her voice sound flirtatious. “What’s your favorite part of it?” she asked before placing another kiss on Blair’s lips.
Blair opened her eyes fully and stared at Erin as if she were the only person in the whole world. “Definitely the woman those lips are attached to.”
“So, you’re not mad at me anymore?” Erin figured she might as well put it out there now, so she knew just how much kissing up she needed to do today.
Blair sighed, but she never removed her gaze from Erin, those eyes full of just as much love(Love? Really? Maybe infatuation?)as before. “I was never mad at you. I told you that. I just hate when it feels like you’re not opening up to me. I want to see every part of you, Erin. Even the bad parts.”
“But what if the bad parts are too bad and they end up scaring you away?”
“I’m still here, aren’t I?”
Erin nodded. She very much was, and Erin was so thankful for that. “Yes. Speaking of which, how are you feeling?”
Blair took a deep breath through her nose, which surprisingly didn’t sound clogged, and blew it out through her mouth, which also surprisingly, did not end in a coughing fit. “I think I’m actually feeling a lot better.” She pointed toward her forehead. “Do I feel hot?”
Erin put her hand on Blair’s forehead, and even though that contact made her warm up, it had nothing to do with Blair’s temperature. “No. Not really.”
“Wow. I must’ve gotten some twenty-four-hour version of the bug. Lucky me.” Blair’s words didn’t match the way her smile dropped into a slight frown. “I think I should still stay home today, though. Just to be safe. I don’t want to infect any of my kids.”
“That’s a good idea.” An even better idea popped into Erin’s head at that very moment. It wasn’t like her, but Blair was more than worth it. “If you want me to, I can call off today too. Like, completely off. That way, we can hang out. Relax together a little.”
“You’d do that for me?”
Why was Blair so surprised by that? Did she not expect Erin to do nice things for her?Maybe I need to try a little harder.“Of course I will. I just need to get Nolan to school and then we can do whatever you want.”
“How would you feel about going to my parents’ house to swim? They have a heater, so we keep it open until mid-October. Plus, we don’t even really need the heater, since it’s still so unseasonably warm outside. I should probably show my face at home eventually, so they know you didn’t murder me or something. Not that they’ll be there most of the time. My brother is at school, so we’ll have the place to ourselves essentially.” She put up her hand as if she was stopping Erin from saying something. “Not that I’m expecting anything to happen. I’m just letting you know that you don’t have to spend the whole day surrounded by my family.”
A whole day with Blair’s family actually didn’t sound too bad to Erin. “I wouldn’t mind. I really like your family.”
“I tend to enjoy them too, but I’m selfish when it comes to you. I want you all to myself.” Blair wrapped her arms around Erin and pulled her tight up against her, and it made Erin want to forget everything and spend the day lost in that sexy body.
