“Did you know that your left eye twitches when you lie?”
He wasn’t wrong but she really wished he hadn’t noticed that. She’d been called out on it before by her secretary. It was one of those involuntary things that she didn’t know was happening but as usual, he didn’t miss a beat.
“Alright fine, have it your way. I’m concerned because you are naked in my bed.”
She looked away because she was embarrassed to even say it out loud, let alone think it.
“Jenna, it’s me, Seth. Seriously, you must know I would never intentionally hurt or take advantage of you in any circumstance. Especially when you’re sick. I’m not going to say I haven’t thought about it but you said it yourself, we’re just friends. So, I was here in your bed in that capacity, just like you ordered me to be.”
“Okay but that doesn’t explain why you are naked. When you crawled in bed you had boxers on.”
“Yes, I did and all I can say is it’s a habit. I don’t sleep in anything at home. It’s too restricting and I must have taken them off during the night.”
“So, we didn’t do anything?”
“Why do you look disappointed?”
“Oh, um, I’m not, I just wanted to be sure.
“If you say so Jenna.”
“Don’t you believe me?”Does he really think I want to have sex with him? I mean I do but I can’t let him know that. I don’t want to lose a friend.
“Okay, I think you need to relax. I’ll get you another dose of your meds then I want you to lay in bed while I make you some scrambled eggs. By then the medicine should be putting you back to sleep.”
Seth rose from Jenna’s bed, baring his ass, which was muscular and perfect, but he wasn’t even embarrassed to be standing in front of her naked. She could never do that. No one ever saw her body, she didn’t even like to see it. She was sad when he pulled his jeans up to obstruct her view. He disappeared into her bathroom and returned with the dreaded green liquid.
“Okay, take this.” He handed her the little plastic cup filled to the rim with liquid. “I’ll make you breakfast while you relax.”
And then he was gone.
***
Good god, Jenna was going to be the death of him. It was weird but he felt like overnight their friendship relationship took on a drastic change. Truthfully, he wasn’t sure how to comprehend it. She was giving mixed signals that he didn’t know how to read. Who was he kidding, he didn’t know how to readanysignals women gave. The only difference is that this time it was Jenna. He’d been in love with her for a long time but she’d always kept him in the friend zone. He would rather that than not have her at all so he learned to live with it.
But last night was an amazing experience. Even with her being sick, he was lying right beside her, watching her while she slept. Unconsciously and sound asleep, she didn’t have a problem with touching him but he knew it would be different awake. She wasn’t letting herself feel anything for him because she was scared. He was too but life was meant to be lived, to takerisks, then he’d take that risk to have her in his life forever. Only question is, would she?
Seth cracked open two eggs into the bowl, scrambled them with salt and pepper and poured them into the skillet to cook. He didn’t use milk because it always made them too runny. Cheese was usually his most important ingredient when they were for him but dairy wasn’t a good idea with all that phlegm she was still coughing up. Shouldn’t be very much longer and the medicine would be making her tired. Should he stick around while she slept? He’d already cleaned her entire apartment and he wasn’t in the mood to clean his own.
They’d both slept in late so her eggs were really lunch instead of breakfast but at this time of day, he could probably go spend a few hours on his computer checking email and doing a little research at the coffee shop without much interruption. Then he could pick up groceries for a bland dinner and still make it back before she woke up.
He moved the eggs onto a plate with two pieces of toast and grabbed a fresh bottle of water. Walking into her bedroom, he noticed she was already starting to drift off but she would never get her strength back if she didn’t eat regularly.
“Okay sunshine, no sleeping.”
He’d scared her but at least she was awake. She moved her pillow and sat up against the headboard.
“Here is your breakfast for lunch and a bottle of water.”
Once she was settled with everything in front of her or within reach he moved to leave the bedroom.
“Where are you going?”
“Need to wash up the dishes I just dirtied, then I’m going to head out and catch up on a little work while you sleep in peace.”
He waited at the door hoping she might keep him talking.
“You don’t have to leave.”
