Exactly one hour after he leaves, Henry and I are sitting cross-legged across from each other on a clean canvas tarp that I found in the back room. I figured it would be more sanitary to eat on this than the paint covered floor.

We’ve been digging into our food for fifteen minutes or so. The conversation hasn’t stopped and I’ve laughed more in this short amount of time than I have in the whole last year combined. It’s hard to believe that this can’t be real. It’s hard to believe that something that is this comfortable and easy can’t possibly work.

Great, now I sound like Dad. I’m not focusing on that right now. Right now I’m focusing on the Chinese vegetables and tofu in my hand.

Another thing that he and I have been sharing: all the cartons are open and sitting between us. If I want something in his hand, I just have to hold my chop sticks out and he tilts the carton so I can grab it. I’ve been doing the same for him.

“So what is it exactly that you do?” I ask around a bite of veggies. “You said you were an administrative assistant, but you never said for who or what.”

He sets the shrimp Lo Mein between us and looks down into the other containers, “Just at some magazine company. Do you know where the vegetables are?”

“Here,” I tilt the container in his direction. As he grabs a piece, I hand over the container, “Take the whole thing.”

“Thanks.”

“What magazine?”

Henry shakes his head as he pokes around in the carton, “One of the music ones.”

“Which music one?”

“Tune,” he answers nonchalantly as he sticks a peapod into his mouth.

“What?” I look up from the food and straight into his eyes. He shrugs and carries on chewing, so I continue talking, “That’s not just some music magazine. That’s the music magazine.”

His cheeks pink as my blonde roommate nods, “That’s what I’m told.”

Shaking my head, I locate an eggroll and pick it up, “What do you do there?”

“Well, I was an assistant. Not exactly administrative, but I’m not sure there’s a title for what I did,” he looks up at me, basically watching me eat. “But, before my promotion, I did all the assistant stuff, like answering phone and booking appointments. But, I also did stuff like proof reading for spelling mistakes or research for a certain subject. It’s all just bitch work.”

“What do you do now?”

“I’m not exactly sure,” he shrugs with a chuckle and sets down the food, “but they said I would be writing articles and getting a raise along with my new office.”

“That’s awesome,” I praise. “You must be good to write for ‘Tune’.”

His face flushes again, “I don’t know. I’ve been there a while,” he looks down at his hands, “it’s probably just the next step.”

“You’re only twenty-two. How long could you have been there for?”

Henry looks up, “I started interning there on my first year of college. So, I guess it’s been almost five years.”

I shake my head at him, “Five years isn’t that long.”

He smiles and nods, “I just-” He lets out a sigh, “I don’t know if I deserve it.”

Cocking my head to the side, I raise an eyebrow, “Why do you say that?”

“There are people that have been there longer – waiting for a position like this and I feel like I took it from them,” he explains as he examines his basketball shorts.

“Then you must actually be really good,” I assure him. “Do you have anything you’ve written?”

He nods, but doesn’t look up or say anything.

“Can I read it?”

His head snaps up and he gives me a look of confusion, “You want to read something of mine?”

“Yea,” I chuckle. “I want to see what the big deal is.”

He squints a little, “I don’t think so.”

“Why not?” I sit forward and let my elbows rest on my knees, “I showed you my artwork.”

He lies down on his side propping his head up with his hand and crossing his ankles, “It’s different. What if you don’t like it?”

“I don’t think that’s a possibility.”

He chuckles and moves so he’s lying on his back. His head is by my left knee and his arms cross over his chest, “And why is that?”

“If you’re good enough for ‘Tune’,” I lean down closer to his face and whisper the next part, “you’re good enough for me.”

He arches a brow with a smile, “I don’t know.”

Turning my head slightly, I give hims a smirk, “I do.”

He rolls his eyes, “I’ll think about it.”

“You do that,” I challenge with a wicked grin and lean in to kiss the tip of his nose.

It’s only after I do it that I notice what I just did. We both still and stare into each other’s eyes for a moment. His entire face tints red and he swallows thickly.

“I’m, um,” he starts to say, but I stop him.

Ignoring the entire thing, I sit up and point to the food, “Why don’t we pack all this up and take it to the fridge downstairs?” I start to close containers as I speak, “The girls will definitely eat it when they get back. We’ll just have to put a note of the counter.”

We pack up the food in silent tension. I’m not sure what to say or if I should say anything at all. I feel like I’ve blown everything.

It’s all done pretty quickly and we throw the containers into the box lid they were delivered it in. He has the food and I fold up the tarp. After I put it back in the side room, we both exit the studio with the food through the back door.

Silently, Henry puts the food into the fridge and I grab the notes off the counter. Turning over the one from Maya, I write, ‘Chinese leftovers. Help yourselves.’

“Do you want to watch a movie?” Henry’s voice startles me.

When my heart stops threatening to beat out of my chest, I look up at him, “Yea, sure. I just need to shower first.”

He nods with a shy smirk, “Yea, since someone tossed me into a mural, I think I should probably do the same.”

This makes me chuckle, “Sorry. I’ll pay for the clothes,” I promise.

He shakes his head before shrugging, “What’s a little color?”

I feel like we just had a total role reversal. Letting out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding, I point toward the bathroom we share, “You can use our shower. I’ll just go use Ella’s.”

“Are you sure? I can wait-”

“No,” I interrupt him, “it’s fine. If you get out before me, start setting up for the movie.”

“Got it,” he nods and walks off toward his room.

-----

Turns out, I finish first. This, all in all, makes sense saying as he still had a little paint in his hair. Luckily, I use all water based acrylics. It shouldn’t be impossible to get out, but it’ll make him work for his money.

“I thought I was going to have to cut off my hair,” he tells me as he walks out of the bathroom in just basketball shorts. To say his slightly muscled chest was distracting is a bit of an understatement. “I forgot how difficult paint can be sometimes.”

“Yea,” I snap out of it before he can catch me. “If you want,” I offer, “since we didn’t paint tonight, we can go back up there tomorrow. It’s my last day off; I’d love to continue painting.”

“You sure you want me up there while you work?” He lifts an eyebrow.

I nod and give him a smile, “It’ll be fun.”

“Sounds good.”

Turning away from his mostly bare body, I look at our movie collection, “What do you want to watch? It’s mostly rom-coms and all the families’ stuff. All Dad, Pops, Maya, Aunt Riel, Uncle Tripp, Aunt Becca and one with a cameo of Ella. She hates that one.”

As I talk, Henry moves closer to me so that his front is almost right against my back. He reaches around me and picks up a DVD, “What about this one?” From where he’s still standing, my roommate holds it in front of me so I can see what it is. It’s almost as if he’s putting his arm around me and I have to suppress a shudder.

I’m glad he doesn’t pick one with one of my family members in it. I’m not really in the mood to see any of them. Instead, he surprises me by picking just a run-of-the-mill rom-com.

“Looks good,” I nod my head and take it out of his hand. “Why don’t you start moving the coffee table? I’ll help with the couches once this is in.”

His heat leaves my back, but I’m not going to say I miss it. No matter how true that may seem – I’m not going to say it.

By the time I get the movie in and everything set up, Henry has the furniture moved and he’s pulling out the bed.

“That was quick,” I comment. “I told you I would help.”

He shrugs, “It wasn’t a problem. You go grab the blankets, I’ll grab my pillow.”

We return moments later and each take our side of the bed. We don’t talk about the kiss or the awkward tension. We just fall back into our easy conversation.

It’s after the second movie that Henry looks over at me with a smile, “Did you want to go to bed or did you want to watch another?”

“It’s up to you,” I tell him honestly.

Whatever he wants to do, I’m alright with it. Although, it would probably be a better idea to just go our separate ways. I need to get out of this funk.

His cheeks start to pink, “Is it out of line to fall asleep out here on purpose?”

I’m not sure how to respond to this so I ask, “Does it bother you?”

“No,” he shakes his head. “It’s just that I would like to watch another movie, but I’m not really sure if I’ll actually stay awake through the entire thing. I didn’t want to offend you.”

I chuckle lightly, “That’s not offensive.”

I don’t tell him that I would love to do the same thing. I don’t tell him why it’s not offensive. I don’t tell him that there’s something inside of me that wouldn’t mind doing this more often – like every night. I just let him believe that it’s okay to have a male sleepover at twenty-three years old.

Henry gets up and picks out a DVD. He doesn’t seem to look at what it is; he just takes one from the shelf next to the two we watched before. It’s another rom-com that we laugh and talk through.

Once again, I’m woken up in the middle of the night. This time to Ella’s whispering voice, “Henry George Thomas.”

I’m turned toward Henry with my face curled into his chest and his arms around my torso. I keep my eyes closed again and pretend to be asleep.

“Yea,” he answers in a sleep ridden voice. It’s deep and rumbling. I can feel it vibrate through his body against mine.

“Do you need to go into bed? It’s the middle of the night. I don’t want to miss your alarm in the morning,” I can tell El is trying to be quiet and not wake me.

“No,” he answers just as quietly, “I’m off tomorrow. I’ll stay here.”

She chuckles quietly and murmurs, “Sweet dreams.”

As the words leave her mouth, his arms tighten around me and one of his legs push between my knees. My consciousness fades around us into his warmth. And I must slip into a dream-like state because I could swear that I feel him kiss my forehead.

~A/N~

Happy Sunday.

College is going well for those of you that have asked. I like it. 

Also, My birthday is next Sunday!!

Also, don't forget to vote for Save My Day in the Watty's. It's in 3rd place in it's sub category. Non-Teen Fiction 'Popular'.

Also, I love you.