Everything I Need

Part 17

“Shela,” Harper grumbles and Charlotte’s pretty sure they both await the inevitable discovery. “Shela, I’m sorry but there’s not enough room for you in this bed.”

Shela snorts and Charlotte smiles when she feels Shela put the discarded pillows back on Charlotte’s bed and pull the blankets back over her body. She climbs in behind her and they both lay there quietly as Harper and Sana drunkenly mumble until they fall asleep. Charlotte can feel Shela still awake behind her. She can hear the unsteadiness of her breathing and it makes her feel safe.

She doesn’t expect for Shela to shuffle in closer to her once the room lapses into silence, but she does. Her forehead presses against the back of Charlotte’s neck and a warm hand squeezes at her bare hip beneath the fabric of her t-shirt. Shela’s hand drifts down and strokes over her stomach again, stopping and withdrawing when Charlotte bites back a gasp. A smile grows against Charlotte’s neck at the sound and Charlotte gives a tiny shove backwards. Shela sighs and wraps an arm comfortably and innocently around her middle in response.

Charlotte leaves it there for a few moments, testing how right it feels, before she reaches across her body to hold it against her. Shela tangles their fingers together and Charlotte buries her smile into the pillow when Shela grins against her neck.

It takes them ages to fall asleep.

//

It’s early.

She’s sure she hasn’t slept nearly as many hours as she would have liked. She doesn’t really feel like she’s been asleep at all and she’s not sure why she’s awake now. She’s glad she didn’t drink much last night because she knows she could have felt way worse than she does. Her head feels a little fuzzy and her stomach is knotty with the need for food, but mostly she just feels really cold.

It’s a little confusing because she was so warm when she fell asleep. She’d felt so soft and heavy with release. When she remembers why she felt those things, she also remembers where she is and realizes why she’s cold. It’s because the blankets aren’t on them because they’re smothering Shela’s hand instead. They pile over her arm where it presses against Charlotte’s back to keep her close. They must have gotten tangled up and discarded when Charlotte turned over in her sleep.

Shela shifts closer with her eyes closed and opens them when she suddenly feels Charlotte’s breaths against her face. They’re practically squashed together and Shela likes that Charlotte’s arms aren’t held protectively between their bodies like usual. Her arm falls limply around Shela’s waist as her head tilts sleepily forward where it’s not propped up by the fist that usually rests under her chin. The other arm folds across her stomach to clutch at the arm Shela has wrapped around her.

They’re so close that it’s easy for Shela to edge across the pillow and nudge her nose against Charlotte’s. Charlotte barely stirs and lets out the softest, prettiest, sleepiest sigh. It causes a smile to break out across Shela’s face and she bites her bottom lip to stop herself from giggling. The sound leaves Charlotte again when Shela leans back in and squashes their noses together. It’s gentle and delicate and it’s so f*****g endearing. Shela untangles her hand from the blankets, lazily pulling them back over their bodies as a wave of protectiveness washes over her. She makes sure every bit of them is covered before she lets her hand disappear back underneath.

It’s probably a little bold—and her touch is probably freezing—but she allows her hand to slip under Charlotte’s t-shirt and stroke the skin beneath. Her fingers make gentle patterns up Charlotte’s back and Shela knows the exact moment Charlotte wakes up.

Her breath hitches and her body stiffens for a long, confused moment. Her brow furrows before realization sets in and her entire being softens and sinks completely against Shela.

“Your hands are cold,” she whispers, her eyes still closed.

Shela doesn’t stop and lets her fingertips venture close to the waistband of Charlotte’s underwear instead. “You stole all the blankets,” she breathes back. “It woke me up.”

Charlotte hums out another sleepy sigh except it rumbles happily in her throat. “Pretty sure that was the rain.”

Shela tilts her head and looks up to the window above Charlotte’s bed. Sure enough, the rain beats heavily against the glass and Shela doesn’t know how she missed it.

When she turns back, she’s surprised to find brown, sleepy eyes watching her.

They’re so clear and pretty that it forces a gulp up her throat. She gets stuck staring into them for a long time before she thinks of something to say.

“Do you want your glasses?” she whispers.

Charlotte shakes her head. “I can see you,” she whispers, curling the arm across her stomach up around the pillow. Shela tries not to jolt when soft fingers start playing with her hair. “How are you?”

Shela snorts. “I’m pretty sure I should be asking you that.”

When Charlotte tucks her chin down and lets her face burn red, all Shela wants to do is kiss her cheeks until they stop. She pulls Charlotte impossibly closer, as if by instinct, and loves the way she instantly looks back up to let Shela look at her.

Shela gives their noses another nudge and can’t help herself when she pulls back to kiss the tip of Charlotte’s. Charlotte lets out a different kind of sigh and nuzzles their faces together. Their cheeks lay warm against each other and, for a moment, Shela feels inexplicably scared.

“You’re okay, right?” she whispers timidly. She doesn’t know what she’d do if Charlotte gave her a negative answer.

Instead, Charlotte tangles her hand in the ends of her hair and gives a gentle squeeze to Shela’s waist.

“I’m perfect, Shela,” she breathes and Shela’s never heard more said with so few words.

Her mouth drops open in surprise and she suddenly can’t handle the miniscule space between their bodies. Her eyes drop to Charlotte’s lips and back to her eyes. Her hand slides all the way up to grip the back of Charlotte’s neck and she wants to kiss her. She wants to kiss her more than she’d wanted anything that happened last night. She wants to kiss her because she’s sure it’s the only way she’ll be able to breathe properly again.

But Charlotte can tell and her smile grows as she pulls back. Shela gasps in disappointment and she shudders when Charlotte presses a kiss to the bridge of her nose instead. It lingers and Charlotte sighs as she shifts back.

“Harper and Sana are still here,” she whispers and Shela jerks to let her eyes find them still fast asleep in her bed. It makes her stomach sink and she unconsciously pulls the blankets more securely around them—not because she doesn’t want them to see, but because she needs to keep Charlotte safe. Charlotte’s propped herself up on an elbow when she turns back and Shela knows what’s coming before Charlotte tells her. Her hand sinks low on Shela’s back and she scratches there softly. “I’m going to go to the library,” she explains. “So you can be with your friends when they wake up.”

Shela tightens her grip around her. “You don’t have to.”

Charlotte giggles like she disagrees and Shela hums when Charlotte presses a line of kisses over her forehead before tugging her hands away.

“I’m gonna shower first,” she says as she climbs over her body. Muna shamelessly lets her eyes wander over Charlotte’s bare legs and the cute little swell of her backside. She watches as Charlotte gathers clothes from her dresser and grabs her wash bag. Her towel is on the back of Shela’s desk chair and she takes it quietly before disappearing into the bathroom. The sound of her moving around is soothing and Shela closes her eyes and listens until she reemerges a while later dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt. She wears the cute socks Shela got her last week and Shela sits up when Charlotte settles on the edge of her bed.

She smells good and clean and Shela can’t stop herself as she leans in to nuzzle the crook of her neck. Her hand pushes hair away and she presses brazen kisses there, opening her mouth to taste her.

“Stop it,” Charlotte warns with a smirk and a shiver, pulling away to grab her books.

Her cheeks are pink and Shela’s glad when she pulls on a sweater and then her coat. She pushes up onto her knees to help Charlotte fix her scarf around her neck, tugs her hat over her ears before pulling Charlotte’s hood up over her head.

“Stay warm,” Shela whispers because she can’t think of anything else to say that won’t leave her in a puddle of feelings.

Charlotte leans forward to kiss the hinge of her jaw and lingers there, squeezing Shela’s hand that rests on her hip.

“You too,” she whispers.

Shela doesn’t lie back down until their door clicks closed. She doesn’t think she’ll ever sleep again.

//

When Charlotte stops in the kitchenette and starts making tea in her thermos, there are party-goers still lingering in the common area who look at her like they expected nothing less.

It’s barely past six in the morning and Charlotte has to step over people who are sleeping on the floor. She’s pretty sure the few people who are awake haven’t even been to sleep yet and she can’t explain the way her stomach plummets when she sees that Oliver is one of them.

He’s sitting on the floor with the rest of the “boys” as Shela had called them and she gives him a tight polite smile when he recognizes her.

She goes about her business, awkwardly pushing her glasses up her nose as she waits for the water to boil. She mentally makes a list of all the things she needs to do, reminding herself of all the work she has to finish in order to catch up with what she missed while sick. She’s so swept up in her own thoughts that she jumps when Oliver arrives at her side.

He stinks of alcohol and body odor and Charlotte jolts back as he drunkenly oversteps all personal boundaries.

“You’re Shela’s roommate,” he says with a dumb grin.

Charlotte smiles tightly and nods. “Otherwise known as Charlotte.”

“You came to the party last night,” he observes and Charlotte turns to him and gives him another stiff, polite nod. He doesn’t move away, or pick up on her social cues, so she goes about her business and tries to ignore him. He shouldn’t even be here anyway. “You seemed very close,” he continues and there’s a tone to his voice that Charlotte doesn’t like. It makes her movements slow and stutter. She gives him a sideways glance when he just keeps knowingly grinning at her. “She f****d you yet?”

Charlotte drops the spoon in her hand and turns to him agape. “Excuse me?”

His expression doesn’t change. He folds his arms behind his back and just keeps smirking at her.

“I asked if she’d f****d you yet,” he repeats nonchalantly. “Because I saw you dancing last night and I saw the way you acted around each other when you were playing Kings.” He lets out a low whistle. “Plus, you left early together.”

He wags his eyebrows like an i***t and Charlotte just keeps staring at him as something slips and unsettles uncomfortably deep inside of her.

 //