Even with the pillow Nick lent me, his couch isn't a great place to sleep. It's too small and too puffy. My feet hang off the end of it, and my left side sags downward, unsupported.
***
Nick gently shakes me awake. The light in the room is hardly brighter than when I went to bed, and my eyes ache with sleepiness. The way he looms over me startles me for a second. “Oh," he says, like he's talking to a nervous puppy. “I didn't mean to scare you. Sorry."
“It's fine," I say I sit up. As I do, I come to realize there's a terrible, awful ache in my left leg. The one that was sagging all night. I want to wince, but I fight down the urge. I don't want Nick to see me do that.
“It's time to get up."
I crane my head around to look out the window. Is it even daylight out? Maybe. Barely. I lie bac
