Morning light
988 Words
The room smelled faintly like perfume, Bacardi, and the rain that had followed them home.
Jessica barely made it ten minutes.
One second she was kissing Aston slowly against the edge of her bed, hands tangled in his shirt while her drunken confidence burned bright in her veins.
The next?
Her body suddenly gave out.
“Okay,” she mumbled against his shoulder, words slurring now. “I think the room is spinning.”
Aston laughed softly, steadying her immediately. “Yeah, no kidding.”
Jessica tried to say something else, but halfway through climbing onto the bed she collapsed face-first into the pillows with a groan.
“I’m fine,” she declared dramatically into the blanket.
“Mhm.”
“I am.”
“You can barely keep your eyes open.”
Jessica rolled over lazily, hair spread wildly across the pillow while she stared up at him with heavy eyelids.
“You’re really pretty.”
Aston smirked. “You already told me.”
“Still true.”
He sat carefully beside her while she reached for his hand again, slower this time.
Sleep was catching up to her fast.
The alcohol had finally won.
“You staying?” she whispered.
Aston hesitated.
Part of him knew he should probably leave once she passed out. But another part of him looked at the exhausted girl beside him and couldn’t imagine walking away from her tonight.
Not like this.
Not after months of wanting to be near her.
“Yeah,” he said quietly. “I’ll stay till you fall asleep.”
Jessica smiled softly at that.
A real smile this time. Not loud. Not drunkenly dramatic.
Safe.
Within minutes her eyes were closing again.
Aston pulled the blanket over her carefully while she curled toward him instinctively, half asleep already.
“You okay?” he asked quietly.
“Mhm.”
“You gonna throw up?”
“Noooo.”
“You sure?”
Jessica cracked one eye open. “If I do… it’s your problem now.”
Aston laughed under his breath.
“Great.”
Silence settled slowly after that.
Rain tapped lightly against the bedroom window while the soft hum of a fan filled the room. Jessica’s breathing gradually evened out as sleep pulled her under completely.
Aston stayed sitting there longer than he planned.
Just watching her.
Without the loud bar lights and drunken dancing, she looked different now.
Softer.
Younger somehow.
He brushed a strand of hair away from her face gently before leaning back against the headboard himself.
Tonight hadn’t gone the way he expected at all.
He came to finally meet a woman he’d spent months falling for through a screen.
Instead, he found himself sitting in the dark beside her while she slept off too much Bacardi Gold.
And weirdly?
He didn’t mind.
Not even a little.
Eventually exhaustion caught him too.
The long drive. The drinks. The emotions. The adrenaline of finally meeting her.
At some point while waiting for her to sleep deeply enough, Aston drifted off beside her.
Morning sunlight spilled softly across the bed.
Jessica groaned the second consciousness hit her.
“Oh my God…”
Her head pounded. Her mouth felt dry as sandpaper. Her stomach twisted angrily.
“Never drinking again,” she muttered dramatically.
Then she froze.
Someone was beside her.
Jessica blinked hard before turning her head slowly.
Aston.
Still asleep.
One arm stretched lazily across the blanket while sunlight caught across his face.
For a second Jessica just stared.
He stayed.
The realization hit her strangely deep.
Most men from her past wouldn’t have stayed. Wouldn’t have cared. Would’ve disappeared before morning.
But Aston stayed.
Jessica smiled faintly despite the hangover.
She shifted carefully and the movement woke him almost immediately.
Aston blinked a few times before noticing her watching him.
“Morning,” he mumbled hoarsely.
Jessica laughed quietly. “You stayed.”
“Looks like it.”
“You could’ve left.”
“I know.”
Something warm settled in her chest hearing that.
Jessica pulled the blanket tighter around herself while sitting up slowly.
Instant regret.
“Ohhh my God my head.”
Aston laughed. “You were annihilated.”
“I know.”
“You danced to a song that wasn’t even playing anymore.”
Jessica covered her face immediately. “Please stop.”
“You almost fell into a pool table.”
“Oh my God.”
“And—”
“Okay enough.”
Aston grinned while sitting up beside her.
The room grew quieter after that though.
A different kind of quiet.
Jessica looked down at the blankets nervously now, suddenly trying to piece together the blurry memories from the night before.
Bits and pieces came back.
The bar. Dancing. Kissing him.
Then fragments after that.
Heat rushed into her cheeks.
“…Did we…” she started awkwardly.
Aston looked over at her.
Jessica swallowed. “Did we have s*x?”
For the first time since waking up, Aston looked genuinely unsure how to answer.
His smile faded slightly.
Then he lowered his head a little before quietly admitting, “Yeah.”
Jessica stared at him. Aston rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “It was… kinda too easy.”
That surprised her.
Not the answer.
The honesty.
Jessica sat there silently for a second before slowly smiling instead of getting upset.
Aston blinked. “…What?”
Jessica leaned back against the headboard, hair messy, eyes still sleepy from the night before.
“That’s fine.”
“You sure?”
She nodded slowly, smiling more seductively now.
“Been wanting to do that for some time now.”
Relief immediately hit Aston’s face before he laughed quietly.
“You and me both.”
Jessica laughed too, softer this time.
And somewhere between the hangover, the morning sunlight, and the messy reality of finally crossing that line together…
Neither of them regretted it at all.
- Writer
