Chapter 73: Insomnia

Nighttime has finally come over us. I walk out of the bathroom with my cotton pyjamas on. Before me, Dante seems ready for sleep with his black t-shirt and grey sweatpants. I walk towards him, and my eyes widen once I realise where he's going. I immediately run towards him and the window seat. The only thing on my mind is to stop him before he gets on the seat. I can't let him sleep there. He must sleep on the bed with me. He's not sleeping on the seat tonight or tomorrow. Nuh-uh. Not under my damn watch.

I grab Dante's wrist, pulling him away from the window seat. The action makes us lose our balance. Before any of us can react, my back hits the bed's surface as Dante falls on top of me. Holding our breath, we stare at each other with wide eyes, startled by the outcome of my action. When realisation comes to us, Dante quickly rolls off my body and gets right onto his feet. His surprised look is now replaced with a scowl. He continues to stare daggers at me while I push myself to sit.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't expect that to happen," I say, giving him a pout. My face is hot from embarrassment after what just happened with Dante and me. How the fuck did that even happen? I didn't even pull Dante strongly, yet he fell with me. I guess what I did was truly unexpected.

"You and your lies. As always," Dante says. With his arms crossed over his chest, he stares down at me. Unforgiving. His reaction makes me frown. I didn't think he'd be this angry.

"I'm serious! I don't want you to sleep there. That's why I pull you away from the window. You don't have a blanket. And since I don't want you to freeze to death, you should sleep on the bed with me," I say. Dante scoffs at my reasoning, shaking his head in disbelief.

"That's because we haven't turned the heater on," Dante says. He walks towards the control panel and turns up the temperature. The once chilly room begins to warm up as the heater does its job. I frown at the temperature change. As the room becomes warmer by the minute, I start to fan myself with my hand to cool myself down.

"No. You can't turn it up too high. I want to sleep with the duvet, and if the room's too hot, I can't use it," I say. Dante shrugs and then turns down the temperature again.

"Then I'll freeze to death instead," Dante says. I let out an exhausted sigh and punch Dante's upper arm, scowling at him and his stubbornness. Will he just give up already? I know that he's afraid, but this fear has become irrational. Does he really expect my father to turn up in our room out of thin air at any second now? That's impossible.

"Dude, stop being so stubborn. Just sleep with me," I say. I grimace as I realise how my words have a double meaning. Dante's eyebrows furrow after he listened to what I just said.

That sounds wrong. I should've worded it better. I can't lie, though. I kinda want to do that with him. Fuck. Stop thinking about it. Get your damn mind out of the gutter. Now's not the time for it.

"Not in that way. You know what I mean," I say. Dante continues to stare at me. His gaze is unrelentless as he rethinks his options. Giving up, Dante lets out a sigh and then shrugs.

"Fine. I'll sleep with you. Happy?" Dante says.

"Very," I say with a grin.

"As always, put some pillows in the middle," Dante says. He immediately put two pillows between the two sides of the bed, creating a boundary that shouldn't be crossed. I smile at the sight.

I don't care about those pillows. At least I have Dante next to me. Another good thing about it is that I can sleep with the duvet on. I don't have to worry about sweating while I'm sleeping. I'm glad Dante finally agrees, even though I have to force him. It's bad that I forced him, but it's for his own good anyway.

The room is dimly lit now that Dante has turned off all the lights except the one by the room's entrance. Both of us get into bed and under the duvet. I lie on my side and stare at Dante. Through the little bit of light, I can see him staring back at me. His expression is unreadable.

"What now?" Dante asks.

"Nothing," I say.

"Go to sleep. It'll be a long day tomorrow," Dante says, turning his eyes away from mine. He's right. I must rest for tomorrow and be on my best behaviour in front of the Ricci. Acting like everything is all good and dandy in front of them is my best bet. I can't let them know that we're on to them.

"Yeah. Right. Good night," I say.

"Good night," Dante says.

I turn away from Dante and face the window instead. I close my eyes and wait for the darkness to swallow me. I'm not sure how long it has been, but my brain still hasn't shut down just yet. The humming of the wind outside keeps me even more awake.

Damn it. Why is this happening now? I really need to go to sleep.

Sighing, I roll to my other side and look at Dante again. There, he's already asleep, lying on his back. I smile at the sight and keep staring at his tranquil expression. He looks so calm right now. I like it. If he's sleeping on the window seat instead, I'm not sure if I'll be seeing the same expression I'm seeing right now.

"Take a picture. It'll last longer."

Panicked, I close my eyes and pretend to sleep before Dante can catch me staring at him. I hear him letting out a sigh. After a few seconds, I feel him poking my cheek with one of his fingers. I scrunch my nose at the contact, but immediately pretend to sleep again.

"I know you're awake. You can't fool me anymore," Dante says. Opening my eyes, I grin at him nervously. Dante scoffs out a laugh, rolling his eyes after catching my pretence.

Damn it. Now I can't pretend to be asleep and listen to more of his confession anymore. That sucks, but well, at least I know how Dante feels towards me now. No need to pretend to sleep anymore to get answers out of him.

"I knew it. Why aren't you sleeping already?" Dante asks. I roll my eyes at his question. Of course, it's because I can't sleep. What else could it be, dude? You've got to be kidding me.

"I can't sleep," I say.

"You want me to tell you a bedtime story again?" Dante asks, almost teasing me. I shake my head at his offer. Even if he tells me a bedtime story, I don't think it'll make me fall asleep. I can't even close my eyes without them not opening themselves up again.

"No. I'm still too wide awake to really fall asleep," I say.

Silence sweeps between us. Neither Dante nor I seems to feel sleepy enough to sleep right now. We stare at each other for a while, unsure of what to do. What should we do anyway? I guess counting to one thousand would do the job to get us to fall asleep. I think it's worth giving it a try.

"Fuck it. Come here," Dante says as he throws the pillows between us to the floor. My eyes pop when Dante pulls me closer to him and wraps his arms around me. I freeze in his embrace, unsure of what to do. I mean, what the fuck? What just came over him to do this? He was scared of the thought of sleeping in the same bed with me earlier, and now he's doing this? Gosh. He's confusing as fuck.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"Holding you. Now go to sleep," Dante says.

"Okay," I say. I put my head on his chest and listen to his heartbeat and feel the rise and fall of his chest as he breathes slowly. Only when I listen to his heartbeat and breathing do I finally feel a little sleepy. The way he holds me close and strokes my head makes me even sleepier. I guess this is the only thing I need to fall asleep; Being in Dante's arms is what I need to finally sleep.