Eighteen

By the time the last guest had left, I was tired, but Erik looked downright exhausted. I offered to help Mrs. Draxton clean up, but she told me she thought it best if I went downstairs and just watched a movie with Erik. Not about to complain, I took his hand and we went down into the basement. Erik grabbed the remote off of his coffee table and sat down on the couch, kicking his feet up and looking so tired I didn’t think he would make it through a whole movie. I just stared at him. The bruises, the scratches. They weren’t bad, but thinking about how bad they could have been… how our day could have ended… it gave me chills. I sat beside him and lightly brushed my lips against his.

“Does it hurt if I kiss you?”

“It hurts if you don’t kiss me. C’mere.” He pulled me into the crook of his arm, and I nuzzled up against him.

“Today was the scariest day of my life. Not knowing, that was the worst. I have a rather vivid imagination.”

“Tell me about it. I wanted to kick myself for asking you to come. Had you been in that car, you would have been riding shot gun, and who knows, you may have gotten more injuries than Alice. It’s bad enough I hurt her, but Jesus, I couldn’t handle it if I hurt you.”

“You didn’t hurt her, the deer hurt her.”

“I was driving too fast. Had I just driven a hair slower, the deer never would have jumped in front of us.”

“How do you know? Maybe he had a hard life and wanted to end it all. He might have been waiting behind the trees, giving himself a pep talk about how he was going to jump in front of the next car that passed.”

“You’re right, you do have an overactive imagination.”

“It’s an only child thing. Gotta entertain ourselves somehow.”

He squeezed my arm and got serious again. “The whole time I was in the ER, I was shaking like a leaf. I knew Alice was okay because she was talking to the EMTs in the ambulance. But… I wondered if there were other injuries that they hadn’t found yet. She kept trying to talk about our past, and because I didn’t want to listen, I almost destroyed our future. I’m a fucking idiot.”

“It’s over. Let’s just not talk about the accident for the rest of the night. What movie are we watching, anyway? Please don’t say It’s a Wonderful Life; I can’t handle anything sappy tonight.”

“No, that’s not what I picked out.” He pressed the TV power button on and hit play for his Blu-ray player. The moment the first credits appeared, I knew right away what it was.

“You are so cheesy,” I said, but admittedly there was a huge smile on my face.

“Shut up and watch our love story.” He leaned in and kissed my neck. “I know you want me to put the costume on…” I licked my lips thinking about Erik in his Halloween costume. He was dressed as the Dread Pirate Roberts. I don’t think I had appreciated that night how incredibly hot he looked. I snuggled into his chest as the first scene of The Princess Bride began.

Somewhere around the fire swamp scene, I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. The emotions of the day had drained me. I closed my eyes for a moment, but when I opened them again, the end credits were rolling, and Erik was fast asleep too. I carefully uncoiled myself from his arm, and stood up and stretched. The clock on the Blu-ray player was blinking that it was almost 1 a.m.

Time to go.

I took the blanket that was neatly folded at the end of Erik’s bed and laid it over him. Then, I clicked the TV off. I swept the hair away from his face and kissed his forehead. “Goodnight, I love you,” I whispered.

He stirred and blinked in the darkness. “Spend the night with me?”

His request was so simple and pure, it tugged on my heart. How could I leave him when he had almost left me for good? I felt my eyes get teary, but I bit my lip and nodded. Erik took off his sling, tossing it onto the coffee table, and flipped his long legs onto the couch, so he was lying across the length of it; then he opened his blanket like a cape to let me in. I laid down beside him and rested my head in the cradle of his neck. It was a pretty small couch, and considering there was a big bed behind us, it would have seemed silly to anyone else to not use it, but I knew this was Erik still trying to respect my boundaries. Even now, when I would have given him anything he asked for, he didn’t push me.

He wrapped a protective arm around me, resting his wrapped wrist at the base of my back and whispered, “Thank you.”

“Happy Birthday, Erik,” I whispered back. He didn’t answer, only squeezed me tighter and fell fast asleep.

The smell of coffee woke me. I inhaled deeply, allowing the beanie goodness to saturate my senses. Erik was still out, and I managed to slip out of his grasp without him even flinching. Stretching up onto my tippy toes, I gave my fingers a wiggle and looked over at the clock. It was just after eight.

I knew Erik’s parents were probably sitting in the kitchen, but I didn’t want to hide down here all day. It’s bad enough I was still in my clothes from yesterday. Besides, I really wanted to brush my teeth and check my phone.

Tiptoeing past the kitchen, I went up to the room and changed into my pajamas. I grabbed my phone and saw I had a few missed calls and two texts. One from Kristen asking me to check in when I could. The other was from Jaime, wishing me a Merry Christmas. Seeing the text from Jaime made me recall how badly his father had beaten him a few weeks ago. I remembered how he needed aspirin from the moment he woke up because his headaches were so bad.

I knew Erik’s injuries were nothing compared to Jaime’s, but they still were not good. I checked my bag, but I didn't have anything but Midol, and I doubt that Erik was feeling bloated and crampy. I brushed my teeth and headed downstairs to see if his mom had anything for him. I didn’t want to go through her cabinets; that seemed rude, no matter what my reasoning was.

When I walked into the kitchen, Mr. and Mrs. Draxton were sitting at the table, having a cup of coffee, and looking out the window at the snow that had painted the tree branches. “Good Morning, Brit!” Mrs. Draxton looked happy to see me. I’d never get used to that. “Can I get you a cup of coffee?”

“Maybe later. I was wondering if you had anything for Erik? I have a feeling he might have a headache from yesterday.”

“Yes,” Mr. Draxton popped up and walked over to the counter. “I had this filled for him this morning at CVS. It’s just some extra strength ibuprofen, but it should help.” He handed the little orange container to me, and Mrs. Draxton poured a glass of water.

“Is Erik awake?” she asked, and for a moment, I thought she knew I had slept in the basement. I answered her honestly.

“I don’t know.” I tried to make my voice sound as smooth as possible. “I’ll bring this down to him and check. No one wants to start their birthday with a migraine.”

“No, the poor thing. He won’t even be able to have a sip of alcohol on his twenty-first birthday.” Mrs. Draxton tsk’d. I giggled. A parent upset that their child couldn’t drink was not what I had ever encountered before.

“Oh Maggie, I’m sure he’ll make up for it. I wouldn’t worry.” Mr. Draxton winked at me, and I smiled then headed into the den to where the stairs to the basement were. When I opened the door, I tried to be as quiet as possible so as not to wake Erik, but he wasn’t on the couch. He wasn’t in his bed either. I placed the pills and water on his coffee table and walked over to the bathroom door. I could hear the water running on the other side. I placed my hand on the door and leaned against the wood.

Erik was behind that door. And he was naked and wet.

Temptation reared its ugly head, coaxing me to turn that knob. I doubted it was locked. I placed my hand on the knob, my heart was pounding. I fantasized about walking in there, seeing him under the stream of water. Having him look at me, surprised at first, then pull me into the shower with him, and we’d engage in this incredibly hot, wet, I’m-so-glad-you-didn’t-die-in-that-crash, frantic sort of sex. Just thinking about having his wet lips sliding over mine was enough to make me feel faint.

Pull yourself together, Brit.

I took a deep breath, released the death grip hold I had on the knob, and slowly walked away from the door. Grabbing one of his many sketch books and a pen, I flipped to an empty page and scribbled a note about the meds then went upstairs.

I needed a shower now… a cold one.