“Right,” Tria said. “So, um…what side of the bed do you sleep on?”
“Um…” I muttered and scratched at the back of my head. “I don’t know. I never thought about it. I get in on the far side, but that’s usually because I go out the window to smoke before I go to bed.”
“You smoke out the window?” Tria asked. “It’s the second floor.”
“The fire escape where Krazy Katie hangs out is right there.”
“Is she always there?” Tria asked in a low voice, as if Krazy Katie could hear her through the window.
“Usually,” I told her. “She’s supposed to go down and see her social worker or whatever on Tuesdays, but half the time she doesn’t go, and someone comes out here at the end of the week to check on her.”
“You seem to know a lot about her.”
“I’ve talked to her social worker a few times. Krazy Katie won’t go near a telephone, so the social worker will call me sometimes to make sure she’s all right if she misses her appointment.”
“That’s nice of you,” Tria said.
I shrugged again, and we were back to silence and awkwardly standing around near the mattress on the floor. At least I had pulled up the blankets so it didn’t look too bad, and I had washed the sheets recently during my trip to the evil land of coin-operated washers and dryers.
“I guess I’ll…um…I’ll sleep on this side?” Tria said, making it sound more like a question than a decision. She indicated the side closest to the door and away from the window.
“Sounds good,” I replied. My own voice felt strained as well.
We walked in tandem, moving our feet carefully on the faded, beige industrial carpet. We sat down on opposite sides of the bed with our backs to each other, and we both slipped under the blanket without looking in each other’s direction at all.
I just lay there with my eyes wide open, but Tria must have been exhausted after cleaning both of our apartments. I could tell by her breathing that she was asleep almost immediately. A few minutes later, I knew she was asleep because she rolled over, took the entire top blanket with her, and seemed to latch on to it with some kind of sleep-induced death grip.
A blanket hog.
I knew there was a reason I never slept with women I slept with.
Keeping thoughts of my past from my head was suddenly a difficult task for me. Though I usually had no problems in that department, having a woman so close to me as I slept felt strange and reminded me too much of the past. I squeezed my eyes shut, focused on the tension it created all around my face, and then opened them again, free from the memories. I sighed, pulled the thin sheet up around my shoulders, and eventually dropped off though not for long.
There were several things that made me think I wasn’t really awake. The main reason was the temperature—I was warm. It was always freaking freezing in my room, and I was positively warm all over. There was also this simply fantastic scent that filled the air around me. The scent itself seemed warm, too, and clean and calming and completely feminine.
That part didn’t make any sense unless I was having some kind of wet dream. I didn’t fall asleep with women after sex. Usually I would just get up and go home. Something about this felt different though—not quite as dreamlike but still surreal. I was on my left side, and running all the way down my body, I could feel the heat from another form.
My eyes opened slowly, and I was met by the serene, sleeping face of Tria.
Wrapped up in my arms.
Somehow, I had managed to roll all the way over to her side of the bed and snuggle up against her. One arm was up under my head, which was right above hers on her pillow, and the other was wrapped tightly around her middle, holding her body against my chest. I could feel the steady beat of my own heart right up against her side and the warmth of her skin from my shoulder to my ankle.
Shit!
I had told her I wouldn’t do anything like this, and here I was practically accosting her in her sleep. I closed my eyes for a moment, trying not to get lost in the scent that must have been coming from her hair. I remembered all the
bottles she had in the bathroom at her place that ended up shoved in her purse and wondered which of the contents made her smell so good.
Praying I wouldn’t wake her up in the process, I slowly pulled my arm back and rolled over to my own side of the bed. I lost most of the sheet when I moved. Tria’s fingers were wrapped around the edge of that now as well. I shook my head at myself, grabbed the slight edge of the sheet I could still reach, and stared at the window until I fell back asleep.
I had no idea how long it had been since the first time I woke up. I only knew I was warm and content again. The scent was all over me, and the soft body was turned toward me this time. There was a small hand pressed lightly above my beating heart.
There was also one additional complication. I had somehow managed to get my left arm underneath Tria. Now I had her wrapped up in both arms, and she was lying with her head resting against my shoulder.
Fuck!
Very slowly and carefully, I extricated my arm from underneath her and gently placed her head back on the pillow. I shifted away and quickly moved back to my side of the bed. I was instantly cold because the blanket was still wrapped securely around Tria, and both it and the sheet were pretty much inaccessible unless I moved back to her side of the bed again. I reached up with one hand and ran it over my face.