Chapter 10
Sweat stuck to my skin,making me feel unbearably sticky beneath the blankets, but my feet were like frozen blocks of ice as they peeked out from beneath my comforter. Keeping my eyes closed, I jerked them back under the blankets and one ankle smacked into a hairy leg. I stiffened, eyes sliding open before turning towards the body on the other side of my bed. That's when I realized Marv's arm was still around my waist, holding me to his bare chest, which was also lightly matted in dryingsweat.
Moving slowly, so as not to wake him, I scooted to the edge of the bed closest to me before sliding the blankets off to the side without uncovering his body. I lifted the arm around my waist and turned so that my butt was the first thing out from under the covers. I touched down on the cold, wood floor with the tips of my toes,shivering.
"Stop it." The arm around my middle tightened and jerked, drawing me back under the sheets and into his embrace. I blinked up at him,stunned.
"You were awake the whole time?!" I seethed, glaring up at him as his lips curved up while his eyes remainedclosed.
"You're cuddly and warm." His lower lip stuck out and I blinked again at the image it presented. I never would have thought Marv was a cuddlemaniac.
I resisted the feeling of how good it felt to be held. Maybe I needed to get a boyfriend. I’d never really seen the need for one, but now I was in constant contact with hot guys who liked to touch. I went limp in Marv's arms, my glare dropping away though my eyes stayed fixated on him. In the early morning light, his hair revealed more sandy highlights that were naturally hidden by the rest of the dark brownstrands.
"I have to get ready for school," I remindedhim.
One storm colored eye lifted, the focus of the pupil blurred, and he groaned. "I forgot that was still a thing for you." He shifted, releasing me and I found myself not in too big a hurry to dartaway.
"Yea, at least for the next two weeks," I replied, slowly pulling the blankets back once more. I stood up and padded across the room to dig through mydresser.
"Week," hegrumbled.
Right, I had almost forgotten about getting out a week early thanks tothem.
"I'm going to get dressed," I said, holding the clothes I had chosen close to my chest. "Don't leave the room." If my mom found out I had let a boy stay the night, whether she was in a good mood or not, she would loseit.
I hurried across the hall to the bathroom, flicking on the light. The bulbs illuminated the blue tiled shower and the cracked sink. Flipping the lock and setting the clothes on the counter, I took a breath and stared at my reflection. Brown clumps of hair hung down past my shoulders and over my breasts. Brown eyes in almost the same shade stared back at me. Red lines cut into the skin of my cheek where I had slept on wrinkles in my pillowcase. My handsshook.
A knock on the bathroom door had my hands flying for the knob. I yanked it open and gawked. "I think you might be late." Marv stood there fully dressed in his clothes from the night before with a cell phone in each hand, mine and his. I grabbed the collar of his dress shirt and yanked him in, eyes scanning the hallway as I slammed the door behindus.
"What are you doing?!" I hissed, panicked. "I told you to stay in the room." He continued to look down at his phone, scrolling through messages andreading.
"Knix texted me. You're not going to school today." He typed something into the phone and dropped it into his back pocket before looking up. "Why aren't you dressedyet?"
"I would be if you would give me two minutes!" I whisper-screamed as loud as I dared. "What if I had been naked when youknocked?"
He shrugged. "I thought you'd be done bynow."
"It hasn't even been–" I stopped, closed my eyes, sucked in a deep breath, and released it slowly. I did this several more times before I felt calm enough to open my eyes. Marv stared back at me, patiently waiting for my meltdown to end. I wanted to strangle him with his own dress shirt. Instead, I focused on one thing. "What do you mean I'm not going to schooltoday?"
"Our time line has moved up." He reopened the door quickly, setting my phone on the sink counter before stepping back out into the hallway. "Get dressed, we're leaving as soon as you're ready. I'll be in yourroom."
I changed out of my pajamas and into a pair of longer, jean cutoffs and a plaid, button-down shirt in record time. I tossed my clothes into the laundry room as I crossed to my bedroom and slipped in as fast as I could. The bed was already remade, the corners tucked in all the way around as I had seen in military TV shows. I frowned at it as Marv sat in the lone corner chair, a pair of underwear hanging from one post of the backrest. Blood flooded my cheeks, setting them aflame. I scrambled across the room and yanked them away, hiding them behind my back as his eyes came up from his phone. Hopefully, he hadn't seenthem.
"Ready?" Hestood.
"I have to check on my mom first. I'll meet you at yourcar."
He sighed. "Bring your phone. I'll be waiting outfront."
I paused as I turned back to my bedroom door. "You didn't...?" I left the question hanging in theair.
"I parked down the street," he assured me. "Now go. Hurry." I dropped the underwear next to the bed and kicked it under the mattress with my toe before dashing back across the hall to snatch my phone from the bathroom counter where Marv had left it. From the doorway to my mom's room, I couldn't hear him lifting the windowscreen.
"Mom?" I whispered into the darkened bedroom. A lump under the covers stirred. "Mom?"
"Go away!" she yelledback.
I sighed. Bad morning. I hoped Marv wouldn't be too upset withwaiting.