"Adrian!" I called, banging on his door. Knock, knock, knock. "Adrian I know you're in there."
I heard a rustling from inside the door, a groan and a cracking of muscles. It sounded like he was still in bed, which made me feel a little bad for waking him up but it was time to get up anyway. He opened the door to his bedroom slowly.
"Jesus Sage, where's the fire?" he said groggily. His hair was unkempt and not in his usual this-messy-hair-took-me-hours-to-do-so-don't-touch-it kind of way, but more like actual bed head. He was leaning forward slightly with his right hand clutching the door frame as if that was all that was holding him up. That's when I noticed he wasn't wearing a shirt.
My breath caught slightly and for a second I stopped thinking before chiding myself. Stop it Sydney. It's not like this was the first time I'd seen Adrian shirtless after all we've been through wasn't it? No. No it definitely was. I told myself to snap out of, I mean I had noticed before that Adrian was good-looking but I hadn't known how fit he was, you'd think all the alcohol would make him pack on a few but no. He was kind of… hot and totally unfair. If I had those eating habits I'd be a size 12 for sure. Too bad he was an undead creature of the night, I reminded myself of this.
Thankfully he didn't seem to notice my inner tirade as he was still bleary from just getting up. "No fire." I responded glad to see my voice sounding steady even though my heart was beating rather quickly. What was wrong with me? "It's just time to get up."
"Sage, you're crazy. What time is it?" I shrugged and he looked down at his wrist.
"You wear a watch when you sleep?" I asked archly.
He shrugged, still squinting at it. "I forgot to take it off." I rolled my eyes, typical Adrian. "It's 7AM!" He exclaimed suddenly. I looked at him blankly, what was the big deal? "7AM! Oh my god Sydney is the sun even up yet?"
"Of course it is." I scoffed. "This is the time everyone wakes up, quit overreacting."
"Everyone? Maybe everyone over the age of 65." He groaned. "It's 7am… on a Saturday. Haven't you ever heard of sleeping in?"
"My dad always said proficiency begins when the birds start to sing." I shrugged. "I always get up this early – you can get so much more done during the day."
Adrian gaped at me. "So what you're saying is you've never slept in?"
I shrugged. "It's never fit into my schedule."
Adrian put his fingers to his temples as if explaining something to a small child. "That's not the point Sage. Were you never a teenager?"
"Of course I was." I said primly.
Adrian barked out a laugh and then opened the door wide. "Come in for a sec." I stepped into his bedroom. It was messier than his living room but cleaner than I expected, as I was beginning to associate with Adrian, the scent of pine cleaner pervaded the air. His room was dark with just a hint of light peeking in from behind the blinds.
He reached for his night table and grabbed a bottle of some sort of alcohol. "Want a drink?" He asked.
I screwed up my face. "As you have pointed out three times now, its seven o'clock in the morning."
Adrian shrugged. "Just being polite." He grabbed a shirt from the floor and threw it over his head. Strangely, I felt a pang of disappointment. "I assume you need me for something?" came his muffled voice before his head popped out of his T shirt.
"Actually, no." I said slowly.
"So what made you decide to disturb my sleep so early?"
That was a good question. Now that I thought about it, I had kind of come here automatically, without thinking. I guess I had just wanted to see him. Weird. I came up with an excuse anyway.
"I took Jill over for a feeding and you know how creepy Clarence's house is." My excuse was feeble – surely there was something better I could be doing. I turned to leave. "It's fine though, you go back to sleep I'll just-"
"No." Adrian said quickly, moving to block the door. "You work too much Sage. You need to relax." He pointed to his bed. "Try sleeping in for once."
"No, no Adrian don't be ridiculous I have things to do." I made a move to leave, but he blocked me taking a step so he was standing right in front of me.
"Clearly you don't." he murmured softly, looking down at me with his deep, green eyes. "If you came all the way over here just to see me then you have nothing better to do at all."
He continued gazing into my eyes and it was like we were connected somehow. He grabbed my hand and led me over to the bed. I sat down without thinking. "Adrian this is silly." I protested but he shushed me.
"Just try. For me."
I huffed but didn't say anything.
"I'll make coffee." He said and then let go of my hand. "Sweet dreams." He said before leaving.
I rolled my eyes and turned towards the bed. It was actually really comfortable. I reached across it trying to fix the comforter thinking I could at least make the bed while Adrian insisted on being ridiculous. It was really comfortable. I shut my eyes. Just for a second I thought. But his pillow just smelled so good and before I knew it, I was gone.