Sleeping Uneven
( Sometimes, when I have a good dream, I don't want to get out of bed. | Five times Cat crawls into bed with Sam, one time Sam sleeps in Cat's, instead. )
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( one )
The first time Cat crawls into bed with Sam is the first night she sleeps in Nona's home, hers and Cat's misadventures making her too tired to find someplace else to stay. Sam doesn't frighten easily, but she doesn't say anything when Cat slips underneath the covers, murmuring, "I'm gonna sleep here next to you so you don't get scared."
They talk for a while, and Sam thinks about how much - how much she's going to miss this strange girl when she leaves tomorrow, gets on her bike and goes.
When Nona folds the couch up a second time, traps them inside so they're pressed shoulder to shoulder and arm to arm and leg to leg, Sam notices how warm Cat is, thinks of how nice it would be to always feel like the sun.
( two )
It is cliché, maybe, but a storm passes through while Sam is still sleeping on the couch, the winds strong enough to rattle the windows and doors. Sam can sleep during storms - she's slept through much worse, living with someone as splintered as her mother - but Cat awakens her with a nudge to her shoulder, lips turned into a pout and her eyes wide and scared.
"Sam?" She asks, clutching Mr. Purple close to her chest. "Sam, can I sleep here with you?"
"You have a bed," Sam starts to say, but before the words are entirely out of her mouth, Cat is nudging her over on the couch, pressing her back against Sam's front and tugging the blanket over them both. Sam is uncomfortable, crushed between the couch and a warm body, but she lets it go with a long-suffering sigh, wraps her arm around Cat's middle and breathes her in.
(In the morning, her neck is stiff and Cat is halfway on the floor, but Sam wakes Cat up with a smile, reminds her to get ready for school.)
( three )
Once they're sharing a room, Sam expects Cat to stop climbing into her bed at night, but Cat has a nightmare on a Tuesday and Sam's assumptions are shattered. Before Sam has even fully fallen asleep, Cat is at the foot of her bed, her stuffed giraffe in one hand and a strand of red hair twisted around the fingers of the other.
"Get in," Sam sighs, lifting up the blankets. Cat slips underneath them, curls into Sam and lets out a shaky breath, heavy enough to rattle the bones in her chest.
"I'm sorry," she apologizes, forehead pressed to Sam's back, Mr. Purple a barrier between their bodies. "I don't mean to be such a child."
"Don't worry about it," Sam says, then, "it's not childish to be scared."
And if it is, Sam has some growing up to do, as well.
( four )
Sam stays up too late one night and ends up sleeping the day away, cocooned in her sheets. She's only halfway awake by the time Cat returns from school, casting her a look when she opens the door to their room to find her still in bed.
"There you are," Cat says, crossing the floors and hopping into bed with her.
"Go away," Sam says, though it's halfhearted, tone lacking any of its usual bite.
"Were you having a good dream?" Cat asks, burrowing underneath the blankets until they're facing one another, noses brushing. Sam reaches out and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, keeping her hand tucked close to her body so she doesn't touch.
"No," Sam answers after a handful of moments. She sniffs, rolling onto her back. "Why?"
"Sometimes, when I have a good dream, I don't want to get out of bed, either," Cat explains. "I just want to sleep and sleep because I'm so happy there."
Sam thinks that something about that is very, very sad. She reaches between them and finds Cat's hand, clutching it in hers. "Well, the great part about waking up is seeing each other," she says.
Cat beams at her, and no dream in the world can capture the sincerity of it.
( five )
"I'm going to tell you a secret," Cat says, standing to the side of Sam's bed.
Sam blinks up at her, shrugs. "Okay," she says.
"Scoot over," Cat commands, and while Sam is confused, she does as she's asked, scooting towards the headboard while Cat pulls the covers down to the bottom and climbs in, careful not to sit on them. "My brother and I used to do this," Cat explains as she pulls the blanket over hers and Sam's heads, until they're in a circle of shadows. "It's the best way to tell secrets," Cat says, taking out her phone and clicking the flashlight app so it lights the space, however dimly. "My brother says that if you hide when you tell a secret, no one else can hear. Even if someone is standing right next to us, they'll only hear silence."
Sam raises a brow, rightfully skeptical of her story, but merely nods, going along with it. "Alright. Tell me your secret," Sam says, pushing.
Cat breathes out slowly, dropping her eyes to her hands. "I don't want to be without you," she says.
Sam blinks once, and then nods, watching the way Cat's breath hitches as she leans forward, kisses her on the lips because she can.
All is silent.
( + one )
"Sam?" Cat asks, blinking sluggishly.
"Scoot," Sam says, and Cat does, though belatedly, moving over to the other side of the bed and leaving enough space for Sam to slip underneath the blankets.
"What's wrong?" Cat asks, chewing on her bottom lip.
"I just - " Sam starts, turning onto her side so she can face her. "I don't want to be alone right now."
Cat slips her leg between Sam's, presses closer. When they awaken, they are tangled in each other, tied together so intricately that Sam forgets who's limbs belong to who.