Day 29: Doing Something Sweet
Jim yawned and stretched. He didn't know what time it was, but he knew it was really, really late. That was obvious by the inky blackness of the sky outside the windows of the library. He stood and closed the book he'd been pouring over for hours. He was just putting it back on its shelf when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw another student slumped on a table. He turned to get a better look. It was Kate.
He hadn't even realized she was here. And why was she here anyway? She was tied with him for the top of their class, why would she need to study for long hours into the night?
He approached the table where his rival was lying against the wooden surface and noticed she was breathing slowly and deeply. Her head rested in the crook of her arm and a pen lay next to her right hand, the fingers still curled as though she'd just dropped it. She was sleeping, and looked so angelically peaceful that Jim didn't have the heart to wake her.
'She must have just nodded off on her notes.' Jim thought, absentmindedly brushing a strand of hair behind her soft ear. 'She must've been really tired.'
They both needed to get back to their dorms, but he didn't want to wake Kate up. Plus, he didn't have the code to her room. So instead, he pulled back her chair and picked her up. She was a bit heavy, but he managed to carry her back to his dorm. With some difficulty, he opened the door, brought her to his room and laid her down on his bed. He pulled the blankets over her and sat next to her sleeping form. She looked so peaceful...
Kate awoke the next morning later than usual. But within a minute she was sitting up and conscious enough to wonder:
'Why am I still in my uniform? Why am I not in my own dorm? Who's dorm is this? Why is Jim Hawkins sleeping at the foot of this bed?"
For indeed, Jim was somewhat curled up at the foot of the bed, like some giant dog wanting to sleep by its master's side. She then remembered: she was still in her uniform because she'd fallen asleep last night in the library and hadn't woken up so she couldn't change or even get to her own dorm. The fact that Jim Hawkins was lying here probably meant this was his dorm room. And he was lying at the foot of the bed because she was in his bed. And she was in his bed because...
'He must've brought me to his dorm while I was asleep.' she thought as she put the pieces together.
That was...sweet. Yes, it was sweet of Jim to do that. "Sweet" wasn't an adjective she ever thought she'd associate with the rebellious hot-shot. But now she did. She got up and positioned Jim so he was lying properly on his bed, then tucked him in, just as he'd tucked her in the night before. Unlike last night, though, she left the dorm, but not before using some of Jim's stationary to write a brief note:
"Thank you, Hawkins.
Kate"
