Lacey untwisted her sleeping limbs and rolled onto her opposite side as if she were seventy years old. All of her joints were stiff and her entire right arm was dead asleep from staying in one position for hours as she slept. This bed was not meant for two people, but even more than usual, her side seemed much smaller.
She squinted to find Danny still beside her, laying flat on his back, eyes wide open and staring at the ceiling. He had an arm draped over his forehead and she could almost hear all the shit on his mind. Lacey snuggled into him so her ass wasn't hanging off the side of the bed.
"You're hogging the bed, Desai." She grumbled, smooshing her face further into his side to warm her nose.
Danny reflexively wrapped an arm around her and hugged her tighter.
"I'm sorry." His voice was low, sad.
Lacey watched him for a beat, admiring the slope of his nose, the stubble that lined his jaw, the color of his lips. She wanted to know him, every freckle, every scar.
They had said they loved each other already and while it may have been premature by anyone's standards, nothing had felt more right. So-what if this turned out to be some short term fling, right now, she loved this man and knew he loved her back at the same level.
Lacey watched as tears spilled from the outside corner of Danny's eye and trailed down into his ear. Oh shit, was he really crying? She didn't say anything at first, reaching up to wipe the salty trail from his temple, another tear flowing right behind the first.
Lacey wrapped him up in her arms and just let him feel, let him cry. She couldn't imagine everything he went through the last year, it must have been scary and painful and traumatizing. He was so strong and blunt when out among their peers, his realness creating a strange warm positivity. Accommodating. You wanted to be around Danny. He must be exhausted keeping it all together.
"Was it too soon to say it?" Danny finally asked to Lacey's surprise.
"To say what?" She knew what, but wasn't sure where this conversation was going.
"I love you—"
"I love you, too." Lacey said back, smiling at how cute she hoped she seemed. She'd do anything to get him to smile again.
Danny rolled his head to the side to face her, his forgotten tear trail still wet and shiny on his face. He took a moment to study her too, her smile and the deep brown liquid pools that were her eyes.
"I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't want to move too fast, I don't want to screw this up."
"Do you love me?" She gave him an out.
Lacey thought back to their night of amazing sex. She knew what it was like to have her feelings multiply after times like that and wanted to feel him out now that they were crusty and freezing and half awake. She tried to convince herself she'd be okay if he back pedaled now.
"I love you." Danny said in almost a whisper, as if the thought of her question took his breath away.
"We'll figure the rest out. I'm here, I'm here."
Danny stared at her in admiration, appreciation. He formally rolled onto his side to face her and to give her more room. They pressed themselves together and just held on tight.
"Okay." He relaxed in her arms.
"What's so heavy on your mind?" Lacey said into Danny's chest.
He didn't answer right away. He didn't want her to think that he was ignoring her so he squeezed her tighter and kissed the top of her head while he pulled together the words that were busy painting the hurt inside his head.
"I feel guilty that in the end, after everything I tried to do to protect her, I failed. I keep thinking about how close I was to losing you too."
Lacey could feel his chest heave lightly. He was trying to calm himself down, to not have a complete breakdown.
"I can understand that. It's hard enough to lose someone you care about, but you can't harbor that guilt, it wasn't your fault."
"It hurts so much."
"You can prepare as much as possible, do all the things that make someone less likely to be a target, but if some crazy bitch decides she's going to kill you, then there's nothing else you could have done."
"On top of the guilt, I guess I just miss her." He paused, "I know you two didn't care for each other—"
"I guess I'd be rude to someone I felt was taking you away from me, too." Lacey tried to comfort him, "One thing I can say about Regina is that in spite of the situation she was dealing with in private, she lived her life. She continued with the team, she stayed on campus, she wasn't afraid. That's something I'll remember."
Something about Lacey's words stirred his heart. He felt like they had crossed paths at exactly the right time in their lives. Whether they stayed together long term or not, this was now and he was so thankful they had each other.
"I should have stuck up for you more, she was awful to you, I'm sorry. You didn't deserve that. I guess I just had such a soft spot for her."
Danny shook his head, realizing that no matter what, he should have defended Lacey more. There were no excuses adequate enough.
"The guilt, Danny, shows how much empathy you have. Mistakes happen, poor judgment, or maybe even your reasoning is perfectly acceptable. You're the sociology major, you should know this. You shouldn't live there, in the guilt. Feel it, learn from it and then move on. Your life is still happening."
Danny nodded, finding Lacey incredibly motivating. He pulled himself back from their embrace and levered his body up to sit on the edge of the bed while he stretched.
"You're right."
Lacey sat up too, taking this opportunity to work her hands into Danny's shoulders and his back. She scooted in behind him, legs spread and wrapped around his body.
"God that feels so good—" Danny's head dropped forward as he surrendered to Lacey's ministrations.
They were both still completely naked from their night together, neither of them giving a single fuck. It's like they had the comfortable presence of being married for thirty years mixed with all the electricity and energy of a young college couple in new love.
Lacey peeped over his shoulder, distracted by Danny's perfect morning erection, standing tall and almost waving at her. She slid her hands from his shoulders down the outside of his biceps, slipping them under his arms and down to grab him gently.
She kept the side of her face pressed into the crook of Danny's neck as she gently stroked, testing him. He wrapped his hand around hers and showed her how he liked to get himself off. They worked together like that for a few minutes, Lacey in awe at how much longer and swollen his cock became.
"We're about to make a mess—"
"Just let go, D." Lacey encouraged sweetly.
Danny grunted, coming in short, powerful spurts. He coated their hands and some of his left thigh.
"Fuck—" He felt better already.
"Shower time." Lacey sang happily, pulling Danny's hair out of it's top knot.
"Which one of us is going to wake her up?" Danny asked as they stood at the foot of Danny's bed.
A very peaceful Phoebe lay all curled up in Danny's comfy blankets.
"Actually, I'm getting in there with her. My back is killing me and I didn't sleep great."
"Hm, your back hurts? Did I break it? Did I break your back?" Danny beamed.
"You're not funny." Lacey rolled her eyes.
"So, is late morning nap time the new brunch then?"
"Yep, just us girls though, big guy. Bye now."
Danny mock pouted and gave her a nod, "I'll be working downstairs if you need anything."
Almost two hours later Phoebe rolled over and gasped when she realized she wasn't alone.
"Jesus, Lacey! You scared me!"
"Usually don't get that reaction." Lacey grumbled and buried her head under the blankets.
"When did you guys get here?" Phoebe slid herself up to sit against Danny's headboard.
"Mmm, I don't know, Phoebs. Be quiet! You suck at nap time!"
Phoebe: Hello, room service?
Danny: Wow
Phoebe: Yes I'll take a coffee. There's also this very grumpy bear up here screaming at me.
Danny: I'm on my way
A few minutes later Danny appeared, no coffee in hand. Phoebe looked up from her phone and up at Danny like he had just told her that her baby was ugly.
"I demand a refund, the service at this place sucks!" Phoebe threw her hands in the air.
"Ma'am, the coffee is brewing, so get up and head down there." Danny threw a thumb behind him toward the stairs, "I came to wrangle the bear."
"Fine." Phoebe reluctantly crawled out of bed and shuffled past Danny in search of some fresh coffee.
"Queen Porter, you up?"
"Nnnn!" She could be heard from somewhere under the blankets.
"C'mon it's almost noon and I know you will regret wasting a whole day in my bed."
Lacey unburied her head, "You might wanna run back that last sentence."
"I have so much to do today." Danny confessed lightly trying to figure out how to balance school, sports, daily chores and a brand new girlfriend.
"I see, so you're kicking me out—" Lacey pushed back playfully.
When Danny didn't respond or laugh she shifted in his bed and finally sat up.
"I'm joking, D. I've got you—" She flashed her dazzling smile and most of Danny's worries melted away.
"Thank you. I actually was hoping you could come back tonight, maybe around seven? I have a bunch of stuff I'd like to go over, our schedules for the next few months, holidays—" Danny ticked off a few things.
Lacey thought that was so sweet, hearing Danny as he began to weave her into his life made her chest ache.
"Sure." Lacey said as she rolled out the side of Danny's bed and over to give him a big hug, "I'll see you tonight."
Danny pecked her on the lips, too scared to give anything deeper considering their track record of being in the vicinity of a bed together and not igniting a spark between them.
"I thought you were going to try for a part-time job? Maybe we could both apply at Johnny Cakes?" Phoebe suggested as Lacey rifled through her side of the closet.
"Slinging eggs and cups of coffee isn't going to yield me the check averages I need to make real money. Besides, I might hold off—"
"I thought you needed cash?"
"I do, it's just, Danny got me those really nice paints and we have break coming up, then Christmas. Maybe I'll look again after the new year."
"Please, you're just worried you won't have enough time for him. You're life is just as important as his. Danny's going to be gone a lot anyway, might as well make money."
Lacey pulled out one of her skirts, her favorite, yellow plaid. She laid it on her bed and went looking for the top she liked to wear with it.
"So, you wanna talk about last night?" Phoebe asked as she sat at the foot of her bed, she needed some good news.
Lacey smirked, "Nope."
"You should surprise him tonight, beat him at his own kink game."
"This isn't a competition—"
Phoebe stood and bumped her roommate out of the way as she searched her side of their closet and pulled out something all wadded up inside a plastic pouch.
"What about this?" Phoebe's eyes twinkled, "I've never worn it—"
Lacey looked at the balled up netting and scrunched her face up in confusion.
"What is that exactly?"
Phoebe pulled out the jumpsuit, nude fishnet material with a black vinyl X covering where each nipple would show and one matching thin black vinyl stripe to cover other bits. It was long sleeved and ran the length of her legs, the entire thing dotted with subtle sparkles.
"It's crotchless too." Phoebe raised her eye brows.
"It'll take me forever to get into that—"
Lacey pictured stumbling around Danny's bathroom as she tried to wiggle into it in the middle of whatever fire they stoked between them.
"So wear it over there. It's like forty degrees right now, you can get away with wearing your trench coat over it."
In the end, Lacey did just that. The jumpsuit was actually surprisingly comfortable and she felt sexy as hell. She threw on simple sandals and tied her trench coat securely before heading out to meet up with Danny for their date.
Danny: Hello! Just making sure we're still on?
Lacey: Yes! I'm on my way now. I have a surprise for you
Danny: Sweet, I have a surprise too
Lacey: See you soon
Lacey knocked, still not quite ready to just start walking into Danny's place, key or no key.
"Hey there." Danny smiled and stepped aside so Lacey could step in.
As soon as she was inside the front door, Lacey opened her coat and let it drop to the floor. She struck a little pose and waited for Danny to turn back around.
Lacey was caught off guard by the mixture of curiosity and anxiety that flashed across Danny's face. He was frozen, his reaction time in this moment severely delayed for reasons unknown to her. Just as she was going to ask more questions, Lacey figured out Danny's surprise.
"Is that Lacey, honey?" A petite woman rounded the corner and stopped short as she took in Lacey's outfit.
"I can't wait to meet her—" A taller, man bellowed right behind her, taking a little longer to connect the dots.
Danny's parents.
Lacey bent down for her coat and wrapped it around herself as quickly as possible.
"Could you give us a quick moment?" Danny asked his parents as he slid in between them and Lacey.
Danny turned back toward her and covered his mouth with both hands, clearly still in shock.
"Please tell me they are like, tutors or something—" Lacey was mortified.
"I'm sorry, I should have told you sooner. They showed up like a half hour ago. I didn't know they were coming."
"Oh my god." She knew this wasn't a big deal, not really, but she couldn't help feeling painfully embarrassed.
"I washed the clothes you left here the other day, just run up and change."
"I can't face them now—"
"Do you want to leave? You can but remember who their son is, okay? They'll give you grace, I promise."
Lacey sighed and flew up the stairs to Danny's room to freak out and change her outfit. Meeting Danny's parents for the first time, completely naked. Perfect. Add this to her worst week ever.