Lucas had to sneeze.

He couldn't sneeze. There was a beautiful, blond girl passed out with her head on his shoulder, and he could smell the lilac scent of her hair, feel its softness tickling his jaw. Frantically he squeezed at the bridge of his nose, praying the sneeze away – which surprisingly worked. Maybe God really did reward the pure of heart, he thought with a tiny smirk.

Lucas glanced down sideways at her face, her mouth slightly open (cut on her bottom lip that he had to will himself not to think about because it made him want to hit someone, and he really wasn't the violent type), eyes closed – man, she had really long eyelashes. Somewhere in the back of his mind he thought it was pretty pathetic that this was the most action he had gotten in high school – but mostly he was just enjoying the unexpected closeness with a girl who, had before, only touched him twice.

Too soon for his liking the credits rolled on the movie they had been watching; which movie now, he could not tell you. He sat there in the blue glow of the default DVD menu and wondered if he should wake her up. Probably. It would be less creepy than her waking up on her own and him smiling down at her, like some sort of psychopath.

"Hanna?" Lucas said softly. "Hey, Hanna?"

Hanna mumbled incoherently and snuggled in closer, this time managing to squeeze herself under his arm, so that now, his hand was resting on her back. He held his breath. Her cheek was pressed against his chest, her head directly under his chin. He could feel her inhale and exhale, smell her perfume – which was a scent he really couldn't place, only that it smelled like some sort of dessert.

What was he supposed to do? Well, firstly, he had to start breathing because that's just what you do when you don't want to die. Cautiously he took a breath in, and when she didn't shift, he let it back out again. God, she was warm. Small and warm and smelled like a bakery. Briefly he wondered if he had been in some sort of accident, and was now living out a dream world while in a coma, like a show he had watched when he was a boy.

"Hanna? The movie's over?" he tried again.

"No," Hanna muttered sleepily. "Not now."

"Oh," Lucas said softly. "O-okay."

He felt Hanna fist her tiny hand in his t-shirt and stretch her legs slowly. He figured she would wake up then, but it appeared she was only making herself more comfortable because she went right back to sleeping. He had tried to wake her, Lucas convinced himself. She had told him not to. So this, this was perfectly okay, right?

Thankfully the remote was by his free hand so he turned the television off and tried to make his eyes adjust to the darkness. Then, thinking she must be cold, he grabbed the blanket that had been on the floor – maneuvering it to his hand using his foot, and spread it out over her. He held his breath hoping not to wake her up, since clearly she must have been exhausted.

In the quiet of the room, he went over the days events in his head. It had probably been one of the most eventful Friday nights that he had ever experienced. That didn't really surprise him though – Hanna was an eventful girl. Wherever she went, drama and fun and even sometimes trouble followed. But he thought that was all part of her charm.

"No."

It was quiet at first, but the second time she said it, he had definitely heard it. Her body was tensed, her spine knotted up under his hand. Should he wake her up? What if that just made it worse? Slowly, as if she might break, he rubbed his hand up her back and then back down.

"Fat," she mumbled. "Don't want... to get fat."

Lucas looked down at her sharply. Had she seriously just said that? What was she dreaming about? He thought back over the night at the subtle ways she had put herself down and he was concerned. What exactly was going on in her mind? She continued to sleep talk, making less and less sense, until Lucas chicken-heartedly put his hand on the top of her head and ran it through her incredibly soft blond locks. Suddenly, she was calm again, back to sleep into more peaceful dreams.

That night, Lucas kept stroking her hair until he, too, fell asleep – both of them curled into one another, in the dark haven of his bedroom. And he didn't dream because suddenly, he had all those things he used to see in his sleep resting soundly in his arms.