On the Edge

“We’re home!” I called to everybody and set down two grocery bags on the counter. Tom put down a few bags of his own too.

“I have to go to the bathroom.”

“Thanks for sharing Tom; sorry to disappoint you but we don’t need to know what you’re doing every second of everyday.” Bill snickered from the couch and I went outside to get more bags.

“Everyone needs to know what I’m doing, you of all people should know that Bill” Tom retorted sarcastically.

“Of course! How could I have forgotten that?” Bill laughed.

“Can someone help me with the rest of these please?” I yelled from the car.

“Coming” I heard someone answer then all three of my little helpers came out in a line.

“Thank you” I said and handed them each a couple of bags. We put everything into their proper places then decided to relax in the living room.

“What time is it?” I asked out of the blue.

“I think it’s around 9 or 10:00.” Gustav said.

“What can we do to kill a few hours?” Christine asked.

“Watch a movie?” he suggested.

“What kind of movie?”

“I don’t care, where are your movies Nikki?”

“In that cabinet” I pointed “you guys enjoy your movie; I’m going to bed so I can function at work tomorrow.” I yawned.

“But it’s only 9:34” Christine informed me.

“Your point? I’m tired”

“You’re such a loser.”

“Thank you” I replied and she stuck her tongue out at me. “Sleep wherever; goodnight everybody.””I’m tired too” Tom said and ran to catch up to me.

“Liar!” Georg called to Tom and he flipped him off but Georg didn’t see it.

“Since when are you tired any time before 2:00 in the morning?” I giggled when he came into the room.

“Surprisingly I really am tired.” He said, forcing a yawn.

“You can sleep in the extra bedroom if you want.” I told him but he continued to stand in my doorway. “It’s down the hall”

“Gustav and Christine already called that room” he shrugged with a slight smirk playing on his lips.

“My bed isn’t that big”

“That’s ok, we’ll just have to squeeze really close together so that we both fit comfortable.” He said and his smirk got wider.

“Get out” I laughed.

His smirk fell and he looked like I’d just slapped him or something. I laughed harder at his expression. “You can come back; I’m going to change first.” I explained after my laughing fit.

“Oh” was all he said.

“I’ll let you know when I’m done, but for now you need to get out.”I told him and gently pushed him backwards so I could close the door.

“Ok I have to find out where Bill put my suitcase anyway.”

I locked the door behind him as he went on his search for his things. I changed into a loose pair of sweatpants and a tank top, and pulled my hair into a ponytail. It was still summer time so it got hot at night.

I walked down the hall to find Tom in the extra bedroom looking through what had to be his suitcase. “I’m done changing” I told him from the doorway.

I watched as his eyes looked me up and down. “You have a tattoo?” He asked as his eyes stopped at my exposed middle. Only the top part of it was showing.

“Yup,” I said pulling my sweats down lower (and a bit seductively too I might add) so he could see the whole thing.

“It looks like Bill’s star, only smaller and yours has color.” He said.

‘It does huh?” I agreed “His is on the right side though… I think” I said, trying to remember which side his was on.

He nodded, still staring. “I’m gonna go brush my teeth and wash my face now” I said and he looked away, pretending that he wasn’t staring and continued to dig through his stuff. “You can go change in my room while I’m in the bathroom.”

“Yea I’ll do that, thanks”

Tom was waiting for me in my room after I finished brushing my teeth and washing my face. He was looking at some pictures of me and Christine; that ranged from when we were really little to our age now, that were hanging up on my wall.

“You two have changed so much” he said, hearing me enter the room.

“Those were taken such a long time ago.” I said looking at them from over his shoulder. “Oh my god! Look at us!” I laughed, pointing to a picture of us with our faces painted for Halloween one year.

He laughed with me. “How old were you?”

“I think we were 7 or 8 I can’t remember.” I told him and walked over to the bed and slipped under the covers a little bit. I watched Tom as he analyzed the pictures. He looked so cute when he stared intently at them. “Are you gonna sleep in that?” I asked, referring to his huge pants and shirt that he was still wearing.

“No, I got sidetracked by all of your pictures” he laughed and looked down at his clothes.

“Oh, I can leave so you can change.” I said and started to get up.

“It’ll only take a second to change.” He said, starting to pull off his shirt. I stared at him, much like I had this morning. My eyes trailed his body, looking at every muscle on his torso, melting a bit inside. It was hard not to throw the covers off and pounce on him right then and there.

“Turn around, and no peaking” he said after he took off his shirt and started working on his belt.

‘Resist the urge! Resist the urge!’ I screamed to myself and flipped over on my stomach and buried my face in the pillow. “Are you almost done? I can’t breath” I was sure he wasn’t done; I just wanted him to hurry up.

“Then don’t shove your face into the pillow” he said.
I felt pressure on one side of the bed as he sat down. His hand touched my back and he traced random designs all over, giving me a million goose bumps. I shivered at his touch. “Your hands are cold” I whispered and flipped back over to look at him. He was now wearing a pair of basketball-like shorts. (Three guesses as to which size they were.)

“Sorry” He whispered back and smiled.
I moved over next to the wall to give Tom more room to lie down. He got under the covers with me, then pulled me closer to him so that my head was now resting on his chest and his arms were around me.

“Goodnight Tom” I said and snuggled a bit closer.

“Goodnight” he replied and kissed the top of my head.

It was quiet as we both drifted to sleep. I listened to his breathing for quite some time. It eventually evened out into a slow rhythmic pattern like a lullaby. Shortly after he was asleep, my eyelids drooped as well and I was asleep too.