Daylight

Joe’s POV

We hadn’t set an alarm, but I woke early the next day. Sadly, I was almost always the first of our little group up in the mornings.
At least, it seemed early, but it’s always hard to tell in summer. I got up and twitched open the curtains a bit, nearly blinding meself with the bright sun. Bloody hell, I thought, looking down at the cars below the window, another long hot summer’s day on Warped.

A sigh from the bed nearest the window broke into me thoughts. I looked over at Pet, sprawled out in sleep, and smiled at the sight before me.
Where the sun hit her skin, it seemed to light up. Is that normal? I wondered. I sat down on the edge of her bed to watch her sleep.
On the side of her face, Pet had very faint freckles I hadn’t noticed before. She had a classic ginger complexion, pale creamy white with pink cheeks, her brows and lashes just a shade darker than her hair. She was sleepin’ on her back, with one arm thrown above her head. She looked like….

Pet was easily the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. The realisation hit me hard in the chest, takin’ me breath away.
Bloody hell.

I moved away then, pullin' the curtains further apart so the sun would hit her direct in the face. Pet twitched and rolled her head away from the window.
I sat down again and shook her shoulder gently. “Pet, time to wake up, luv,” I murmured. She sighed in answer and mumbled in her sleep.

I tried again. “Hey, time for breakfast, and then we have to get back.”
This time she stretched and groaned a little, but still didn’t wake.

Once more, I thought, though what the sight of her was makin’ me want to do was crawl in beside her to give her a proper good-morning, and not an innocent one at that. Then I smiled to meself.

I laid down next to her, and started strokin’ her cheek, as light as possible. Her hand tried to brush me away, like me fingers was a bug walkin’ on her. Then I smoothed her hair back, ending on her face again, and she protested a little more strongly.
Finally, I couldn’t resist: I moved closer and kissed her, startin’ on her cheek and movin’ to her mouth. I laid me hand on the side of her face and kissed her gently at first, then more insistently.
Then I found I was makin’ this harder on me than I meant to. Because even though she was wrapped up in her bedclothes, even knowin’ about her what I didn’t last night, it was all I could do to stop meself from touchin’ her the way I found I wanted to.

Then suddenly she sighed, and her mouth opened a little, and she was kissin’ me back. I ran me hand down her soft hair and stopped at her neck.

It was heaven—for about a minute. Then her eyes opened, and she near jumped outta her skin when she realised it was me she was kissin’, and not a dream.

“Oh!” Pet fairly shrieked, her eyes havin’ grown huge, scramblin’ away and damn near fallin’ off the bed. I couldn’t help meself, I started laughin’, she was so bloody surprised.
“What the hell’s so funny?” she demanded. “And what the hell are you doing in my bed, Joe?”
“Well, first,” I choked out, unable to stop laughin', “you sleep like the dead.”
She pressed her lips together angrily. “And?”
“And…I’ve been tryin’ to wake you these last ten minutes now,” I carried on.
Pet sat up and crossed her arms over her chest.
“And…I’m not in your bed, but on it,” I pointed out. “See?”

She looked down and saw I wasn’t lyin’.

“Still,” she asked, and right pissed off she was, “what gives you the right to do…what you were doing?”
I grinned. “Well, I couldn’t think of a nicer way to wake you.”
She huffed. “Nicer for which one of us?” she asked.
Now I got a bit pissed off. “Look, Petula,” I started, “I know you don’t know me too well, but I don’t make a habit of molestin’ women in their sleep. You should know me at least that well, after last night.”

Her shoulders relaxed a bit.
“I’m sorry,” she said in small voice. “I guess nobody’s ever—uh—tried to wake me that way.”
“I highly recommend it, though,” I replied. “You were like Sleepin’ Beauty there for a minute. It was lovely.”
We stared at each other for a bit. Pet was definitely blushing; then she finally looked away.
“Yeah, it was,” I heard her say.

I made to say summat else, but decided to deal with the issue at hand.
“Listen, let’s go get summat to eat,” I urged her. “I’m bloody starvin’.”
She put a hand over her stomach. “Oh, me too,” she breathed out. “Just give me about ten minutes, okay?”

In no time, we were ready, and walkin’ to the nearest breakfast place. It was maybe ten when we got back to the room to pick up our shit.

Pet’s POV

We gathered up all our clothes and threw the wet towels on the floor. I made my usual sweep of the bathroom to make sure I didn’t forget anything. When I came back into the room, Joe was sitting on his bed. He patted the space beside him.
“Come sit for a minute, Pet,” he said softly. “I wanna talk to you.”

I sat down with him and waited for whatever he wanted to say.

He fidgeted a little, then said, “I’m sorry about this morning.”
I shook my head. “Don’t be, really,” I reassured him. “I just overreacted, like I usually do. I’m over it, really. It’s okay.”
“Good, good,” he said absently. “Because I would never hurt you, I hope you know that.”
He seemed awfully serious, so I resisted the urge to smile at that remark. I just nodded.

Joe was quiet for so long, I thought maybe he didn’t have anything else to say.
“Is that all?” I asked.
“No, it’s not,” he said quickly. “I just—I’ve realized in the last couple of days…that…I really like you, Pet.”
Now I smiled. “I like you too.”
He smiled back. “Good, I…I wanted to know then…if maybe…and you don’t have to answer straightaway….”
I waited.
“I mean, I—I wanted to know, if you’d…consider…” he stammered. “If—if you’d, I mean…if you’d agree…to be my girl?”
“You mean, like your girlfriend?”
(It's official, I am that stupid.)
“Exactly,” he said with relief.

I considered. “Well, I have one condition...” I said slowly.
“Anything you want,” he promised.
“...that you won’t pressure me,” I finished.
He held up a hand. “I swear, you’ll get no pressure from me,” he replied. “But I can’t say the same thing for your mates.”
I narrowed my eyes, thinking of Sal and Mo and how they’d tried to set us up.

To set me up.

“You let me worry about them,” I said firmly. “I’ll take care of those two.”
Joe stood up and hoisted his duffel bag. “Are you gonna tell ‘em that summat happened?”
“Nah, they’d just ask me for details, which I wouldn’t be able to give them,” I replied. “Just as well, they won’t give me any peace, no matter what I do. Let’s get going.”