This Must be Fiction

We had driven for countless hours. Ville and I decided to stop after it was apparent that I was about to fall asleep at the wheel. My head was bobbing and my eyes were too heavy to keep open completely. Ville had to shake my shoulders to keep me from falling onto the wheel. Neither one of us had bothered to guess what time it was. I pulled into the closest hotel and pulled up front.

“Want to check us in?” I asked groggily.

“sure.” He lept from the car gracefully and jogged towards the door while I pulled around and parked behind the hotel. I wasn’t sure if I could actually afford this place, as it looked rather nice. I guess I hoped that Ville would pitch in. And it really didn’t matter to me where I slept as long as I got into a bed as soon as possible.

Ville was waiting by the door when I arrived with our bags. He held up two room keys. I smiled lamely. He turned around and we made our way to the third floor.

“Which rooms are ours?” I asked.

“You mean what room is ours?” he smiled cheekily at me.

“Are you serious?” I asked, shocked that I was going to have to spend a night with him. We had become fast friends, sure, but sleeping in the same bed? That was a bit much. Not that I hadn’t already imagined going to bed with Ville.

“Perfectly. They only had one room left, believe it or not. There’s construction going on or something.” He said as he slid the key into our door. We walked in slowly, me barely being able to pick my feet up. He took the bags from my arms and threw them onto the chair in the corner. I kicked my flip flops off in a hurry and grabbed a pair of shorts and a tee shirt from my bag. I shuffled my feet to the bathroom and changed as quickly as I could, not bothering to wash my face or take of my makeup as I usually did before going to bed.

When I got out, Ville was wearing only a pair of boxers.

“Oh!” I said without thinking. He was covered in tattoos that I hadn’t noticed before. He had an entire sleeve of an intricate leafy pattern traced down his arm, and a number of portraits on his torso. His nipple and lower abdomen had similar patterns involved a heart and a triangle. It was hard to ignore just how pale his skin was in comparison to his tattoos. It was so white, so milky, that in my state of grogginess, I thought he was actually carved from marble. He was too perfect to be real.

I noticed that I had been staring at him for a few moments. He was standing, staring back.

“I’m sorry, that was kind of rude.” I apologized. Ville laughed.

“Don’t worry about it. I had forgotten that you didn’t know I was tattooed.” He said. I still couldn’t take my eyes off of his chest. Under all of his clothes he looked slim, but without them, his muscles were purely amazing. I found it really difficult to look away. Luckily, Ville walked across the room, breaking my stare. I was really ashamed that I couldn’t control myself.

“Umm…” I started after another moment. “Where are we both sleeping?” I asked. Not that I would have minded Ville sleeping in the same bed as me, but it would have been awkward.

“I’ll sleep on the couch.” He said.

“Ok.” I didn’t want to argue with him. I was too tired.

“Good night.” Ville said as I clicked off the lights. I crawled into bed and heard him walking across the room, close to me.

“I forgot something.” He leaned over me and softly kissed my forehead. His lips were chilled and soft. I could have melted.

“Thanks again for taking me with you.” He whispered softly in my ear. I smiled, knowing he could see it.

“Good night.”