Uncharted Territory

The ride back to Josh’s place was just as magic as the ride there had been, and when we pulled up to his house, my cheeks hurt from smiling so much. We stopped in the driveway and Josh threw the car in park, turning to me without taking his hand off the steering wheel.

“Do you want to grab your things and I’ll take you home or do you want to stay over?” He asked, his eyes locked on mine while he bit his lip gently. I didn’t say anything, just looked at him with eyes blinking quickly, and he spoke again. “I’d like it if you stayed.”

I nodded my head, a soft smile falling to my lips. “I can stay.”

Josh smiled back and twisted the key in the ignition before he hopped out of the car and opened my door for me. We walked with our hands together back towards his house and were happy to find it empty when we walked in this time.

“The guest room’s over there,” Josh said, pointing to the door I’d walked through several times before.

“I know,” I said, laughing as I lifted up my suitcase. “This isn’t the first time I’ve stayed over.”

“That’s right,” Josh said, chuckling at himself while I moved towards the door. “You and your mom…” he said, trailing off like he was going to tell a story but stopped. I waited for him to speak again, but he didn’t and he brought my suitcase into the room, shutting the door behind me.

I was exhausted after the busy day we’d had, from a plane flight to seeing Natalie to our date on the pier. It was the kind of day people wrote stories about, and it left me so tired that I fell asleep the instant I hit the bed without even saying goodnight to Josh.

I wasn’t sure if he expected me to come out and say something before I passed out, but I was too exhausted to think about it.

It couldn’t have been more than a few hours later when I woke up in a sweat from the nightmare that woke me. A blanket was covering my body and the light was off, which I was sure was not how I’d left the room before I fell asleep.

With a sigh, I dug my head into the pillow, trying to shake off the ridiculous zombie nightmare I’d had. Though I knew how impossible it was, it still left me unable to shut my eyes out of fear that something would reach out and grab me the second I wasn’t paying attention.

After several long moments of trying to get to sleep to no avail, I pulled the cover off of my body and walked sluggishly out of the room, shutting the door behind me. I knew there was no chance I’d get to sleep if I stayed in there, so I walked up to the second floor where the master bedroom was located.

The door was shut tightly, and I pushed it open slowly, hoping that it would be quiet enough that I wouldn’t wake Josh. It opened silently, and I found him sleeping in his bed, his arms and legs sprawled out so he covered every inch of it. I almost laughed at him before I remembered that I was supposed to be keeping quiet.

I tiptoed over to his side, still remaining silent, and tapped my fingers softly against his shoulder. His eyes popped open immediately, almost like he was frightened, and he let out a relieved breath when he saw that it was me.

“Erin,” he breathed out, sitting up in his bed. “Is everything alright?”

I nodded my head softly and bit my lip. “It’s fine. I just – I had a nightmare.”

He reached his hand out for me immediately, using it to wrap around my shoulder and pull me into his bed. I was so incredibly thankful for that, because I was still terrified I’d have to try to get to sleep on my own.

“It’s alright,” he said, pulling me into him while he ran his hand through my hair. “You wanna lay with me?”

I nodded my head and pressed it into his chest, and he used his free hand to pull the blanket over us both. His other hand was still moving through my hair, and as soon as the blanket was situated comfortably, his other hand moved to rub small circles on my back.

“What was it about?” he asked, whispering to me while he rested his cheek against my head.

I shook my head softly, pressing my face closer to his chest. “It was just some stupid dream. Zombies and all that.”

Josh chuckled, the hand that was on my hair moving down so he could intertwine our fingers together. “They’re a doozy, aren’t they?” I laughed and sunk myself deeper into him. “Don’t worry, Erin. They’re gone now. I’ve got you.”

I smiled, though he couldn’t see it, and him whispering softly to me was the perfect lullaby.