Learning How to Bend

December 21

//This scene takes place in March 2018. The final scene is on Christmas Day 2018. Think y'all can stay with me till the end? ;)

March 25.  Almost an exact year since the day Thaddeus and I met for the first time.  Although it had been one of the hardest years of my life—my nightmares had never been so bad, and my father died—it had also been one of the best.  Kat and Joe had a baby.  I got a promotion.  I had more self-confidence than ever, and I rarely hesitated when it came to leaving my apartment.  For the first time in I did not know how many years, I felt genuinely happy.  It was not entirely because of Thaddeus, but he played a major role.

I opened my eyes, blinking in the darkness.  I did not know what time it was; I had no way to know.  Thaddeus's penthouse apartment was not like home, where I had a clock which would audibly tell me the time if I touched the top of it.  I could have reached for my phone, but I did not exactly remember where I left it, and I did not want to move much.  It was too warm, and the sheets were silky and smooth against my skin.  The sheets were signs enough that I was not in my own home.  I never spent the money on sheets like this; but then again, I had never had enough to do so until I started working for Andino Incorporated.  And now that I had it, I never spent any of it.  I simply tucked it away in a savings account to earn interest.  Thaddeus would be proud.

Taking a deep breath into my lungs, I released it slowly as I relaxed before rolling onto my other side.  I knew Thaddeus was still in bed, as I could smell his cologne, but I did not know exactly where.  I did not want to click for fear of waking him, as he was a light sleeper and definitely needed his rest.  He was somewhat close; that was all I could tell.  The bed was far too big for me to sense the shift in weight unless he were right next to me, which he was not.  I also could not hear him breathing, so I did not have sound to go on, either.  All I had was the scent of his cologne, and that did not help me much because the entire bed smelled like Thaddeus, and it probably did not help that I was wearing one of his shirts.  For some reason I did not understand, the shirt helped me sleep.  It was like I could feel his embrace even if he were not present.

I cautiously put my hand out, feeling the air before settling my fingers on the sheets.  After a couple moments, I scooted over and repeated the process once more.  I continued doing it until my fingers grazed something solid.  It was on my second pass that a hand clasped around my own, interlocking fingers and squeezing.

"Hi," I said.

"Morning."

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Eight o'clock."

Part of me wanted to move closer to him, just to confirm he was actually there, but from what I knew of him, I somehow doubted he would want—or enjoy—morning cuddle sessions.  I never would have thought I would have either, but I liked being close to Thaddeus because it reminded me he was mine.  He was not a figment of my imagination.  He was there because he wanted to be there.  Because he cared.  Some days, that still shocked me.

"In the morning or evening?" I asked.

"Morning."

I nodded.  I could have used echolocation at that point to figure out exactly where he was located, but I did not want to.  In a way, it would have broken up the peace of the moment.  That was when his words truly registered with me.  8:00AM?  I had not slept past 7:00AM in what seemed like years.  I knew Thaddeus was not a late-sleeper either, and he definitely was no time-waster who stayed abed past when he opened his eyes.

I frowned. "How long have you been awake?"

"A while."

"That's not descriptive." I tried to wiggle my fingers from his grasp but failed.  He was not holding onto them extremely tightly, just...possessively.  "That's not descriptive at all."