Rebel Heart [#1]

TWELVE -Tour to the Hospital

"Never mind," he finally says after stuttering and opening and closing his mouth for what felt like an hour.

"No," I speak. "Shane, tell me what's wrong." I get closer to him.

We never argue or get angry at each other. Being mad at my best friend it's awful and draining. It's the worst feeling in the world. I know I'm closed off and shit like that but the people that I let in, they mean the world to me, and Shane is one of them.

"I just overreacted. I got protective of you, Mel. Luca doesn't do relationships. He's quite complicated too and you don't deserve to get hurt again." He lets out a deep sigh.

I get closer to him and touch his cheek. At the touch, he closes his eyes and leans onto my palm. We were always touchy-touchy, with bear hugs, piggyback rides, or even holding hands sometimes but this time while caressing his face it feels dramatically different.

"Hey, look at me." He opens his eyes and we lock our gazes. "You know me, I only get hurt if I let someone in and it's not the case." Liar. "I have so many months of pent-up sexual tension and Luca was there. It doesn't mean I'll start dating him or pursue him for a relationship. Hell, I just got my freedom back, I won't cuff myself to another one." I show him a lopsided smile. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you in advance, I broke my own rules but it really wasn't planned and it won't happen again." He's looking down again and by the time I finish, he looks back up at me.

"You sure?"

"Yes, now hug me, snotty head." I see him roll his eyes and growl in annoyance before giving me a big bear hug and lifting me off the ground. "By the way, you deserve those blue balls, no jerking off tonight. Let's see a movie 'till we fall asleep." I smack his back and pull him by his hands towards the couch.

We end up falling asleep during the first fifteen minutes of the movie we found playing on the TV. When I fall asleep, I have my head falling onto his shoulder with his arms around my shoulders but when I wake up, we're in a different position. Shane has his head laid on the arm of the couch with me splayed on top of him and my head over his chest.

I wake up with the worst neck pain of my life so I try to pry myself off of him in a subtle way just to find his arms locked around my waist, preventing me from barely moving.

"Hey, Shane, let me go make us some breakfast." I poke his chest hoping it would be enough to wake him up. This is an awkwardly comfortable position but I am eager to get out of it...

"Your breath fucking stinks. Did you eat a dead cat or something?" I slap his forehead, making him chuckle but still not letting my waist go so I decide to squirm in his hold to try and get myself free.

It's the worst mistake because it makes me feel his morning hard-on. I stop moving and Shane finally opens his eyes while grinning mischievously at me.

"Consequences of last night's blue balls, fathead." He shrugs nonchalantly before finally letting me go and I'm so eager to get out of our current position that I end up stumbling and falling butt-first on the floor. He laughs at my clumsy self and I scowl. "I'll go have a shower then." He winks at me.