“You fell asleep on top of me.” Becca gazed up at him from the dim shadows of the floor where she lay enfolded in the covers of his crude bed.
Zach stood in the doorway to the bedroom drying his hair with a beige towel. He smiled at the memory she’d summoned.
Becca didn’t join his smile or laugh. She continued to stare at him from the shadows, unwilling to let him shrug off the incident.
Zach’s smile faded. “Was I too heavy?”
“Your weight didn’t bother me.”
“Then what?”
Becca hesitated.
“What?”
She blurted out, “You fell asleep inside me.”
Zach could’ve melted to the carpeted floor right then and there in love and tenderness for this girl caught up in confusion, regret, and shame. Instead, he knelt, naked except for the clean white boxers he’d put on after showering, at the foot of his spare bed, lay his head on her knees beneath the covers, and hugged her legs with all his strength and passion. He was overcome with gratitude—for last night, for her.
When he looked up, she was gazing at him in perplexed wonder. He said, “That’s never happened before. I’ve never trusted anyone that much.”
“Trust?”
He nodded slowly, his chin bumping her knees. “What else could it be?”
She didn’t answer.
He lifted his body up on his hands and knees; and, careful not to put any weight on her, he crawled forward till his head was above hers resting on the pillow. He kissed her forehead at the edge of her hairline. Her skin was cool to the touch of his lips.
“I should get home,” she said, and gently slid out from under his hovering body.