Propping me against the side while he unlocks it, he then lifts me up by my hips, and settles me into the passenger seat. “Think you can refrain from throwing up ‘til we get home?”
“Yes, Sir!” I give him a salute and giggle.
As soon as I hear the door slam shut, I rest my head back against the seat and let out a long sigh, my energy depleting with remarkable speed. My body goes limp like a ragdoll as the overwhelming urge to just fall asleep, right here in the truck, hits me. I don’t even care whether or not I make it to my bed. This feels comfortable enough.
The driver’s door opens, and I can feel the cab rock a bit as Shay climbs in, closing the door with a snap, and starts the engine. He fiddles with the controls for a minute, and the pleasant rumble of the engine only fuels my sudden fatigue.
“Mina? You holding it together?” his voice pulls me out of my lull.
“Like a mother-fucking boss!” I tell him, grinning wide. “Like stink on a monkey… like white on rice… like…” I stop talking when I open my eyes and the world starts to spin. Oh. My. God. It’s like I just stepped off a theme park ride. “Whoooooaaa,” I moan, covering my face with my hands as I try to orient myself.
“Shit, c’mon, suck it up for just ten minutes. Ten minutes and we’ll be home.” I feel the vibration from the engine and my body shifts slightly as we start to drive away. I don’t know if I can make it ten more minutes like this.
“You’re doing good, Sweetness.” I feel his hand in my hair and his fingers comb through the strands, like he’s trying to soothe me. “Just take deep breaths… in, and out…”
“I know how to breathe, Shay.” My voice is slurred, like I can’t even put enough energy into enunciating properly.
He chuckles, almost like he’s enjoying this, and I scowl, but keep my eyes closed. I can almost guarantee that if I watch all the turns we need to take to reach Maple Drive, it will only make the vertigo I’m experiencing even worse and I’ll end up spewing everywhere.
When I feel a pull back into my seat, I realize he’s picking up the speed. “Yo, Ricky Bobby, ease up on the gas. It’s a thirty-five zone,” I mutter when I peek through my lashes and see we’re passing by the edge of town.
“Calm yourself, you lush,” he sniggers again. “No one is going to pull me over.”
I scrunch up my nose at him. “Well, don’t you think high and mighty of yourself.”
He shrugs. “Hey, I speak truth. The cops in this area know not to fuck with me,” he says this with such affirmation, that even in my inebriated state, I have the sense not to question him. Instead, I tilt sideways until my forehead is pressed against the cool window and I peer out at the night, risking getting car sick. It’s dark out, but the light of the moon is enough that I can make out the stretch of road we’ve turned onto, flanked by beautiful forest. We’re nearly home now.
“Almost there, Mina. Just hold on, no puking, okay?” he says again.
“Holy crap, Shay, I knooooow! You’ve said it a bajillion times now. I got it!” Without looking, I blindly reach across the seat until I feel his thigh, and give it a pinch. When I go to pull away, he snatches my hand and holds on to it with surprising tenderness. It feels nice, like the way he used to hold my hand when I was a kid, so I relax and squeeze back.
It’s not long until we’re slowing down and turning up a dark, tree-lined driveway. As soon as he parks the truck and turns off the engine, I immediately turn to pudding and just want to curl up in bed and sleep. Before I know it, the passenger door is being yanked open and I nearly fall sideways out of the truck, the seatbelt the only reason I don’t face-plant onto the ground. I feel Shay reach around to unbuckle me, and I fall limply against him, finding it incredibly difficult to stand. I feel the rumble in his chest as he quietly laughs and then my body is swung up into the air as he carries me like a baby. I don’t have the energy to open my eyes, but I can still hear his boots crunching on the leafy ground outside the house, then the stomp of his steps on the porch before he unlocks the door and brings me in.
I curl up as best as I can in his arms, feeling semi-comatose as he carries me down the hall to our bedrooms. I hear a door open, and then the soft cushion of a mattress beneath my body. I sigh, having never felt so happy to be in bed. But as I shift, I feel the soft, jersey cotton comforter and sheets, rather than the silky feel of my blankets. When I inhale, the scents in the room smells of Shay’s cologne and leather hits me, and I realize that it’s his bed I’m lying in, and not my own.
“Shay?” I mumble in protest when I feel his hand on my foot, slipping my flat off. I hear it hit the floor with a loud smack. “Why am I here? Take me to my bed, please.” I try to sit up, but my head feels like it weighs fifty pounds, and I flop back onto the pillows and blankets, waiting for the world to stop spinning. This bed is way too comfy. Bigger than my double. Shay got a king sized one last year. I hear him moving around the room for a minute, followed by silence. I don’t realize how close I am to drifting off to sleep until his hand slides behind my head and he lifts me up a bit. “Wha-tha-fuh!” My words jumbled together but when he presses the rim of a gold glass to my lips, I stop. He makes me swallow two pills and I inhale the rest of the drink, then plonk back against the pillow.
I drift again and I try to get more comfortable, but the stupid cast keeps me from lying the way I like, curled up on my side like a baby in the womb. I feel Shay shift me over so I’m closer to the wall, and then feel the blankets slide out from under me. The mattress tilts a bit as he climbs in, and covers us both with his comforter. I smile, loving how soft everything is. Seriously, I have a great big brother.
But after a minute of silence in the dark room, Shay shifts a bit so that he’s lying closer to my side. I feel the bare skin of his chest touch my side. Mmmm… he’s warm. I shift a little closer, seeking his body heat. But I notice how he’s mysteriously silent. Will he try to talk to me while I’m bombed out of my mind? I don’t think I have the energy to pay attention to any of his weird, dark spiels right now. But when he remains silent, I allow myself to relax again. Huh, I guess we’re having an old-fashioned sleepover like we used to. My drunk-ass seems to think this is great, like old times. It’s not like we haven’t done this before.
Out of nowhere, Shay’s hands wrap around me and I’m pulled over a little more, until he tilts my face so that it’s pressed against his neck. I mumble something about being smothered, but even to me, my sentence doesn’t make sense. It comes out scrambled and fragmented. He just chuckles and buries his face into my hair.
“Go to sleep, Mina.” he whispers to me.
“God, yes!” I mutter, trying to ignore how the room feels like it’s spinning around us, even though I’m lying down and my eyes are closed. At least this bed is cozy.
I’m about to doze off again, when I feel something soft touch my forehead. At first, I furrow my brow in confusion and am about to smack the spot, thinking it might be a spider, until it happens again, only at my temple, and I realize he’s kissing me. The whisker on his chin is surprisingly soft on my skin as he moves his mouth down the side of my face. Hmmm, Shay’s kisses really are nice. Soft, with the rough brush of his whisker. I’m so freaking tired and in a drunken state of not-giving-a-crap, that nothing is really registering. That is, until he pulls back just a bit, and then I feel the press of his mouth on mine. I mutter, “F’king… wanna sleep… stop kissimppph…” How the heck can I pass out when he’s doing this?