A Surreptitious Relationship

:A Surreptitious Relationship: Chapter Forty-Nine

            The smell of bacon woke me up in the morning. Groggily, I turned onto my side, expecting to see Chris's side of the bed empty. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion when I realized he was still next to me, dead asleep, Milkshake curled up on his chest. After getting over the initial giddiness of seeing the cutest kitten ever asleep on my boyfriend, my thoughts went back to the problem at hand: If he was in here, then who was doing the cooking?

            I tried to think back to this morning. The lock-in had gone better than expected. After all the games were finished, our group went back to Chris's classroom and chatted with each other while eating our snacks. Until five o'clock in the morning. Out of some pure luck, Chris and I managed to sleep next to each other on the floor without looking suspicious— at least for the three hours were had slept. Emily had randomly pointed out it would be easier for all of us to sleep at the front of the classroom than to rearrange the desks for more space. No one complained.

            Narrowing my eyes, I attempted to figure out what happened after that. I'd awoken later than everyone else, so only Casey was left in the classroom, packing up her belongings. Mine, aside from my sleeping bag, were already done for me. I'd been half asleep, so I could only remember Casey leading me out to Chris's car and then coming back here before falling asleep again...

            "Holly," Chris suddenly groaned, "don't cook. You don't know how..."

            I grimaced. "I do..."

            "Don't burn my house down," he said, opening his bleary eyes. When they landed on my face, they widened. "Holly!"

            "What?"

            "You're supposed to watch food when you cook it!" he snapped at me, throwing the comforter off of him and into my face, sending Milkshake tumbling along with it. "Idiot!"

            Ripping the comforter off my head, I glowered at the teacher as he rushed to the kitchen clad in only boxers. Milkshake meowed at me and I rubbed his head, a little more roughly than usual. Why did Chris automatically assume I was doing something stupid? My biology grade might be bad, but that didn't mean I would be stupid enough to start breakfast and then go back to bed.

             "Morning, Mr. Heywood!" I heard a girly voice, which I recognized as Casey's, chirp.

            "What are you doing in my house?" Chris demanded just as I thought the question.

            I could imagine Casey gesturing toward the frying bacon. "Cooking you two breakfast!"

            "Obviously. I guess the important question is how did you get in?"

            As if on cue, Jeremy popped his head into Chris's bedroom, grinning widely at me. "Morning Holly!"

            I blinked at him. While I usually didn't mind seeing the blonde, this morning I wasn't quite up to it. My eyes narrowed and I pulled the comforter back over me. Milkshake hopped off the bed and danced out of the room, brushing by Jeremy's legs as he did so.

            "Not a morning person, are you?" Jeremy guessed, stepping into the room. "Don't worry though. I planned on bursting in here and waking you two about an hour ago, but after seeing you so cute and cuddly together, I decided to let you guys sleep while Casey and I bought stuff and cooked breakfast."

            After staring at him for another minute, I flopped back onto the bed and pulled the sheets the rest of the way over my head. "Go away."

            Laughing, he came over and started shaking me. "Get up! It's already one o'clock! We have to be at the school in an hour!"

            "What?" I cried, sitting up, my eyes wide. "That only gives me like, forty minutes to get ready!"