More, Most, Forever, & Always (COMPLETE)

12. 3 am

Hailey Aspen-

"It's 3 am." I croaked.

"I finished them both." He held up the 2 books.

"Already?" I asked.

"I'm pretty sure that means you owe me a date." He smiled, clearly tired.

"And this was relevant at 3 in the morning?" I asked, slightly confused but I couldn't deny it was sweet.

It made me happy too.

"Yes. Because I needed to give you both, and tell you that A Thousand Boy Kisses made me cry. And if I know remotely anything about you, you're gonna need a hand to hold. Sort of pushing the idea that I'm your hand." He drowsily told me, handing me the books.

I smiled.

"You cried?" I asked.

"I did." He nodded.

"Are you sure you should be driving? You look... tired." I blinked.

"I spent the last 48 hours reading your books. So yeah I'm a little tired. I'll be fine." He shook his head.

"Did you have a drink or something? You're... different." I frowned.

"One." He nodded, sighing, kind of appearing defeated.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I was nervous to come over." He squinted at me.

I chuckled.

"Take my bed, I washed my sheets and disinfected everything from when I was sick. You shouldn't drive home like this. It's also snowing and icy so I'd prefer you not crash before we get to actually do something." I shrugged.

"Sleep in your bed sweetheart. I'll be okay." He gave me a lazy smile.

"I don't trust that. Take the floor, just don't drive like this." I pleaded.

"Okay." He nodded, not putting up a fight.

"Thank you." I moved and he walked in.

He sighed, rubbing his eyes.

"You're cold? It's like 80° in here." He stared at me.

"I am cold. You're also wearing a lot of jackets." I laughed, sitting on my bed.

"Oh, duh." He rolled his eyes.

That liquid courage really got him.

I watched him unzip his jacket, folding it nicely.

"Why did you need to drink before you came over?" I asked.

"I was nervous."

"Yeah but why?" I watched him as he sat on my floor.

"I- uhm... I'm very interested in you. And I don't think you are as interested in me? But that mentality has also made me single for the past 23 years so I'm trying to get out of that headspace and not believe that's true." He looked at the ground.

"You've never dated?" I asked.

"No." He shook his head, looking at me but confidently. He wasn't embarrassed, he liked that about himself.

I grinned.

"Well, I believe that's a choice you made for yourself. A-and, I'm also very interested in you. I don't think I've met a man that'll read two books that fast just to take me out. And come to my house at 3 in the morning to see me. So as far as I know, you've been tugging at my heart strings." I admitted, confident in myself as I spoke that.

He laughed.

"You're a sweet girl. You're very easy to like." He told me.

"You should probably sleep Travis. After all, we have a date and I have a lot of cute dresses I've wanted to wear." I whispered.

"Of course. I'll let your light, do you have a pillow?" He asked.

I stood, going under my bed and grabbing a pillow and thick blanket.

"If you get cold, it's all right here." I showed him.

"Thank you." He nodded, turning off my light.

"Goodnight Travis." I mumbled, the feeling of having someone other than my brothers here weird, but good.

"Goodnight love."