Just For Tonight

twelve

Levi

She looks exhausted.

I don't say it out loud because I'm not that much of an asshole, but she looks a lot less put together than the times we've met up before. I wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that pictures of us leaked online, or maybe she was completely over this arrangement and only invited me here out of pity. No matter the reason I hoped I'd make it through the night as unscathed as possible considering I was already in a lot of pain from practice earlier and had no room for any more burden.

"Hey." I noticed her smile didn't reach her eyes like it normally did, and there was no indication of her flirty nature.

Something was wrong.

"Come in," moving aside, she gestures to me into her apartment.

Coming here was unlike me and the imaginary rules I set for any hookup I encounter. Normally I'd keep it strictly at my place, no swapping nights, and never find out where they lived. That last time I did any of those things landed me in a total shit storm–one I hoped to avoid from here on out. This is why I was already off my game walking past the threshold, but even more so when she closed the door and I got a look inside.

It screamed everything opposite of me.

For starters, everything seemed to be from the Target bargain aisle, pink bowls on the counter that I had seen one too many trips past the back to college section. And on top of that, there was just so much stuff. I prided myself on keeping my apartment as clean and minimalistic as possible knowing that any clutter would cause more of a headache than normal. I hate seeing things lying around, unorganized, and not useful.

Which is exactly Hayden's apartment.

I don't know a whole lot about the girl, nothing besides what she looks like, tastes like, and how she prefers to be fucked.

But a deep part of me knows that this apartment fits her well. I don't know why this fact is met with a warm feeling inside my chest but I ignore it and brush it off as delayed heartburn or some shit.

"Sorry, I didn't really have time to pick up before you came." I follow her silently into the kitchen. She's tossing groceries on the island out of the brown paper bags when she finally looks up at me. "I got a bad migraine earlier so I just took a nap." She gestures down to her body. That explains her being off from the moment she opened the door. She was tired and recovering.

Now that she brings attention to herself I find my eyes wandering over her body.

Her hair is thrown up in some sort of bun that resembles one of mine on a day I don't care. Her clothes are wrinkled like she slept in them, which she did, and her face is free of any makeup yet she's as gorgeous as she was the night we met. Her body has haunted my dreams every day since, and seeing her in any clothes would have me as close to ready as anything.

But I focus on why I came.

"That sucks, feeling any better?" I drag a stool out and take a seat across from her.

"Yea, it's pretty much gone now." Her voice wavers before she clears it. "You really didn't have to come all the way here to apologize. I already said you're forgiven." I don't miss the way her eyes drop when she says it like she'd be embarrassed to admit that she forgives me.

"Doesn't matter. I shouldn't have treated you like that and you shouldn't have to deal with the mess that is my life. Two things I very much owe you an apology for." Moving in the stool so I can spread my legs, I grab my phone from my back pocket and place it on the table.

"I've texted my manager to take a look at the site that posted it and she's going to see if she can get it down," I say.

Her head perks up in consideration. "Oh, awesome. It would be kind of awkward having to explain this to anyone." She moves quickly to put away the groceries and I watch her like a Sunday night football game in the last half, intensely.