Everything comes back to you -J.MARIANO

[1.28]

ꪻaryn was woken by her Da in the morning yet she was forced to return to her bed the second she stood up. Due to a headache she hadn't noticed until she stood and nearly fell into her Da because of sudden vertigo, she had promised not to leave the bed until she felt better. These types of headaches were something she had dealt with since first acquiring the smallest of hearing aids as a child but this one seemed worse than all the others. She merely assumed that the sudden additional headache symptoms were due to her recent (ish) surgery yet her Da was adamant that he needed to ring her doctors and ask himself. And of course, Taryn was correct.

Due to the pain that bloomed and throbbed within her skull, Taryn simply could not find sleep. So she was left alone in her room, without any form of entertainment, just left to flicker in and out of consciousness where possible. Boredom took over and she found herself watching the clock in the corner of her room with great intensity. She watched and waited for the clock to chime the time in which Tas would run home from school and appear at her side with a stack of homework and conversation that would make her forget for just a little while. He, adhering to a promise made when they were children, did just that. He entered the room silently, after flickering the light to catch her attention and they spent two hours having an entirely signed conversation about what had happened at school that day. He told her about all the couples arguments within the corridors, the various mishaps that he had heard from the staff room door and all the other 'important' things she had missed at lunch.

Tas left after Taryn had promised to attempt to get some sleep. Sleep which had been in and out all day and seemed rather unachievable the more she attempted and felt the pain within her head reach unexplainable levels. Thirty minutes after Tas had left, her lights flickered again and Taryn internally thanked the stars that someone was here to distract her again. She looked up and smiled at Jess, who had poked his head in the door as she gave permission to enter. "Tee?" he paused as she shuffled upwards slightly, focusing all her attention on his lips and how they moved to the letters. "You playing hooky today?" he joked as he approached her bed side, sitting just on the edge as she had curled out in the middle of the double bed.

"Headache," she responded softly, her voice hoarse and thick from not being used all day. As she cleared her throat to continue, he began to notice the distinctive look of pain within her eyes and found his gaze softening. "I get them on occasion, yet another perk of my lack of hearing."

"Do you want me to go?" he asked quickly, internally wondering why he didn't call first. After Taryn hadn't been at the diner when he got in from a shift at his other job, he had walked over to her house without even thinking twice about it. He could have just as easily called from the diner phone and talked to her Da, who had let him in downstairs, about her whereabouts before disturbing her sleep.

"No," she whispered back whilst giving him a certain look that he quickly deciphered. Jess stood, kicked off his shoes and tugged off his leather jacket before climbing into bed next to her. She smiled and pressed herself up against him, her head moving to rest on his chest as he moved his arm out of the way and wrapped it around her. She sighed contentedly as Jess placed a kiss into her hair then simply let himself completely relax and forget about his day for just a moment. He could not help the feeling of complete joy that flooded through his body at the current situation.

"Why is your heart rate so fast?" she asked whilst moving her head so she could look up at him, her chin resting atop her hand that was placed just atop his heart.

He frowned in feigned confusion, attempting to quickly change the subject, "You can hear that?"

"I can feel it," she paused, concern now beginning to swell within her mind. "Is it usually this fast? Because if it is, I think you should go to the doctor."

"I don't need to go to the doctor Tee," he replied and found himself smiling, instead of feeling immediate embarrassment, as her brow furrowed further.

"But you could have-" He cut her words off with a kiss and, whilst it was soft and gentle, she could immediately feel a slight speed increase through her hand. As he pulled away, she grinned and found some of her headache to be momentarily replaced with great warmth. She grinned and hid it away by placing her head back on his chest, "Oh."

"Yeah oh," he replied with a slight laugh and whilst he was unsure if she could hear it, he knew she'd be able to feel the movement. Her grin only grew and scrunched up her face completely. As she looked up to kiss him once more, not knowing what else to do with the specific feelings brewing in her chest, Jess took that moment of eye contact and almost whispered, "Don't think I didn't notice the gems on the inside of my jacket."

"Darn it, i've been found out," she laughed softly and sleepily, feeling such a wave of exhaustion overtake her body. She, whilst they both laughed, returned to her original position. The longer she lay there, the more overwhelmed with tiredness she became and soon Taryn fell completely asleep. Jess only knew that she had fallen asleep by the change in her breathing pattern. He wrapped his arm slightly tighter around her and moved his head to a position where he could barely see her sleeping expression. He smiled to himself whilst gazing at her, his hands subconsciously playing with the long tassels of her pajama bottoms.

After only fifteen minutes, a knocking occurred at her bedroom door. Knowing it was likely to be one of her Dad's, Jess fought the urge to jump out of bed and run across the room. But he would never wake her like that. So, as her Da walked into the room, he smiled awkwardly and tried to look the least suspicious possible. "I need to pop out to the pharmacy for some pain meds for her, you mind staying and making sure she's okay?" her Da asked in a low tone after noticing that his daughter was finally asleep. Whilst he wanted to hit Jess for even touching her, he had a certain respect for Taryn's boyfriend (as a parent should) and chose not to say anything to make him uncomfortable. Jess nodded immediately, being careful not to move too much and wake her. "Don't let her get up alone, with the vertigo she'll be unbalanced."

Jess nodded again, communicating understanding, then her Da smiled before leaving the room again. As the door clicked shut and squeaked as it always did, Taryn cuddled closer to Jess and took some of his grey shirt in her hand instead of just having it placed atop his heart. He smiled to himself yet again, then sighed in content as he let the sleep overtake him too.

Jess had never slept so well in his life, even if their nap did only take up three hours of the day. And waking up to her was certainly something he wanted to experience over and over again.