"I was studying your face in the light.”

“Right. I must've been so handsome with my mouth hanging open and drool leaking out."

She giggled again. "You weren't drooling, but you ARE handsome."

"I'm pretty average looking."

“Stop being modest. You're gorgeous to me.”

"You're gorgeous to ME."

“Flattery will get you everywhere." She leaned forward and pecked me quickly but didn't try to start anything, settling her head back on the pillow beside me. The two of us just sort of stared at each other for a minute, in no rush to speak, perfectly comfortable in the silence, holding hands and enjoying that simple touch.

I kinda wanted to feel like this all the time.

“Hey, what do you wanna do tomorrow?" I asked quietly.

“Hmm? Tomorrow we're driving home."

“I meant at night after we get home. Or even the day after. Or the day after that."

“What are you getting at?"

“It's winter break. We have no school. The BTC hasn't made specific plans of when we're gonna meet up again.”

“Oh, we'll meet up again. Even if you fuck Sam's brains out tonight, she'll want you to do it again a couple of days later. Same goes for everyone else."

“I know, but I didn't mean sex. I just..." I sighed.

“I just want to be with you. Like this. Relaxing. Talking."

"Yeah, totally," Belle agreed. "I'll come over in the morning."

I took a deep breath, thought about what I wanted to say, and in the end couldn't think of anything better than, “I was actually hoping that maybe you could spend the night with me tomorrow.”

Belle was backlit by the nightlight, so I couldn't see the expression on her face very well, but I could see her hesitance. Before she could answer, I started apologizing, "I'm sorry. It was a stupid idea."

"No, not at all. I was just... a little surprised, that's all."

"So you're not opposed to the idea?”

Belle chuckled. "You just fucked the shit out of all five of us -- well not Zofi, but you know what I mean -- and you've got another threesome coming up within the next couple of hours, and already you're trying to line up tomorrow night's bed partner?”

“What? No. This really isn't about sex. We don't even have to if you don't want to."

Belle snorted. "You think I'm gonna spend the night with you and NOT have sex?"

“Uh, well... I wouldn't want to presume.”