Comfy Closets - Chapter 12: Chapter 12

The sheets felt so smooth against my bare skin. The warmth that surrounded me was enough to convince my mind to just stay right there. But the sun in my eye wasn’t letting me do just that.
I slowly peeked one eye open, letting it adjust to the strength of the rays before opening the other. With me laying on my side facing the window, the view that I was welcomed with was beautiful. It was the feeling that I knew that today was going to be good, that contented me the most.
As I tried to turn over to avoid the blaring sun for just a bit, I realised then a light pressure that was resting on my waist. Looking down, I saw a delicate arm across it. My eyes naturally trailed up the arm, to a toned shoulder, and finally landing on the face of the owner. That view was even better than the last. Her eyes were still closed and her rosy lips were slightly parted. I had the sudden urge to touch those plump lips, wondering just how soft they were...
My hand unconsciously lifted from the sheets and went to cup her perfect cheeks, my mind’s inhibition non-existent this early in the morning. Before I could discover the plumpness of her cheeks, Leah shifted slightly as she moaned softly to herself. I had no time to retract my hand as she fluttered open her eyes a second later.
Hazel eyes gazed into blues. One holding confusion and the other alarmed. As both of us started to register the situation, we didn’t dare move an inch, just waiting for the other to be the first to speak. Turns out she was the braver one here.
“Were you about to stroke my face?” she giggled humorously.
“Hell no!” I said indignantly. “I saw drool coming out of your mouth.”
Leah quickly wiped the back of her hand against her lips, coming up empty. She squinted her eyes at me in playful annoyance. “You liar.”
Grinning from ear to ear, I dodged the blow from the pillow aimed at me. “Hey! Chill! I was just joking!” I laughed out.
She hit me two more times with the soft pillow before stopping, finally satisfied. “You meanie,” she pouted childishly, although I have to admit, it was adorable.
“Awww, sorry Leah bear. What can I do to make it better?” I asked, loving how I could use her nickname so freely.
“You can get me food.”
“You might have to show me where it is, since this is your house after all,” I said, feigning ignorance.
“No! You know I meant outside food,” she chuckled, playfully shoving me slightly away as we laid facing each other. “You gotta bring me out to eat to make it up to me for being a meanie,” she demanded.
“Alright! Fine. Sorry for being a meanie, ” I jokingly relented. “By the way, are you feeling better from last night?”
I didn’t intend for the question to have a double meaning, but it ended up that way. Her demeanour changed slightly as she was reminded of last night's events, reality setting in once more.
“Yeah. I’m better,” she mumbled, her smile a little more forced than I would have liked.
She sat up then and I followed her lead. Getting up, she went to the connecting toilet and disappeared for a minute, making me worry about how I shouldn’t have asked her that. I should’ve just let it go. Before my mind could continue to overthink itself out, she returned from the bathroom looking more refreshed and ready for the day.
Walking to her door, she opened it and looked back at me. “You coming for breakfast?”
I scrambled up from the bed and followed the hazel-eyed beauty out of the room, ready to feed my grumbling tummy.
We walked down the wooden stairs with none of the caution from last night, our bare feet thumping loudly without care. Leah took a left in an archway to reveal the living room and another for the kitchen.
I looked around in admiration of the wooden style of the house mixed with the modern touches of the décor and overall look. It worked to create such a homely feeling that made me feel so welcome, a detail I missed when I first came in. When we arrived in the kitchen, I focused my wandering eyes on the man and woman already present in the space, eating.
Now, I was normally very likeable to parents, but for some reason, I was so nervous about meeting Leah's parents. I had no idea why, but I knew I had to make a good impression. It was at that moment that I became very aware of my current state of attire. Shoot.
“Morning Mom, morning Joe” Leah greeted the two. I thought it was weird how she called her dad by his name. “This is my friend, Alyssa. She stayed over last night,” she said casually as she went to get some cereal and milk for us to eat. I was left standing there awkwardly on my own beside the archway.
“Hi, nice to meet you,” I said meekly, a little shy now that I was around new people.
Her mother had a suspicious look on her face as she gazed at me, making me feel even more self-conscious than before. “You stayed over last night? Leah didn’t say anything about that.”
“Oh, um, it was kind of an impromptu decision…” I trailed off.
“Mom, stop attacking her. She just came to sleep over for the night,” Leah explained to her as she motioned for me to join her at the counter to eat.
I sat next to her at the counter and poured myself some cereal, not really sure what to say now. “Um, y-you have a really nice house, by the way. Really like the style.”
She surprised me with an enthusiastic response. “Thanks, dear! We remodelled it last year. Kind of proud of it, actually,” she commented, seeming genuinely happy that I said that.
From then on, we talked about topics from house décor to aesthetics, which I really enjoyed because I was quite into interior design last year, which led to a lot of time spent on making Pinterest boards because of it.
As we were amid a discussion about the pros and cons of wood ceilings, her dad decided to cut in then to change the topic. “So, are you a friend from school?”
“Yes, I am Mr Bennett. I share a class with her too,” I pointed out.
Her dad started shaking his head at the name. “No, no. I’m Mr Mason, but you can call me Joe. I’m Leah’s stepdad,” he corrected with a friendly smile.
“Oh! Oh, I didn’t know that. My mistake,” I said sheepishly, scratching the side of my head. I should’ve figured that out since he looked nothing like Leah or her sister, who I had met briefly before.
I looked over at Leah then, wondering why she had never mentioned it. She just shrugged as if to say she forgot. I accepted with an eyebrow raise.
“Oh right! I forgot to introduce myself. My bad, you can call me Diane,” her mom said.
Giving her a nod and a smile, I continued to eat the cereal whilst the adults talked amongst themselves. Leah got up at some point to place her empty bowl in the sink and excused herself for the toilet, leaving me with the parents.
As soon as the hazel-eyed girl was out of sight, her mom stopped her conversation with her husband to talk to me. “So, dear, are you just a friend of Leah’s?” she asked curiously, leaning forward against the counter with intrigue.
I felt like she was looking for me to spill something to her, but I wasn’t sure if I was just looking too much into it or not. “Yes? I met her only recently, but we’ve become fast friends,” I settled with saying.
She narrowed her eyes at me while her husband hummed as if contemplating something, their behaviours causing me to feel nervous. What did I say?
Before they could ask any more questions, Leah walked back in with her phone in her hands, texting someone. When she looked up and saw both of her parents leaned forward and me sitting as far back as my chair would allow me, she understood the situation immediately.
“Um, Lyssa? You wanna go change so we can head out?” she asked.
“Yes!” I exclaimed, sounding a little bit too excited with the excuse to escape her parent’s questioning. “I mean, yes, I’ll go change now,” I quickly got up and went to put my own bowl in the sink, following Leah out of the kitchen with a sigh of relief.
“Sorry about them. They get nosy sometimes, especially because I don’t bring people home that often…” she trailed off towards the end, almost as if she was stopping herself from saying more about that.
I grinned to myself, a confidence flowing through me now at that statement. “So, I must be quite special, huh?”
She glanced back at me, biting her plump lip as she only replied with a ‘hmm hm’, leaving the question in the air and unanswered.
A smirk grew on my face at her lack of a reply. It was a nice change to see her being the one all meek and shy for once.
When we got to her room, I picked up my clothes from last night and headed to the bathroom. After I quickly finished changing, I spotted the unused toothbrush on the counter that Leah must have put out for me. A few minutes later, I walked out with a fresh clean breath and spotted Leah sitting on her bed. She had changed, wearing a white Henley top with some of the top buttons left unbuttoned and some simple jeans. Even in such simple clothing, she still looked so good. And damn, her neckline...
She didn’t even notice me come out of the bathroom, as she was too busy texting on her phone again. However, this time she looked bothered and upset, so unlike a few minutes ago. Something must have happened, and I’m guessing the cause of it was because of the person she was texting on the other side.
Cautiously approaching her as to not startle her, I went and stood a few feet in front of her, trying to gain her attention. “Leah?” I softly mumbled.
She looked up then, her distracted eyes darting back and forth from my face and the phone’s screen as she continued to type. “Yeah?” she asked.
“You alright?”
Her moving gaze finally settled on my worried face then as she noticed the concern present in my tone. She rested her hand over her mouth as she thought of what to say, now looking even more distressed than before. “It’s just-” was all she could say before she stopped.
I let a few seconds pass between us before speaking up. “You don’t have to tell me what’s happening. I just wanted to know if you’re okay,” I asked concernedly.
She removed her hand from over her mouth and sighed softly, letting her head drop slightly before she looked back up to meet my eyes. “I’m texting Blake right now,” she said, trying to hide the strain in her voice from the pain, but I still caught it.
With that one sentence, I understood the situation. Slowly nodding at her, I left her be and went to the couch to occupy myself with my phone. She needed to handle this on her own, and it wasn’t my business to cut into that. I said all I needed to say to her last night, and so all I could hope for was that she would feel better after this.
I took this time to text Ashton about meeting up today, and he responded quickly, only replying with one word: PIZZA.
A few minutes later, the dirty blonde cleared her throat and peeled my attention away from my phone. “You want me to drive you home? Since I drove you to the party last night,” she asked, her features still giving hints to the sadness she was feeling.
“Yeah, that’d be great.”
She got up then and grabbed her keys from her desk, turning to me with eyes that said to follow her, and I did so without hesitation. As we neared the front door, I saw Leah’s mom standing by it, putting on a coat over the professional business attire she had on and was readying herself to head out.
She spotted us nearing and turned to us with a smile. “Where are you girls heading out to?”
“I’m gonna drive her home.”
“Oh, well, be safe then girls. It was nice meeting you Alyssa,” she smiled kindly at me.
“Nice to meet you too, Mrs B- Diane,” I said, clearing my throat to try to cover my mistake.
We walked out of the house, with Leah’s mom behind us walking to her own car in the driveway. Leah unlocked her car and we got in, quickly driving away from her place as her mom waved goodbye.
The drive was quiet as we relished in the quietness of the less crowded streets and soon-to-be-noon morning. I let my thoughts flit by like the passing scenery in front of me, jumping from one thing to another.
Halfway through our drive, she decided to say something. “I’m going to Blake's after. To talk,” she mentioned casually, but I knew it was no small matter to her, not at all. I don't know why she decided to tell me, I mean I was just a friend she met a week ago, but I'm grateful she did.
Although she couldn't see me, with her eyes focused on the road ahead, I still smiled in support. “Good. You deserve better,” I said, and I really meant it.
A saw a tease of a smile flit across her lips, but it was gone as soon as it came. “Thanks, Lyssa.”
We soon arrived at the front of my house, and I suddenly wished the ride was a bit longer, wanting to spend more time with Leah no matter how down she was. But some things just can't last.
“Sorry it ended up not as fun as we wanted,” she apologized, furrowing her brows as she stared at the wheel.
“It's alright. Things happen, and we always have next time. I did have a great time though, dancing with you. Hope we’ll be able to do it again,” I grinned hopefully.
She smiled then. “For sure. Bye, Lyssa.”
“Bye Leah bear,” I said teasingly. She chuckled lightly as a response.
As I was walking up the walkway, I heard her call my name. Turning around, I saw she had rolled the windows down and now donned a silly smirk.
“Remember! You owe me food!”
“Alright, fine! I’ll get you food, you dork!” I appeased her, but honestly, I couldn’t wait.