A Long Night

“See? Told you there is a hotel right here!”, she said and pointed at a sign.

After their impactful encounter at the station, David and the woman had decided to look for a place to stay, since the next train would not come until the next morning.

“You’re right… let’s hope they have a room left…”, David commented and followed her inside.

The blonde woman behind the check-in desk looked a bit surprised at the late-night visitor.

“Hello! What can I do for you?”, she asked politely after they came up to her.

“Hi, we are looking for a place to stay… Do you have any rooms available?”, the woman with the reddish-brown hair asked.

David looked around. A few guests were sitting in the lounge, chatting away and a few others had a drink at the bar.

“Oh, I think you guys are in luck…”, the blonde woman behind the counter said and looked at her monitor, “Normally we would have been booked out, but we had a cancellation, so… Yeah! We have one room open and it’s a double bed room.

The woman with the reddish-brown hair turn slightly to the side and looked at David.

“Only the one room?”, David asked.

“Only the one.”, the blonde woman behind the counter confirmed.

David scratched his beard for a few moments.

“Well… She can have that room. I’ll look somewhere else… You wouldn’t happen to know, if any of the other hotels in town have a room open?”, he said after a while.

“I don’t think any do… with the convention happening this weekend we’re all booked as far as I know… I can ask around, if there was any cancellation but…”, the blonde woman offered a bit apologetic.

“We will take the room!”, the reddish-brown haired woman interjected.

“We?”, David asked perplexed.

“We… unless you have a reason that you absolutely can’t spend the night with me in a room.”

“No, I don’t… but…”

“No buts! Which room is it?”

“Oh… uhm… It’s room 33. Just take the elevator up and then to the right.”, the woman behind the counter stated and held out the keys.

“Perfect!”

The woman with the reddish-brown hair grabbed the keys, then David’s arm and pulled the slightly hesitant man after her. The elevator doors opened, they went inside, she pressed the button and up it went.

What is happening… this can’t be… huh?

David confused brain was racing to make sense of what was happening right now. It still was, as the doors opened on the third floor. The woman went in front and David followed her in a bit of a daze.

“This is it…”, she said putting the key in the hole and opening the door with the number 33 on it, “Let’s see what we got.”

She immediately went in. David stood at the door and just looked inside. It was a typical small hotel room. A small entranceway with a door to the bathroom to the right and leading into the main room. There was just a single double bed.

This is… one bed… one blanket… does that mean… with… her?

David suddenly felt really nervous and self-conscious as he watched the woman place her bag on the bed.

“Hmm, looks nice…”, she said after inspecting the room and paused after seeing David’s look,” What’s wrong? You look uncomfortable… Does it bother you this much to spend the night here… with me?”

“No… it’s not… it’ just…”, David shook his head slightly and tried to fight down the rising panic in him, “It’s just been a long day… a long and eventful day…”

“You’re right, it truly was… and I know the perfect thing after such a day”, she said and began to look for something in her bag, “I bought them for the train ride home, but as things turned out…”

She took a six-pack of special edition beer out, that they sold at the convention.

“Why don’t we have some now and finally have a nice and uninterrupted chat?”, She offered with a friendly smile.

David looked at her and his panic was gone instantly. He was still nervous, but it felt strangely exhilarating.

“With pleasure.”, he said and finally went fully into the room.

David took a can of beer and sat down in one of the two chairs in the room. The woman hoped on the bed.

“Cheers!”, she said after opening her beer.

“Cheers!”, David replied.

They fell silent and began to drink. David noticed that she kept looking at him. Their eyes met a few times, but only briefly, because he always quickly looked away and took a sip of beer. David was through half of his beer in a very short timeframe.

I should say something… maybe…

“So… uhm… how was the meet and greet event?”, he broke the silence only slightly mumbling.

“Oh, it was great! Look…”, she exclaimed with beaming eyes and took a book out of her bag, “I got this signed!”

She proudly presented a book with a rather explicit cover image and showed the signature.

“Oh, Tainting the Prince by Accident?”, David said after noticing the title.

“You know it?”. She asked amazed.

“I heard that it was good.”

“It’s amazing! You should read it!”

“Maybe I will…”

She put the book away and took another swig.

“Do read a lot of…”, she said and began to fidget on the bed a bit, “…that sort of stuff?”

“That sort of stuff?”, David asked confused.

“You know… BL…are you into it?”

She watched him closely. David scratched his beard nervously.

Is she asking, if…

“No… uhm… not really… I’m not really into it…”, he stuttered and cleared his throat, “But I’m willing to read anything with a good story.”

“Oh, great! Then you definitely should read this! Tell me when you’re finished and if you still want more, I can give some recommendations!”, she said with a big smile.

David nodded. Then they both fell silent again. David was nearly done with his beer.

Great… what now…What should we talk about?

“So… uhm… did you enjoy the convention?”, he asked to break the awkward silence.

“Yeah! It was fun… at least most of the time! After the meet and greet me and my friend went to have a drink, where a cute guy caught her eye and I had to play wing woman… I got stuck with the other guy and had to shake him off, which was troublesome and was why I took so long and nearly missed you! Sorry about that by the way… What you do for friends, huh…”, she recounted slightly annoyed and agitated.

“Ah, no worries… where is your friend now?”

“Probably causing noise complaints in some hotel in town…”

David looked confused.

“She’s a bit of a screamer”, she explained nonchalantly and downed her beer, “I love her to bits, but damn, that bitch can get loud…”

She paused and then looked at David. Her eyes widened in realization.

“Don’t tell her I said that! Best just forget it… please…”, she said a bit nervous and quickly got another beer out of her bag, “Here! Have another one.”

She passed one to David and grabbed one herself.

“So, you had quite the rough day today, huh? Having to get rid of unwanted men multiple times…”, he tried to keep the conversation flowing.

“Yeah… comes with being so beautiful as I am, right?”, she replied in an ironic manner and struck a dramatic pose.

David looked at her briefly. Their eyes met.

“Right…”, he mumbled in an unironic manner.

Their eyes still locked, they remained for a few heartbeats. Her face muscles began to twitch suddenly and in the next moment, a quite audible burp escaped her mouth. After looking at each other for another second both began to laugh.

“Sometimes it gets annoying, when men don’t get when to quit, though…”, she said seriously after a while, then looked at David and smiled friendly, “But luckily sometimes there is a knight in shining armor who comes to the rescue… or a foot soldier.”

Her eyes began to strangely sparkle again, like two sapphires in the sun.

Could it be… that… is she…

“Why…”, the question escaped his mouth.

“Why what?”, she replied, a bit confused.

David cleared his throat and scratched his beard nervously.

“Why… uhm… did you… uhm… do that charade with me? There were tons of people going by… and what would you have done if I hadn’t played along? Kinda risky, wasn’t it?”, he tried to talk himself out.

They looked at each other again in silence for a moment. She looked away first.

“I… hmm… well yeah that would have been bad… but… hmm, how should I say it… you seemed like a nice guy and…”, she began, slightly stammering her words, “I kinda felt like I could trust you. You have this kind of relaxing atmosphere about yourself, like I don’t have to be on guard or something like that… I don’t know.”

She gave him another quick smile, then began to play with a lock of hair, while chugging her beer. David looked down at his drink.

Someone she could trust and not be on guard?... A nice guy… With other words, someone who she doesn’t think capable of hitting on her… someone she doesn’t think of in that way and doesn’t have to worry about it… not a man… just a nice guy.

He took a big swig.

Yeah… like I’ve always been.

“Well, enough about that! There is something else I’ve been dying to talk about with you!”, she suddenly exclaimed had his book in her free hand, “You write?! Tell me all about it!”

“There is not much to talk about it… I just like to think up stories and in the recent years started to write them down…”, David replied with a shrug.

“That’s so cool! What kind of stories do you like?”

“To read or write?”

“Both!”

This started a long conversation about both of their favorite stories in books which quickly expanded to Anime, Movies, Video Games and all kinds of media genres. After the first reluctancy had faded from David felt at ease talking with her and was quite surprised that they shared a few common favorites.

“Oh damn! Look at the time! If we want to sleep at least a bit until it gets light, we should hit the hay.”, she said after a heated discussion about “Best Girl/Boy” in a recent Anime, leaving the conclusion still up for debate.

“True…”, David agreed and looked at the bed.

He suddenly felt nervous and self-conscious again. There still was only one bed with a single blanket. She pulled her hoodie off. Under it was a simple, slightly oversized T-shirt with a band logo, unfamiliar to David. He watched with slightly panicked surprise as she loosened her belt, unbuttoned her jeans and with a smooth hip movement let gravity do it’s job. David averted his eyes as soon as they dropped to the floor, but in the split second before that he saw the slender, but definitely curvy on the right places, body, that was hiding under the baggy clothes.

“Wh…what are you… doing?”, He asked perplexed, his gaze fixed on the floor.

She turned half around with a devious smile and slightly flushed cheeks.

“Getting ready for bed. Don’t have my pajamas with me, so it’s gonna be the old classic, shirt and panties. You’re gonna sleep like that?”, she replied cheekily.

“No…”

David slowly got up, turned his back to her and began to undress. He heard giggling as soon as he got to his jeans.

“Wha…”, he said turning, but paused.

She was lying on her stomach on one side of the bed, her feet arched back in the air and resting her chin on her hands, looking directly at him.

“Cute.”, she said with a smile

“What?”, David asked panicked.

“Those.”

She pointed down at him. David looked and noticed that he had forgotten what kind of underwear he was wearing today. It was a boxershorts with loads of teddy bears on them. He felt his face turning red.

“Bet you didn’t think that you would show them to someone today when you put them on, huh?”, she said giggling.

“No… I did not…”, David admitted.

“Well, I should not talk so much… I’m just glad I didn’t go with the holey ones today…”

Intentionally or not, her shirt slipped up a bit and gave David full view of her simple cotton panties.

Purple…

She didn’t seem to care and just crawled under the blanket. David stood at the other side of the bed and hesitated.

“Maybe I should just sleep on the floor…”, he said slowly.

“Huh? Why?”, she said from under the blanket.

“It’s just… I don’t know…”

“Okay… but if you do, I will too! We either sleep both comfortable in the bed or on the hard floor and have back pain tomorrow… so… What will it be?”

She pulled the blanket back on his side and made an inviting gesture. With a fast beating heart, David went on the bed.

“Good choice.”, she commented, “Don’t worry, I’m not prone to steal the blanket.”

That’s not the problem here…

David was now completely under the cover and had his eyes fixed on the ceiling above.

“Well then, good night and sleep well.”, she said, very close to his ear, causing a shiver to run through his body.

“G’night…”, he muttered.

David felt her moving next to him, then the light went out and his heart was beating fast.

How is this happening… how am I suddenly in bed, sleeping next to such a…

He turned his head slightly and saw her with closed eyes facing him.

Beautiful woman… I can feel her warmth… I can smell her…

David felt his whole body running hot.

If I just stretch out my arm… I could even touch her…

Her breathing slowed down and became rhythmic. Suddenly the moonlight, which was blocked by clouds before, shone through the window and illuminated her face. David swallowed nervously as he watched the slight twitching of her facial muscles. Her mouth was slightly open.

Maybe… she… wants me to?... Why else would she just let me sleep in bed with her?... that not how it normally goes, right? Should I… just…I just have to lean in… just a little… bit…

David focused on her lips. Then a thought ran through his mind, and he turned back to the ceiling and put his palm on his face.

Yeah… that’s Mr. Nice Guy for you… the one you felt like you could trust… the one you don’t have to be on guard… lying here next to you thinking about stealing a kiss while you sleep and maybe do even more things you would be disgusted by… A real… Nice… Guy… I’m such a disgusting pathetic loser… I’m not worth to be with a woman.

A tear ran out of the corner of his eye. He quickly swiped it away.

Fuck… I should just sleep, before I get any more funny ideas… Now I’m even imagining her touching me…

David sighed and tried turning on his side to sleep.

Huh?

A quiet gasp escaped him as he noticed that he was unable to. He looked down. An arm had found its way across his chest and a head with reddish-brown hair was laying right over his heart. He felt something winding around his left leg and holding it. David was unable to move. He felt her warmth and her breath. Her smell was even more intense than before.

“Hey, uhm…”, he said quietly and poked her shoulder with his free hand. “Aren’t you a bit close?”

“Mhn…sleep…”, she mumbled followed by a few gibberish words.

David shook her shoulder gently. No response. After a few more attempts he gave up and accepted his fate. He just lay there, listened to her breathing and took in her warmth which he found to be strangely relaxing, at least for part of him. The other part could not help but get very aroused.

Fuck… I’m not gonna sleep tonight, am I?