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Both of us cleaned up the kitchen and put the food away and then showered together before I helped her remake the bed in fresh sheets and blankets. I sent Sterling a quick message that I was staying over at Lacey’s.

I KNEW IT!!!! GET IT, GWENNIE! she sent me and I put my phone on silent before setting it on the dresser next to Lacey’s phone.

“My sister is thrilled that I’m staying over,” I told Lacey as she brushed her teeth over one of the sinks in the attached bathroom.

“I’ll bet.” She spit in the sink and then rinsed her face off. “There’s a new toothbrush for you.”

I peeled it out of the package and brushed while Lacey finished the rest of her routine.

“I don’t have my skincare, but hopefully everything won’t go to shit after one night,” I said, peering at my face in the mirror.

“I’m not a total cretin,” Lacey said, gesturing to a few bottles and containers on the other sink. “I’ve got night cream. And some other crap that the website recommended to me.”

I giggled and went to see what she had going on.

“This is trash, this is good, this you should never use,” I said, going through her products, taking the last one and throwing it in the trash can.

“Hey! I spent money on that.” She tried to go into the trash to get it, but I dived in front of it to stop her.

“Please just trust me and do not use that. I am trying to protect your gorgeous face.”

Lacey glared down at me but sighed. “Fine. But don’t throw any of my other stuff away.”

I grabbed her face in my hands. “No promises.”

* * *

The two of us got in bed, but I wasn’t ready to sleep. Neither was Lacey, it seemed.

“I need a snack,” she said, unwinding herself from my arms.

“Me too,” I said. One of my favorite things to do when I had gone to the van for the night was to make myself a little plate and munch on it while I read. Looked like Lacey was the same.

I couldn’t stop touching her as we pulled random items from the fridge and the cabinets to fill a plate together. I’d never really thought about being a tactile person, but I didn’t want to stop touching Lacey in every way I could. It was as if I’d been holding myself back every single second since I’d met her and had finally let myself go for what I wanted. And I wanted her.

Lacey carried the plate to bed, and I poured us both glasses of water. We sat together on the bed and ate as we talked. Lacey asked me what other books I liked, and told me a little bit about her childhood in New Hampshire and funny stories from some of the craft fairs she done. I told her about some of the twin pranks I’d played with Sterling.

She and I talked until our voices were raw and the night had almost faded into morning.

“I should let the princess get her beauty sleep,” Lacey said, kissing my forehead as I lay on her. She didn’t seem to mind when I used her as a human pillow.

“I would argue with you, but I’m too tired,” I said, my eyes closing.

“Sleep, Gwen. Go to sleep,” she said, and I felt her lips in my hair.

“You go to sleep too,” I said, my voice slurred with exhaustion.

“Okay,” she said through a yawn.

* * *

The next thing I knew I was waking up with hair in my face and a warm arm flung across my chest.

For a moment, I was confused about where I was and who the arm belonged to, and then the night came back to me. The bedroom was full of late morning light and as soon as I moved, Lacey fluttered her eyes open.

“Good morning,” she said, her voice rusty from having talked so much last night.

“Good morning,” I said, my voice just as rough.