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demi-creme

I LAID IN BED; the glow of my phone bright on my face. My eyes strained against the dark. A YouTube clip played quietly from the speakers, chattering on about some creepy conspiracy theory that I knew would only worsen my insomnia. I glanced at the time displayed at the top of the screen – four in the morning.

Another sleepless night.

I sighed, pausing the video in frustration, the sudden silence ringing through me. The room was dark, lit only by my phone screen and the moon – the only sound, my quiet breathing and occasional shuffle of pyjamas against skin.

I waited for a moment, closing my eyes to see if the fatigue would hit me – if, by some miracle, I'd be tugged into my dreams until daylight. But all I felt was the silence reverberating through my bones, my heart pounding in my ears.

The dreadful race of thoughts through my mind – never ending.

I groaned, shifting in my bed sheets and moving to tap onto another YouTube video when a muffled thud echoed from my window.

I blinked, waiting, holding my breath. I was sure I'd heard something.

I shifted, tilting my head towards the window, waiting – a second passed, then another. And nothing. I sighed, relaxing slightly into the mattress.

Had I imagined it? I ran a hand over my weary face. The lack of sleep was really getting to me. I settled back into the mattress, trying to slow my heart rate again.

Thud.

I bolted upright, discarding my phone on my nightstand.

It was the middle of the night – no birds would be flying around at this time, and my neighbourhood was considered to be safe. At least, in the seventeen years I'd lived here, nothing of this sort had happened.

What was that?

I slid out of the bed, my bare feet padding quietly against wooden floors as I made my way to the window.

I hesitated, sucking a breath in through clenched teeth. Then, I pushed the curtains apart only to be met with a face.

I screamed, staggering back and pulling the curtains shut.

"Aspirin!" A voice slurred, muffled behind the glass of the window. "Aspirin!"

I blinked slowly, my heart beginning to race in realisation.

Only one person ever called me that.

I shuffled forward, parting the curtains again to see Isaac's face staring at me through the window.

"Isaac?" I whispered, my jaw falling slack in shock.

He sent me a lopsided smile, leaning his forehead against the window. His hair was messy, strewn all over his sticky forehead, and his eyes were bloodshot. I didn't miss the way he gently swayed or the slur of his words.

"Are you drunk?"

He laughed, his cheeks dimpling as he grinned. "What! No!"

"You're drunk," I said in disbelief, mostly to myself. "Oh, my God, you're drunk. And...And you're here! What the hell am I going to do with you?"

I paused for a moment, watching him giggle to himself, before pulling myself together. I slid the window open and grabbed a fistful of his leather jacket, tugging him roughly into my room.

"Get in here."

He chuckled rolling through the window and landing on my bedroom floor with a hard thud, falling into a lump of giggles on the ground.

I shut the window behind him as he pulled himself to a sloppy stand.

"Aspirin," he slurred, swaying in his spot. "I missed you."

"Isaac," I said, grabbing his shoulders and forcing him to sit on the bed. He sat with no objections and I stood in front of him, crossing my arms over my chest. "It's literally four in the morning. What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to kiss you."

I raised my brows, my eyes wide. I was not expecting that answer. "W – What?"

"That night," he continued. His eyes dragged over my body and I suddenly became extremely conscious of the fact I was dressed in my pyjamas with no bra. I tugged on my shorts, pulling them lower.

His eyes flickered back to mine and his brow furrowed in thought. "At Rebebaba's."

I blinked. "Riley's?"

"Riley's!" He grinned. A hand reached forward and rested lightly on my waist. Immediately,I warmed beneath his calloused fingers – at the drunken way he gripped my waist over my pyjamas. He leaned forward to the point he was almost tumbling off the bed. "I wanted to kiss you so bad, but then Marcy..."

"Marcy?" I stammered. At the sudden sound of my voice, his fingers tightened, and my shirt rode up, his hand brushing the bare flesh beneath it. I shook my head, trying my best to ignore it. This was all too much. "Who's Marcy?"

Isaac groaned, his voice growing quiet and breathy. "Marcelina. I loved her. I don't want that. Not again."

I furrowed my brow at him. Marcelina? I ran through every Marcelina in my memory.

Marcelina... Marcelina... It wasn't a common name. The only Marcelina I knew – I blinked in realisation. 

I vaguely remembered a Marcelina Pepper – Chloe's sister who had graduated last year. Was it that Marcelina?

I met Isaac's eyes to find him watching me carefully, his brows drawn together as he studied me. I blinked, self-consciously running my fingers through my messy, bed hair.

"Did you..." I trailed off, the words dying in my throat with a choking sound as Isaac's fingers suddenly pushed my white pyjama shirt up, resting his warm palm against the skin of my waist.

He gripped me tightly, pulling me forward so suddenly that I nearly fell on top of him. I rested my hand against his shoulder, steadying myself. He gazed up at me, his eyes suddenly looking very sober and dark.

"I can't stand seeing you with Sebastian."

I blinked, trying to ignore the touch of his skin against mine. My brow furrowed. "Sebastian? We're just friends."

He grunted at this, scrunching his nose in distaste. We paused for a moment, silence falling heavy between us, before he released my waist and fell back against the bed. The mattress squeaked loudly as he fell back, his head thumping against the blankets.

"Why are you awake?" he muttered. "It's late."

I shuffled on my feet awkwardly, towering over Isaac as he laid on the bed. I wasn't sure if it'd be strange to sit beside him, so I wrung my fingers and stared down over him.

"My insomnia," I replied slowly. My gaze moved to the ceiling. I'd spent so many nights staring at it, waiting for sleep to hit me. "I can't sleep. I lie down and I just start thinking of all the terrible things that can happen. All the embarrassing things that have happened."

I paused, chortling out a stuttered laugh, "The antidepressants definitely don't help."

Isaac sat upright. He swayed on the spot. His hands braced on the bed to keep him steady. He sent me a lopsided smirk, his eyes falling half-shut in a lazy smile.

"So just think about me."

I snorted. "I do. All the time. That's the problem."

I blushed at the words that escaped my mouth, but Isaac's face remained neutral. I released a breath, shaking my head. At least he was drunk. There was no chance he'd remember this in the morning.

So, I continued. "You're all I think about."

His hand moved to my outer thigh, his fingers dancing on my skin as he gazed up at me, his face extremely serious. I leaned into his touch, moving forward until I was standing between his legs. He stared at his fingers, tracing patterns over my goose bump covered skin.

"You're all I think about too."

I laughed quietly at his meaningless, drunken words. "It's funny, though. When I'm around you it's like all my other worries just disappear. It's like..." I paused, meeting his eyes. "It's just me and you."

"And," I continued, filling the silence when he didn't speak. "And, I feel awake. You know? Like... my heart races and my whole body feels like electricity is coursing through it. Like I've just chugged an entire jug of coffee. And..." I trailed off, my face warming at the burst of words. A small smiled pulled at my lips at the realisation. "I like it."

Isaac listened quietly, his fingers still skittering across skin. He stared at his fingers intently, watching where our skin met in silence. I followed his gaze, my stomach flipping at the feeling. It felt good to unleash all of my thoughts. To hear them out loud instead of playing them over and over in my mind – constantly wondering what they meant and how I felt.

I was glad he was drunk off his face. I was already burning in embarrassment from just thinking it, much less saying it to his face.

His hand traced a path from my thigh to my hip before resting on my waist. He pulled me forward and I leaned down, my knee resting on the bed between his legs.

He tilted his face towards me, craning his neck until our faces were inches away. His breath fanned over my face, smelling strongly of alcohol, as his hand moved to snake around the small of my back.

Slowly, he pulled me forward and leaned back until he touched the mattress. I leaned over him, my hair falling over his face. My heart pounded in my ears, waiting. Always waiting for something.

"Aspen," he muttered. Silence enveloped us and my throat tightened at the thought of how close we were. I barely noticed that he'd stopped slurring on his words. That his expression had turned oddly sober. 

All I could think about was how close he was. How warm he was.

And then he kissed me.

His lips pressed against mine, softly at first. He was gentle, pulling me in for a simple, cautious kiss. I was stunned for a moment. He was drunk. He'd said he wanted to forget about our first kiss, but here we were, kissing on my bed at four in the morning.

And I kissed him back.

I tried not to think about how my heart was pounding, or how good of a kisser he was and how bad of a kisser I was. My mind was blank yet racing at the same time.

We broke apart, our eyes fluttering open and meeting each other's. Isaac smiled, his fingers dancing on my skin. His eyes were dark as he stared up at me, his breath hot on my skin.

"Shit, Aspen." He pulled me back in. This time, he moved fast. His lips worked against mine, his tongue sliding gently over my bottom lip. I sighed, my lips parting for his tongue to slip into my mouth.

His hand gripped my waist, his other moving to cup my cheek. Our teeth clashed as he grabbed me and flipped us so that he was hovering over me instead. His fingers moved to tangle in my hair, pulling at it gently to move my head and deepen the kiss further.

I sighed against his lips, my mind turning silent. Everything came naturally then. I knew where to put my hands. I knew how to tilt my head. His fingers dug into my waist, clinging onto me as if he was afraid that I'd disappear. 

Isaac smiled into the kiss before drawing back slowly. His eyes glazed over as he scanned my face, his chest rising and falling as he breathed heavily.

"Aspen," he muttered. The mattress dipped and he stood from his spot over me. My body immediately grew cold at his lack of presence. "You should sleep."

I blinked, my mind still reeling, my heart still hammering. I didn't even notice the way his words had stopped slurring. My face burned, redness creeping up my neck and to my ears. "Only if you stay."

He paused, watching me carefully, his eyes sober.

"Please," I murmured, not thinking. "Stay."

He nodded, slipping his shoes off and sliding onto the bed beside me. I pulled myself up to rest on my pillow, grabbing the sheets to hoist over us.

Isaac laid beside me, our faces inches apart. He smelled like beer and sweat, but I revelled in his presence. I leaned closer, and he rested a lazy arm over my waist.

"Goodnight, Aspen."

"Goodnight Isaac," I whispered, and I fell asleep to the sound of his chest rising and falling, the smell of alcohol still staining his skin.

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a u t h o r ' s n o t e

This story is #2 on player! That's amazing! Thank you guys so much! We also hit 13k reads! Thank you so much everyone who has read, commented or voted on this story!

2021 EDIT: Hi all! The last half of this story is temporarily removed while the paperback is being marketed on Amazon (they have an exclusivity thing :( ) In the meantime, Sebastian's story 'With You' is up free on my page (warning: spoilers about the end of Caffeine)

If you can't afford to buy the paperback version, I completely understand! It'll be back up on Wattpad as soon as I'm allowed! Thanks for reading!

Link to Caffeine on Amazon (also in my bio): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097TL1XHY

Or read it for free if you have Kindle Unlimited!