Wednesday morning, Luca woke up on the couch with a crick in his neck.
Noel was still beneath him, one arm draped across his back, breathing deep and even.
The comic book had fallen to the floor sometime during the night.
Luca extracted himself carefully, wincing as his spine protested.
Sleeping on the couch had seemed fine at the time. His body disagreed.
Noel stirred. "What time is it?"
"Seven thirty."
"We slept here all night?"
"Apparently."
"My back hurts."
"Same."
They migrated to the bedroom, crawled under the covers properly, and slept another two hours.
When Luca woke again, Noel was already up. The smell of coffee drifted from the kitchen.
His phone showed two missed messages.
Emily: Strategic Marketing exam is kicking my ass. Why did we think this major was a good idea?
George: because we were naive freshmen who thought business sounded important
Luca smiled, typed back: Two more days. We're almost there.
