IT WAS GAME day. Thea's nerves tingled in anticipation before she was abruptly brought to reality. This was one of the games in which she would be serving her team suspension. Coach Kendra still required her to come and sit on the bench, and Thea was sure that it was another form of torture from the coach. All she could do was grit her teeth and follow the instructions she was given.

Thea walked out to see Orson was still asleep on her couch. While the two of them had talked, things were still not normal between them. Thea was worried they never would be. Would they continue being two strangers who co-habited instead of friends who had shared laughs, dreams and secrets?

Orson cracked open and eyelid and took in Thea with a yawn.

"Sorry for waking you," she said hurriedly.

"It's not like I got much sleep on this fucking couch anyways." Orson said grumpily.

She shrugged her shoulders; it was her fault that she didn't have another spare bed to offer him like Rashad did. She wasn't exactly rolling in cash and while the team gave her a stipend for rent, it wasn't enough to get a large place like she always wanted to. Instead, like always, she made do with what she had.

She slipped on her shoes, feeling the foreignness of not having to carry a bag with her.

"Where are you going?" Orson asked.

She grabbed her car keys from the hook before turning around to look at him, "I have a game."

He took in her apparel, the matching grey crewneck and sweatpants but didn't say anything. A part of her wanted to invite him, but the last thing she wanted Orson to know was that she had gotten herself suspended. So instead, she shot him a weak smile, "I made a few meals in the fridge, you can grab one for lunch. I'll be back in the evening."

He didn't say anything, and Thea took the opportunity to slip out of her apartment. Immediately it was easier to breathe.

⚽⚽⚽

It was more difficult than Thea thought. Watching her team play without her was brutal. She could have felt better if the Panthers had won but they had drawn—which was a better result than a loss, she supposed.

Her feet had been itching to run out to the pitch and assist in anyway. Instead, she'd sat back on the bench and passed around towels and water bottles to the rest of the girls that were playing.

A glorified water girl what she had become—although their team wasn't even lucky enough to have a regular water girl.

Thea had been aware of Coach Kendra's glancing her way throughout the game, and she hoped that she had managed to keep a straight face instead of displaying the frustration she felt inside. To top it all off, she'd heard from one of the girls afterwards that there had been a scout from the women's National team who had come to watch the game. It shattered her that she hadn't been able to show her skills to that scout.

Her phone buzzed, just as she finished parking her car. She dug into her pockets before putting it to her ear, "Hello?"

"Thea!" The bright voice on the other line said.

"Lina?"

Her brother's girlfriend was chirpy in her slight Spanish accent, "Yep, it's me."

Thea stepped out of the car, pressing the lock button on her fob. "Is everything okay with you?"

She began walking to the elevator, still waiting for Lina's response. "Yes, everything has been great. I was just calling to check in on you—and how your houseguest has been adjusting."

Thea frowned. The last thing she expected for Lina to do was ask about Orson. "I thought the two of you had a huge argument...why do you care how he is?"

There was a sniffle on the other line and Thea winced. The last thing she wanted was for Rashad to blow up her phone claiming that she'd made his fiancée cry.

She made her voice a tad gentler and stepped into the elevator, "Don't worry Lina. Whatever Orson said he probably didn't mean it. He's just lashing out at us because he doesn't know how to correctly deal with his emotions."

"So, he's still being an asshole?"

Thea sighed when she heard that Lina's voice wasn't wobbly anymore. "Kind of, I thought things would be getting better but he's still not that same man he once was."

There was a pause on the other side before Lina said softly, "Thank you for taking him in."

Thea found it weird that Lina was thanking her, but she blamed the pregnancy hormones. "No worries, Lina. Listen, I have to go but take care of yourself and the baby."

They exchanged goodbyes and Thea hung up. She turned the lock to her apartment to find it quiet inside. Orson wasn't in his usual place on her couch.

"Orson?" she called out a loudly.

There was no possible way he could have left her apartment, but Thea didn't put it past him. What surprised her was the worry that crept through her at the thought of him needing help somewhere but being too stubborn to ask for it. She opened the door to her bedroom to find a lump underneath her covers.

The dirty blond hair let her know it was Orson and she shook her head. She couldn't believe the nerve of him to come and sleep in her room! Thea walked right to the edge of the bed to wake him up and kick him out of the room, but she heard the soft snores, causing her to pause. Orson only snored when he was extremely tired, and she knew from her many uncomfortable naps and neck pains that her couch wasn't the most comfortable resting places.

Orson was used to his king bed with Egyptian cotton sheets. What harm would it do if she let him sleep for a few hours more. She drew the curtains, blanketing the room in darkness. Picking up her iPad from her desk, she shut the door behind her.

While Orson slept, she would work on the edits her client had requested.

⚽⚽⚽

She heard the crutches first. Thea placed down the pen and turned towards the sound. Her gaze landed on Orson, whose strands of hair were all over the place.

She arched an eyebrow, "Did you have a good nap?"

He took slow steps forward until he was sitting on the other end of the couch. His fingers reached for the remote, "As a matter of fact, I did. Thank you for asking."

Thea gritted her teeth, dropping all pretense. "What made you think that I would be okay with you sleeping in my bed without asking first?"

"The couch was getting uncomfortable."

"So, you thought you would climb into my bed instead?!"

Orson shrugged his shoulders unbothered. The T.V screen came to life as he began watching football highlights. The American one—not the European one. Thea took a deep breath to settle herself.

"That isn't okay Orson. My bedroom is my private space, you can't come and go as you please."

"Well then, I'll just stay there."

"What?" Thea spluttered, sure that she hadn't heard him correctly.

His gaze turned to hers, "I'm not fucking sleeping on this terrible couch another night Thea. My back is already screwed up and will probably twist into a pretzel if a spend another minute on whatever shitty material this couch is."

Thea placed the iPad on the coffee table. "Well, you don't have a choice, it's either the couch or you can find yourself a hotel room."

"Consider me gone tomorrow then."

Thea narrowed her eyes; she knew exactly what he was doing. While she wished to get her space back, she also knew sending Orson to a hotel was a terrible idea. She'd seen him drinking here and God knows what would happen when there wasn't someone keeping an eye on him.

"I don't know what the big deal is," Orson muttered, his eyes taking her in. "We can just share the bed, it's large enough and we used to do it all the time as children."

"The keyword being children."

He wasn't wrong. In their childhood, the three of them would often have sleepovers whenever one of their mother's was busy. Thea would snuggle into Orson seeking warmth at night and he never minded. It was when they got to middle school that her mom made them sleep in separate rooms. Thea had thrown a fit saying it was unfair that Rashad and Orson got to continue their sleepovers, but she wasn't able to be included. What her mom didn't know was that Orson would often sneak into her room when Rashad—would invariably kick him in the night.

When she glanced back at Orson, she saw that he was quiet. Maybe he too was remembering the memories of their sleepover.

The sport anchor's voice floated between them, filling the silence.

Then a question.

"Why didn't you play today?"

Thea's heart skipped a beat, "What are you talking about?"

Dark grey eyes, looked into her soul. "I was watching the game today, Thea. I kept waiting for you to run onto the pitch but in the 90 minutes, there was no sign of you."

Thea was flabbergasted. He had actively put on the game and looked for her? She knew women's soccer games were unfortunately not broadcasted on major channels, so Orson would have really had to look for the game. But why did he care so much if she played? Rashad and her mom could barely remember to know when her next game was, yet Orson had sat through the entire 90 minutes.

She cleared her throat, fiddling with the throw blanket around her, "I was suspended."

"What the fuck? I don't remember you getting a red card or enough yellows for a suspension?"

Thea gave him a surprised look. Had this man been keeping up with her season that closely he knew complicated statistics like that? She could push him and find out, but Thea was surprised that she didn't want to say the wrong thing and get him to shut down. So, she was honest with him, "No, it was a team decision. Nothing to do with what happened on the pitch."

And that was the truth. No matter how Coach Kendra stated it, she had been suspended because her coach believed that she had used ties to stay on the team—and she had been late.

"Is this because you were late to practice the day after my arrival?"

This time, Thea reared her head back. "How did you guess that?"

"Your piss poor attitude when you woke up and the fact that it was nearly noon. This may be America, but coaches are the same everywhere—love getting up at the ass crack of dawn and want everyone else to do that same."

Thea swallowed, playing with the edges of the blanket. "Well, me being late is one of the reasons for my suspension."

"And the other?"

Thea shook her head, "It doesn't matter."

She wasn't ready to open up to Orson. The distance had hurt her, and he had changed. He was no longer the man she knew who had easy smiles and warm hugs. He was more reserved and cautious, not just around her—but everyone.

Revealing one of her deepest insecurities to him was not on the menu. So instead, she changed the subject, "It's a big bed..." she trailed off.

Orson raised an eyebrow, "I did say that earlier."

"Fine," she crossed her arms, "We can share the bed, but no funny business, or I'll kick you out."

Orson sighed, "It's wonderful to learn that you haven't loss all of your braincells."

Thea shook her head, even as she smiled on the inside, what an ungrateful man he was.

⚽⚽⚽

Thea yawned, covering her mouth to before a loud sound escaped.

Orson's eyes flickered over to her, "Are you good?"

She rubbed her eyes, as if it would help the sleep disappear, "I'm fine," she mumbled before letting out another yawn.

"I'm sure you are."

Oh, what the heck, why was she trying to avoid sleeping? She should go to her bed, and crawl into the covers right away. She was clearly tired, but something was stopping her.

If Thea was honest, she knew why she was avoiding her room—she was going to be sharing a bed with Orson tonight.

She stood and stretched her arms, grabbing the iPad from her coffee table. "I think I'm going to head to bed now."

Orson nodded; his eyes still trained on the UFC fight he was watching. It seemed like Orson watched every sport on planet earth. Before Thea could give it a second thought, she fled to her bedroom. She thought about shutting the door but left it ajar. Slipping into a pair of shorts and one of the many t-shirts she'd stolen from her brother Thea made her way to her bed.

Just as she was settling in, the door creaked, and her heart hammered. Orson stood near the frame, leaning against it with his crutch.

She swallowed, "Is the match already over?"

"Yes, it ended a couple of minutes ago."

She nodded her head and gave an awkward smile, "Well, welcome to my bed."

Thea cringed as the words left her mouth. Why did her heart rate feel so elevated? This was Orson—she'd slept beside him many times before.

Orson slowly made his way to her bed and sat down. He leaned his crutch against the other side table before his gaze flickered over to her, "Why are you acting so weird?"

She pulled the blanket over her body, "I'm not," she mumbled.

The mattress dipped when Orson swung his legs onto the bed. The black cast was a stark contrast to her light grey sheets.

"Fuck, I forgot to turn off the light."

Thea leaped up, "I'll do it."

She crossed the room and shut the bright lights. Only the soft glow of the city lights were visible through her curtains now. It took a while for her eyes to adjust but she saw Orson settle in. Quickly, she did the same.

She was aware of the warmth emanating from his body, but a shiver ran up her spine. She could hear every breath, rustling of the sheets, and movement. It felt bizarre being so close to a person yet being so emotionally far away from them.

"Remember to stay on your side."

Orson grunted, "I don't need your reminders."

And then there was silence between them. Thea had been so drowsy in the living room earlier but now; she was wide awake. There was a small gap between their bodies, but Thea was cognisant of every move either of them made.

Orson sighed, "If you keep thinking out loud, I'll never be able to fall asleep."

"I'm not thinking, it just feels weird to have you beside me..."

"Think of me as a warm body in your bed."

Thea refrained from telling him that it had been quiet a while since she'd had a warm body in her bed. She turned around so that she was facing Orson. There wasn't much she could see of his features in the dark, but it felt more comforting facing him, rather than away.

"Just breathe Thea," the words were said in a deep timber that Thea found relaxing. She focused on matching her breathing with his and suddenly it was much easier to fall asleep.

---------------

Does a longer chapter make up for my absence? 😅 I ran out of pre-written chapters and I've been a bit slow with this story but I'm going to try to update it every other week! What do we think about Orson keeping tabs on Thea's game? Please remember to vote and comment!