**Internal crisis**

I lowered myself onto the bed, carefully, like it might shatter beneath me if I wasn’t careful. I was tense, every inch of me aware of his presence beside me. But now that I was here, lying in his bed, a new kind of confusion settled in.

Should I face him? That felt too… intimate, somehow. But then again, turning my back on him felt odd too, almost like I was being dismissive. And there was no way I was about to fall asleep with my back turned, especially knowing ...