She grabbed handfuls of his comforter and clutched it to her chest as she turned to him. Her brain was still sluggish from sleep, but it booted up quickly once she saw him reclining against his pillows next to her. He had a stack of essays in his lap, and a blue ink pen clutched in his right hand. While she was unconscious, he’d changed into a pair of gray sweatpants and a simple white t-shirt that hugged his pectorals and surprisingly built arms. She’d never seen him look so casual, not the one time she’d run into him at the grocery store and not even in his “casual” date attire. He was always so well put together that seeing him without a button-up shirt, or at least a crisp tailored pant made him look almost like an entirely different person; still fine as hell, but not quite so unattainable. But it was the glasses that did her in. She’d seen him in glasses before, every now and then, but somehow, in the soft light of his bedroom, in his white t-shirt and sweats, the thick black frames seemed to accentuate the soft planes of his cheekbones and his adorably round chin. They made his stubble seem darker, and his lips look fuller. The whole image made her want to crawl into his lap and gently take them from his face before she kissed the daylights out of him. The fact that she was waking up to that image of him in his bed didn’t hurt either.

“How long was I asleep?” she asked in a small voice as she tried to calmly smooth her hair.

“Not long. About forty minutes,” he said casually, putting the cap on his pen.

“Forty minutes. Fuck, I-I’m sorry. I don’t usually fall asleep after foreplay. Or in stranger’s beds. On the first date.” She looked at her watch. “Before ten p.m.,” she added, embarrassed.

She watched as he turned to place the essays and pen on the nightstand next to him. The muscles in his back moved deliciously under his t-shirt, and she realized that her mouth was dry. When he turned back around, he held a glass of water out to her.

“Drink this.”

Her fingers brushed his as she took the glass from his hand. “Thanks.”

“You don’t have to apologize, by the way,” he said. “It’s been a long week. I had to take a nap after my last class to even be able to take you out to dinner, so I get it. We’re old.”

Deja swallowed water down her windpipe as she tried to laugh and swallow at the same time only to dissolve into a coughing fit.

Alejandro managed not to laugh at her as he took the water from her hand and rubbed her back, but his smile was adorable. “Sorry, no more jokes while you’re swallowing.” His voice was dry and teasing.