Melissa had gone upstairs, grabbed her backpack, and quietly came back down. She had pulled on one of his hoodies as well, pushing the sleeves up over her hands. "What are you working on, right now?" She asked softly, setting the bag on the table.
"English…" Lucas sighed, scribbling out another answer. Cody sat at his feet and looked up at him worriedly.
"What assignment?" Melissa asked quietly, pulling out a binder and notebook, setting them on the table besides him. She glanced down at the puppy, smiling weakly.
Lucas showed the paper to Melissa and toyed with his hair a bit. "Stupid stuff… the usual."
Melissa sighed softly, flipping through the notebook. Sliding it over to him, she continued to rifle through the bag. "I think I've got my graded paper in here somewhere. Maybe I can try to help, with that."
"Okay, Mel…" Lucas kept writing things down, seeming to grow frustrated as he went on.
Melissa reached over to run her fingers through his hair, trying to help him relax. "Can I get you anything, to help?"
"I dunno, honestly… I'm just tired, Mel." Lucas leaned into Melissa's hand a bit and closed his eyes.
"Right…" Melissa sighed weakly, kissing the top of his head. "If you can't focus, maybe you should just go take a nap now?"
"But I gotta get it done, Mel…" Lucas sighed softly. "I've got so much to do…"
"I know you do, but nothing is gonna get done if you can't focus. Take a short nap, and I'll wake you up in an hour or so." Melissa whispered, continuing to play with his hair.
"But Mel… I've got months worth of work to do, I… I can't just sleep…" Lucas fidgeted nervously.
"Lucas, you're going to stress yourself out even more than you already are." Melissa whispered weakly, tipping his chin up to look at her. "Please, I know you've got a lot of work to do. But if you have a mental break down, it's only going to make things worse. You need a break."
Lucas sighed shakily as he looked up at Melissa. "I just… I-I dunno, Mel… there's so much to do…" He rested his head on her shoulder and held a little tighter to her.
“I know, babe… but you’re stressing yourself. And it’s not good for you.” Melissa continued to whisper, running her fingers through his hair, still.
Lucas flushed a bit and looked away, shifting nervously. "I don't know if I could sleep, though…"
Melissa sighed weakly, hugging him tightly. “What will help you relax?” She quietly fiddled with his hair, trying to think of something to help him.
"I don't know, honestly…" Lucas held tighter to Melissa, burying his face in her shoulder. "I-I just… I can't stop thinking about how much more work there always is…"
Melissa sighed weakly, kissing him a couple times more. “Maybe we could lie down, and I can try to distract you. And you can take a nap when you’ve relaxed.”
"Okay…" Lucas hesitated before reluctantly getting up and heading over to the blanket fort with Melissa.
Melissa pulled him under, curling up on the floor. “It won’t be a long nap, I promise. Just enough to refresh your brain.”
"Mm…" Lucas huddled up with Melissa and clung to her, still noticeably very tense. "R-Right…"
Melissa ran her fingers through his hair, trying to relax him. She kissed his forehead, curling up even closer to him. “You want me to talk to you?”
Lucas nodded a bit, shifting around uncomfortably. "Y-Yeah, if… if you don't mind, Mel…"
“Right.” Melissa nodded a little, kissing him again. “We’ll have to go out for a fun day some time next weekend. We could make a list of things to do. Go see a movie or something.”
Lucas nodded again and buried his face in Melissa's shoulder. "Y-Yeah… sure, Mel…"
"Maybe we could go to a museum. Maybe an art one." Melissa continued to ramble on, running her fingers through his hair. "Mm, we could also just spend a night at the house. Watching Netflix under a fort like this one."
"Mm… we'll have to take down the fort eventually though, won't we?" Lucas asked softly.
"Oh, probably. But I mean, we can build another one." Melissa insisted, starting to braid his hair mindlessly.
"Mm…" Lucas fell quiet and melted into Melissa's gentle touch, trying his best to relax.