AMELIA

Amelia felt a little better now that she had let out all her pent up emotion. Johnny was being amazing really, considering she had turned up out of the blue and gate crashed his Christmas with Madison with her domestic problems.

"I'll show you to the spare room." Johnny said, gesturing for Amelia to follow him. She was already familiar with the layout of his house from when they had filmed some skits for Number Two there, but she was glad he was accompanying her. She felt so much better when she was around him.

"I'm really sorry for turning up like this." She repeated, touching his arm as he opened the bedroom door. She followed him inside and flopped down on the bed and closed her eyes. "I just don't want to be alone."

Johnny perched on the end of the bed and watched her. "You know you're always welcome here Amelia. You'll never be alone because you've always got me. Old Knoxville's going nowhere. Now why don't you get some rest? I'm sure between the pair of us, Madison and I can look after Brandon for a while."

Amelia smiled weakly. "Thanks PJ." She kept her eyes closed as she heard him make his way out of the room and close the door but she knew she would not be able to sleep. There were too many thoughts racing through her mind.

Up until now she had pushed aside any feelings she might have had for Johnny in a bid to concentrate on her family and relationship with Bam. The thought alone that she might have feelings for her friend was quite frankly ridiculous. However, now that she was in Johnny's home and completely vulnerable to him, these feelings did indeed seem to exist and were now working their way up to the surface of her consciousness.

Being around Johnny had always had a strange effect on her. She would feel her pulse quicken and her heart pound whenever she was in his presence but she could not explain why. Deep down she knew why he made her feel this way but she had never truly admitted this to herself until looking at Cliver's photos. It was hard to deny something that could be captured so clearly on camera. But when had her feelings for him changed from friendship to so much more? Maybe she had felt this way all along. She had just been too blind to realise and it wasn't until she had been confronted by the tell tale signs in the photographs that she could accept what she had known all along. She was in love with Johnny Knoxville.

Amelia realised she must have slept for a while because it looked dark outside. She climbed out of bed and examined herself in the mirror, shocked at how dreadful she looked. Her clothes were damp with sweat from sleeping in them so she stripped down to her underwear and padded into the ensuite bathroom. It quickly filled with steam after she had turned the shower on and the sensation of the hot water soaking her body was a welcome relief.

She took her time showering and mulled things over in her head. Now that she had accepted that she was in love with him, what was she supposed to do? She also loved Bam. She was married to him and mother to his son and surely that was more important than these feelings for Johnny? But for some reason she was unable to think of anything but him right now. How was she going to be able to look Johnny in the eye? Should she tell him? What if he felt the same? What if he didn't? She groaned out loud at her predicament and wished that the water would dissolve her so that she didn't have to deal with her emotions.

Once she was resigned to the fact that no amount of time in the water was going to either dissolve her or drown her, Amelia climbed out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself before returning to the bedroom. She was grateful when she realised that Johnny had put her bags in the bedroom at some point while she was asleep and she scrambled through one of them in an attempt to find something to wear. In the end she settled on a baggy blue Dickhouse t-shirt that she had picked up during Number Two and a pair of black leggings that flattered her curves. She towel dried her hair and removed the remaining makeup from around her eyes.

Once dressed and feeling fresher, Amelia scrolled through her phone book looking for possibly the most important number in there. Rose. Her sister was due to fly over to West Chester that evening to spend New Year with Ryan. With any luck Amelia would be able to catch her before she left for the airport.

"Hello Meels, what's up?"

"Hey Rose, have you got a minute?" Amelia asked her sister, relieved that she had answered.

"Sure, I've got an hour or so before I leave. Are you ok? You sound weird."

"I've been better. I err... thought I better warn you that me and Brandon aren't gonna be in West Chester when you arrive." She hesitated, unsure whether or not Ryan had already been in touch to find out if Rose knew where she was.

"What? Why not? Where are you then?" Rose demanded, clearly none the wiser. Maybe everyone had assumed Amelia was indeed going to stay with her parents.

"I'm kind of in LA."

The line was silent as Rose tried to process the information she had just received. "You're kind of in LA?"

"I'm in LA. I got here a few hours ago. Bam and I had an argument and I sort of over reacted a little and ended up here." Amelia realised how stupid it all sounded when she said it out loud, but had she really over reacted. She proceeded to explain the argument to her sister, hoping that she would understand how upset she was.

To Amelia's relief, Rose was equally as shocked by Bam's behaviour. "I assume you're staying with Johnny then?"

"Yeah." Amelia replied quietly, feeling almost guilty for it.

"Well, I know he'll take care of you so that's ok." Rose told her. "Does Bam know where you are?"

"No, he thinks I've gone to see mum and dad." Amelia admitted, realising how her lie would collapse as soon as Rose arrived in West Chester. "Please don't tell anyone where I really am. Just say I'm visiting friends or something." She pleaded, well aware of the fall out that would inevitable take place should Bam find out that she was staying with Johnny.

"What's wrong with the truth?"

Amelia sighed; it was time to confide in her sister. She explained everything to Rose, from the two times she and Johnny had kissed to her recent revelation over her feelings for him. Rose remained suitably silent until the very end.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me!" Rose was outraged.

"I'm telling you now." Amelia groaned. It was never the right time to receive a lecture from her younger sister.

"I'm more annoyed that you never told me about kissing him!" Rose scolded as if it was obvious.

Amelia ignored this comment. "So I really don't know where I stand or what to do."

"How does Johnny feel?"

"I haven't told him obviously, so I have no idea." Amelia shook her head at her sister.

"Well are you gonna?"

"I don't know. It's not the kind of thing you casually tell someone is it."

"Life would be a hell of a lot easier if everyone just said what they felt." Rose reminded her.

"That's true. But I think in my case it would be a hell of a lot harder. I have a husband and a child. I can't just go around telling other men that I love them." Amelia sighed.

"You can if it's the truth."

"Can I though? Really?" Amelia asked, not expecting an answer. Rose did not reply. "Anyway I'd better let you go and finish packing. I know what you're like for leaving things til the last minute. Promise to ring when you get to West Chester?" Amelia said to Rose.

"I promise, and Amelia? Promise to try and sort your head out."

"I will." Amelia laughed.

"And promise to talk to Johnny."

Amelia ignored Rose's last comment and quickly said her goodbyes to her sister before ending the call.

She felt a little better for finally admitting her feelings to someone other than herself but the fact remained that she was in a mess and really had no idea how to get out of it. Amelia drew a deep breath before making her way back downstairs. Why did life and love have to be so complicated? Why was nothing ever simple?