Sorry this update took so long. It was a combination of a lot of writer's block and vacations. But you guys are crazy nice to me. Thanks for all the great reviews D

By the third hour of boring granola cooking shows, I had made twenty-seven granola bars, danced around the room, and caused Jamie's legs to go numb from sitting on them. Jamie had sat on the chair, sat on the arm of the chair, tried one of my granola bars at my persistent pleading, and sat on the floor.

"How many flavors do you think they can possibly cover?" I asked Jamie in wonder. We each sat on one arm of the chair in front of the TV. The room had gotten persistently colder, and I now had a blanket wrapped firmly around myself. Jamie insisted that he was fine. The lady on the screen was making cranberry-apple-banana nut granola bars.

"No idea," he replied, eyes glazed over. I jumped as the wind howled against the house, and Jamie grabbed my arm to keep me from falling off the chair. When I had steadied myself on the chair again, I yawned and turned to Jamie with half closed eyes.

"It's got to be around midnight. I'm tired." I slid off the chair and landed on the floor, legs sprawled. Jamie yawned as well and stood gracefully, pointing to a clock near the kitchen.

"Twelve-thirty," he agreed and looked down at my slumped figure. "But, um, there's sort of a problem."

"Mmm. . .?"

"Well, you know how cold it is down here . . ." he fiddled anxiously with the bottom of his shirt. I nodded suspiciously. "It's a lot warmer upstairs, but I, uh, only have one bed."

"You have a couch, don't you?" I asked, sitting up straighter. There weren't any couches on the first floor; only the small armchair we had both previously occupied. He continued to twitch anxiously.

". . . No. . . ."

"Well," I slapped my hands onto my thighs, "as long as you don't try to rape me, I don't care." I stood up and yawned again.

"You don't?" Jamie yawned. "Stop that." I faked a yawn.

"Stop what?"

Jamie fixed me with a not-so-cold glare, and I glared back, taking it as a staring contest. I blinked first and yawned again. Jamie made his way over to the stairs and pointed up. I nodded enthusiastically and slunk over to him, making my way slowly up the stairs behind him.

"I'd rather sleep near you then on the cold floor. Or vice versa," I added solemnly as I stepped onto the floor of the second story. Jamie walked to his bed and stood awkwardly on the side of it as I visually searched the room. The walls were plain white, and the floor was wooden. There were virtually no decorations, and the only furniture was a dresser, his bed, and a nightstand.

"You've outdone yourself," I muttered sarcastically, raising an eyebrow at the uncomfortable figure by the bed. He made a small noise in the back of his throat as I turned slowly; discovering the rest of the room was just as bare.

"I'm going to, uh, change," Jamie offered quietly as I turned back toward him, slightly amused by his room.

"Kay," I nodded and glided over to his bed as he disappeared into the bathroom. His bed really was small, and definitely only meant for one person. Fantastic. I slid in under the blankets, mindful of the loose purple dress I still wore. It was a recipe for disaster, but that would be dealt with when the time came. As I pulled the blankets up to my shoulders and snuggled into one of the unbelievably fluffy pillows, exhaustion overwhelmed me. I stared blankly at the light under the bathroom door and rolled over onto my stomach, burrowing my face under the pillow. With a soft sigh, I closed my eyes.

…

…

Ouch.

I feebly tried to wake up as my mind repeated itself. Ouch.

Something was digging itself into my leg.

I groaned in annoyance and was about to sit up before I realized something just wasn't right.

I opened my eyes and found head engulfed in purple. Whaaaat. . . ?

My eyes snapped open wider as I realized what it was.

OH SHIT.

With snappish reflexes, I quickly pulled my dress down. Except. . . when was blanket ever that lumpy?

I readied myself for complete embarrassment as I looked down, finally realizing the warm that covered me was no longer the blanket. The blanket wasn't even on the bed anymore. Instead, Jamie was wrapped around me from behind, sufficiently covering my bare stomach with his arms. The thing poking into my leg was his foot. His other leg was-

Oh God.

I whimpered silently and tried to remove his other leg from between my upper thighs.

Ohgodohgodohgod.

I felt a burst of air on my neck as Jamie snuggled into me further, his arms tightening for a moment and his leg riding farther up. I nearly started to cry as I looked at him over my shoulder. He was only wearing boxers!

At least he wasn't . . . you know. . .

I held the dress down over my chest, thankful his hands weren't there, and tried to slide away from him again. I still couldn't move.

"Jamie," I whispered softly, feeling my cheeks burn. "Jamie!" He hummed from behind me as his head slid to my shoulder blades and snuggled there.

"Jamie, come on."

Finally his arms moved slightly, and his leg slipped down to between my knees.

"Wha . . ." he whispered softly. I felt his eyes open against my back and winced in advance.

"Jamie, can you, uh," I paused and waited for him to move.

"Oh geez," he groaned and removed his arms from around my stomach and his leg from between mine before sliding onto the wooden floor. I pulled my dress hurriedly down and sat up, rubbing my head. Jamie sat on the floor, legs akimbo and hair wild, rubbing his own face in embarrassment. He looked toward me and quickly back down, fiddling with the bottoms of his boxers.

"I'm sorry, I had no idea . . ." he told the floor sheepishly, and then reached up to smooth his hair down vainly. I smoothed the dress where it crinkled on my leg and looked around his room just as awkwardly.

"Eh heh yeah," I managed, trying not to look at him. He was in boxers! I needed to get out of his house ASAP before I turned into some kind of creepy . . . I don't know. Horndog. I mentally shook my head at that and pinched my leg in disgust. Ew.

But.

Boxers!

As if on cue, Jamie turned to look at me with what must have been the cutest expression ever recorded, ever. It took all of my willpower and a very deep breath to keep myself from jumping on him and probably making one of the biggest mistakes of my life.

"You know," he began, "we are together."

Don'tjumphimdon'tjumphim. Come on Alex! Willpower!

"It's not, you know, abnormal or anything. To do. That. Or other things."

My innocent inner voice was crying hysterically. Was he suggesting we . . .!

Jamie cleared his throat, seemingly losing his confidence.

"I, um," I stated, not realizing I was speaking. Jamie blinked at me curiously. I blushed crazily. "I've never . . ." I coughed and rubbed my hands over my face, trying not to die.

". . . What is it?" I tore my gaze away from Jamie's and got off the bed to walk toward the stairs. Easy to bolt that way. I slid my hand over the railing and picked up the stack of my clothes that Jamie probably had left there.

"I'mavirgintilmarriage," I squeaked, and fled down the stairs quickly, jumping into my shoes by the door and flying outside. There was still a lot of snow, but it wasn't nearly as high as it had been before. I ran through Jamie's shoveled backyard and onto the path I had paved for myself the night before. God, talk about embarrassing. I arrived at Annie's house soon after, out of breath and hoping to crawl into a hole. I flung myself against the door and screeched.

"AN-NEEEEEEEE!" I howled, banging my fists desperately on the door. It opened shortly after, Annie appearing incredibly annoyed.

"What! Gosh-" I burst into the house and jumped straight onto her couch.

"I told him I'm a virgin!" I squealed, burrowing under the pillows. The door closed and I heard a muffled giggle. "What!" I exclaimed, emerging from the pillows to glare at her. Annie broke out in full hysterical laughter.

"Who cares!" she said when the laughing had stopped. "You're such a prude. Gosh." She swung herself over to the kitchen, shaking her head.

"But-!"

"No buts!" Annie turned and shook her finger at me. "Do I have to do the speech?" At my blank look, she sighed. "Fine." Her voice rose several octaves. "Alex, honey, if this boy doesn't respect your decision to save yourself until you're married, then-"

"Annie," I said sternly. "You're crazy."

"Well what did he say?" Annie pushed a pot of water on the stove for tea.

"I don't know," I said and sat up on the couch, sitting cross-legged. "I kind of bolted."

Annie turned to me and placed a hand on her hip. "You, my friend, are a complete idiot." She turned back toward the water. "Not like it matters much to me, because I don't exactly like that kid anyway."

I stayed silent.

"If he's any sort of a man, he should come after you. Oh, and what in seven hells are you wearing?"

"I'm gonna go change," I said dejectedly, ignoring her question completely. She didn't bother me as I climbed the stairs. I changed silently and folded the dress up to be washed.

"Alex, you want raspberry?" Annie called.

"Sure."

Just as I was setting my cell phone on my dresser, it started to ring.

"Hello?"

"Oh thank God Alex, I've been trying to reach you for an hour!" The relieved voice sighed into the phone.

"Kerri? Is that you?" Why in the world would my assistant be calling?

"Yeah, yeah Alex, but -!" She made a funny noise. "You don't have your laptop, do you?"

"Yes, but I'm not-"

"Doesn't matter! Check your email, and hurry up." She waited patiently as I booted my computer and brought up the email.

"I have one hundred and fifty-three emails! What's going on?" I instantly morphed into Businesswoman Extraordinaire! as Kerri launched into a long rant. I clicked on emails and read them as she explained some kind of huge crisis that was taking place back home.

"Okay, okay," I interjected. "I'm not working now though. Can't someone else take care of this?"

"NO!" Kerri screeched. "And besides, Bob himself told me to call you." Bob was THE MAN of our company, so if he wanted me it had to be bad.

"You know I'm like a jillion hours away from home, right? I can't exactly come in." I complained, reading yet another URGENT! email.

"Well you're going to need to, because your flight to Singapore leaves in two days."

"WHAT!"