Confusion
"Are you awake yet," John yelled from the shower.
"Yeah, I'm awake but I would be more awake once I get to take a shower. Would you please hurry up?"
"Come in here and get me out then."
Alexis thought about how awesome it would be but then decided against it. A few minutes later John came out of the bathroom in just his towel.
"There better hot water left."
"There should be. Are you excited to meet everybody?"
"I'm excited but I'm nervous Johnny. You know how much I hate meeting new people."
"You'll be fine shortie, don't worry," he said as he wrapped her up in his big strong arms. "Everybody is really nice, I promise."
"Yeah yeah," she said escaping from his hug. "I'm going to take a shower, I'll be out in a few minutes."
"Alright whatever you say."
Alexis went into the bathroom and took her shower only thinking about the way that it felt when John hugged her without his clothes on. While she was blow drying her hair after her shower, there was a knock on the door. "Alex, I gotta pee."
"Then come and pee. I have to get this done with." John opened the door in a pair of khaki shorts and a white t-shirt. "You look nice."
"This is what I wear everyday."
"Well sorry I was trying to compliment you but I won't do that again."
"Just shut up," he said as he closed the door.
"What's the point of closing that?"
"I don't know, habit. I usually don't pee in front of people."
"Yes you do."
"Okay so I do but I don't normally pee in front of women."
"Well I'm not looking so just go already."
Alexis laughed at her best friend while she finished blow-drying her hair and putting on her make-up.
"Why do you wear all that gunk on your face?"
"How do you think I look pretty all the time?"
"Hun, I've seen you when you first wake up in the morning and on your worst day you are still gorgeous so you shouldn't worry about it." Alex started to blush as she finished putting on her eyeliner. "And you look very nice today too."
"Thank you." She paused. "That's how you answer a compliment."
"Come on, let's go."
John led her out of the bathroom and to the car. They drove about 3 miles to the restaurant.
"You're gonna be fine shortie, just relax and be yourself."
John held her hand and led her to the back of the restaurant. They all said hi to John as they sat down.
"Who's this," a gorgeous blonde asked.
"Everybody this is Alexis. Alex this is Torrie, Jeff, Matt, Ashley and Shawn."
"It's nice to meet all of you."
"So what do you do," Matt asked.
"I'm an artist working as a graphic designer at the moment. I basically have my lap top attached to my hip."
"Where is it now?"
"In the car. So all of you work with John?"
"Yes," they all responded.
Torrie and Ashley really warmed up to Alex, which she wasn't expecting. She never really got along with girls but these two, especially Ashley, seemed different to Alex.
"So what made you decide to come with John this time," Jeff asked. "He talks about you all the time and he said he's been trying to get you to come for a while."
"Umm, I got into a huge fight with my parents and I needed to get away from them."
"And us getting an apartment will help too," John added.
"You guys are moving in together," Ashley asked. "You two aren't dating are you?"
"No," John stated quickly and loudly. "We're just friends."
Alex felt her heart drop as John shot down the statement immediately. She looked across the table and saw Jeff's green eyes staring right back at her. He smiled a little bit, knowing why she had the look of death on her face.
Before the food came Ashley asked Alexis to go to the bathroom with her.
"Are you alright Alex? After I asked if you two were dating you got really quiet."
"I know because I thought that for once he would know how I feel about him and I thought that we were getting to that point but he just shot it down so quickly."
"I understand how you feel. That has happened to me so many times and it just really sucks."
"I just, I don't know. We are moving in together and we do things that a lot of couples don't do. He peed in front of me this morning."
"Really? I couldn't pee in front of Matt if my life depended on it."
"You're dating Matt?"
"Yeah, we have been for like 5 months now. How long have you and John known each other?"
"Since before we were born. We kind of didn't have a choice and our moms have always seen us together but not until about 2 years ago did I really think seriously about it."
"We should hang out tonight. We have to be at the arena at 1 but we'll be done by 5. We can have a girls night."
"Sure I would love that. Thanks Ashley."
"You're welcome. We can talk about guys and such."
"Alright."
"We should get back before we get yelled at."
Ashley and Alexis went back to the table as Alex took her seat next to John. He put his arm around her.
"You okay shortie," he whispered in her ear. She shook her head yes as she tried not to cry. "Are you sure."
"Yeah."
Their food came out and afterwards John and Alex left everyone and went back to the hotel room. John took off his shoes and shirt and lied down on the bed while Alex sat at the desk with her lap top.
"So how did you like everybody?"
"They were all really nice. Shawn was a little quiet, Jeff was nice and chill, Matt really wanted to get to know me, Torrie was alright and Ashley, I think, could become my best friend."
"I thought I was your best friend?"
"You are but my best girl-friend."
"Well I'm glad that you get along with them."
"Yeah."
"Are you coming to the arena with me later?"
"Yeah, if I get this done."
"Well go ahead."
"Be quiet John. I need to concentrate." She put a cd in her computer, put on headphones and drowned out the world as she got into her work. 3 hours later she took off her headphones and turned off her computer. John was lying on the bed watching tv. "How long do we have?"
"About 20 minutes until we have to leave."
"I'm going to go out to the balcony."
John tried to say something but couldn't as Alex went out to the balcony, closing the door behind her. She sat down against the wall and started to cry a little bit but stopped almost immediately because she realized that crying about it wasn't going to change anything.
"Shortie," John said softly as he stepped out. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah I'm fine."
"Seriously, I'm not buying it. What's up?"
"I'm just…sad is all. I'm still really upset about my parents."
"Don't worry about it," he said as he slid down the wall and put his arm around her. "You're supposed to be on vacation. Forget about everything that they say because you know that it's not true."
"It just sucks because I want them to love me."
"I'm sure that they love you."
"I know that they love me but I want them to be proud of me for once in my life. But I'm not a doctor and I'm not a lawyer so they don't see me as being successful."
"You may not be the picture of success but they need to realize that you are doing something that you love and if they can't understand that then they aren't worth trying to impress. My parents didn't approve of any of my decisions but with time they realized that I was successful and that they didn't need to disapprove of me anymore."
"Well John, your situation is a little bit different then mine. I just need to stop reading into these things so much. It can't be good for me."
"Okay we should get going."
"Can we sit here a few more minutes?"
"Just a few."
She leaned over to him and put her head on his bare shoulder and wrapped her arm around him as he put his other arm around her. She was really uncomfortable but didn't want to say anything because she liked the feeling that she had in his arms.
"Come on shortie, we gotta get going."
"But I don't want to."
"Neither do I but I gotta go otherwise I'll get suspended and it wouldn't be a pretty sight to see me like that."
"It's not pretty to see you at all."
"You're gonna get it," he said as he tried to put her in a headlock as she tried to escape for her life. She screamed and kicked but he wouldn't let her go. She finally tapped on his shoulder and he let her go. She breathed heavily and he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.
"What are you doing?"
"Claiming my prize for winning."
"Excuse me," she yelled as he threw he on the bed. She hit the bed pretty hard and then he climbed on top of her pinning her arms down. He stared down into her eyes. "John what are you doing?"
"Just teasing you," he said as he got up. She breathed in heavily and watched him put his shirt back on and his shoes. He then picked up his bag and outreached his hand to her. She crossed her arms and followed him out of the room and to the car. Alex was quiet most of the way to the arena not knowing what to say or why she was feeling the way that she was. When they got there, John threw his bag over his shoulder and told Alex to walk next to him casually without being freaked out.
"Why would I be freaked out?" Up ahead of them were a bunch of photographers who started to take pictures of them. "John I don't like this."
He put his arm around her and she buried her face into his chest. He tried to shield Alex from the flashes as a technician opened the door for them as they hurried inside.
"What the hell was that?"
"I'm being followed for a sequence online for this week. It's kind of like a video diary type thing but with photos."
"Oh you could have given me a little bit of warning."
"Sorry, I completely forgot. You know me."
"Yeah I do know you and you scare me when you forget all of this. You should get an assistant to tell you everything that you need to do."
"Why don't you be my assistant then?"
"Umm, I don't know, why don't I be?"
"Alright, this is my locker room." They walked in and he put his bag down on the bench. "I hate to leave you shortie but I gotta go and talk to my boss really quick."
"No big deal. I have a few things to do on the computer anyways."
"Alright. Why don't you call Ashley and see if she's here yet?"
"I will later, don't worry Johnny, I can be left alone for a little bit. It's not that big of a deal."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, if you need to talk to your boss, you need to talk to him. Now go."
"Okay."
John left the locker room and Alexis looked around for a little bit and sat down in a chair as she took out her lap top and wrote in her journal.