It was just after 3AM. All was dark. But Mark was half-awake. He felt decidedly odd. He could usually feel his feet poking out from underneath the bedsheets. He could usually feel his arms hanging close to the edges of the bed as he sprawled.
It was odd because he wasn't sprawled. His arms and his legs didn't feel cold with the chill of the night air in the hotel room. It was also odd because he could feel someone - or something - pushing against his body, curled up against his torso and his legs.
His eyes opened as grudgingly as a rusty garage door. He squinted into the very sparse light, and made out a large, black, blurry lump in front of his eyes. After a few minutes, his eyes groggily resolved the black lump into the shape of a person.
Mark's first instinct was to recoil. There was a complete stranger in the bed next to him now, whereas the bed was for him alone when he had went to sleep. What scared and bemused him even more was that this was a woman.
Where the hell had he gotten himself a woman? Had he went sleep-walking, down to the foyer, grabbed a random fan and sleepily offered them the chance to sleep with him?
God he hoped not. Not least because of the publicity. But mostly because of Rose.
Oh god.
Rose!
What would she think if she found out? What would she say? She'd be disgusted. Mark cringed. Here he was in bed with a total strange woman, who by the feel of it wasn't wearing very thick pajamas underneath the duvet, and Rose was a mere 3 feet away behind his curled up body.
He realised he was curled up against this person too. His arm was over her stomach. He could feel the press of her smooth, creamy skin against his own. The soft, gentle swell of her pert buttocks was pressing against his crotch.
Mark corrected himself. He wasn't in bed with a total complete stranger. He was in bed with a total, complete, sexy stranger.
But he'd never had a hooker in his life. It had been a moral principle for him. And yet what if his subconcious had played a cruel joke on him? Had it conspired to drag a whore into bed with him then promptly wake him up to the scene of horror before him?
The silhouetted woman squirmed in the bed, trying to get more comfortable. She pressed against Mark even more, apparently finding comfort and solace in being near to him.
Her hair almost went up his nose. He couldn't help but take a whiff of the scent.
Lavender.
Hold up.
There was only one person Mark had ever known in his life to have lavender-scented hair.
An awful thought hit him. In blind panic, his head snapped round as far as it could to see Rose's bed. All that was in it was a heap of empty duvets.
He was in bed with Rose! And by the looks of things, he hadn't been objecting!
'Well, at least I'm not a sleepwalker who goes out whore-hunting,' Mark thought to himself.
After he thought about it, he realised he felt oddly comfortable sleeping with her up against him like this, holding her like a teddy bear. It made him feel childish to think that but it was as close to the truth as he could get in his sleepy state.
He looked over a little at Rose's face. She was smiling, content. The sight of her blissful smile made something inside Mark move like a mewing cat. He could almost hear it purring.
He lay back down. He had an odd urge to roll over and snuggle into her too, and wrap his arms around her.
After a while he gave up struggling and gave into the urge. He lay against her, cradling her from behind, and wrapped his arms around her stomach.
Subconciously, Rose entangled her hands in his. And Mark fell happily asleep.
When he woke up, Mark's hand was wrapped around thin air, and it was daylight. He briefly wondered if the whole thing had been a dream. He looked around lazily, until he heard a voice.
"Thought you could use some breakfast," said Rose. Mark sniffed and smelled the sweet, enticing scent of pancakes with honey. Instantly invigorated, he sat up.
Rose put the tray gently in his lap. Mark started to eat with relish, muffling his thanks through a mouthful of pancake. He was halfway through the plate when he suddenly realised she was standing next to him.
Rose gave a little smile as she saw him stare up at her, confused. She pulled the hem of her nightgown over her left leg to shield it from the draught. Mark caught himself looking at where there had formerly been an enticing glimpse of creamy flesh, and wondered if last night really HAD happened.
"You're standing up," Mark said, wrenching his eyes away from Rose's legs. "Why are you standing up? The doctor said you should take it easy for a couple of months."
Rose giggled. Completely out of character. It would have sounded more appropriate on a schoolgirl but not her. It had to be the look of confusion on Mark's face that did it. But she didn't know the real reason for that confusion.
"I feel fine," she said happily. "There's not even any pain." She kept staring at the look he gave her as she spoke, finding it hard to contain her laughter.
Mark finally managed to shunt the confusion (at least for the moment) out of his mind. He replaced the surprise with a cheesy grin. "Then we should celebrate," he said eventually. He patted the bed next to her so she could sit down. As she did, he was suddenly certain that he HAD slept with her next to him the night before. The feeling was too strong to be just a dream.
"It's my day off today," Mark said, stuggling to hide what was going through his mind.
"I know, it was me that reminded you last night, bigfoot," Rose said. Mark's face went blank, then he clicked on, coughed, looked embarrassed for a second, and laughed. Rose looked at him and couldnt stop a laugh of her own.
"Anyway, since we don't have to go anywhere for a couple of days," Mark said, "how about we have some fun?" He supressed a childish laugh as he saw Rose squirm happily, making it obvious that she liked the idea.
"Shall we ask Glen and Amy to come too?" Rose asked as she twisted round to face him. Mark said he didn't mind asking them to come along, but some part of him felt let down that it wouldn't be just her and him. He made sure he didn't reveal that feeling to her.
Instead, he just smiled and watched her get up and grab the hotel room's phone. Her face looked happy, maybe even joyous as she dialled the number to reach Glen. As the phone picked up, a cranky voice greeted her.
"If this isn't an insanely gorgeous woman, then I'm hanging up," Glen said groggily. Rose couldn't help a laugh.
"Even at this time of day, you're still in bed?" She replied. She heard Glen laugh as he realised who it was.
"I'm a heavy sleeper."
"At least your sense of humour is working," Rose quipped. Glen growled in mock indignation. Rose wen on unhindered. "Are you and Amy free today?"
After a few muffled seconds, Glen mumbled a "yes", and wondered why Rose had asked. She explained that she and Mark were planning to go out for the day. The line fuzzed and she heard Amy speaking.
"I heard there was a carnival in town,"she said, sounding a bit more awake than Glen.
"Sounds great!" Rose said happily. She looked at Mark, making a silly face. Mark had no idea what she was talking about and looked a bit mystefied as she hung up the phone.
"Well?" He asked curiously.
"We're all going out," Rose announced.
"Where to"
"The Carnival," she said with a little squirm.
Mark groaned and rolled over, blowing air futilely to try and stop his hair falling over his face. He was now lying flat on his stomach. Rose mimicked the groan and dropped down to the bed next to him.
"Come on, Sasquatch," she joked. "It'll be fun!" Mark's only reply was another groan.
Rose tried to look into his eyes. "Pwetty Please?" she pleaded, with the most angelic, cute face she could muster. Mark lazily grabbed a pillow and dropped it on her head, to the sound of muffled laughter.
Rose tossed the pillow aside, got up and jumped on his back, making Mark give an "Oof!"
"Come on," she said repeatedly, pushing on Mark's shoulderblades with her hands so he began to bounce on the bed. Mark started to laugh with the silliness of the situation, wondering how she was doing it, and enjoying the moment.
"Quiddit," Mark muffled. "Someone might get the wrong idea."
Rose gave a guffaw of laughter but didn't stop. "How come? I'm not equipped for that," she joked.
Mark didn't know what made him do it, but he decided to "set things right". He flipped over underneath her, then put his hands on her waistline and flipped her over, until she was on her back underneath him.
"See now THIS could be taken the wrong way," Rose giggled, her hands resting lightly on his arms. Mark didn't say anything. He had just realised the position the two were in and was a little perplexed.
Rose looked up at him, concerned. "Mark?" She asked. "Are you okay?"
"What?" Mark said, tumbling back down to earth. Rose burst out laughing.
"So are you coming to the carnival or what?" She said. "Come on."
She started tickling his ribs. Mark began to squirm. Then he decided to get his own back. He leaned back on his thighs, then started relentlessly tickling Rose.
"Alright! Alright!" He said in a croaky drawl. "I'll go." He laughed at the squirming, manically laughing Rose beneath him. "Tap!" he said, before putting on a parody of his own character accent. "Tap out, or I'll make you famous!"
Rose gasped for air, hammering the matress with her hands. "Famous?" she guffawed whenever she could. "Famous for what? Being the first personin history to tap out to tickling?"
Mark laughed. "It's not tickling, it's my new submission technique," Mark joked. "I was thinking of using it in my next match."
For a fleeting moment, Rose thought he was serious. "Yeah, I'm sure you'd get a great reaction."
Mark stood up and started putting his clothes on.
"Come on, we'd better get ready to go."