Monday, December 24, 2007

London, UK

Dressed in an apricot Alberta Ferretti dress that Victoria loaned to me specifically for this occasion, I timidly stepped up to the front door of the Pattinson's home. I didn't know what I was doing there. Why had I agreed to come? That's right – Victoria wouldn't take no for an answer.

I turned to go, running straight into a group of five guys. Five handsome guys.

"Leaving so soon?"

"I-uh," I stumbled on my words. "I forgot my bottle of champagne back at my apartment," I told him, pointing down the street as if it would somehow make my statement a little clearer.

"Oh, come on." Another young man with black hair and piercing blue eyes grabbed my hand to stop me from leaving. "There's plenty of champagne inside."

"And we've brought the beer," said the curly one, holding up a grocer's bag with a pack of beer. Now that I actually looked, they each had a grocer's bag with beer. I knew what they were going to be doing tonight.

I tugged at my earlobe, a nervous habit of mine. "Um."

"You've got no excuses now," the tallest one laughed. "Now come inside. It's bloody freezing out here and you're not wearing a coat."

I nodded to myself as they all filed through the door ahead of me. I followed them through the entrance of the house towards the kitchen where they all set their beers down.

"You must be Adin," the tall one said, holding out his hand. "I'm Rob."

"How did you know—"

"Lucky guess." He flashed a cocky grin. "You intern for my sister, right? She mentioned she invited a pretty American girl to the Christmas Eve party who wouldn't know anybody. I think you pretty much nail that description." He snapped off the tops of two beers and handed me one. "Cheers."

"Cheers." I clanked my glass against his before taking a sip.

"This is Sam, Marcus, Tom and Bobby." He pointed to each boy as he said his name.

After chatting for a bit with the boys I found out that all of them were musicians, except for Tom. He and Rob were actors and they didn't let me forget that. Even though they hadn't been in anything too noteworthy, they assured me that when they became famous they would send me an autographed poster to hang up on my wall.

Bobby mentioned that I looked familiar and after much questioning, we discovered that we were in the same film class at London Metropolitan University. He was incredibly nice and we had a lot in common books and music-wise, but Rob was the one I was taken with. He immediately treated me as a part of the group and didn't hesitate to call me out on the amount of times I said "dude" or tell me that I had smeared chocolate frosting all over the side of my face. I dished it right back to him, which I think surprised him.

As the night worn on, Bobby and Sam had left the party with their families, leaving Rob, Tom, Marcus and I engaged in the movie The Exorcist in the living room. The light from the hallway flicked on and I unveiled a louder-than-expected shriek, my body tensing at Rob's side.

"Sorry, honey." Clare couldn't contain her laughter.

Rob, quite amused as well, paused the movie and rubbed his hand up and down my back in a soothing manner. "You okay?" he asked, giggling.

"I'm fine." I sat up and peered at his mom standing in her nightgown in the kitchen. "Hi, Mrs. Pattinson." I waved.

"I just came to check on you all of you and remind Rob to turn everything off before he went to bed," she declared. "You'll all be staying the night, yes?"

Tom and Marcus both nodded as I glanced at the time on my phone. It was already two in the morning.

"Yes. Everyone is staying, Mum. Goodnight," Rob replied.

"Goodnight," she replied, turning out the light as she walked back upstairs to her room.

"I should probably go home," I told Rob, tossing the blanket off of me as I stood up.

"Probably a bad idea," Marcus said.

"Why?"

"All the drunks are out," Tom chimed in. "Best to crash here, young lady. Don't want you getting into any trouble out there."

Convinced, I plopped back down on the couch and covered myself back up with the blanket. For the remainder of the movie I tried to keep my eyes open, but with Tom snoring away and Marcus clearly passed out, it was hard to do. I lifted my head off of Rob's chest and peered up at him. He was still wide awake and very much absorbed in the movie.

"You ready for bed?" he asked, glancing down at me with a smile.

"You can finish the movie," I told him, letting a yawn escape.

He chuckled and turned off the television. "I've seen it a hundred times. I know how it's going to end." He placed his hands on my arms and guided me through the dark house to the stairs. "Seriously, who doesn't wear a sweater in London in December?" Rob asked as we took one step at a time. "You're freezing." He ran his hands up and down my arms to warm them up.

"I'd rather wear no sweater at all than the one you have on," I giggled. "What, did your grandma knit that for you?"

Rob rolled his eyes. "Worst. Gibe. Ever."

I shoved him playfully and he fell back against the wall, shaking the picture frame that hung just beside him. He grabbed me by the waist, which elicited a scream from me. "Shh," he laughed, pulling me closer to him.

"Aren't you going to show me to my room?" I asked innocently.

He smiled goofily, his tongue pressed against the back of his front teeth making his nose scrunch. "In a minute."

We stared at each other for a moment before his lips met mine in a slow kiss. Too surprised to do much of anything, I kissed him back. The gentleness lasted only a few minutes, just long enough for me to lose myself entirely. Rob enveloped me in his arms and tugged my lower lip with his teeth. He buried his face in my neck and I threw my head back in pleasure, all subtlety gone out the window, and practically begged him to keep kissing the sensitive skin on my neck and shoulders.

"Rob," I whispered. "What if your parents hear us in the hallway?"

He answered by pressing his mouth to mine. I continued to protest until he did that thing with my lower lip again.