Chapter 8

After leaving Dianna and Jenna's bedroom, I went straight downstairs to my bedroom… well, mine and Cory's bedroom. I was so ready to just lie down and finish this day. I padded into our bedroom and walked right over to the suitcase. At this point, I had already worn three outfits for the day, and a laundry pile was slowly starting to build. Looked like I knew what I was doing the next day. I bent down and rummaged through my clothes for pajamas, which was simply a pair of grey workout shorts and an old t-shirt that had seen better days. I wasn't exactly packing pajamas to look sexy in – I wouldn't have picked such a ratty looking t-shirt if I knew I would be sleeping next to Cory for a week.

I took my clothes into the bathroom and pushed the door closed. I quickly changed out of my capris and tank and into my pajamas. Right after I changed, I completed the rest of my nighttime routine. Potty break, brush teeth, and cleanse and moisturize face. It didn't take long, but it was always important to me to follow my routine.

I left the bathroom and entered the bedroom once again, and it was empty. Cory must have still been either upstairs or outside. I couldn't help but let out a sigh as I tossed my clothes on top of my growing laundry pile. Carefully and neatly, I pulled down the layers of blankets and comforters that lined our bed, and I placed our decorative pillows on the floor off to the side. The ruffles and tulle on the pillows would have been way too tough to sleep on, and I wasn't exactly sure how Cory felt about having a big fluffy pillow placed under his head, although I did know that boy could fall asleep anywhere. Once he fell asleep in the little bed in his "bedroom" on the set when they were setting the cameras up before his scene. Lord, I hoped he wasn't sleeping upstairs somewhere.

The bed was ready to be slept in. I drew the curtains closed to make sure that the morning sunrise wouldn't come in and wake us up. I lowered our nightstand lamps to the dim setting so Cory wouldn't come in and turn on the big light to get ready for bed. Really, I did everything that I could do to prepare the room for the first night we would be spending the night together, just short of lighting mood candles and playing a Marvin Gaye playlist.

I pulled the blankets back on my side of the bed and carefully lay down, being mindful not to wrinkle the sheets or take the entire blanket from his side of the bed. Slowly, I rested my head on the pillow and adjusted my curly hair so that it looked like my hair was spontaneously tousled on my pillow. I pulled the blankets over my legs and to just about my stomach, and I flattened it out with the palms of my hands. Finally, I placed my hands at my side "casually", as if no thought was given to my sleep position and it was if I was like an angel sleeping on a large fluffy cloud in the sky. Shit, if Cory only knew how much went into this whole scene.

I just lay there and waited. I didn't want to close my eyes; I wasn't exactly sure of what I looked like when I actually slept, and what if Cory walked in when my mouth was wide open with a large drool line coming out of the corner of my mouth and my legs and arms were spread into the starfish position, taking over the entire bed? That's not a good look! I couldn't take that chance. Not on the first night, at least! I wasn't even sure what to think about as I waited. Nothing too boring, because then I'd fall asleep. But anything too exciting, and I'd probably keep myself awake long after Cory came to bed. This was ridiculous.

I don't think I waited for longer than ten minutes before I heard heavy footsteps clomp down the stairs. My heart started to beat the way Cory pounded on his kick drum, and I could immediately feel my palms become sweaty. I closed my eyes in a panic and made my best sleep-breathing sounds. Don't know if you know this or anything, but I'm pretty good at acting.

The loud footsteps were replaced by the sound of light steps being taken on the cream-colored carpeting of the bedroom. He could tell that I was "sleeping" and I give him credit for trying his best to be quiet. I could hear the sound of his clothes being tossed on the floor and the sound of the elastic band of his pajama pants being snapped around his stomach. Soon after, I could hear him walk around to my side of the bed. I laid extra still, kept my eyes closed, and tried to regulate my breathing as much as possible, even though it felt like my heart was going to beat out of its chest. For a few moments, I couldn't tell what he was doing. I wanted to open up my eyes and look up at him, but that would defeat the purpose of this whole thing. And suddenly, I felt a warm hand on my forehead. Oh my God. He pushed a piece of my hair (that I had placed there, mind you) off of my head and placed it with all of the other curls and waves of my hair. I wanted to just open my eyes and smile at him, but I had to wait, even if it was just a few more moments. After he moved the piece of hair off of my head, he shut off of the lamp on my nightstand and retreated back over to his side of the bed. As soon as I heard him walk away from me, I opened my eyes slightly, looking into the dark room.

He pulled his side of the blanket back and got into bed. The way his body sunk into the bed and the way he tugged the blanket up and over his body could have easily woken me up if I was asleep. The boy who tiptoed his way around the room made an awful lot of movement in the bed. This isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Time to act.

I took a deep breath and moved my head slightly, and made a small tiny tired groan. I looked in his direction and gave him a small little smirk. "You okay?" I asked him in a small, tired, convincing voice.

He nodded as he looked back towards me. Even though I closed the curtains, enough light came from the porch outside that I could still see his face. "Did I wake you up?" he replied with another question.

"A little," I lied, adding a small giggle. "It's okay, though. It's a tiny bed."

"It is," he agreed. "But it's the perfect size for the two of us. Not too big, not too small. What would we do with all of that extra space?"

I chuckled as I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. "I'm afraid I'm going to kick you in my sleep."

He shook his head. "I won't feel it."

"What if I accidentally punch you in your nose?" I joked.

He laughed softly before letting out a small, adorable yawn that made me want to melt. "I've never had a girl punch me in my sleep before. But if you happen to be the first, I'll let you know if I feel it or not."

"Sounds good to me," I smirked.

And then we both got quiet. We just kept looking at each other. And it wasn't like that kind of quiet that you become as a signal that you want the other person to stop talking so you can get some sleep. It was that kind of quiet that you wanted to use to spill your heart and feelings out to someone, but you just knew you couldn't do it yet. It was the most painful kind of quiet I had ever felt. There was just so much building up for me, and there was so much that I wanted to do, like just leaning a few inches across my pillow and giving him a kiss. Something as simple as that. And through all of this, I wondered what was going through his head. After all, he was just as quiet as I was. And then I asked the question that no girl should ever ask a guy.

"What are you thinking about right now?" I asked. I really think it was the alcohol talking on that one.

He smirked, and I almost melted. "I don't know. What are you thinking about?" he responded.

"I asked you first."

He looked at me, and then smiled. "Your lap dance."

At this point, I wanted to rip off my clothes and hop on top of him. Somehow, I found the strength to hold it together, and to keep it all on. "Really?" I asked with a big smile. "What about it?"

"Everything," he replied, and his voice was getting even quieter than it was earlier, and I could tell he was starting to shy away. "Instant hard on," he joked. That was our little inside joke that ran throughout our entire friendship, and just one of our many little secret things that we shared together.

I couldn't help but close my eyes and bury my head in the space between our two pillows. My face was burning up, and as dark as it was in the room, I was pretty sure Cory could see how much I was blushing. "Stop it," I said into the pillows with a laugh.

"What?" he asked as he touched my hair again. What was he doing to me? I moved my head up and looked at him. And as I held my head up and looked at him, he continued to touch my hair, and he moved his fingers against the variety of the waves and curls. "I couldn't help myself."

The way he was touching my hair, it was like he was into me. You usually don't run your fingers through a friend's hair like this. And I wasn't exactly pushing him away. It felt so good to have the guy that I was in love with pay this kind of attention to me that wasn't scripted or being filmed to be edited and shown on television. It all felt very real, and it spooked me to think that what he might be feeling was real. Or, there was a very good possibility he was drunk. I like to hope that the feelings were real, though.

After a while, he pulled his hand back from my hair. He let out a small breath before speaking. "We should get some sleep," he finally said. "I have a feeling we're going to be partying even harder on our first full day together."

It was true, and he was right. Knowing all of us, I wouldn't be surprised if we all had mimosas as soon as we rolled out of bed and shots of whisky with our pancakes. "Okay," I said, caving in. "Sleep well."

"Good night," Cory smirked.

We kept our eyes on each other as I rested my head down on my pillow. I'm not sure who shut their eyes first, but all I knew was that I fell asleep happier than I had in a very long while.