*Title of the chapter taken from the song "Use Somebody" by King Of Leon.

Chapter 9: Off in the night while you live it up (I'm off to sleep)

Tom drove to a small diner not too far from the hotel. It was a nice and quiet place with bar stools, huge booths, wide windows and checkered floors it had an almost fifties theme but a little bit on the modern side. Tom had come here with his father when he was younger so it was very special to him. Tom and Sarah sat at a booth by one of the wide set windows at the far end of the diner.

"Whoa did you guys come from a dance?" Said the waitress as she approached the table looking over Tom with his black buttoned up shirt, rolled up sleeves and grey slacks. She was a small short older woman who looked to be well into her 50's with white blond hair in tight spiral curls; she had a white buttoned up shirt and black shorts with an apron tied around her waist.

"No, we just came from a birthday party." said Tom smiling at the woman.

"Actually his birthday party" said Sarah pointing at Tom.

"Well Happy Birthday handsome." The older woman licked her lips and gave Tom a wink. "What can I get you two to drink?" said in a very bad sultry voice.

"I'll have an iced tea" said Sarah stifling a laugh. The older woman wrote her order down but didn't bother to look at her. Her eyes were all on Tom.

"uh." Tom smiled politely "I-I'll just have a coffee please."

"Alright sweetheart, I'll be back in a minute here are your menus. My names Marla by the way." Tom and Sarah watched Marla the waitress walk away with a very noticeable sway to her hips. Both laughed out loud once she was out of sight.

"That was interesting." said Tom in between laughs.

"I can't believe she just did that. That was way too funny Thomas."

Tom watched as Sarah looked down at the table and laughed the apples of her cheeks reaching to her eyes the sound of her giggle made his heart flip. He was thankful she was with him when it happened. Tom knew that if Jade had witnessed what the woman had done he would never hear the end of it. That was one of the flaws in their relationship, Jade was a very jealous person and had a hard time excepting that random girls were going throw themselves at him and every time they did he would constantly have to reassure her that his love was only for her. But these days he wasn't so sure.

"What are you going to get?" said Sarah looking over the menu folded out in front of her. Tom picked up his menu as well and looked at the many options in front of him.

"I think I will get the breakfast platter." The platter came with eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, toast, and fried potatoes. He was sure this would be enough to fill him up he was extremely hungry.

"Hmmm. I think I'll get the same thing." Sarah laid down the menu and as soon as she did the waitress came and set down there drinks. Sarah noticed this time that the woman had put on a little make-up and had unbuttoned the first three buttons on her blouse flaunting EVERYTHING she had. Tom noticed as well as he awkwardly placed there order.

"Wow she's really working for that tip." Sarah said taking the top half of her straw off and blowing into her straw launching the other half at the tip of Toms' nose. She stuck her straw in her drink and took a small sip." So how long have you known that Veronica chick?"

Tom was surprised she had brought up Veronica even though he had introduced them he hardly thought she was worth talking about.

"For about as long as I've been with Jade." Sarah nodded her head but didn't let on to anything more so he asked "Why?"

"Nothing…well….we might have had a little altercation after you left." She gave a half smile and began to stir her tea to avoid looking at him.

Tom knew Veronica all too well she was an instigator. Often enough she was always causing trouble when they went out with her and her boyfriend Darren, it was even worse when she was drunk. She was definitely a loud mouth. Tom thought he should have known better than to leave Sarah alone with her.

He let out a sigh of annoyance "What did she do?"

Sarah met eyes with Tom. She wasn't sure if she should tell him what Veronica had said or what she had done first. Either way she didn't want Tom hearing what she did from someone else and have to end up firing her.

"Well it's more like what I did."

Tom arched both eyebrows astonished.

"I sort of pushed her down…twice." Sarah saw the shock in his eyes and quickly began to plead her case."Right after you left she came up to me and grabbed my face and said that she had a warning for me and then I pulled away from her and then pushed her because honestly I wasn't going to take that crap from a person I just met or anyone. I mean come on who does that, but the second time I did it I did it for fun. I'm really sorry." She buried her head in her arms to avoid his gaze.

Tom had never seen someone talk as quickly as she did and that he actually got everything. He didn't know why he was worried about leaving her alone with Veronica it was obvious she could take care of herself. In a way he felt proud. The phrase 'That's my girl' wanted to escape his lips but she wasn't and that thought was not lost on him. Did she say warning?

"A warning about what?"

Sarah sat up but still didn't meet his eyes as she was biting at her lip. For the past two months he had seen Sarah do that, it was always when she didn't know what to say or how to say it. She took another drink of her tea and cleared her throat.

"Well-"

Just as she was about to speak Marla the waitress came over with their food. She set out their plates in front of them. The plates were huge and held a lot of food. Pancakes were on one plate the rest of the meal was on the other. Tom waited for Sarah's eyes to grow wide at the amount of food in front of them but they didn't. The waitress left them to their meal as they dug in.

Sarah began to salt her eggs and potatoes before taking a bite. Tom started his meal off by buttering his pancakes and cutting them up into squares. The first few minutes were quiet; they were engaged with the meal before them to make conversation. That is until Tom remembered his question.

"So, a warning about what?" he said taking a bite of his toast.

Sarah held her fork in the air as she was in mid bite of eating her sausage. She put her fork down and wiped her mouth with her napkin. She was hoping he wouldn't ask again but she brought it up so thought she should just tell him the truth it's not as things were awkward enough.

"She sort of...insinuated…that if you and Jade have any problems in your relationship that she was going to "assume". Sarah made air quotation marks. "That I'm the reason for it."

Tom couldn't help but feel a little panicked. What was Jade telling her to make her think Sarah would have to do with anything. Was Jade sensing the way he was feeling about Sarah?

"I told her that she shouldn't assume things like that because you and I are just friends."

Well she didn't exactly say that but she figured Veronica knew what she meant. Judging by the way Tom looked she came to realize that was far from the truth on his part she began to panic as well. Until…

"Yeah were just friends" said Tom looking down at his plate and then looking at Sarah."I know I'm your employer but I think of you as my friend too. Just my friend."

Tom figured if he said it enough maybe he could believe it too. Saying it hurt just a little. He plastered a smile to his face. "Well I'm glad you defended our friendship."

"I am too. She's a real bitch." She said flippantly. She pushed her empty plate away from her and tended to her pancakes. Tom had to laugh he wasn't very fond of Veronica either and was glad that there was someone else he had that in common with.

Tom resumed eating, after a few bites he was too full to continue eating and pushed both half eaten plates to the side. Tom looked up at Sarah's plate and saw that it was completely empty and only a little bit of syrup could be seen. Apparently she had been finished for awhile, she was just sitting there drinking the rest of her tea and looking out the window. Sarah noticed his gaze.

"Yes?"

"How can you eat so much and stay so small? I've seen you eat every single thing since you've been here and you always seem to amaze me every time you clean your plate."

Sarah shrugged her shoulders "I like food."

Just then Marla came over to give them the bill and taking Sarah's two empty plates and Tom half empty ones and went back into the kitchens. Tom gave the bill a once over and then passed it to Sarah. When Sarah received the bill she saw that Marla had kissed the bill leaving an imprint of her bright red lips along with her phone number.

"Aw that's cute. You should leave her a big tip."

And that what he did. After paying the bill and leaving a big tip for the waitress Tom drove Sarah home. By the time they made it back they were both unable to control their yawns.

"Did you know that when you yawn it's your body's way of trying to wake you up?"

Tom leaned his head on the head rest and lazily shook his head while looking at Sarah.

"I thought I would just tell you that." She let out a small yawn."Well Thanks for everything, you know breakfast and all." Just then she remembered his gift in her bag.

"You're welcome lovely."

Sarah pulled out his gift from her bag and held it out to him. Tom sat up to get a good look at it. The package was wrapped in silver and blue happy birthday wrapping paper with a nice silver bow on top. Tom looked at Sarah in awe as he took the present in her hands.

"You can open it now or later, but just so you know it's not really the best gift that I could give you."While she rambled on about the gift she had given him he had already begun to open it catching little things she said like "what do you get the boy who has everything" and "Its lame."

In front of him was a beautiful CD cover with, Big Ben standing next to the Palace of Westminster with The London tower bridge painted above all of them on a shiny piece of foil. Each attraction was very detailed little glimmers of foil shown where windows should be, the black outlines made the picture pop out and the open space of above read "London Calling" in an elegant scripture with stars scattered across a night sky. All he could do was smile. He had never been given something that didn't cost an arm and a leg. This was something she had made just for him! This was something special.

"It seems dim-witted to give you a painting of London. Just because you are from London so you see those things every day. I should have painted something else." She criticized.

"Thank You. This is really beautiful. I'm speechless… You did this yourself?" He wondered how she could be so hard on herself she was very talented.

She nodded in response but didn't look at him. "I painted it on foil and warped it around a piece of cardboard. So don't take it out its delicate."

Tom opened the case to reveal that the disc inside was painted as well. He chuckled as he recognized what it was "The London eye."

Sarah grinned "yeah, I know it's not much but I thought I would make you a mix CD of some of the music I've listened to since I got to this lovely place. And since you're always pestering me about what I listen to I just thought I would give you a sample of what I have on my phone."

"I look forward to listening to it. Thank you Sarah, seriously this is the nicest gift I've ever received. It trumps all others I've been given." He really was being honest.

"Well, you're welcome." She said as her cheeks flushed red."I should be going now." She didn't know what made her do it but she did it. Sarah leaned over to Tom and gave him a light kiss on the cheek and said "Happy Birthday Thomas." And quickly got out of the car and walked into the complex.

Tom walked into his bedroom and saw that Jade was still sleeping. He figured she probably wouldn't be waking until around noon. He decided on taking a shower to wash away the night's events. As the water pounded away at his body he touched the spot on his face where Sarah had laid a kiss. He closed his eyes imagining those soft full lips pressing against his. He now knew that he wanted to kiss her…badly. As he washed up he pondered what this all meant. Kissing her wasn't something he could just go out and do. There were some very serious issues he needed to figure out. One would be if she felt the same way about him. Two would be his relationship with Jade.

He still loved her very much but his feelings for Sarah were becoming severe. In just one night Sarah had opened up a copious amount of questions that he needed to find the answers too. Did he only want to pursue her because she was off limits? Could he give up being with Jade to be with Sarah? Was it love he felt for her? His mind was reeling.

It was now 8 in the morning and he could feel his eyelids going heavy as he lay next to Jade but he couldn't quite get to sleep. Tom slowly got up from the bed and picked up his birthday present Sarah had given him off the dresser drawer and headed into his "man cave". He inserted the CD into his laptop and plugged in his headphones. He sat on a curved lounge chair and placed the headphones on his ears and set the laptop on his lap before pressing play. Leaning back into the chair he closed his eyes and listened to every track on the disc not once but twice before transferring them to his phone.

The songs that she had put on there were songs that he had never heard before, but the melodies were calm and steady. He was glad she gave him something of hers that she was so passionate about.

He took the disc out and set his laptop beside him on the floor. As he sat back listening to the songs once again he placed the CD back in its case and began brush his fingers across the cover.

"What am I going to do?"

Once Sarah entered into her flat and placed her messenger bag on the back of one of her table chairs. She slipped off her heels and walked into the kitchen to get a glass of cranberry juice. As she drank from her cup she couldn't believe she had just kissed him. It was purely innocent she told herself. It's not like it was on the lips. She was sure it wouldn't be too bad if it was. She shook the thought from her head and placed the empty glass in the sink.

Walking into the bathroom she placed her hair in a clip and freshened up. She slid off her dress and hung it on a hanger and put on her usual lounge clothes (a tank top and shorts) and lay on her bed. The events of the early morning came crashing into her mind as she looked at the ceiling.

He was being sweet tonight. Well you were being sweet on him too.

Sarah couldn't help but beam as she remembered the way he smelled as she moved forward to kiss him. She always loved the way he smelled like timber or pine. It was something manly but it wasn't too overpowering. The touch of his hand on her wrist was fresh in her mind. The way he spoke her name in his British accent made her squeal. He looked so good tonight! All the memories of the night that she shouldn't be clinging on to were clouding her vision. It had become clear to her that she was now crushing on him.

"What is going on with me?" she spoke in aggravation. She rubbed her eyes and let out a sigh.

Things are getting way too complicated. He was only back for one day and already she was stressing about the way she was feeling. She needed to get it through her head that he could never be hers. Jade didn't know how lucky she was to have such a good guy.

Sarah wrapped herself into her blankets and rolled onto her side in hopes to end her frustration. To her luck it only took a few seconds before she gave into a slumber.

Jade woke to an empty bed and a pounding headache. The clock on the bedside table read 1:45 pm. Where was Tom? She slowly got out of bed and made her way to the bathroom. She steadied her head with the palm of her hand to make the walls stop spinning. She brushed her teeth and popped some aspirin and took a shower. She grabbed a spare robe and walked out into the halls to search for Tom. She checked in the living room but saw no sign of him. She walked to the one room she knew he would be in and sure enough he was. He was sprawled out on a lounge chair with headphones on and clutching something in his hands.

She took the headphones off and laid them on the floor along with his phone. She had never seen him look so content she smiled to herself thinking he must've had fun last night. Jade walked over to the couch and grabbed a throw blanket to cover a sleeping Tom.

Forgetting he was still holding something she flipped the blanket over and took the CD case out of his hand. She looked at the beautiful art work on the cover. It must have been new because she had never seen it before. Jade diligently placed the case on the shelf with all his other miscellaneous things.

Jade quietly left the room and walked back into the bedroom. Laying back on the bed she went over the events of last night. It was such a wonderful night. She realized that she did get a little rowdy and shouldn't have made Tom leave so early.

She loved having a good time with her friends. Although, she had to take it down a notch or two since she was in the public eye more often. She hated that she had to change who she was because of who she was dating. She loved Tom but she just wished he was more acceptable to partying and clubbing like he was when they first started going together. These days it seemed he only wanted to be home and work when he had to.

He was willing to give her anything she wanted and that was good enough for her. If she asked to go to Barbados they would be there by tomorrow morning, if she asked for the latest pair of Chanel boots she would have them within the hour. So why couldn't he just let her have a little fun?

She realized too much fun might be detrimental to their relationship. She didn't want anything that she was doing without him getting back to Tom. If he found out what she had done behind his back their relationship was sure to end. She couldn't have that happen. Jade couldn't help but be a little promiscuous throughout their relationship. She never knew what had provoked her to do such things when she went out but she did them. Tom was a great lover but sometimes things just happened in the moment, she felt her sexual tendencies were beyond her control especially when she had a little alcohol in her.

Jade knew that if things were reversed she would definitely be a raving lunatic. She couldn't help but feel a little unnerved about Veronica's comment. Sarah was a big help what with planning his birthday party and taking care of other things but was she needed around Tom as much as she was. Jade didn't want to fire her but if she felt Sarah was getting in the way she would. It would be a great jolt to everyone but she didn't want anyone trying to take what was hers. She'd play dirty if she had to.

Keeping Tom away from Sarah would be the best route for now.

Jumping up quickly to answer her phone Sarah rushed to the kitchen to pick up her phone. She had been having the most erotic dream about a certain dirty blonde. The things that were happening in that dream would be banned in most countries.

"Hello?" she answered in her sleepy state but maintaining a cheerful tone.

"Hi Sarah, it's Jade I need you to meet me at Windmear Café in about an hour?"

Sarah rubbed her face and wiped the slaver off the sides of her mouth before answering. She wanted to say no I'm sleeping but had to be there if she wanted to or not.

"yeah sure" her eyes closed without much resistance as she lazily leaned against the kitchen counter.

"okay I'll see you then!"

Sarah checked the time it was exactly 4PM. She slowly walked to her bathroom only glancing at her bed for second. She feared if she looked at it any longer she would miss her meeting with Jade, which wouldn't be a bad thing considering she pushed her aside by not mentioning that she had planned the party also. Grudgingly turning on the shower she slowly undressed herself and stepped on the cold wet tile shutting the shower door behind her.

After a mere 40 minutes Sarah was all ready to go. Since they were only going to a café she decided on tying her hair up in a ponytail and wearing skinny jeans, a plain mulberry low cut t-shirt and a black cotton jacket, and black converse.

Stepping out the door Sarah walked to the café. Being familiar with the location of the Café she knew it would only take about 10 minutes to get there so she didn't rush. Coming up to a bench outside the café she sat and waited for Jade. The cooling air provided the right temperature for her to nod off. Sarah's head fell back on the bench as she shut her eyes for what seemed like a second.

"Are you sleeping?"

Sarah felt someone nudge her shoulder. She opened her eyes to find Jade standing in front of her.

"No I was actually trying to see what my eyelids looked like from the inside." said Sarah rubbing at her eyes.

"Come on lets go inside a little coffee might wake you up."

Jade and Sarah walked into the café not saying much of anything else except their orders. With their cups of coffee in hand they made their way to a table in the corner of the café.

"So did you have a good time at the party?"

"Yeah it was really nice." Sarah took a sip of her coffee.

"I want to apologize for not telling everyone that you had planned the party. I was a little bit tipsy." Jade blushed.

"No I understand." I understand that you can't hold your liquor she thought. Sarah gave Jade a small smile before drinking her coffee.

"Good. I also wanted to meet with you because I feel that because you did such an amazing job with the party that I would like to give you a full week off with pay."

Sarah nearly spit out her coffee. "That's very nice of you but really it's not necessary I was just doing my job." She tried to assure Jade.

No I insist." Jade placed a hand on Sarah's. "Can I tell you something?"

Sarah saw the seriousness on Jades face and nodded for her to continue.

"Tom hasn't been acting like himself lately. Last week in New York we had such a goodtime with just the two of us and I sort of want to extend that little holiday into this week if you know what I mean.

Sarah felt her heart sink into her stomach while her head stayed leveled telling her she didn't care what they did.

"Okay. Well then I guess I will be seeing you next Monday." She feigned a smile that she made sure reached her ears.

"Good. Here is your pay for this week and next week." Jade happily stood from the table and placed the check in Sarah's hand. Sarah couldn't help but feel a little sad that she wouldn't be able to see Tom again for another week but thought it was for the best. If Jade felt like her relationship was in trouble she didn't want to get in the way of them being happy with each other.

"Thanks."

As soon as the bell chimed above the door she knew Jade was out of the café. Sarah sat alone at the table staring at her check. She got up from the table and threw her unfinished coffee in the trash. Since she had the week off there was no need to rush and cash the check. She would continue her evening with uninterrupted sleep. If she was lucky she could continue on with her dream from earlier.

It didn't hurt to dream right?

A/N: Thank you for reading and sorry for putting this up so late. I am working on finishing up the next chapter and it should be up next tuesday. Please Read and Review! :)