'Carousel'. Ry/Col Fic. Part Seven. A.
Title: Carousel
Rating: 17+
Paring: Ry/Col. (Hints of Greg/Jeff and slightly mentions of Greg/Ryan but neither main focus.)
A/N: Part Seven here as everyone asked so nicely! It's split into A and B, basically because this chapter isn't so eventful as others, so I felt bad not giving you more! So you get two chapters for the price of one! I was going to leave a small gap but I'm so going to just post the other chapter in a moment (hopefully), because I don't really have a lot of time this evening! :)
Thanks again for all the wonderful comments, you are all so lovely! And thanks as always to Lucy, who is super special! :)
I lay on my bed, the air filtering in through my open window, swirling around the room and making the curtains rustle. I was tired, my body exhausted but I couldn't sleep because my mind was still on overdrive, the after effects of performing.
Our show had gone well; I'd had an amazing time, like I always did when I got to perform on stage. It would have been like any other night, but it was made more interesting due to three certain audience members.
Ryan, Greg and Jeff.
I'd spotted them the moment I'd walked on stage, whistling and cheering over-enthusiastically from where they were huddled together in their seats near the back. I had no idea how they had managed to get tickets because our show had been sold out for weeks, but sure enough there they were, cheering us on and acting like perfect fans.
Until the show had started, and we'd began taking suggestions, at which point they had decided to have some fun. They threw out the riskiest, most random and most sexual suggestions they could come up with, causing Brad to break down into giggles more than once. I'd almost laughed myself, just managing to keep my control, after some of the things they had said.
I had wanted to pick them for a participation game, but they had been too far back to get to, and whenever we had gestured they had declined. They had been having too much fun bothering us from their seats.
A knock sounded on my hotel door and I was pulled from my thoughts.
I made my way over, wondering who it could be. After the show, we had all gone back to the bar for a few drinks, although I had steered clear of alcohol. As had the others, especially Ryan who seemed to be drinking water the whole night. Because of that, I wasn't expecting any drunk visitors.
I opened the door to find Ryan, leant against the door frame casually, his head tilted downwards, smiling at me. He was dressed only in sweat pants and a t-shirt and I noticed with amusement that he no shoes or socks on, making me wonder what would have happened if he had bumped into a fan in the hallway. It would be interesting to explain that.
"Got the right room this time, then." He said instead of hello, and I was ready to agree until something occurred to me.
"I thought you were too drunk to remember anything last night?" I asked him, suspiciously.
He didn't say anything, simply smiled at me innocently and then walked past me and into my room, launching himself onto my bed.
I eyed him warily, shutting the door behind him and looking around.
"This is my room, right?"
Shrugging, he gazed around aimlessly, bouncing just slightly on the spot. "I'm bored."
"It's night," I told him, like it wasn't obvious from the moonlight shining into the room. "Usually the time to sleep." The whole atmosphere felt surreal, as if I'd fallen back in time twenty years when Ryan would knock on my door at all hours, just to spend time together. I'd missed it.
"I'm not tired." He said, like that explained everything, and then looked down, playing with the bedspread. When he looked up again, he attempted 'puppy-dog' eyes, that even I was aware I was better at.
Despite that, I still couldn't stop the smile spread across my face, and I fell for it. I'd missed this too much, missed him too much, to let the opportunity go by. He was clearly trying to make things right, it was only fair that I do the same.
I wiped the smile from my face and sighed in mock-annoyance. "Fine, you can stay."
The innocent look slipped away as quickly as it had appeared and his smile was back.
"So what are we doing?" He asked me, and I shrugged.
"Hey, this was your idea. You think of something." His smile grew and I wasn't sure if I'd regret saying that.
-
Half an hour later and we were both spread out on my bed, close but still not touching, the contents of the mini-bar spread across the room. The quiet sounds of the television played in the background, a pay per view movie that we'd stopped paying attention to soon after we'd ordered it. The wind was still drifting in through the window gently and the only light in the room a small lamp, the moonlight and the occasional flash of the television screen.
Ryan lay on his back next to me, currently wasting the most expensive peanuts in the world by trying and failing to toss them into his mouth. He was wrecking my hotel room, spreading chocolate and peanuts all over but I couldn't bring myself to care. I was too relaxed by the calming atmosphere and just being in his presence.
I watched him, amused, unable to stop the flush of adoration that spread through my body. I felt content just being close to him again and it would have been perfect if I didn't have to keep pushing away stronger feelings that were threatening to spill out.
"You better clean that up before you leave." I told him as I watched him miss his mouth once more.
"Who said I was leaving?" He asked, raising his eyebrows. I tried not to register the flirty tone that had suddenly entered his voice, but it was definitely there.
"You do have a hotel room right?" I said, trying to keep the conversation purely friendly. I knew that if we even stepped close to that line again, I wouldn't be able to come back, not that I would even want to.
"Proops is in it." He said, almost pouting at me, and I had to look away because all of sudden he was becoming entirely too tempting.
"So why did you agree to share with him?"
I kept my voice neutral, trying not to let show the feelings I was experiencing. I could do this, I told myself, wondering why I could keep my cool on stage in front of hundreds of people, but completely lost myself around him.
He didn't respond, but he did shove the peanuts to one side, rolling over so he was lying on his stomach, sliding around so that he was sideways across the bed, his legs dangling off the end. I was leant against the headboard, my legs stretched out in front of me and he put his chin on my thigh, looking up at me.
"Let me stay here?" He fluttered his eyelashes at me, humorously, and it came across oddly appealing.
I sighed, trying to pretend that his head wasn’t on my leg, so close to me, and I looked down at him.
I gave in. "You're sleeping on the floor." I told him, but even I knew that it was very unlikely I would follow through. At least though, we would both be clothed this time and I felt I could probably deal with that.
He still hadn't removed his head from my leg, and instead of doing so, he flipped himself over again so he was resting the back of his head practically in my lap, as he stared up at the ceiling.
"Aren't you tired yet?" I asked, trying to ignore the feel of him near me.
My fingers itched to touch him, and I wanted to reach out and play absently with the curls on his head or stroke his cheek and feel the soft skin there.
I forced myself not to, keeping my hands firmly at my sides.
He turned his head to look at me, and I tried desperately not to think of the position we were in. He seemed oblivious, but I had the strange feeling that maybe he knew exactly what he was doing, and was teasing me on purpose.
I shook the thought away.
"Some of us aren't as old as you." He replied, grinning. His fingers tapped an imaginary tune on the bedspread beside us, and he didn't move from where he was, his head still resting on my thigh.
"Some of us have to work."
I gave him a pointed look, knowing that his group arranged plenty of time to relax and hang out together between performances, having to factor in extra travel time as well. Ryan rarely took on any extra work either, whereas I barely stopped.
He shrugged as best he could in his current position, and I had the sudden thought that he was probably making his back even worse than it already was. He didn't seem to care though.
He stared up at me, and the awkwardness I'd been trying to avoid since he'd arrived came flooding back, messing with my senses. I tensed up and he must have noticed, but he didn't say anything.
Instead, he just looked up at me, curiously.
"You all right, Col?" He asked, and I wondered how I could possibly answer that.
I definitely wasn't all right, yet I really wished I were.
I nodded, numbly, not really sure what else to say. He was still in my lap, looking up at me, and in that moment I wanted nothing more than to lean down and kiss him.
I didn't though, I couldn't.
He lifted his head up finally, and then spun himself once more so he was sat next to me. He turned sideways and then he was near to me again, his head next to mine, his lips temptingly close. I realised he'd placed his hand on my thigh, filling the gap that his head had left, but he'd done it so calmly, so naturally, that it felt wrong to point it out.
He was still looking at me curiously, a question in his eyes. "You sure?" He asked me, his voice suddenly slightly lower and I couldn't help but think that he was going to kiss me.
Tension had settled in the room, thick and hot and I didn't know why, but we were no longer just two friends hanging out together.
He was getting closer to me and now I was sure he was going to kiss me, and I knew that if he did, I wouldn't be able to pull away.
I could already feel my resolve slipping and if he got any closer then I wasn't even going to leave it up to him to make the first move. I was going to do that myself.
I had to get away from him, because if I didn't, I was going to forget the consequences and take what I desperately wanted.
"I need... Um, bathroom." I said, finally coming up with an excuse, and I quickly stood up and moved away from him. I forced myself not to look at his face because I was terrified of what I'd see there.
I entered the bathroom quickly, and shut the door, taking deep breaths to try to regain my self-control. My whole body was telling me to go back in there, touch him and kiss him and see how he would react because it was obvious, however much I wanted to pretend, that he'd react positively.
I closed my eyes, trying to calm myself down.
I found myself wondering if it had really come to this, if we really couldn't be just friends any more.
I sighed. No. I wasn't going to let that happen. I could act natural and keep things strictly friendship.
Now if only he would.
-
"Rise and shine!"
The voice was loud, breaking into my deep sleep.
I stirred as bright sunlight suddenly penetrated my eyelids, bringing me fully into consciousness. I blinked my eyes open, the daylight bathing the room causing me to squint, and I brought my hand up to shield my eyes.
The first thing I saw through blurry eyesight was Greg, smiling at me, the light surrounding him like a halo. "Morning Sunshine," He said, clapping his hands gently. "Time to wake up."
I looked around blearily, finally focusing fully and saw him stood at the end of my bed, looking down at me. Jeff wandered over from the window, obviously the culprit of where the sudden light came from, and they both grinned at me. They were entirely too cheerful, entirely too awake and they were both fully dressed and happy. I groaned, closing my eyes again, wishing myself back into the peaceful sleep I'd been pulled from.
"Are they dressed? Tell me they are dressed?" I heard a familiar voice ask loudly and I opened my eyes again to see Brad by the connecting door, also very awake and dressed, his hands theatrically over his eyes.
"Sorry, no. Both completely naked." Greg said, and my mind began to process enough for me to realise that they were talking about me.
Panic briefly flashed through me as I realised what he'd said and I soon became aware of every inch of my body.
Through that, I realised that Ryan was curled up in my side, his head on my chest, one arm across me and one leg hooked around mine.
We definitely hadn't fallen asleep like that.
With that awareness, came the relief that Greg had been joking though, and I was in fact fully clothed, as was Ryan. We were also both on top of the covers, not under them, and I noticed with dismay that my room was still littered with empty drink cans, snack wrappers and peanuts.
Brad was now peaking through his hands gingerly, pulling them away when he saw us. "Liar." He said to Greg, who only smirked in response.
"Man, what did you guys do last night?" Brad asked, looking around the room.
I briefly flashed back to our evening, filled with random conversations interspersed with awkward pauses. We'd joked and laughed together and it would've been like old times if we hadn't kept stopping occasionally, after one of us said something a little too suggestive, or when Ryan had sat a little too close, and tried to avoid the tension that kept settling. We'd almost kissed, more than once, but I'd always pulled away and we both pretended nothing happened. When we had finally fallen asleep, we had been on separate sides of the bed, very unlike how we were now.
Greg had his eyebrows raised, looking very interested, and even Jeff was grinning and waiting for an answer. I'd obviously taken too long a pause for Brad though because he suddenly said, "Wait, maybe I don't want to know."
I was glad because I didn't really have a good response.
The three of them were now stood around my bed, looking at us, and I tried to inch away from Ryan. He was still fast asleep, snoring quietly against me, and was completely oblivious to our new spectators. He was, unfortunately, still aware of me though, because as I tried to move away without waking him, the arm across me tightened.
Realising the others were still looking at me, expecting something, I pulled my attention back to them. "Uh, what time is it?"
"One o'clock. We have to check out in two hours, so you guys better get up." Jeff said, kicking a can that was on the floor, but not picking it up.
"We? I'm staying another two nights." I told them, confused.
"Not any more. You're now coming with us." Greg replied, his tone indicating that I had absolutely no choice.
I stared at him. "What?"
"We're kidnapping you." Jeff said cheerfully. "Brad's going home to the family for the weekend, and as our little vampire here stopped you doing the same, we thought we'd take you with us. You can catch a flight back after the weekend and carry on like you were going to."
"Uh, I don't think that's a good idea." I told them, my eyes dropping to Ryan who was still using my chest as a pillow. As much as I craved being around him, it really wasn't a good idea for us to spend more time together. I didn't know how long we could carry on like we were, skirting around feelings and pretending things were normal.
Greg was looking at Ryan as well. "I do." He said, his eyes coming back up to meet mine, daring me to argue with him.
Brad, obviously feeling the conversation was over or simply having nothing to add, headed back through the connecting door to his own room with a wave. Jeff followed him saluting on the way out as his goodbye.
Greg paused before leaving, poking Ryan in the leg gently. "I take it you aren't fighting any more?" He asked me.
I began to manoeuvre my way out from under Ryan again, still trying not to wake him.
The man clearly slept through anything, because he didn't stir, and I finally managed to get away.
"We're friends." I told Greg, making my way around the room, picking up things as I headed towards the bathroom. Greg followed me, helping me tidy a little. "Like always." I added because he hadn't said anything. I eyed him warily.
"Ah, so you are ignoring that you are in love with each other?" He asked, innocently, like he hadn't said anything out of the ordinary. I glared at him, wishing he hadn't implied that Ryan was in love with me as well.
"Isn't that what you do?" I asked him, just as innocently, because however low, I wanted him to be squirming as well.
To his credit, he only looked panic-stricken for a second, before his usual calm composure was back. "No."
I couldn't decide if he was lying or not.
We stood in silence for a moment, his eyes drifted to Ryan on the bed again and I couldn't stop myself following his gaze. He was face down and spread out across the bed. The arm that had been around me not five minutes before was still extended across the blankets and his shirt had risen up, exposing his lower back.
My whole body was drawn to him, like a magnet that I was trying to resist, and I wanted more than anything to go over to him again.
Greg was watching me now, and I'm sure he saw my longing look because he raised that damn eyebrow, saying volumes without a word.
"It's how it has to be." I told him, by some way of an explanation, answering his look the only way I could.
"Says who?" He asked me in response, but then disappeared out of my room before I had chance to say anything.
It didn't matter because I didn't have an answer anyway.
-
Rating: 17+
Paring: Ry/Col. (Hints of Greg/Jeff and slightly mentions of Greg/Ryan but neither main focus.)
A/N: Part Seven here as everyone asked so nicely! It's split into A and B, basically because this chapter isn't so eventful as others, so I felt bad not giving you more! So you get two chapters for the price of one! I was going to leave a small gap but I'm so going to just post the other chapter in a moment (hopefully), because I don't really have a lot of time this evening! :)
Thanks again for all the wonderful comments, you are all so lovely! And thanks as always to Lucy, who is super special! :)
I lay on my bed, the air filtering in through my open window, swirling around the room and making the curtains rustle. I was tired, my body exhausted but I couldn't sleep because my mind was still on overdrive, the after effects of performing.
Our show had gone well; I'd had an amazing time, like I always did when I got to perform on stage. It would have been like any other night, but it was made more interesting due to three certain audience members.
Ryan, Greg and Jeff.
I'd spotted them the moment I'd walked on stage, whistling and cheering over-enthusiastically from where they were huddled together in their seats near the back. I had no idea how they had managed to get tickets because our show had been sold out for weeks, but sure enough there they were, cheering us on and acting like perfect fans.
Until the show had started, and we'd began taking suggestions, at which point they had decided to have some fun. They threw out the riskiest, most random and most sexual suggestions they could come up with, causing Brad to break down into giggles more than once. I'd almost laughed myself, just managing to keep my control, after some of the things they had said.
I had wanted to pick them for a participation game, but they had been too far back to get to, and whenever we had gestured they had declined. They had been having too much fun bothering us from their seats.
A knock sounded on my hotel door and I was pulled from my thoughts.
I made my way over, wondering who it could be. After the show, we had all gone back to the bar for a few drinks, although I had steered clear of alcohol. As had the others, especially Ryan who seemed to be drinking water the whole night. Because of that, I wasn't expecting any drunk visitors.
I opened the door to find Ryan, leant against the door frame casually, his head tilted downwards, smiling at me. He was dressed only in sweat pants and a t-shirt and I noticed with amusement that he no shoes or socks on, making me wonder what would have happened if he had bumped into a fan in the hallway. It would be interesting to explain that.
"Got the right room this time, then." He said instead of hello, and I was ready to agree until something occurred to me.
"I thought you were too drunk to remember anything last night?" I asked him, suspiciously.
He didn't say anything, simply smiled at me innocently and then walked past me and into my room, launching himself onto my bed.
I eyed him warily, shutting the door behind him and looking around.
"This is my room, right?"
Shrugging, he gazed around aimlessly, bouncing just slightly on the spot. "I'm bored."
"It's night," I told him, like it wasn't obvious from the moonlight shining into the room. "Usually the time to sleep." The whole atmosphere felt surreal, as if I'd fallen back in time twenty years when Ryan would knock on my door at all hours, just to spend time together. I'd missed it.
"I'm not tired." He said, like that explained everything, and then looked down, playing with the bedspread. When he looked up again, he attempted 'puppy-dog' eyes, that even I was aware I was better at.
Despite that, I still couldn't stop the smile spread across my face, and I fell for it. I'd missed this too much, missed him too much, to let the opportunity go by. He was clearly trying to make things right, it was only fair that I do the same.
I wiped the smile from my face and sighed in mock-annoyance. "Fine, you can stay."
The innocent look slipped away as quickly as it had appeared and his smile was back.
"So what are we doing?" He asked me, and I shrugged.
"Hey, this was your idea. You think of something." His smile grew and I wasn't sure if I'd regret saying that.
-
Half an hour later and we were both spread out on my bed, close but still not touching, the contents of the mini-bar spread across the room. The quiet sounds of the television played in the background, a pay per view movie that we'd stopped paying attention to soon after we'd ordered it. The wind was still drifting in through the window gently and the only light in the room a small lamp, the moonlight and the occasional flash of the television screen.
Ryan lay on his back next to me, currently wasting the most expensive peanuts in the world by trying and failing to toss them into his mouth. He was wrecking my hotel room, spreading chocolate and peanuts all over but I couldn't bring myself to care. I was too relaxed by the calming atmosphere and just being in his presence.
I watched him, amused, unable to stop the flush of adoration that spread through my body. I felt content just being close to him again and it would have been perfect if I didn't have to keep pushing away stronger feelings that were threatening to spill out.
"You better clean that up before you leave." I told him as I watched him miss his mouth once more.
"Who said I was leaving?" He asked, raising his eyebrows. I tried not to register the flirty tone that had suddenly entered his voice, but it was definitely there.
"You do have a hotel room right?" I said, trying to keep the conversation purely friendly. I knew that if we even stepped close to that line again, I wouldn't be able to come back, not that I would even want to.
"Proops is in it." He said, almost pouting at me, and I had to look away because all of sudden he was becoming entirely too tempting.
"So why did you agree to share with him?"
I kept my voice neutral, trying not to let show the feelings I was experiencing. I could do this, I told myself, wondering why I could keep my cool on stage in front of hundreds of people, but completely lost myself around him.
He didn't respond, but he did shove the peanuts to one side, rolling over so he was lying on his stomach, sliding around so that he was sideways across the bed, his legs dangling off the end. I was leant against the headboard, my legs stretched out in front of me and he put his chin on my thigh, looking up at me.
"Let me stay here?" He fluttered his eyelashes at me, humorously, and it came across oddly appealing.
I sighed, trying to pretend that his head wasn’t on my leg, so close to me, and I looked down at him.
I gave in. "You're sleeping on the floor." I told him, but even I knew that it was very unlikely I would follow through. At least though, we would both be clothed this time and I felt I could probably deal with that.
He still hadn't removed his head from my leg, and instead of doing so, he flipped himself over again so he was resting the back of his head practically in my lap, as he stared up at the ceiling.
"Aren't you tired yet?" I asked, trying to ignore the feel of him near me.
My fingers itched to touch him, and I wanted to reach out and play absently with the curls on his head or stroke his cheek and feel the soft skin there.
I forced myself not to, keeping my hands firmly at my sides.
He turned his head to look at me, and I tried desperately not to think of the position we were in. He seemed oblivious, but I had the strange feeling that maybe he knew exactly what he was doing, and was teasing me on purpose.
I shook the thought away.
"Some of us aren't as old as you." He replied, grinning. His fingers tapped an imaginary tune on the bedspread beside us, and he didn't move from where he was, his head still resting on my thigh.
"Some of us have to work."
I gave him a pointed look, knowing that his group arranged plenty of time to relax and hang out together between performances, having to factor in extra travel time as well. Ryan rarely took on any extra work either, whereas I barely stopped.
He shrugged as best he could in his current position, and I had the sudden thought that he was probably making his back even worse than it already was. He didn't seem to care though.
He stared up at me, and the awkwardness I'd been trying to avoid since he'd arrived came flooding back, messing with my senses. I tensed up and he must have noticed, but he didn't say anything.
Instead, he just looked up at me, curiously.
"You all right, Col?" He asked, and I wondered how I could possibly answer that.
I definitely wasn't all right, yet I really wished I were.
I nodded, numbly, not really sure what else to say. He was still in my lap, looking up at me, and in that moment I wanted nothing more than to lean down and kiss him.
I didn't though, I couldn't.
He lifted his head up finally, and then spun himself once more so he was sat next to me. He turned sideways and then he was near to me again, his head next to mine, his lips temptingly close. I realised he'd placed his hand on my thigh, filling the gap that his head had left, but he'd done it so calmly, so naturally, that it felt wrong to point it out.
He was still looking at me curiously, a question in his eyes. "You sure?" He asked me, his voice suddenly slightly lower and I couldn't help but think that he was going to kiss me.
Tension had settled in the room, thick and hot and I didn't know why, but we were no longer just two friends hanging out together.
He was getting closer to me and now I was sure he was going to kiss me, and I knew that if he did, I wouldn't be able to pull away.
I could already feel my resolve slipping and if he got any closer then I wasn't even going to leave it up to him to make the first move. I was going to do that myself.
I had to get away from him, because if I didn't, I was going to forget the consequences and take what I desperately wanted.
"I need... Um, bathroom." I said, finally coming up with an excuse, and I quickly stood up and moved away from him. I forced myself not to look at his face because I was terrified of what I'd see there.
I entered the bathroom quickly, and shut the door, taking deep breaths to try to regain my self-control. My whole body was telling me to go back in there, touch him and kiss him and see how he would react because it was obvious, however much I wanted to pretend, that he'd react positively.
I closed my eyes, trying to calm myself down.
I found myself wondering if it had really come to this, if we really couldn't be just friends any more.
I sighed. No. I wasn't going to let that happen. I could act natural and keep things strictly friendship.
Now if only he would.
-
"Rise and shine!"
The voice was loud, breaking into my deep sleep.
I stirred as bright sunlight suddenly penetrated my eyelids, bringing me fully into consciousness. I blinked my eyes open, the daylight bathing the room causing me to squint, and I brought my hand up to shield my eyes.
The first thing I saw through blurry eyesight was Greg, smiling at me, the light surrounding him like a halo. "Morning Sunshine," He said, clapping his hands gently. "Time to wake up."
I looked around blearily, finally focusing fully and saw him stood at the end of my bed, looking down at me. Jeff wandered over from the window, obviously the culprit of where the sudden light came from, and they both grinned at me. They were entirely too cheerful, entirely too awake and they were both fully dressed and happy. I groaned, closing my eyes again, wishing myself back into the peaceful sleep I'd been pulled from.
"Are they dressed? Tell me they are dressed?" I heard a familiar voice ask loudly and I opened my eyes again to see Brad by the connecting door, also very awake and dressed, his hands theatrically over his eyes.
"Sorry, no. Both completely naked." Greg said, and my mind began to process enough for me to realise that they were talking about me.
Panic briefly flashed through me as I realised what he'd said and I soon became aware of every inch of my body.
Through that, I realised that Ryan was curled up in my side, his head on my chest, one arm across me and one leg hooked around mine.
We definitely hadn't fallen asleep like that.
With that awareness, came the relief that Greg had been joking though, and I was in fact fully clothed, as was Ryan. We were also both on top of the covers, not under them, and I noticed with dismay that my room was still littered with empty drink cans, snack wrappers and peanuts.
Brad was now peaking through his hands gingerly, pulling them away when he saw us. "Liar." He said to Greg, who only smirked in response.
"Man, what did you guys do last night?" Brad asked, looking around the room.
I briefly flashed back to our evening, filled with random conversations interspersed with awkward pauses. We'd joked and laughed together and it would've been like old times if we hadn't kept stopping occasionally, after one of us said something a little too suggestive, or when Ryan had sat a little too close, and tried to avoid the tension that kept settling. We'd almost kissed, more than once, but I'd always pulled away and we both pretended nothing happened. When we had finally fallen asleep, we had been on separate sides of the bed, very unlike how we were now.
Greg had his eyebrows raised, looking very interested, and even Jeff was grinning and waiting for an answer. I'd obviously taken too long a pause for Brad though because he suddenly said, "Wait, maybe I don't want to know."
I was glad because I didn't really have a good response.
The three of them were now stood around my bed, looking at us, and I tried to inch away from Ryan. He was still fast asleep, snoring quietly against me, and was completely oblivious to our new spectators. He was, unfortunately, still aware of me though, because as I tried to move away without waking him, the arm across me tightened.
Realising the others were still looking at me, expecting something, I pulled my attention back to them. "Uh, what time is it?"
"One o'clock. We have to check out in two hours, so you guys better get up." Jeff said, kicking a can that was on the floor, but not picking it up.
"We? I'm staying another two nights." I told them, confused.
"Not any more. You're now coming with us." Greg replied, his tone indicating that I had absolutely no choice.
I stared at him. "What?"
"We're kidnapping you." Jeff said cheerfully. "Brad's going home to the family for the weekend, and as our little vampire here stopped you doing the same, we thought we'd take you with us. You can catch a flight back after the weekend and carry on like you were going to."
"Uh, I don't think that's a good idea." I told them, my eyes dropping to Ryan who was still using my chest as a pillow. As much as I craved being around him, it really wasn't a good idea for us to spend more time together. I didn't know how long we could carry on like we were, skirting around feelings and pretending things were normal.
Greg was looking at Ryan as well. "I do." He said, his eyes coming back up to meet mine, daring me to argue with him.
Brad, obviously feeling the conversation was over or simply having nothing to add, headed back through the connecting door to his own room with a wave. Jeff followed him saluting on the way out as his goodbye.
Greg paused before leaving, poking Ryan in the leg gently. "I take it you aren't fighting any more?" He asked me.
I began to manoeuvre my way out from under Ryan again, still trying not to wake him.
The man clearly slept through anything, because he didn't stir, and I finally managed to get away.
"We're friends." I told Greg, making my way around the room, picking up things as I headed towards the bathroom. Greg followed me, helping me tidy a little. "Like always." I added because he hadn't said anything. I eyed him warily.
"Ah, so you are ignoring that you are in love with each other?" He asked, innocently, like he hadn't said anything out of the ordinary. I glared at him, wishing he hadn't implied that Ryan was in love with me as well.
"Isn't that what you do?" I asked him, just as innocently, because however low, I wanted him to be squirming as well.
To his credit, he only looked panic-stricken for a second, before his usual calm composure was back. "No."
I couldn't decide if he was lying or not.
We stood in silence for a moment, his eyes drifted to Ryan on the bed again and I couldn't stop myself following his gaze. He was face down and spread out across the bed. The arm that had been around me not five minutes before was still extended across the blankets and his shirt had risen up, exposing his lower back.
My whole body was drawn to him, like a magnet that I was trying to resist, and I wanted more than anything to go over to him again.
Greg was watching me now, and I'm sure he saw my longing look because he raised that damn eyebrow, saying volumes without a word.
"It's how it has to be." I told him, by some way of an explanation, answering his look the only way I could.
"Says who?" He asked me in response, but then disappeared out of my room before I had chance to say anything.
It didn't matter because I didn't have an answer anyway.
-