Sunday, September 11, 2011

Chapter 8


Steph couldn’t sleep that night. She had too much on her mind. About an hour after Richie left, she got a text from Jon asking if she was still up, and still had company. She wrote back that she was up.

“Good,” Came the reply from him. “Come on over and hang with me. I can’t sleep.”

She just got up and walked over to the adjoining door and knocked.

“It’s open,” he called out softly.

Steph opened the door and walked in. “Hey…sorry about earlier. You know Richie. Worst timing ever.”

“I’m over it. Wanna watch a movie?” He asked.

“Sure,” she said. “Do you want me to grab some snacks and drinks?”

“Only if you’re hungry. I had a salad earlier while you were with Richie.”

“I’m good. So what are we watching tonight?”

“Classic horror,” he replied with a grin, holding up Amityville Horror.

“Ok,” she said, as he popped the DVD in.

“You ok with scary? I think this is one of the scariest movies of all times.”

“Scary is good. You may see me jump a little or cover my eyes at the really scary parts,” she said, “I’ve never seen this one.”

“Ooh goodie,” he said. “You my lady are in for a treat. But you definitely want to sit on the bed with me for the movie if you’re going to be a jumper or hide your eyes.”

“Okay,” she said, sitting down next to him on the bed about as far as she could get from him. “You know if you can’t sleep I don’t think watching a really scary movie is all that helpful in trying to sleep.”

“Well, I’ve been tossing and turning for a while. I don’t sleep much when we’re travelling. Neither does Richie. We’re both night owls.”

“Me too, but I have all kinds of makeup tricks that I’m going to have to use in the morning to hide the bags under my eyes.”

Jon smiled. “I don’t think in the last few weeks I’ve seen you with bags under your eyes at all, and there have been a lot of late nights.”

“That’s because I hide them well and I get up before you.”

“Good point,” he said.

“Yup, I’m always right. You need to learn this about me.”

“Whatever,” he said. “Now shh…previews are over. Movie time.”

About 15 minutes into the movie, Steph was already good and scared. She’d never get any sleep tonight. But she couldn’t take her eyes off the screen, so that was a good thing.

“Scared,” Jon whispered to her, and she nearly jumped a mile.

“No,” she whispered back. “I’m good.”

“Liar.” He said stifling back a laugh. “You can come snuggle with me instead of sitting so far from me. I know it’s a big bed, but do I have cooties or something?”

“Am good,” she said. She wanted to snuggle up next to him, but it probably wasn’t a good idea. She did move a little closer to him on the bed though. The movie continued, and true to his word, was one of the scariest movies she had ever seen. She was terrified watching the movie, and almost forgot Jon was sitting next to her, until one part made her jump and she flew into his arms.

He let out a little chuckle. “Scaredey cat.”

“Fine,” she said smiling, “I admit it.” She started to pull herself out of his arms. He pulled her back to him.

“Stay here,” he said softly smiling. “I’ll keep you safe from the scary movie. Besides there’s at least a couple of times where you will jump again. At least here, you’re comfortable.”

She sighed. He certainly was impossible to resist, and she was starting to wonder why she was anymore. “Ok,” she said leaning back against him with her head resting on his chest, as his arms wrapped tightly around her. They watched the rest of the movie for the most part in silence. Every time there was a particularly scary part where she’d jump, he’d hold her a little tighter.

The credits began to roll and Steph sat up and stretched yawning sleepily. Jon laughed.

“And I thought you said you definitely wouldn’t be sleeping tonight.”

“I probably won’t be able to,” she said, “But I should get back to my room and try to get some sleep, and so should you. You do have a couple of things lined up in the afternoon before we have to be at the arena. And I imagine you’ll want to get in a workout in the morning.”

“You’re right,” he said feeling somewhat disappointed that she was leaving him to go back to her room. “Leave the doors to the rooms open.”

“Why?” she asked.

“In case I have a nightmare,” he teased. “I might need you to come back over here and keep me safe.”

She picked up a pillow off of his bed and threw it at him. “Dork.”

He pretended to pout.

“Don’t give me that look,” she said. “I know that look. I invented that look. It doesn’t work.”

He grinned. “Damn. And here I thought being older than you, I invented it.”

“Nope. Women start using that look when they’re born. You probably didn’t start using that until you were at least twenty, so I invented that look.”

He laughed. “Good point. You win.”

“I always do,” she said. “Now get some sleep.”

“Ok…is it part of my PA’s job to tuck me in?”

“You’re a big boy. I think you can handle it. Good night Jon,” she said walking back to her room and leaving the connecting doors open.

“Good night beautiful!” he said back to her from his bed. She walked over and pulled down the covers and crawled in and was soon fast asleep.

Steph was dreaming. More having a nightmare. But it had nothing to do with the movie.

She had just walked into her apartment in Connecticut where he was waiting for her. It had been a really long day at work and all she wanted to do was crawl into bed, she knew from his icy look when she came in and turned on the lights that wouldn’t be possible that night. She prayed that the evening would be over quickly and she wouldn’t have to deal with too much.

“Where have you been bitch?” he said, clearly drunk.

“I just got home from work. It’s been a really long day and I’m exhausted. Can I just go to sleep?” She headed towards the stairs hoping to get away, but he was on his feet and grabbed a hold of her.

“I bet you’re lying,” he said viciously.

“Please,” she said, knowing it wouldn’t make a difference, “You’re hurting me.”

“Then don’t lie to me. Tell me where you were.”

“I told you. I was working. I had a project to do for my boss and had to stay late.”

“Bull shit,” he said slapping her to the ground. “You shouldn’t lie to me.” He hit her a few more times and she just kept crying to please stop. Finally he got tired of her and left her on the floor while he went upstairs and passed out….

Meanwhile, Jon awoke with a start to hearing Steph over in her room in her sleep. She was clearly having a bad dream. He ran over there and gently put his arms around her. This was no dream about the movie. He hadn’t heard her have a nightmare once in the last few weeks, but this one sounded like a bad one. He wasn’t sure if he should wake her.

“No,” she mumbled in her sleep. “Please. Stop.”

He could see tears on her cheeks, and gently brushed a hair back from her head and kissed her softly on her forehead. “Hey,” he said softly. “Wake up. You’re having a bad dream.”

She rolled over, and mumbled to stop again.

“Shh,” he said cradling her in his arms, “It’s just a dream Steph. It’s not real. You’re safe here.”

All of a sudden she jolted awake screaming no as she sat up in bed and looked around in the dark, and breathed out a sigh of relief. It had just been a dream. It had been a while since she had had one of those dreams. Must have been the movie-even though it wasn’t really violent, it probably triggered the part of my brain that has nightmares.

She shivered. She hated those dreams. They were all too real to her.

“Now, do you want to talk about what happened with you and your ex?” Jon said softly from next to her startling her.

“What are you doing here?” she said.

“You were having a bad dream and that clearly was not about the movie,” he said. “I was worried so I came over here.”

He was so sweet to her. “I’m not really ready to talk about it,” she said, “I think maybe the movie triggered the part of my brain that has nightmares and unfortunately when I have a nightmare they’re always variations of the same one. It’s been a while. I thought they were finally going away.”

“No more late night scary movies,” he said softly. ‘I promise.”

She smiled at him. “It’s all your fault.”

“I’ll take the blame now. If I had known....but I’m not going anywhere for the rest of the night. I’m staying right here with you. I don’t want to hear any buts about it either.”

She still felt a little shaky from her nightmare and was too exhausted to argue with him. She nodded. “Thank you.” She said and snuggled into his comforting arms, and within about ten minutes they were both sleeping soundly. There were no more nightmares that evening and they both slept comfortably. Around 930 the next morning a loud knock came on her door.

“Room service!” a loud voice boomed.

Steph groaned at the persistent knocking. Jon was sleeping right through it. Light sleeper my ass, she thought. I’m going to kill whichever one of the guys this is. She gently took herself out from Jon’s arms who only stirred slightly and rolled over and hugged her pillow, and continued to sleep. She smiled and walked over to the door, and opened it slightly to see Richie, Tico and David standing on the other side of the door.

“Morning sunshine! We wanted to play today,” Tico said with a grin.

“Assholes. All of you. This is so not right. Why can’t a girl who has nothing to do in the morning sleep late?”

“Too late,” David teased, “We’re up now. That means you are. Oh wait, is Jon actually still asleep?”

“Yes,” she hissed, “And so was I. Apparently I’m awake now.”

“Sorry,” Richie said with a grin, peering around her shoulder. “We couldn’t resist, but it looks like someone followed my advice last night.”

She grabbed her key off the table by the door and stepped out in the hallway closing the door gently behind her. “Look you three, that wasn’t what it looks like. Please don’t start with the teasing this morning. It was a rough night and I’m exhausted.”

Richie saw from the bags under her eyes that she needed her rest.

“Ok,” Tico said softly. “We’ll leave you two lovebirds alone.”

“Teek!” David said.

Steph smiled. “It’s ok. Look, I’ll call you guys when he wakes up.”

“Ok,” Richie said smiling. “What time do we have to be downstairs by?”

“The car will be here at 3.” She said.

“Ok. We’ll see you then.”

“Bye guys.” She said gently opening her door.

He was still sound asleep hugging her pillow. Figuring she’d let him sleep for a little bit, she headed towards the shower. The feel of the hot shower felt great, and when she was done, she blow dried and fluffed her hair and carefully applied some make up. She walked out into her room and selected a pair of skinny jeans and a light blue tank top, and got dressed. She topped the outfit off with a pair of light blue strappy sandals, and looked in the mirror. She looked a thousand times better than the guys had seen her when they came knocking this morning. Smiling to herself, she decided to call room service for real. She knew Jon waned to eat light since he was going on stage and needed to keep his awesome figure so she ordered two veggie egg white omelets, along with a side of turkey bacon and fresh fruit and two bottles of water. She asked them to be delivered to Jon’s room in case he wasn’t awake when the breakfast arrived. She looked at him still asleep. She knew he was her boss and had quickly become her friend over the last couple of weeks-being thrown together constantly for work would either make you both want to kill or each other or be the best of friends. Fortunately with her working for him, he became her friend. She had to wonder if Richie was right. Were they developing feelings for each other? It was so complicated a situation for them to even think about having feelings for each other. He’s still married, she worked for him, and she had recently come off a bad relationship herself. She didn’t know if she was ready for anything yet. He is pretty amazing, she thought to herself, I know that I can wrap my head around the fact that he’s still married and the fact that we work for each other. But Richie was right. I’m not ready yet. It’s not fair to him for me to be snuggling up with him, and letting him kiss me. I’m only leading him on. We should definitely talk when he wakes up.

A sleepy voice interrupted her thoughts. “Why are you way over there little one?”

“Because,” she said “I’ve been up for about an hour and a half now.”

“Everything ok?” he asked gently.

Damn she thought. He just has to be extra sweet. “I’m good. I had a wake-up call from room service this morning.”

“Did you order breakfast last night for this morning?”

“Nope,” she said. “The guys thought it would be funny for all of them to come over and mess with me. They figured you’d be up. Breakfast, however, should be arriving momentarily.”

“Yay!” he said getting out of bed. “What did you order for this morning? I’m famished.”

“Veggie egg white omelet, turkey bacon, fruit and water.” She said.

“The perfect assistant. You make sure I’m fed , but fed right. I don’t know why you got all pretty. I plan on going to the gym and wanted you go come with me for a workout.”

“I have some things to take care of and wanted to do some shopping since I’m here in London. If that is alright with you. And do not give me the pout this morning,” she said.

He huffed. “Fine.”

“Hey….it’s my job to make sure take care of you. Let me.”

Then you should take me back to bed, he thought. But I can wait. I know she’s not ready yet. She probably thinks she’s leading me on. Maybe we should talk tonight. “How long do you have to do stuff for?”

“Just a few calls after breakfast. No more than an hour. I know we’re near all of the good shopping, so when I’m done I’ll have about two hours free to shop and then come back here and get everything ready for going over to the venue tonight.”

“How about, I go with you? I’ll only be a half hour at the gym and then a quick shower and we could go. I thought maybe we can talk…” He sounded awfully boyish and hopeful.

“I supposed a talk is a good idea.” She said thoughtfully. “How about we do that tonight after the show? You guys have a night off tomorrow, and I have nothing on the calendar for you tomorrow. So it can be a late night.”

“Ok,” he said thoughtfully. A knock on Jon’s door interrupted. It was room service for real.

Steph went and signed off on the breakfast and brought everything over and set it up on the table in Jon’s room.

“Before we talk tonight, though, I’m taking you out after the show,” Jon said, reaching in his wallet and pulling out some cash, and a credit card. Consider this a bonus. Buy yourself something special while shopping.”

“Jon,” she said, “You pay me plenty. This is too much.”

“Whatever,” he said, “I insist.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Yes boss.”

“Great,” he said. “I’m glad that’s settled. Good call on the breakfast. This is awesome.”

They finished up the breakfast and Steph cleaned off the table and set the trays in the hallway for room service to take. Jon came out of his room dressed in shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt and sneakers ready for his run on the treadmill. Today was strictly a cardio day for him.

“Sure you don’t want to work out with me?”

She grinned. “Tomorrow afternoon. I promise. I could use a work out.”

He gave her a once over. “Not from what I can see you don’t.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere mister,” she said laughing as he walked out the door. “Jon! Wait!”

“Yes ma’am?” he said turning around.

She handed him a bottle of water and a towel. “Thought you might want those.”

“Thanks! See you in a few.”

“Bye.”

She closed the door and closed the adjoining doors to their two rooms. Within about five minutes, Richie was knocking at her door. She was already on the phone with the arena making sure everything was in order for the evening. She opened the door and waved Richie in, while still listening to the person at the other end of call. She was smiling and nodding. “Ok then. I think we’re good. Thank you.” With that she hung up the phone and turned to look at Richie who was grinning like a Cheshire cat at her. “What?”

“Nothing,” he said, “You’re very good at what you do.”

“Thanks, but if you want details on last night, there’s nothing to tell.”

********I hope people are still reading!****