Exposed In Lights

I gasped as I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. I slammed the book shut and shoved it back under the bed. Running towards the door I switched off the light and ran out into the hall and into the bathroom. “Julia, you in there?”

It was Nick, which would have been a disaster if he had caught me in his room. I turned on the taps, waited a moment then turned them off. I paused again to make it seem like I was drying my hands then I opened the door. Nick stood under the light from above looking like a Greek god, “Can we talk?” He asked shoving his hands into his pocket in a nervous manner.

“Nick! Come on!” Kevin shouted, we both looked in the direction of his voice then back to each other.

“Later?” He added, I took a deep breath and nodded. He smiled at me then jogged back down the stairs, “Coming?” I nodded uselessly and followed him down the stairs at his usual speedy pace.

I tried my hardest not to give away the fact I was there while they did the chat, I sat playing Topple on my iPhone trying to ignore them. I was doing really well and had almost unlocked level six.

I placed a square block on top of the pile and left it, I watched as the tower began to topple. “No!” I whisper-shouted, I tried to topple them back but toppled them completely off. “No!” I shouted dragging out the ‘o’, as soon as it came out I threw my hand over my mouth. “Sorry.” I mouthed then placed my hand back over it.

“They want to know who it is.” Kevin said reading from the screen, “Come over here.” He beckoned, I refused and stayed on the sofa. He stood up and walked over to me, I made my body limp so I weighed more but he didn’t have any trouble, he dropped me between Joe and Nick and I sighed.

“I’m hardly needed.” I argued, I glanced at the screen and picked out a girl who hated me, “ChelsealuvsNick agrees.”

“Julia what are you wearing?” Joe read out.

“I’m wearing clothes.” I chuckled, “No, I’m just in a t-shirt and sweats. Or tracksuit bottoms as the British know them as.” I stared at the screen trying to catch a question before it disappeared. “Julia, do you get annoyed at Jonas Brothers fans?” I read out. “Not really.”

“Will you be in Camp Rock 2?” Kevin said.

I shook my head, “No, I’m not an actress and I have no intentions on pretending to be.”

“I think you’d make a wonderful actress.” Nick smiled.

I laughed, “I only just scraped a pass in Drama.” He laughed and rubbed my head consequently messing up my hair, I wanted to call him a ‘twat’ but that was a bit off limits on live chats. I searched the screen and chuckled, “Julia, you kicked Kevin’s ass in that gymnastics competition you had in Mexico.”

“Kevin just got poned, by his own fans!” Joe shouted, wincing over dramatically. “Burn.”

“She used to do gymnastics, totally unfair competition.” Kevin defended.

“Aw, don’t sulk Kevin.” I smirked and stuck my tongue out at him.

The chat continued for over half an hour before I left to get some food, I raked through the fridge and decided on a Mars bar. I poured my self a glass of orange juice. “Clearing us out are we?” Nick smirked at his own joke as he walked into the kitchen.

“It’s only a Mars bar and some juice I’m sure you will live. Shouldn’t you be chatting anyway? Not commenting on my food intake.” I said sarcastically, I threw the rest of my juice away and washed out the cup.

“We’re done.” He retorted opening the fridge and looking inside it. After a few moments of watching him he shut the door deciding on nothing at all. I guessed he was going to want to ‘talk’ but instead he said, “We’re going to watch another film.”

I skipped out the kitchen, using both my arms to propel myself at the same time like I had seen Michael McIntyre do in one of his comedy sketches. Just as he said would happen Nick laughed and said, “What are you doing?”

“Winning, that’s what I’m doing!” I quoted and then leaped over the back of the sofa.

I sat down and crossed my ankles, Kevin pressed play and Nick sat down on the floor to the left of my feet. We ended up watching ‘Twilight’ much to my happiness. It was in blu-ray so it looked even more spectacular.

During the fight scene Joe had fallen asleep on my shoulder, crashing from all the sugar he had in his body. I shuffled away from him but he fell into my lap, I let out an aggravated sigh and manoeuvred him into a better position. His head rested on my leg which acted as a pillow and he was stretched out over the sofa.

I rubbed his temple like he was a child, I used to do this to my brothers when they were younger because it helped them sleep and Joe seemed a bit restless. After doing that for a while Joe had settled into a peaceful sleep so I shuffled up onto the arm of the chair holding his head up, I rested a pillow under it and he moved around until he got comfortable.

“I’m going to my bed.” Kevin whispered standing up, “You coming?”

“To your bed?” I gasped quietly, “Why Kevin!”

He giggled knowing I was kidding, “Are you?” He asked again.

“Nope, I want to watch the end.”

He rolled his eyes knowing I had seen it numerous times before. He walked out the room and I listened to his footsteps gently disappear. I stood up and walked out of the room and into the garden, it wasn’t too cold so I sat down on the wood deck and gazed up at the sky.

It was a midnight blue with points of silver locating the stars, a thin wisp of cloud invaded the almost clear sky directly in front of the moon. It tried to beam proudly but could just get through. I sighed and focused on the correlation of stars.

“Making shapes?” Nick’s voice startled me once again, why does he always sneak up on me? “Mind if I join you?”

“It’s your garden.” I replied. I felt his presence next to me then saw his gracious face beside mine, I turned my head to the side briefly to look at him. He was looking at me with narrow, glistening eyes. I turned my head back to look up at the stars, they didn’t even compare to Nick’s eyes though.

I had this magnetic urge to touch him, I knew I had to resist it though but it was getting harder and harder. I put my hands under my thighs to hold them in place. I listened to Nick, no longer interested in the stars, as he moved about trying to get comfortable.

I turned to look at him and was shocked by his sudden closeness. He was only two inches away from me now, my heart rate increased just at the sight of it. His thin lips curled up into a smile as he saw my stunned expression. I blinked trying to make sure I was awake. I was.

“Do you miss her?” Nick whispered bringing his hand up to caress my face.

The feeling of his skin against mine clouded my thoughts for a few moments, I was completely incoherent. I held my breath and tried to think as his fingers traced my cheek bones. “Yes.” I finally spoke though my voice was wobbly.

“How come you didn’t go to the funeral?” He questioned, his eyes flooding with curiosity.

“Because…” I started and inhaled, “Because I didn’t want to have to see her like that. I wanted to remember her when she was happier.”

He studied me as I stared over his shoulder at the flower beds, his thumb grazed my lips triggering the heat to flush to my face. He took note of that. “You feel bad for not going, correct?”

I nodded letting a tear escape though his finger quickly swiped it away. “Sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for… just don’t cry.” He paused, “You know I hate seeing you cry.”

I took a moment to my self, breathing weakly and softening my face. “I’m good.” I told him with a small smile.

I turned onto my back once more to gaze at the stars but was sad to see that they had disappeared behind a cloud but now the moon was exposed fully. It shone brightly, moonlight was always better than sunlight; well that’s what I believed. The sun is easily blocked by clouds but the moon beams through them without fail.

I looked at Nick, his face was scrunched up for a moment then he relaxed it. “What are you thinking about?” I asked him ignoring the ache in my neck as I put strain on it to see him. He slowly looked back at me with cautious eyes, “You can trust me.”

“I know I can.” He assured me, his confidence made me smile. He sat up so I did too, I faced him with my legs crossed underneath me. “You, I was thinking about you.”

My heart fluttered and my stomach twisted, “Am I going to get any details?”

He smirked and shook his head. He stood up and shot me one more smile before walking back into the house. I quickly got up and followed him inside. I saw his shadow go up the stairs so I tried to quickly follow him, once upstairs I looked in his room and didn’t see him so I began checking the other rooms except for the ones with sleeping people in.

I was unvictorious so I headed back to the guest room. I closed the door behind me and flipped the light switch. Nick was smirking as he sat on my bed, his arms crossed behind his head and his legs stretched out. “Cheater.” I mumbled and crossed my arms over my chest.

“Don’t be such a sore loser.” He whispered, chuckling as he shuffled around on the bed. “I forgot how nice this mattress was, I might have to change it with mine.”

I could feel him playing with my mind, leading me on by flirting with me. I didn’t want him too if he was just going to leave it again, I would feel even worse afterwards. My hearts defences had came down from the moment he first touched me properly again so I was weak and exposed and it seemed he was taking advantage of that and I didn’t know if it was for good or for bad reasons.

“Nick, what are you doing?”

“Lying on your bed.” He answered looking at me as if I were stupid.

I sighed, “No, I mean why you are suddenly being all playful. I don’t understand why.” I watched as his expression changed while he thought. Oh, how much I wished I could hear what he was thinking. But, I waited patiently for his answer.

“I don’t really know how to stay away from you, I’m so used to being there that this all just seems natural to me.” He said glumly, looking down at his hands.

He was right, this was natural. We didn’t know how not to flirt with each other, ever since we met we’ve been best friends but first and foremost, boy friend and girl friend. Now that we weren’t but we were having fun being together we didn’t know how to act around each other. But to be honest, I’d never had that problem before.

“Yeah.” I agreed quietly, I could see he wasn’t going to me so I tentatively walked over to the side of the bed. He swung his legs over the edge of it and gazed up at me, I gave him a small smile and held out my hand. He stared at it for a moment then placed his hand in mine. I pulled him up from his seated position and wrapped my arms around his waist, he didn’t seem to react at first but his eventually wound his hands around me.

“Lucky in love with my best friend.” He spoke the lyrics into my ear and smiled as his hand rested over my erratically beating heart.

I looked at his soft face when he slowly leaned forward and rested his cheek against mine. My breath hitched in my throat as he moved his lips against the burning skin of my cheek. He shivered as my finger tips trailed against the right side of his face and down his neck until I finally rested my hand on his heated neck.

He turned his head so that his lips moved gradually closer to mine, I closed my eyes as the sensation of his lips on the corner of mine rippled through me. Then, his unpuckered lips pressed against mine and I couldn’t react for a few seconds. I pulled away and closed my lips back onto his, he pulled me harder against him causing the pressure on our lips to increase.

He removed his lips from mine for a fragment of a second. His nose slid over mine and his lips grazed over mine while he turned his head then he puckered them again making it a proper kiss. I felt my knees go weak and a tear of joy slid down my face, he wiped it from my cheek not once taking his lips from mine.

I took his face into both of my hands, my fingers pushed into his hand and my palms against his cheek. Our foreheads remained resting against one another as we both tried to control our breathing, it made me less embarrassed to know he was affected by the kiss too.

“Do you really want this?” I asked quietly and breathlessly. He smiled confidently and nodded. I sighed and rubbed my fingers against his scalp. “I don’t want you to do this if you’re not one hundred and ten percent certain.”

His fingers curled a strand of my hair around and then wound back out of it. “I wouldn’t have done that if I wasn’t certain. It wouldn’t have been fair on you.”

At least he recognised it would hurt me if he didn’t, “I’m pretty sure I’m going to wake up.”

He shook his head, “This is real. I love you and neither of us are going anywhere without the other, promise?”

“Promise.” I agreed and pecked his lips but it seemed that wasn’t enough. He reattached his lips to mine in a sensual kiss, our lips moved in motion with each other and I tangled my hands in the back of his hair.

“This is going to be hard to explain to the parents.” I told him, he shook his head. “Well, my parents.”

He pushed his fingers through my hair, “They’ll be fine, as long as you’re happy.” He promised.

“I am.” I smiled up at him and he stepped away from me. I followed his as he lay down on the bed, he opened his arms for me and I quickly got into them. His arms became a steel cage around me and I rested my head on his chest and his chin rested on top of mine. I absentmindedly drew circles on his shoulder, his warm hands pushed under my shirt and rested on the skin of my back.

“You have a little back.” I felt one of his hands spread out and his fingers almost touched each side.

We stayed that that in a lingering silence, though it didn’t seem silent to me. My ear was right over his beating heart, it comforted me to know he was still here because I’d already lost so much. It felt right now, being with him made me feel like things were finally going to go the right way for me.

It was going to be difficult. The promise we had both just made was practically impossible. I was going to be all over Europe and the US to promote my album and he would be doing his TV show over here.

I didn’t know how but we would manage it.