Born to Run Free

Celia walked into the hotel a few steps ahead of Sean after having spent ten hours on a plane to Seattle. She was still angry that Cooper had left her to go on the promotional tour by herself with Sean since he had to stay in New York City to do some more business. She had begged him to come with her so she wouldn’t be left alone with Sean, but Cooper jokingly told her that he didn’t need to be there when she slept with Sean for the first time, causing a glare from Celia.

Celia and Sean walked up to the front desk to be greeted by a middle aged man, whose nametag told them that his name was Don, and who appeared to be a fan of both of theirs. “Ms. McCall, Mr. Avery,” he exclaimed without either of them saying a word to him. “Welcome to the Radisson. We’re so excited to have the two of you here,” he told them, and Celia rolled her eyes at his enthusiasm. “Well, let me get you checked in and get you your room keys.”

“Thanks,” Celia said with fake enthusiasm as Sean laughed at her.

“Here you go,” Don told them moments later, handing each of them a room key. “You two will be in Suite 740.”

“Wait a minute,” Sean began.

“Are you saying we’re in the same room?” Celia interrupted. “There has to be some mistake.”

Don tapped on his keyboard, looking at the computer screen for a few more moments before looking back up at Sean and Celia. “No, there’s no mistake,” he stated. “You two are booked for Suite 740.”

“Is there any way we can change to two separate rooms?” Celia asked, causing Don to look at her questioningly.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized while shaking his head. “But, we’re all booked up for the weekend. If there’s anything else we can do,” he began, while Celia glared at him.

“Come on, Celia,” Sean began and Celia whipped her head around to look at him. “It can’t be that bad to share a suite with me,” he told her. “It’s a fucking suite, meaning there’s more than one bedroom,” he said, looking at Don for some backup.

“Yes,” Don agreed. “Two bedrooms to be exact.”

“But, I still have to share a bathroom with you,” Celia argued.

Sean rolled his eyes at her before turning towards Don. “Ignore her. She’s PMSing,” he told him, and Celia opened her mouth to interject but Sean cut her off. “We have no problem with the suite,” he promised, grabbing the two keys and his suitcase, walking towards the elevator, leaving Celia standing there with her mouth open in shock.

Celia stood there, watching Sean enter the elevator and she quickly grabbed her suitcase, realizing that Sean had both of the keys and if she didn’t go with him now, there was a good chance she wasn’t ever going to get into the room. She threw her arm into the elevator door just as it was closing. The door opened back up, and Celia walked inside, seeing Sean smirking at her. “Nice of you to join me,” he told her, earning a glare from Celia.

They walked down the hallway, counting down the numbers on the doors until they reached number 740. “Here we go,” Sean said, putting the key in the door. He opened it and walked inside with Celia following him. He walked towards the bedrooms, which were across from each other. ”Which one do you want?” he asked her.

“Aw, look at you,” Celia said sarcastically. “Being all nice and considerate.”

“Yeah, I didn’t want to hear you bitch later about how I somehow screwed you over and gave you the bad bedroom even though they’re exactly the same,” he told her.

“This one,” Celia said, pointing to the room on her right and walking inside, throwing her luggage on the floor. Her cell phone started ringing and she saw Sean look into her room, wondering where the noise was coming from. Celia sat on her bed, answering the phone. “Hey, Coop,” she said, not even needing to look at the phone to know who was calling.

“Hey, Celia, how’s everything going in Seattle?” he asked her.

Celia sighed dramatically before answering. “Why didn’t you tell me that I’d be sharing a suite with Sean?” she questioned. “I thought we’d each get our own room!”

“Celia,” Cooper interrupted, and Celia stopped talking, waiting to see what Cooper was going to say. “You do have your own room,” he pointed out. “A suite has two bedrooms.”

“Shut up!” Celia exclaimed, angry at Cooper’s logic. “You know what I mean! I have to spend practically every waking moment with him, and now you want me to sleep across the hall from him, too?” she questioned. “Coop, come on!”

“Celia, I didn’t make the room arrangements,” he told her. “So, don’t yell at me about it. Besides, it’s only a little over a month. You can survive that long with him. It’s Sean that I’m worried abou. How long is he going to be able to handle being around you?”

“Hey!” Celia yelled.

“What?” Cooper asked.

“That was just mean!” Celia whined.

“Yeah, but it was the truth,” Cooper pointed out, and Celia had no choice but to nod her head in agreement. “Now, forget about the living arrangements and get to sleep. You’ve got some interviews early tomorrow morning,” Cooper reminded her.

“Yeah,” Celia said. “I’ll talk to you later. Bye,” she said before hanging up the phone. But, instead of listening to Cooper, she walked over to her suitcase, unzipping it. She pulled out a black miniskirt and a silver halter top, changing her clothes. She walked out into the living room area to see Sean sitting on the couch.

He turned around when he heard her footsteps and saw her grab the card key off the table and start heading towards the door. “Where are you off to?” he called after her.

“Out,” she yelled back without turning around, walking straight out the door and shutting it behind her.

***

Sean stared at the clock on the small desk next to his bed, wondering where Celia was. It wasn’t that he was exactly concerned for her welfare, but he didn’t want her to not show up to the interview in the morning, and somehow he be blamed for it. He watched as the time turned to 3:18, and he sighed. Where was she?

An hour later, he heard the door slam shut, and he knew that Celia was finally back. He watched as she entered her bedroom, and he couldn’t believe her appearance. Her dress was all messed up, and her hair was all out of place. It was obvious that she had just had sex, and he wondered if she was completely wasted, too.

From what he had heard about her, he wouldn’t be surprised to hear that she was drunk. It apparently wasn’t uncommon to find her in a bar a lot of the time. He only wondered how she could still be as good of a player as she was and still go out drinking all the time. He didn’t allow himself to think about it any longer as he rolled over, trying to get some sleep before he had to be up again in a couple of hours.

His alarm clock woke him up two hours later, and he got out of bed and walked to the bathroom only to hear the shower already running. He was surprised to find that Celia was already up, given the fact that she had gotten back so late.

Moments later, the door opened and Celia walked out, a towel wrapped around her torso. She jumped back a little, seeing Sean standing there, but she instantly composed herself. “Stop staring and get in there and do your thing. I’m going to need back in there in a few minutes,” she told him. Sean rolled his eyes at her demands, shutting the door behind him.

Celia walked into her bedroom, shutting the door behind her. Her phone started ringing, and she groaned as she quickly picked it up. “Don’t worry, Coop. I’m up and I’m getting ready as we speak,” she told him.

“I’m just checking in,” Cooper told her, and Celia smiled to herself. “So, how was your night last night?” he asked her. “Which bar did you go to?”

“You told me to go to sleep when I hung up with you last night,” Celia reminded him. “What makes you think that I went out afterwards?” she questioned.

“Because I know you, Cel,” he stated. “And, you went out last night to some bar. I’m guessing you didn’t drink too much, but did you go home with some random guy?”

“God, Coop, it’s scary how well you know me,” Celia told him, dropping her towel as she put on her undergarments. “Shit,” she suddenly blurted out.

“What?” Cooper asked urgently.

“I left my glasses in the bathroom,” she told him. “You know I’m practically blind without them,” she reminded him.

“So, go get them,” Cooper told her with a laugh, wondering why she was stressing out about them so much.

“Sean’s in there right now,” she said, sighing. “Hey, I’ll call you after the interview okay?” she asked Cooper.

“Okay. Don’t do anything that’s going to piss me off, okay, Cel?” Cooper asked.

“Yeah, I’ll talk to you later,” she told him, hanging up the phone and opening the door to her bedroom, forgetting that she was still in just her bra and underwear. She walked down to the bathroom, hearing the shower running. Figuring, she would be able to sneak in, grab her glasses, and sneak out without being noticed, she opened the door.

Much to her surprise, at that exact moment, the shower shut off and the curtain opened, revealing a dripping wet, naked Sean who simply stared at her, wondering what she was doing in the bathroom. “Couldn’t resist me?” he smirked, figuring he’d make a joke out of it all.

“Here,” Celia said, throwing a towel at him. “And, I didn’t come here to look at you. I came in here to get my glasses,” she informed him, grabbing her glasses off of the sink and putting them on.

“And, you couldn’t wait two minutes for me to get out of the shower to get your glasses?” he questioned. “Admit it, you just wanted to see me naked.”

“You wish,” Celia countered, walking out of the room, as she shut the door behind her and fanned herself both from the heat of the shower and Sean’s body.