Born to Run Free

Celia rolled over the following morning, wishing the migraine she currently had would go away. She slowly opened her eyes and looked down at the sheets, not recognizing them as her own. She groaned to herself, knowing she needed to get out of the mystery guy’s place before he woke up. That was always her plan. She never stayed long enough for the awkward conversation the next morning after sleeping with a random guy.

She slowly rolled back over, glancing at the guy, and her eyes went wide when she recognized the face of the person lying next to her. She quickly jumped out of bed, making sure not to disturb Sean, who was still sleeping, and she walked out of the room, quietly shutting the door behind her.

She looked at the floor and saw their clothes scattered all over the place, and memories of last night came rushing back to her. She closed her eyes, scolding herself for getting so drunk to actually have sex with Sean. She walked into her bedroom, searching through her bag for the bottle of aspirin that she always kept. After finding it, she popped two pills while searching for her cell phone.

Just as she found it, it started ringing, startling her a bit. She answered it, not even needing to check to see who was calling her. “Coop, can you not yell at me right now? I have a major migraine, and I may have made a really stupid mistake last night,” she told him.

“What did you do?” Cooper questioned. “Besides get too drunk?”

“I may have slept with Sean,” she admitted, lying down on her bed, pinching her nose.

“You may have?” Cooper laughed. “Were you that drunk that you don’t remember? Or was Sean not that memorable?”

Celia thought back to the night before and how good Sean had made her feel. Sean was definitely one man she wasn’t going to forget anytime soon. “Oh, he was memorable,” Celia told Cooper.

“Okay, I don’t want to hear any details,” Cooper interrupted her before she could continue.

“What the fuck am I going to do?” Celia questioned.

“What do you mean what are you going to do?” Cooper asked. “It’s not like this is the first time you’ve gotten drunk and had sex with some guy,” he reminded her.

“No, but I’ve never had to see the guy every day for the next month before either,” she pointed out.

“You were both drunk, right?” Cooper asked, and Celia nodded her head even though she knew Cooper couldn’t see her. “Well, then it’s not a big deal. You’ll forget about it and move on. I’m sure you two will be at each other’s throats in like two hours anyways,” he added with a laugh.

“Forget about it,” Celia repeated Cooper’s words as she turned around and looked out the door into the hallway just in time to see a naked Sean open the door to his bedroom and go to the bathroom, rubbing the top of his head along the way. “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to do that,” Celia mumbled, making no effort to hide the fact that she was blatantly checking Sean out.

“What do you mean?” Cooper asked through the phone, bringing Celia out of her thoughts.

“Uh, nothing,” she quickly said. “You’re right. I’m sure we’ll be at each other’s throats in a couple of hours,” she agreed. “I’m going to let you go so I can get ready for the day, but I’ll call you later today.”

“Oh, wait a minute,” Cooper called out, and Celia put the phone back to her ear.

“Yeah?” she asked him.

“I forgot to tell you, I’m going to be meeting you in Texas next week,” Cooper informed her, and Celia let out a yell of happiness. “I thought you’d be happy to hear that,” Cooper said just as Sean came walking in her bedroom, seeing if everything was okay after he had heard her yell.

Celia looked up at Sean before saying to Cooper, “Coop, I’m going to let you go, but I’ll see you in a few days. Bye.” She hung up and then looked back up at Sean. “Do you want to get dressed?” she asked him, noticing he still had no clothes on.

“You had no problem with me like this last night,” he reminded her.

“Yeah, and I was also completely drunk off my ass, in case you forgot. But, I can see why you’d want to block taking complete advantage of an innocent girl from your mind,” she stated.

“You think I took advantage of you?” Sean questioned, outraged. “I was just as shitfaced as you were. And, if my memory serves me correctly, you had a good time last night. I recall you telling me many times last night that I was the best you’ve ever had.”

“If you were as shitfaced as you say you were, you wouldn’t remember what I said,” she told him, even though she did remember saying those exact words to him last night. Though, she had blamed the alcohol impairing her brain at the time.

Sean simply shook his head, walking back towards his room to put clothes on for the day, as Celia went and collapsed on her bed, trying to figure out what to do.

Over the next few days, Celia and Sean were back at each other’s throats, just like Cooper had said. But, it wasn’t like it was before their drunken night together. There was always that sexual tension hanging between them, not that either one of them would admit that they were attracted to the other. Both wanted the upper hand, and they believed that by admitting they liked the other one, they would be at a disadvantage.

Celia woke up that Thursday morning in Texas, as happy as she could remember being in a while. Cooper was supposed to meet her at a local news station’s studio, and she couldn’t wait to see him again. It had been far too long in Celia’s opinion to go without seeing your best friend.

She walked out of her bedroom and into the living room area of the suite with a hop in her step. She still couldn’t figure out why Reebok insisted on putting her and Sean in a suite in every city, but she had finally stopped complaining about it and instead accepted it. “What’s gotten you in such a good mood?” she heard Sean ask, and she spun around to see Sean grabbing a granola bar out of the box in the kitchen.

“Cooper’s coming today,” she said with a smile on her face. Sean couldn’t help but think how beautiful she looked when she was smiling, which was a rarity, but he immediately shook the thought from his mind.

“You get this excited for some guy coming?” Sean questioned. “Damn, I never would have thought your heart was capable of loving someone that much,” he joked.

“Cooper’s my best friend,” she stated. “He’s been there for me through everything,” she defended.

“Okay,” Sean said, walking back to his bedroom.

Moments later, there was a knock on the door, and Celia slowly walked over, calling out to Sean, “Sean, did you order room service?” He yelled back that he hadn’t and Celia looked out the peephole to see who it was. She threw the door open when she saw Cooper standing on the other side, she wrapped her arms around her best friend. “I can’t believe you’re here!” she exclaimed, and Sean came walking out to the living room to see what all the commotion was about. “I thought you were meeting me at the studio?” she asked.

“I was going to, but my flight got here early, so I thought I’d surprise you,” he told her. He looked over her shoulder to see Sean standing there, leaning against the wall. “Hey, Sean,” he said to him.

“Cooper,” Sean acknowledged with a nod of his head while he walked back to his room once again to get ready for the day.

Cooper and Celia caught up on everything, including Celia telling him how exactly she had ended up in Sean’s bed the week before. Cooper glanced down at his watch, realizing that they needed to get going to make it to the studio on time, and Celia ran to her room, grabbing one of the many jackets Reebok had given her. She walked back out and noticed that Sean still wasn’t out there. “Sean, get your ass out here before we’re late!” she screamed, only to be met by a laugh from Cooper.

“Calm down,” Sean said, walking past her. “Come on, we’re going to be late,” he called as he walked out the door. Celia rolled her eyes, but followed him out the door anyways, with Cooper at her side.

Over the next four hours, Cooper listened to Sean and Celia bicker, and he couldn’t help but laugh at the two of them. After filming a few bits for the program, they were finally allowed to leave, and Celia immediately wrapped her arm around Cooper, asking him where he wanted to go for lunch. “Aren’t you going to invite Sean?” Cooper asked.

Celia turned around to look at Sean flirting with one of the camera women, and she shook her head. “I don’t think so,” she said bitterly, turning back around and walking towards the exit. “Where do you want to go to eat?” she asked, not wanting to talk about Sean anymore.

“I don’t care,” Cooper said.

Sitting down to eat their lunch, Cooper looked over at Celia. “You know, I’ve never seen you like this before with a guy,” he told her, taking a bite of his sandwich.

“What?” Celia asked, her mouth still full of food. She chewed before continuing. “You’ve never seen me hate a guy this much before?” she asked, taking a sip of her Diet Coke.

“No, I’ve never seen you this jealous of a guy before,” Cooper told her, causing Celia to choke on her drink. He patted her back, asking, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she told him. “But, I’m not jealous of Sean,” she assured him.

“Come on, Cel,” Cooper said. “I see the way you look at him.”

“Yeah, like I can’t stand him,” Celia told him. “Coop, he’s the most arrogant, self-centered, flirty guy I’ve ever met!” she exclaimed.

“You know, he sounds like the male equivalent of someone I know,” Cooper began, and Celia looked over at him and glared. “Hmmm, I just wish I could remember who. Oh, wait! He’s the male equivalent of my best friend!” he exclaimed sarcastically. “Admit it, Celia. You’re falling for him.”

“I am not falling for him,” Celia stated. “I can’t stand him.”

“And, yet you slept with him,” Cooper pointed out.

“And, yet I was wasted,” Celia countered.

“Just be careful,” Cooper said sincerely.

Celia looked up from her sandwich to look at Cooper curiously. “What do you mean by that?” she asked.

“I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“Coop, I don’t like him!” she exclaimed.

“I’m just worried about what you’re going to do to prove that,” Cooper said, and Celia gave him a look that said she didn’t understand what he was talking about. “Celia, don’t do anything stupid to try to prove that point. I know you, and I know what you’re capable of when you’re jealous. Or, when you’re not jealous,” he added with a laugh when he saw her about to argue with him. “Just be careful,” he repeated.