Flash Photography

I was pretty sure I’d win the bet.

When Pat found out I was a girl – I’d forgotten to remove the nail polish on my toes – we made a bet. I made him promise not to tell anyone that I’m a girl, first and foremost. Then, we made bets on who would be the last of the guys to find out about me and when.

Pat put fifty bucks on Garrett being the last to find out, and another twenty on top of that if everyone found out before the tour finished. I put fifty bucks on John, and my twenty on top of that if everyone found out after the tour finished.

…Yeah, I was pretty sure I’d win the bet.

I woke up the next morning when I got a text, my phone vibrating in my pocket. I rolled over onto my back to check it, hitting Pat for a minute, but thankfully he didn’t wake up. The text was from Tay, telling me to wake up the guys and get downstairs for breakfast. I smiled and sent her a reply before turning to Pat. “Hey, man, wake up.”

“No,” was his muffled reply. He was wrapped up in the sheets and his head was covered with a pillow. Blanket hog.

“Come on, we’ve got to get up,” I sighed, gently rubbing his back this time.

Pat rolled around to face me…and it wasn’t Pat. “Well, no one’s ever woken me up like that before, Chace.”

My face burned with embarrassment and I quickly slipped off the bed, getting to my feet. “Would you rather I yell and push you off the bed or something?” I asked snidely, but John just smirked and shook his head, unwrapping himself from his cocoon of blankets to reveal that he was only in his boxers... Dear god. “I just figured I’d let you off easy since you came back so drunk last night,” I added, glancing up at the other guys, who were still asleep. I went about waking them up as well while John lazily made his way to the bathroom.

“I thought we were sharing a bed last night,” Pat teased when the others had gone downstairs. It was just me and him in the hotel room now. Well, John was in the bathroom, too, but he didn’t count. “What exactly happened between you two, huh?”

“Nothing, Pat,” I said through gritted teeth, throwing a cardigan on over my shirt and slipping my TOMS onto my feet. “He was drunk and I was asleep and I guess he must’ve just picked the bed closest to the door…” I trailed off.

Pat grinned so wide his eyes crinkled at the corners in that “I know who you like” kind of face that you would give your best friend in middle school. I just wanted to punch his pretty little face at that moment, but in all honesty, I could never do anything like that to Pat. And if anyone tried I knew I’d kill them first.

We heard the water in the shower turn off, so Pat took that as his cue to leave – to leave me alone with John. Fucking little… “Thanks for waiting for me, Chace,” John said as he came out of the steaming bathroom, toweling his hair dry.

“No problem,” I said as I began to make our bed.

“Chace, bro, what are you doing that for?” John laughed, slipping a shirt on over his head and tossing his towel onto the rack. “We’re leaving this hotel tonight, anyways, you neat freak.” I sighed, but finished fixing our bed, and all the other beds in the room. I am a neat freak; I freely admit it. “So, can we go now?” John asked impatiently, actually waiting for me by the door.

My answer of “Sure” turned into a panicked “Where are we going?” when he dragged me out of the hotel.

“I need greasy fast food to combat this hang over, Chace, and you’re coming with me to get it,” John declared, his hand still wrapped around my wrist.

We found this little hole in the wall burger place. John opened the door for me first, which surprised me quite a bit. He kind of had to kick me into the restaurant because I just stood there looking at him in awe and people were piling up behind us…

He made me sit down at a table and he ordered food for us – a lot of it. John is lanky and stuff, but the guy sure can eat. I made sure to scarf my food down so I wouldn’t eat too much. I shifted uncomfortably, finding the ambience of the busy restaurant and the silence between us rather uneasy for some reason, but that was just me, I guess. I mean, John was apparently enjoying his food very much.

John started telling me about the last time he got this drunk while he finished off my fries. I was always content to hear John’s stories. He was easy on the eyes and even better on the ears. “… and the Jared was like – ah, fuck, hot fries!” John winced, quickly withdrawing his hand and licking his fingers. I choked back my laughter at his childishness. “Honey badger don’t care,” he muttered almost to himself as he grabbed the carton of fries and poured the rest into his mouth.

Oh, man, I don’t know how long I can handle him.

We went back to the hotel in a considerably better mood, probably because we just ate, but also because…well, I don’t know, exactly, things just felt better between us… which was also a cause of alarm for me.

John held my wrist the whole time we were walking around.

He opened the door for me and made me go in first.

He paid for my food.

...Did he know that I was a girl, or...?

“Where’d you go?” Tay asked when we ran into her in the lobby. “I was looking all over for you, Chace,” she said, hugging me, and later whispering into my ear, “What were you doing with John, hmm?”

I scowled at Tay, which only made her laugh. John wandered off to the guys eating breakfast at the tables, though. I sat down with Tay after I grabbed myself a bowl of cereal and poured coffee in it. Yes, cereal and coffee. Tay stared at me like I was crazy, but I needed to wash the fast food down with something. “Nothing happened, alright?” I muttered under my breath, eating some of my concoction.

“Oh, yeah, I’m sure 'nothing happened', which is why he was rolling his eyes and walking away so fast when I came up to hug you, right?” Tay asked after a long sip of orange juice.

“I…wait, what?” I didn’t see that happen…so I didn’t want to believe it.

…But Tay and those perfectly waxed eyebrows of hers wiggling up and down at me, ugh.