Cinderella for Hire

"How many glasses of champagne did you have?" asked Nicholas, his eyebrows furrowed. I giggled again. Gosh, I wished he would stop doing that. He looked adorable when he was curious…slash frustrated…

I just wanted to pinch his cheeks and go "who's the cutie? Who's the cutie? Yoouu are!"

"Three."

"Three?! You had three glasses and you're already drunk?!"

Uh-oh, someone was getting angry again.

"I was hungry!" I said, pouting. "All they had was tiny bite-sized things. I swear the strawberries in those champagnes looked bigger. So following that logic…" I trailed off, giving him a sheepish smile. Then he displayed an emotion I never thought he'd ever display in such a lowly presence i.e. me. I wasn't sure if he was actually feeling guilty though. Might be my mind playing vicious tricks on me.

"Damn it," he hissed, leaning back against his seat in the car while running his hand through his hair. "I forgot that you were hungry. I'll cook you something when we get back to my apartment."

I think my brain actually malfunctioned that moment and I sputtered out incoherent words. "You can cook?" I asked, hope filling my…well, tummy.

"No," he said, smirking. "So you'll do the cooking instead."

"You're an ass."



I woke up with a jolt by the sound of a closing door and a running tap. The dark grey blinds were drawn, streaming sunlight into the room. I was nestled around a number of white, fluffy pillows and was wrapped around a dark brown comforter.

My bed was small and had Hello Kitty on them.

I sat upright on the bed, the sudden movement made me slightly nauseated. Ugh, and what was that throbbing, piercing pain against my head? Go awaaaay.

Any normal person at this point would probably question where he/she was and get the hell out of there at once. But holy macaroni, the headache I was experiencing was so painful it felt as if Edward Scissorhands was squeezing my brain out.

"Good morning, the love of my life. Apparently."

That drawl. It was familiar. It brought sheer annoyance.

Nicholas.

Gah! And I was beginning to think that was all a dream.

"Your snore would scare off a rhino," he continued on. I struggled to open my eyes. "It's a good thing, I guess, since I didn't even need to set the alarm on my phone to wake up this morning."

"What are you talking about?" I groaned, rubbing my temples. "I don't snore."

"You do. Since you've so generously passed out on my bed last night, I had to sleep on the couch outside. And all night long, I swear to God, it was as if you were sleeping right beside me with a microphone attached to your mouth."

"Oh Nicholas, you say such romantic things," I said, rolling my eyes and trying to crawl out of bed. "Put some clothes on," I said, realizing that he only had a pair of sweatpants on and a towel around his neck. Flustered, I tried not to focus on his abs.

The back of his head. Yep. That was a good spot to stare instead.

"Well then, get out of my room," he said, opening his wardrobe. I was impressed actually by how organized things were in his wardrobe. Plus, everything looked ridiculously expensive. "Honestly though, I've never met anyone who would get drunk just by having 3 glasses of champagne. It's hilarious."

"Ha-ha," I replied, glaring. Although I didn't see how my glare would be really effective since I was still staring at the back of his head.

Well, I guessed I was relieved more than anything that he didn't do anything funny to me when I was out. The comforter rustled around me as I moved slightly. Guilt kicked in as I realized that he had to sleep on the couch because I took up his bed.

"Sorry," I muttered.

He turned around with a blue shirt in his hands. I could tell he was going to say something really sarcastic but for some reason stopped himself.

"I don't mind," he finally said. "I've been thinking actually, how easier it would be if you were to stay here instead of your apartment for a couple of days, or weeks. It'll be a busy couple of months, and you live way too far for my convenience."

"Do you have a guest room?"

"Do I look like I have a guest room?" he shot back.

"Well, you could've just said 'no'."

He sighed. "I had one but I transformed it into an entertainment room instead. I'll see what I can do."

"It's okay, I can always sleep on the couch," I said. I didn't really want to revamp his apartment just to have me around. "No weird stuff."

He scoffed. "Please, if any one of us here is into weird stuff, it'll probably be you."

"What are you saying? No I'm not!"

"Yeah, yeah. Now get out. I want to change."