Spinning.

Waking up the next morning was hard.

I wanted nothing more than to stay buried under the blankets, John's arms still lazily wrapped around me as he slept. The sun was poking in through the windows and the room was so warm, making it so easy to just close my eyes again and go to sleep. Unfortunately though, I was awake and I had to accept that.

I rolled over, allowing myself to study John for the hundredth time as he slept, his chest tattoos softly rising and falling with each breath. I silently giggled to myself as I caught sight of the hickeys from last night's fun on him; he'd definitely have to wear a shirt for the next couple of shows. My eyes traveled up to his face, the dusting of freckles on his nose and cheeks complementing the small smile that was in place, even in his sleep.

I was broken from my thoughts by his lids fluttering open, the olive eyes behind them sleepily adjusting to his surroundings. Realizing where he was, the smile that was on his face as he slept grew wider.

“Good morning,” he mumbled, kissing me.

“How'd you sleep?” I moved closer, pressing myself up against him.

“Best sleep I've had in ages.” He yawned, rolling onto his back. “How about you?”

“I'd have to agree.” I smiled, resting my head on his chest. John reached up, running his fingers gently through my bed head as we cuddled together. “Let's just never get up.”

He laughed. “That sounds like it'd be wonderful, but I don't know that the others would like our plan so much.”

“They can deal with it. I'm way too comfortable to move.” I snuggled in closer, John grinning at my response.

“I'm not complaining.” We stayed together for another few minutes, both of us contentedly laying together, before John finally moved.

“Not that I want to leave this, but I've gotta pee.” He confessed, slipping out of bed. I pretended to pout at him, jutting out my lower lip in protest and earning another kiss from him. A chuckle escaped my lips as I watched him walk to the bathroom, sneaking a peek at his butt since we were both still naked. A minute later, there was a knock at the door.

“Hang on a sec!” I jumped up, looking for something-- anything to wear. I ended up stealing a pair of John's boxers and one of his sweaters, running over to the door before pulling it open. Tessa was standing on the other side, smirking as she gave me the once-over.

“Someone had a good night?”

“Yup.” I tried to nonchalantly answer, feeling myself blush. “What's up?”

“Well Jared and I were wondering if you two would like to go out to brunch before I have to go to the airport.”

“How soon were you thinking?”

“Whenever you two were ready.” She shrugged. “P.S, nice hickey there.”

My hands flew up to my neck, causing Tessa to bust out laughing.

“It's by your collarbone.” She informed me, trying to quiet down.

“Thanks. Uh, yeah I think that sounds good.”

“What sounds good?” John appeared behind me, a towel wrapped around his waist.

“Brunch?” Tessa

“Sounds good.” John shrugged, looking at me. “We've gotta shower first but...”

I blushed, nudging him with my elbow. “That's not what it sounds like.” I assured Tessa, who had started laughing at us again.

“Judging by your appearances, I don't believe you.” She grinned. “Anyways, just text me when you're ready. We'll be waiting!”

I closed the door as she left, turning to see a highly amused John. “Nice hickey.” He smirked, strolling over to his bag and pulling out some clean clothes.

“I could say the same for you.” I returned, moving around the room to pick up the clothes that were thrown everywhere from the night before.

John laughed and moved past me, my eyes following him and catching sight of his back.

“Oh shit.” I gasped, seeing that last night left his back covered in thin red scratch lines. I had no idea how I missed them earlier, because they were very prominent against his fair skin.

“What?” He turned and looked at me, curious.

“Uh... your back...”

“What about it?”

“It's... ah... a little scratched up from last night.” I bit my lip.

John walked over to the mirror, turning so he could look at it.

“Damn. That's gonna leave a mark.” he laughed, turning to see my worried expression. “Why the face?”

“I uh... didn't that hurt?”

“You're worried about hurting me?” He cocked an eyebrow at me.

I nodded sheepishly, suddenly embarrassed.

“Hey, come here.” He waved me over, pulling me into a hug.

“Don't worry about it. I tend to like getting a little rough.” John chuckled. “I promise I'll tell you if it's too much. And honestly, that was great sex.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me, causing me to giggle.

“Well that's good to know.”

“The shower offer is still open, you know.”

“I know... Wait, how did you know to walk out with a towel on when Tessa was here? You didn't shower then.”

“The walls are pretty thin. I could hear her laughing.”

“Oh god,” I covered my face with my hands. “What if people like... heard us?”

“People have sex in hotels all the time. Calm down.” John stifled a chuckle, watching as my face turned bright red. “Now come on, let's get clean... if you know what I mean.”

I playfully hit his chest. “You have way too much fun with this.”

“Maybe I do. But you know you like it.”

I rolled my eyes, following him into the bathroom before peeling off his sweater and boxers and looking in the mirror. Now it was John's turn to have his eyes grow wide while I busted out laughing.

“Those--” John pointed at my hips, where there were traces of hand-shaped bruises from the night before. Looking further up, there was practically a trail of bite marks and hickeys on my chest.

“I think we both like it rough.” I finally told him, controlling my laughter. “Wow, I look like I'm out of a porno or something.”

“Oh shit, I can't believe I did that.”

“It's fine. I had fun.” I turned around, looking at him. “So are you going to keep staring me or get into the shower?”

John didn't have to be told twice, pulling the shower curtain aside and stepping inside before turning on the water to practically scalding.

“Shit, you trying to burn your skin off?” I turned the water temperature to something more bearable, laughing at his astonished expression.

“How do you shower with any colder? That's practically freezing!” He adjusted the water so it was between the two temperatures. “How's that?”

I giggled. “I suppose I'll get used to it.” Grabbing my shampoo bottle, I popped the top open. “So, want to smell like a girl?”

“No thanks.” He shook his head, grinning as he held his hand out. I squirted some shampoo into his hands, letting him rub them together before starting to work his way through my hair.

“Mm, it's like a scalp massage.”

“There are perks to having such long fingers.”

“Eew, you're gross.” I squealed, grabbing his shampoo as I turned to rinse my hair out.

“Watch it now, or you'll have to shower alone.”

“Oh, the horror.” I smirked. “You've gotta lean down, I'm too short to reach the top of your head.”

“Fine,” John teased. “You're such a midget.”

I ignored him and let my fingers work their way over his scalp, humming to myself as I went. John pressed a kiss to my forehead before rinsing out his hair, grabbing my body wash.

“This smells super girly, doesn't it?”

“Yup.” I grinned at him, grabbing my loofah and practically dousing it with the cherry-blossom scented wash. John tried to take the loofah from me, but instead I ran it down his chest and smirked.

“Ah! I smell like a girl!” John pretended to be disgusted, playfully slapping my hands away.

“But you'll be so clean!”

“Yeah but then I'll smell like you.”

“So? You like how I smell.”

“Yeah, when it's how you smell.” He took the loofah from me, brushing my hair behind my shoulder before gently pressing it to me, rubbing in small circles.

I watched him as he worked, trying to bite back the smile on his face. He was surprisingly focused as he carefully made his way down my torso, making sure he didn't miss any spots. When he finished on the front, he took his finger and wiped off some of the suds on my skin, redistributing them on my nose.

“Hey!” I squealed, wiping my nose off.

“You looked so cute though.” He pouted. “I still need to do your back.”

I sighed, turning around. While he worked on my back, I took the time to put some conditioner in my hair, using a hair tie to keep my out of John's way while the conditioner soaked in. The sensation of John's fingers on my back caused me to jump, catching me off guard from the previous sensation of the loofah tickling my skin. It hardly took a second to realize that John was drawing on my back, his tongue sticking out slightly as he worked.

“What are you drawing?” I tried to turn and look, but I wasn't able to see it.

“Here, let me do it again.” He redrew the image, letting me imagine the image in my head. “Know what it is?”

“Two stick people with a heart between them?” I giggled, knowing who the people were supposed to be.

“No, us.”

I turned around, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him. “You're cute.”

“I try.”

I grabbed his body wash, looking around to see if he had a wash cloth or something to use.

“I just use my hands.” He laughed, watching me as I looked around confused.

“What?”

“I'm a dude. I don't use weird scrubby things.”

“You're a dork.” I told him, pouring some soap into my hand.

“You just said I was cute.”

“You are. You're also a dork.” I began to carefully massage the soap across his chest, careful to avoid pressing too hard on the hickeys from the night before.

“Mm, I should shower with you more often.” He smirked. “That feels fantastic.”

I chuckled, gesturing for him to turn around. “Don't get too carried away here buddy, we've got brunch with Jared and Tessa to go to yet.”

John sighed, letting me work on the knots on his back as I tried to avoid getting too much soap in the scratches. “And judging by your war wounds, we should probably take it easy for a little bit.”

“Oh whatever, I'm fine.” He laughed, rinsing the body wash off. “But I do want a kiss before we finish.”

I leaned up, pecking him on the lips before turning off the water. “Alright, we've gotta get ready.”

“Man, you're lucky I like you so much.” John chucked, making sure I didn't slip as I climbed out of the shower. “I could have totally gone for shower sex.”

“I know you could have.” I patted his chest, handing him a towel. “Down boy, down.”

John pouted, taking the towel from me and drying off his hair before wrapping it around his waist.

“What, you're not going to dry the rest of yourself off?” I asked him, busy drying my body off.

“No, I figured I'd wait until you were dry and then do this.” He wrapped his arms around me, letting the water droplets on his upper body rub off on me.

“That wasn't very nice.” Jutting my lower lip out, I shot him puppy dog eyes.

“Well shucks, with a face like that I think I'm sorry.” He chuckled, kissing me. I rolled my eyes at him, giving him a passionate kiss, then left him in the bathroom while I dried off again and got dressed.

“Hey! That wasn't very nice!” He called after me.

“You were asking for it!”

“Tease.” He grumbled, coming out of the bathroom. We both finished getting ready, making sure that you couldn't see any evidence of the night before, then made our way up to Tessa and Jared's room.

I knocked on the door, waiting only a second before Jared appeared behind it.

“Hey guys!”

“Hey, Tessa said something about brunch?” John asked, peering behind Jared.

“Yeah! Come on in, Tessa's just finishing up packing and then we can go.”

Tessa looked up from her suitcase as we came in, flashing both of us a grin.

“Nice cover up,” she chuckled, noting the scarf draped around my neck.

“Thanks. I like to think I try.” I smirked, adjusting the fabric so it wasn't choking me.

Jared looked between us, confused.

“Alright!” Tessa closed her bag, standing up. “Brunch!”

John slipped his fingers between mine as we left the hotel, the four of us chatting happily about current events and other random conversation topics. Tessa and Jared had found a little greasy spoon diner the day before that they swore was some of the best food they had ever had; from the outside, it looked pretty average, but once we got inside we were pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere.

Tessa asked the question I had been waiting for the moment we were seated: “So, how was the big first date?”

“It was so good!” I gushed, linking my fingers with John's. “We had dinner at the space needle and then went dancing! But not like, drunk people grinding dancing. Like, legitimate dancing. With a swing band! On a boat!”

“Look at you John, planning romantic evenings out.” Jared chuckled, playfully nudging John across the table.

John laughed, pulling me closer to him. “I think I've been on the phone with Ava every day for the past week making sure I was planning something you'd like. I'm not very good at the whole romance thing.”

“Oh pshaw!” Tessa waved, negating John's previous statement. “Yes you are. You just don't have faith in yourself.”

I giggled, watching as John's face turned bright red. Fortunately for John, the waitress came over and took our orders, disrupting the conversation and causing everyone to stop and decide what we wanted to eat

“So what did you guys do yesterday?” Taking advantage of the distraction, I moved the conversation in a different direction.

John shot me a relieved look, thankful that I had changed the topic.

“Well we started out at Pike's Place-- we stood in line forever to get coffee at the original Starbuck's, then went to the crumpet shoppe to get breakfast.” Jared began to recount the events of their day, screwing up his face as he thought back.

“Ah man, the crumpet shoppe is good. Great choice.” I nodded.

“Yeah, it was pretty tasty. Anyways, then we wandered around Pike's for a while, watching the fish guys throwing stuff and adding a couple pieces of gum to the gum wall. Tessa was all over the fresh food, so we got a bunch of food and then made our own lunch... then we looked through other little shops for a while. Afterwards we wandered the waterfront, then went to the Seattle Art Museum.”

“I love the art museum!”

“Me too!” Tessa gushed. “The Picasso exhibit they had there was so cool! Also I like how they have so many modern works, instead of being so heavily focused on older works.

“Yeah the SAM is pretty cool like that. Ah man I used to go there all the time for classes, my favorite exhibit was when they had a Mappelthorpe collective, he was really just brilliant.” Just the thought of the Seattle Art Museum brought back so many memories, and being able to talk about art was one of my favorite things. I always felt like art was such an underrated subject, especially since so few people were aware of how much art was really out there.

“What? You like Mappelthorpe too?” Tessa squealed.

“Wait, how do you know so much about Art History?” John interjected, thoroughly confused.

“John. Both of my parents are artists. How do you think I know so much?” She rolled her eyes, causing Jared to start snickering. “It had to rub off one way or another.”

“Oh god Tessa you opened up the floodgates. I'm pretty sure I'm about to hardcore nerd out here.”

“And on that note, I'm going to run to the bathroom.” John commented, sliding out of the booth.

“Yeah I think I'll go with you.” Jared added, following him.

“Wow, it's like they're girls.” I chuckled, watching them leave.

“Yeah, I mean they pretty much are. But since they're gone, how were the after-date festivities?” Wiggling her eyebrows, Tessa smirked at me.

“Oh god, we're not talking about this!” I nervously laughed, blushing.

“Oh come on, I can bet you money that Jared's asking him the same question. And that he responded the exact same way.”

“You seriously want to know?”

“Hell yeah I do! I saw that hickey.”

“Well, it was good--”

“Just good?” She cocked an eyebrow at me. “Not great? Not olympian performance?”

“I- uh, no, I mean, it was great. It was some of the best I've had.”

“Got any more little love marks like that one?” Tessa smirked, gesturing to the one covered by my scarf.

“Yeah, and then some.” I laughed.

“Whoa, are you saying you two like it rough?”

“No,” I innocently answered, trying to cover my grin, “but you should see him.”

“Oh my god you do!” She squealed, trying to keep quiet so people didn't stare at us. “I want the dirty details.”

“You're kidding me,” I chuckled, rolling my eyes.

“Do I look like I'm kidding? Now spill.”

“Where am I even supposed to start?”

“How about the part where you both started sucking each other's faces?”

“Oh god. Um, well, we had kind of been teasing each other most of the night about when we got back, so pretty much the second we got into the elevator to go back to my room it started.”

“And?”

“What do you mean and?”

“Jesus I have to squeeze this out of you!”

“Well, I don't really talk about this kind of stuff a lot?”

“Back on topic. Did he totally just take you on, or was it sweet and slow?”

“We'll go with the first one.”

“Oh, ravaging each other in the elevator. I like it.”

“Shut up.” My face was turning bright red.

“Anyways, then what? You two had to get from the elevator to the room.”

“Yeah, well we stopped the second the door opened, which was good because there was totally an old couple right waiting to go down the elevator.”

“And what happened once you got into the room?”

“Clothes started flying off.” I tried to bite back the grin on my face. As shy as I was talking about sex, it did feel kind of good to kiss and tell, so to speak.

“Damn, you guys wasted no time huh?”

“Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

Tessa's eyes flicked behind me, causing me to turn my head. Jared and John were walking back, John's cheeks flushed as he and Jared chatted.

“So, Mappelthorpe?” Tessa laughed, winking at me. I giggled, John and Jared giving us confused looks as they slid back into the booth.

“Sure, but more importantly, what took you guys so long? Fixing your make-up?” I smirked, causing both John and Jared to blush.

“We, uh, got sidetracked.” John's cheeks grew even darker, making it difficult for Tessa and Jared to restrain their laughter.

“And what were you sidetracked with?” Tessa asked, using every ounce of her energy to not laugh.

“Guy things.” John shortly answered. “What about you two? What did you talk about while we were gone?”

“Just... stuff.” I innocently answered, unable to avoid blushing.

“I'm sure you two had plenty to chat about: one, you never shut up when you're together--” Jared teased, earning a playful shove from Tessa.

“-- and two, rumor has it that there was plenty to catch up on from the last night.” He finished, causing both John and I to turn bright red.

“Alright, that's enough of that.” John cut in, thoroughly embarrassed. “We're talking about something else now.”

And with perfect timing, the waitress returned with our food. For the next fifteen minutes, the only words uttered had to do with how good the food was, the sounds of forks scraping against plates and silverware clanking filling the space as we all practically devoured our meals.

“Holy shit,” John sat back, patting his stomach as he stared at the now-empty plate in front of him. “That was delicious.”

“No kidding,” I agreed. “I'm not going to be hungry for the next month from eating so much.”

“Wait until you get to Phoenix and Tessa gets to cook for you.” Jared chuckled. “Then you really won't be able to eat for the next month.”

“I do what I can.” Tessa shrugged, grinning at Jared.

“There's a reason I eat with them all the time at home.” John added.

“Oh, it's not for our charming company?” Jared feigned insult, causing the rest of us to laugh.

“Not your charming company, mine.” Tessa teased, kissing Jared on the cheek.

The waitress brought our checks over, and after leaving the correct payment on the table we made our way back to the hotel.

“So are we going to see you before you go to the airport?” I asked Tessa as we reached the hotel.

“Well I'm going up, grabbing my bag now, then we're heading over there. So I guess for now this is goodbye?” She shrugged, a sad look crossing her features.

“I can't believe you're already leaving! It feels like you just got here.” John commented, his face also sharing a sad look.

“Tell me about it. But it won't be long until I'm seeing you guys soon, so I'm sure it won't be too horrible?” She tried to lighten the mood.

“It's so weird to think that I've only known you for two weeks but it feels like forever.” I hugged her as we reached their door, stopping outside.

“No kidding! We're definitely having girl time when you're in Phoenix. This needs to happen.” She pulled away, smiling at me.

“Yeah it does.”

“Also, we're having skype dates until then. Because you can tell me all the hilarious shit these dorks are too embarrassed to tell me about.” She gestured to the other two, causing me to laugh and scowls to appear on their faces.

“Shut up, we tell you lots of stuff.” John grumbled, taking his turn to hug her.

“Whatever. You make sure my boyfriend stays in line now.” She chuckled, letting go.

“Oh, that's always what I do.” John innocently commented, causing Jared to start laughing.

“Please, it's like I make sure he keeps his scrawny ass in line.”

“Hey, I could totally take you any day.”

“Right, because you totally could take this.” Jared teased, gesturing to himself.

“Boys.” I cut in, causing both of them to stop.

“Alright, well I suppose I have to get my bag and say bye to the others.” Tessa finally sighed, opening the door.

“Have a safe trip home!” I hugged her one last time before stepping back, John's arm wrapping around my waist.

“I will! See you in Phoenix!” She smiled back, waving as she and Jared went inside.

John and I didn't say anything as we went back to the elevator, stepping inside and pressing the button to go down to our floor.

“So, did Jared grill you about last night when you were in the bathroom?” I broke the silence, a small grin appearing on my face.

“How did you know?” John let out a chuckle, shaking his head.

“Tessa grilled me. She said that Jared was doing the same to you.”

“Yeah, Jared always does this.”

“Always?” I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Well, only with girlfriends that he likes. He has like, a sixth sense for when things happen with me and girls and he'll interrogate me about them.” He blushed. “I hope Tessa wasn't too harsh?”

“Nah, she did have to work a little to get it out of me though.” I giggled.

“Jared was straight to the point.” He laughed, before imitating Jared. “So John, feeling a little 'banged up' today?”

I busted out laughing. “Oh my god, he had to have been just dying to use that line.”

“Yeah, tell me about it.”

“I think Tessa probably told him that we did it last night though.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, when she came down to suggest brunch she commented on my hickey. Way to do it where people could see.”

“My bad. Got a little caught up there.” He shrugged. “You do that to me sometimes.”

“It's fine, I'll just be employing some cover-up and scarves for the next week or so.”

“Hey, at least there's only one where people can see.”

“That's true.” I agreed. “If there was more than one I might have to punish you.”

“You could punish me anyways?” He winked, giving me a devilish grin.

I couldn't help but laugh. “We'll see John. We'll see.”