24 Hours With You

I walked out into the living room after him but I couldn't see him anywhere so I just sat down and waited for him to come back from wherever he went. I hadn't even noticed until then that the storm had stopped and everything was calm.

I got tired of waiting for him to come back after 5 minutes so I decided to get up and find out what the hell he was doing. I walked down the hall until I got to his room, the door was open so I just walked in. There was no sign of him there and I called out his name hoping that he'd answer. Nothing. I just had to keep looking for him.

I walked around the apartment until I eventually found him in the room I deemed to be the computer and games room. Though all that was in there at that point was my laptop and a small desk for it. I didn't get the chance to unpack everything before James moved in and since he had, I didn't really want to take the time to try and unpack stuff when I could've been having fun with him instead.

"What are you doing?" I asked him, curious as to why he was in there of all places.

"Looking for a board game for us to play. Where are they? I've looked everywhere!" He let out a frustrated sigh.

"They're in my room I didn't get to unpack them before Saturday. Let's go." I left the room then followed the short hallway to the end where my room was.

When I opened the door I scolded myself for forgetting about all the other unpacked boxes in there. When I started unpacking I did the most important things first. Leaving most of my clothes, books, board games and other little things on the back burner. As a result, my room was a mess of boxes without much open space.

I had them all pushed into my closet but I happened to take them all out that day looking for my favourite book because I got bored waiting for James to come home. Of course, it was in the very last box I checked and by the time I found it I was hungry so I didn't get to read it anyways.

"I hope they aren't all board games, otherwise I'm going to have a tough time picking just one to play." He said jokingly.

"I just haven't gotten the chance to try unpacking these since Saturday." I said.

"Cass all you had to do was ask and I would've helped." He said sweetly as he picked up two boxes and maneuvered his way over to my bed.

He set them down and gestured for me to come over so I made my way there and plopped down on the bed. He picked a box to start with, opened it for me and put it on my left side.

"You take the stuff out and tell me where to put it then I'll put it away for you. Sound like a plan?" I nodded and looked in the box, it was full of books.

We spent 10 minutes on them, it didn't take long because I had a bookcase in my room that he lined them all up in. I didn't care which books went where, as long as I could find what I was looking for it didn't matter.

Next was a box of clothes.

The first thing I saw when I looked in the box was my red lacy negligee that I bought on a whim one day in case anything happened with me and Michael. There was no way I was going to let James see that. I quickly snatched it out of the box and put it under my butt. I wasn't quick enough though because he saw me do it.

"What was that?" He asked inquisitively.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I said playing it off and looked in the box for something else to take out.

"Fine." He said. I grabbed a sweater and told him where to put it before he thought about it any more.

After that we just stuck to his plan from the beginning and everything went fine. We worked through the rest of that box then moved on to the next one, that was filled with clothes too.

About halfway through the new box I threw a dress at him and told him to put it in my closet. He walked over to it, then stood for a minute inspecting it before he told me there was no room left. I walked over there to teach him a lesson on how to make room for things. When I looked in the closet there was tons of room so I
turned around to tell him off and when I did, he was holding up the negligee with a questioning look.

I instantly turned bright red and ran across the room to grab it from him but he was too quick, by the time I got over there he was out of my room and running down the hall. I chased him into the living room where he was holding it up and waving it around.

"Give it back!" I yelled and ran up to him. He just stood there and held it above my head, using his height to his advantage.

"If you can reach it you can have it." He stated simply and held it even higher if that was possible.

I stood on my tippy toes and reached as high as I could. My body was pressed up against his and I couldn't help but notice how close our faces were. If he had just tilted his head down... I thought he was going to, I really did.

But that didn't happen. He backed away and gave me what I was reaching for but not what I was hoping for. I knew that I was a fool for thinking that he would ever kiss me. I should have known better, he's James Neal for god sakes! He could have had any girl he wanted so why would that ever be me?

I ripped the skimpy article of clothing from his hands and started to walk back to my room in hopes of at least finish to unpack the box we started and maybe forget about what just happened. I thought I'd be alone for the rest of that night but to my surprise he followed me back to my room.

We continued unpacking boxes the same as before, but aside from me telling him where everything belonged, we were both as silent as the grave. We didn't joke around with each other or banter back and forth like we usually did. I could feel the awkward tension between us but I didn't know how to fix it.

We finished unpacking a couple more boxes then it was getting late so we decided it would be a good idea to get some rest. He helped me put the boxes back in my closet so they were out of my way, then said good night and retreated to his room.

I opened my dresser drawer to find a pair of pyjamas then went to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

When I came out and passed James' closed door I remembered that I didn't thank him for the dress. With all that happened once I walked out of the store it just slipped my mind.

I figured it would be best to thank him before I forgot so I walked up to his door and knocked lightly.

I was waiting for a minute or two and there was no answer so I started back to my room, thinking he'd probably fallen asleep.

Then I heard his door open behind me so I turned back around and slowly walked up to him. The first thing I noticed was that he was only in his boxers. His chest was most definitely a nice sight to see and I couldn't help but stare at it.

"Cass?" He interrupted my thoughts. I tore my eyes from his body and brought them up to look at his. He was wearing a cocky smile which meant I was caught.

"I just wanted to thank you for the dress and the shoes, you really didn't have to do that." I rushed out hoping to get out of this situation quickly before I felt the urge to run my hands over his muscular chest.

"I wanted to." He said and before I got the chance to respond, his lips were on mine. It was just a quick peck but it was enough. It was sweet and I know it's cliche but I felt something, something that wasn't there when Michael kissed me. I always thought that sparks were just a myth, but that kiss suggested otherwise.

He pulled back and we looked at each other for a moment. His stare was too much for me to handle and I just bolted to my room. I didn't know what to think or how to feel. I was scared but excited at the same time.

I wanted to be alone so I could clear my head and hopefully straighten everything out in my mind.

In the end, thinking about it all only made me realized that I made everything more complicated than it needed to be. I didn't know what would happen the next day when we saw each other but I decided to let the day take us where it may.