The Truth Is...

James had woken up a few times here and there for a minute or two and Claudia hadn’t left her spot in the chair next to his bed since she had been allowed back to see him after his surgery. She had kept everyone in the loop via text message, learning that James had practically begged his mother not to come out for the surgery but Claudia wasn’t even going to try to understand that man. He had woken up once and talked to her, though she hadn’t gotten a single word of what he had said because he wasn’t quite lucid then, and so when he woke up this time he asked her, his voice gravely and he had to stop halfway through to clear his throat a couple of times, “Have you been here the whole time?”

Claudia turned to him and she smiled over at him, “Of course I have, nothing fun is open at this hour, you know.”

He smiled gently, letting out a breath of air through his nose as he struggled to sit up. Claudia rolled her eyes and pushed him back down gently, and he told her, “I’m uncomfortable.”

“Suck it up.” She told him and he let out a soft laugh, at least she thought it was supposed to be a laugh. He still seemed groggy, but a lot less than the other two times he had been up before.

His voice was low when he asked her, “How’d it go?”

“Everything went great, according to your doctor… although he was a little young looking so who knows if he was really a doctor or not. What the hell kind of alley hospital did you choose?” Claudia asked him, a soft smile present on her face, and again he let out a laugh, and then he groaned and finally rested his head back on the pillow. This time at least she reached out and pushed the button to raise the top half of the hospital bed for him a little bit, and he smiled over at her as a thank you.

Claudia waited patiently while James’ doctor came in to check on him now that he was awake, going over the surgery, and after care, as usual. It wasn’t anything new to him but it was to her so she paid attention, probably a good thing because he looked like he was half a second away from falling asleep again.

“Go home Claud.” James told her once they were left alone again, and she shook her head.

She stuck her feet up on his bed by his legs and went back to reading her book, she didn’t look up from the pages as she told him, “I’m good.”

“Can you read out loud?” He asked her.

This time she did look up from the book, blonde brow quirked, and she asked him, “You want me to read you my book? You’re aware it’s a romance novel, right?”

“It’s better than sitting here twiddling my thumbs.” He told her with a soft smile. His smile grew into that mischievous grin she came to love and he said, “Plus, romance novels have sex scenes and that’s gonna be hilarious to hear you read.”

Laughing Claudia asked him, “What the hell kind of books do you think I read?”

“I saw your copy of Fifty Shades Claud.” James pointed out with a grin.

He pouted when she informed him, “That was Lucca’s, I got twelve pages in and had to put it down because it was quite honestly atrocious.”

He reached out and tapped her ankle with his fingers and informed her, “You can skip all the sex scenes if you want, just read it to me so I don’t fall asleep again.”

So she shrugged her shoulders and then she started the book from the beginning, she was only about a hundred pages in anyway, reading out loud to him. The things that she did for this man.



“Alright, pick a movie, any movie.” Claudia told him as she walked into his bedroom with the Apple TV from the living room.

James, who was lying in bed under Claudia’s instructions, told her, “You don’t have to stay.”

“I know I don’t, I want to.” Claudia told him as she plugged in the Apple TV to whatever it needed to be plugged into. As she hopped onto the spot next to him on his bed she admitted to him, “Plus I got cancelled on for a date I was supposed to have tonight.”

“Who was he?” James asked her curiously.

She layered enough pillows around them so that they were comfortable and then she told him, “His name was David.”

“Sounds like a tool.” James told her with a smile.

She rolled her eyes but still wore a smile on her face, and then she went on to say, “He’s an investment banker.”

“Boring.”

“He’s into hiking, has a cat, and drives a Prius.” Claudia finished telling him.

James dramatically slumped over and fake snored, his cheek pressed against her shoulder. She nudged him, and they both laughed. He then asked her, “Why do you date such duds, anyway?”

“They’re not all duds!” Claudia informed him.

“Name one.” He challenged her.

She thought about it for a moment before she said, “Adam wasn’t.”

“The rock climber? Oh no, everyone hated him.” James informed her, and Claudia shot him a look. He laughed, holding his one hand up in a surrender mode, which defeated the purpose without having both to do it with. He went on to tell her, “Really. All the guys that he met thought he was dull as can be, and a bit pretentious.”

“Using big words doesn’t make you sound smart you know.” Claudia pointed out with a grin and James narrowed his eyes at her, grabbing a pillow and hitting her square in the face with it.

She pinched his shoulder and James settled back in beside her to ask her curiously, “Why do you date the guys you do anyway? You never actually enjoy yourself.”

“Because… I don’t know, saying no makes it awkward and I’m bad at it. Plus, you never know, something might work out.” Claudia told him, shrugging her shoulders.

“You are far too good looking to have to duty date, you know.” James told her, turning his head to look at her and Claudia again shrugged her shoulders. He didn’t like her silence so he pushed her forward, “Come on Claud, you know they’re boring yet you still go out with them. Why?”

“Because I like boring guys, okay?” She replied with, and then she added honestly, “They’re safe.”

“They’re safe?” He asked her, eyebrow raised.

Nodding her head Claudia told him, “I never feel like I have to be someone I’m not, like I have to compete with anything. I get to be myself, and they’re still interested in me.”

“I’m interested in you and we’re complete opposites.” James pointed out.

“But I would never date you.” Claudia stated, and then when he nodded his head slowly she said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant, you know, we’re friends. Friendship and romantic interest is different, you see a person differently.”

“True.” He told her softly. He then asked her, “You wanna help me check out some houses in Vegas?”

Claudia nodded and she reached her hand into the space between the bed and his nightstand to grab his laptop, it was where he always kept it. She balanced it on their hips between them and she turned it on, asking him, “Where do you wanna start?”

“Fucked if I know.” He told her, laughing when she rolled her eyes and immediately opened the internet, knowing exactly where to look.

“Price?” Claudia asked him, clicking on the pricing option, fingers hovering on the keyboard as she waited for his answer.

“I don’t know… let’s see what I can get for under two.” James told her.

“Two hundred thousand? A cardboard box.” Claudia informed him, but she typed in 200, 000 anyway.

James let out a laugh and reached over to add an extra zero, telling her, “Million, it’s a good thing you’re cute.”

“Two million? Are you fucking nuts?” Claudia asked him, turning to him in surprise. She told him, “I knew you were loaded but seriously?”

“Claud… I make like five a year.” James informed her.

“You make five million a year?!” She exclaimed, adding in for good measure, “What the fuck?”

James let out a laugh and then he asked her, “You’ve known me three years and you never knew that?”

“Guess I should pay more attention to things.” Claudia stated, shaking her head in disbelief.

“No shit Sherlock.” James told her with a grin. Claudia rolled her eyes and he asked her, “You sure you don’t wanna pity marry me after all?”

“The thought is a little enticing now.” Claudia told him with a large smile, and James couldn’t help but laugh. She asked him, “What’s the deal on the table? What do I have to do in return?”

“Cook.” James told her.

“That’s all? No cleaning?” She asked him.

“I’ll hire someone.” He informed her with a smile.

She asked him, “No like sex three times a week thing?”

“Please, one time with me and you’ll be begging for it every day.” James told her cockily, throwing her a confident smile.

Claudia rolled her eyes, “Aaaand you ruined it. It was sounding like a really good deal up to that point.”

He let out a loud laugh and asked, “What the hell am I gonna do without you?”

“I’ve been worrying about the same thing my friend.” Claudia told him with a smile.

“Maybe you should move with me, just to be safe.” James joked. She didn’t respond right away, instead she seemed to be staring intently at the computer so he let out a small chuckle and told her, “I was kidding Claud.”

She turned to him and asked, “What if I did?”

“What, move to Vegas?” James asked her in surprise and she nodded her head. He told her, “Please don’t do that for me, I’ll be fine Claudia.”

“No, no I know that… I just… was thinking… and… maybe going back wouldn’t be so bad. It’s closer to my family, I did really like living there.” She said, and then she paused to think about it and she added, “For the last couple of months I’ve been kind of thinking about moving, I’ve been feeling like I needed to change something, like something was missing… maybe this is it.”

James had to admit to her, “I’ve really been dreading this whole thing.”

“What? Leaving Nashville?” Claudia asked him curiously.

Nodding he said, “I just… I know I’ve done this a couple of times already but it sucks every time. I’m really not looking forward to starting over and being alone again.”

“Can I think about it a little before I give you a definite answer?” Claudia asked him, and he turned to her in surprise.

“You’re actually serious?” He asked her, and when she nodded he smiled and rolled over to throw himself over her, pressing his face into her neck. She let out a laugh as she wrapped an arm around his shoulder and ran her hand through the hair at the back of his head. He told her, “Take all the time you need to decide, and don’t feel like you have to because of me. Do it because you want to, I’ll be fine either way.”

“I know you will… I don’t know if I will.” Claudia had to admit, and when he pulled back so that he was simply hovering over her he raised his eyebrows. Her cheeks flushed and she told him, “I kind of like having you in my life on a regular basis. The joke is always what are you gonna do without me, but I don’t know what I’m gonna do without you.”

“Yeah, I have that effect on people.” James joked, and when she laughed he told her, “In all seriousness, I’m glad you feel like that, because that’s how I feel too.”

He moved off of her, to lay beside her again, wincing when he brushed his hand against her, and Claudia told him, “No more spontaneous displays of affection for you.”

“What about one I don’t have to move for?” He asked her, smirking, and when she rolled her eyes he laughed and told her, “You walked right into that one.”

“Fuck, I did.” She admitted, looking up at the ceiling for a second before a laugh bubbled out of her throat.

James’ stomach growled loudly, and he told Claudia, “Guess I’m hungry.”

“Guess I’ll go find something to make with whatever you have in your kitchen.” Claudia told him, hauling herself up and out of the bed.

She made her way into the kitchen, smiling as Snoop and Nixon came trotting over to her at the fridge, nudging her for pets. She obliged, petting them both equal amounts of time before she pulled the fridge open and nearly laughed. What could she make with two cans of Sprite, a six pack of beer, some salad dressing, blue Gatorade, an empty carton of eggs and half a glass of milk?

She closed the fridge and moved onto the pantry but there was nothing in there that didn’t require other ingredients that he didn’t have. So with a shake of her head she made her way back to the bedroom, and she raised her eyebrow when James said, “I ordered pizza, should be here in half an hour.”

“You knew you didn’t have any food, didn’t you?” She asked him, brow raised and when he nodded she asked, “So why did you let me go all the way into the kitchen?”

“Hate to see you go, love to watch you leave.” He told her, jokingly slapping her ass when she got close enough to him.

“You little twerp.” Claudia told him, reaching out to flick his nose.

“Ow! I’m in recovery, remember?” James stated, rubbing his nose gently.

“Yeah, for your hand dumbass.” She told him, and he smiled up at her. She joked, “You absolutely should not be left alone in Vegas.”

“Absolutely not.” James told her with a wide grin. Curiously he asked her, “How far are your parents from Vegas anyway?”

“Four or five hours I think.” Claudia told him.

James surprised her when he told her, “So no matter what you choose you always have an excuse to visit either one of us.”

She smiled, “This is true.”

“I don’t want you to feel obligated to come.” James told her.

“I don’t. There’s a lot of things to consider.”

“Like your job.” He pointed out.

Shrugging she said, “Vegas happens to be one the easiest places for me to find work, you know.”

“Why’d you leave then?” He asked her curiously. They had never really talked much about their lives before they met and there were plenty of things that James was curious about.

The two had met three years previously by a freak accident. Claudia had been shooting engagement photos for one of James’ new teammates and she had arrived to their house a little too early to drop the proofs off and it had appeared that James had also arrived early. They had waited together, and despite her frequent attempts to get out of it Claudia had been invited inside and by the time she had been allowed to leave it was late so James had offered her a ride home.

She told him the address of the apartment building around the corner from her own, because she didn’t know him, and James had found it amusing but he put his number in her phone and asked her to text him to at least let him know she got in safe and then she could lose his number after that if she wanted.

A week later they had run into each other at the Tin Roof, James was there with teammates and Claudia was celebrating her friend’s birthday. James had ended up at their table the entire night, and they had been friends ever since.

Claudia thought about it for a moment before she told him, “I was burning myself out there. I started to feel like my job was actually a job, it kind of sucked the life out of me for a while.”

“So why do you want to go back there?” It was starting to feel more and more like she was about to make this huge change just for him.

She told him, “It’s different now, I know what kind of jobs I want, I’m not desperate for any job that comes my way. James, I was working three different regular jobs, I was up at four in the morning every day and I’d get home at midnight every night. I burnt myself out and needed a change.”

“For the record, I’m glad you needed that change.” James told her with a soft smile.

As warm and fuzzy as his words made her feel Claudia couldn’t help but poke fun at him and ask, “Who knew you were such a softy all this time?”

He laughed and told her, “I reserve this side of me for only the most important ladies in my life.”

“What, your mom?” She asked with a grin.

James reached out and pinched her side before he nodded and said, “My mom… and you.”