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“You froze so hard.” I nod.
“So hard?” She wrinkles her nose.
I squint. “Isn’t that how the kids are talking these days?”
“If you are asking about the second-graders, the answer is, no, I don’t think so.”
We pause for a moment, and the silence is broken with her snorting and then bending over, laughing.
“That was awful.”
I chuckle, throwing my arm across the back of the seat, and shake my head slowly. “I agree. Next time, we need to come up with prompts to talk about.”
“Should we delete that? We should definitely delete that,” Alice says, turning the camera around so she can study the buttons.
“No, don’t. It’s funny. The show probably won’t use it anyway.”
I cover her hand with mine, and she stops what she’s doing. She slowly lifts her head, and her eyes meet mine, confused. I jerk my hand away and shift so that we aren’t touching at all anymore. She quickly goes back to fiddling with the camera and subtly adjusting herself so that there’s even more space between us.
The fun moment we had is gone, and it looks like we are back to business. I can’t be upset. This was my call, and I know in my head it’s the right one. I can’t give her what she needs. I shouldn’t string her along. But damn, do I want to cross that line with her. I want to experience all of Alice and what she has to offer. I’m a selfish, selfish person.
“The camera crew should meet us at The Paramount, so at least we won’t have to do that again right now,” Alice says, breaking the silence.
She turns to look out the window. Shields are back up, and I turn to look out of mine, wishing like hell our thighs were still pressed together and her honeysuckle scent were assaulting my senses.
“No.” Alice shakes her head.
We are standing in the hotel room, staring at the large king-size bed greeting us with rose petals and a bottle of champagne chilling on ice.
“We can’t share a bed.” She’s still shaking her head, and I slowly lower our bags.
“I didn’t do this,” I say, making sure she knows that this wasn’t finagled on my end. “The show made the reservations, and since we are supposed to be in some sort of a relationship, it makes sense that they would put us in one bed.”
We awkwardly look at each other before she turns back to stare at the offending structure proudly situated in the middle of the room. It looks comfortable with plush pillows and a white comforter. Where I’m picturing a barely clad Alice bouncing with the petals floating around her in slow motion.
“Yeah, we can’t share a bed. I’ll call the front desk,” I say, striding across the room. As I pick up the phone, I discreetly adjust myself when my back is to her.
“Wait,” she says, halting my finger on the dial. I look over my shoulder at her. “You’re right. It will be weird if we insist on separate beds. We might as well make the best of this situation. The crew should be here soon, and we need to look the part.”
“Are you sure you are okay with that?”
“Yeah. I’ll just make a pillow barrier, so I don’t accidentally spoon you in the middle of the night,” she says with an authoritative nod. “I’m a cuddler.”
Dammit. I reach to adjust myself again. Looks like I’m never turning around from this desk.
“Okay.” I pull out the computer chair tucked against the side and sink into it. I have to get ahold of myself. This is going to be a long weekend. “I’m going to call and check in on Ivy.”
“Good idea. I want to talk to her, too, once you are done,” Alice says, walking into the bathroom, and fuck if that sentence didn’t just warm my heart.
It sends an alarm off in my head. Abort mission. Your heart shouldn’t be feeling anything. You don’t have a heart anymore. You just work on them.
I pull my phone out of my pocket, quickly find my mom’s number, and hit call.
My eyes watch the bathroom door for Alice to come back out—I don’t know why. I’ve never creepily stalked a bathroom to watch for a woman before.
“Hello?” My mom’s voice comes through the speaker, pulling my gaze away from the door, as if she could see me and I was trying to hide my newest stalking obsession.
“Hey, Mom. Just wanting to check in on Ivy,” I say, shaking my head.
