Slamming the lid of my laptop closed, I let out a frustrated sigh and bring my hands to up my temples to try to relieve some of the ache in my head. Leaning back in the desk chair, I close my eyes to try to rid the thoughts and urge of slamming my head repeatedly against the hardwood of the desk.

Tonight, right before the show started, Chris informed me that Alex has a fashion event in L.A. that we have to attend in about two weeks. Apparently Alex landed a deal with a major fashion line making him the new face of the brand, so he's obligated to go to the upcoming fashion show and after party. What I didn't expect was that Chris doesn't have flights, a hotel, or anything booked, hence, him wanting and needing me to do it all.

So, here I am, five hours later still trying to book everything with only less than two weeks' notice. To say that I'm a little pissed off that he pushed this off on me at the last minute would be an understatement.

This must be some huge event because I can't get a decent hotel within thirty miles of the area its being held. Every hotel I've called says that they're booked, and I can't name drop Alex Walker yet because none of the head honchos of the hotels are there. They're all at home, probably sleeping, unlike me.

When Chris told me about all of this it was right before 8:00 p.m. meaning every resource I could use was gone for the night. Regardless, I missed watching the show and everything tonight to try to get something done. Shay even stayed back to try to help me after she got Alex ready for the show, but there was no luck. The furthest we got was booking our flight.

Maybe I'll have better luck in the morning, because right now I'm beyond stressed and too exhausted to keep trying. I know I'm not going to get anywhere until the morning anyway.

Opening my eyes, I glance over at the clock on the nightstand that reads 2:09 a.m. Letting out another sigh, I standup and stretch my aching bones that crack from sitting for so long in front of a computer screen.

Wanting some fresh air, I walk out onto the small hotel room balcony, taking in a deep breath. Normally whenever I'm stressed all I want to do is cry and stuff my face with ice cream. Currently I'm too tired to cry, but I'm dying for some ice cream. I remember seeing an old fashioned diner that said it was open twenty-four hours down the road a few blocks, and I'm certain they would have some.

Gnawing on my bottom lip, I weigh my options. I know it's not a good idea to go wandering around alone at night in an unfamiliar city, but I'm desperate to get a sugar fix to calm my nerves.

Looking to my right, Shay has the blinds of her room closed and there's no signs of movement. She's probably asleep and I'm not even going to dare to wake her. Then, looking to my left, Alex's blinds are closed but I can see a faint illumination through them that brightens and dims every once in a while, indicating his TV is on.

He was a little bummed tonight when I declined to watch Friends because I was so determined to get everything booked and finalized.

Since his TV is on he's most likely up. Running back into my room I grab my small bag of office supplies and pull out a box of multicolored paper clips. Going back out onto my balcony, I throw a paper clip at his glass door. It makes a light tapping noise, but it's hardly audible.

Taking another paper clip, I throw it a bit harder, but it hardly makes a louder noise. In a final attempt, I take a fist full of paper clips and throw them all at the door where they pelt against it at a decent volume.

Waiting a few moments, there's no response so I decide to go back into my room. Before I can make it inside, I hear Alex's door slide open and he pops his head out, brows furrowed in confusion.

Looking around, his eyes finally land on the paper clips and he bends down to pick one up, brows furrowing even deeper in confusion.

He finally turns his face in my direction, spotting me, and I can help but let out a giggle.

"What are you doing? Did you do this?" he asks, pointing down at the paper clips.

"Yeah." I simply shrug. "Had to get your attention somehow."

"You definitely got it." He laughs, shaking his head in amusement. "You do know there's a thing called a phone, right? You could have just texted me."

"But what would be the fun in that?"

"Touché." He smiles, fully stepping out onto the balcony to lean against the railing. "So, what was all this for?"

"Honestly, I'm stressed out and in desperate need of ice cream, but I don't want to go by myself." I pout, deciding to tell him out front, shamelessly beating around the bush. "Are you in or not?"

He pursues his lips, looking up in thought before pulling his phone out of his pocket to check the time. "You do know its past 2:00 a.m., don't you?"

"Don't judge me," I whine, really not wanting any criticism right now. "I've endured enough stress for a life time in the past five hours. Just let me be happy!"

He softly bites down on his lower lip, clearly contemplating whether to go with me or not. "Ok," he says confidently after a few moments. "Ok, let's do it." He pushes himself off the railing. "Meet you in the hallway."

"Yeah, but first, can I have my paper clips back?" I laugh. "Those things are expensive, you know. I threw out a lot of cash for them, especially since they're the colored ones," I joke, holding out my hand, signaling for him to pick them up and give them to me.

"Oh, I'm sure." He laughs, rolling his eyes.

He picks them up, ready to hand them over, but before he does he plucks one out of the pile in the palm of his hand. Examining it, a mischievous smirk spreads across his face. Taking a few steps back, he begins throwing them one by one at me.

"Alex!" I scold, holding up my hands, trying to block the paper clips being thrown at me. "Stop!" I laugh, trying to dodge them.

"This is what you get for throwing paper clips at my door!"

"You're so annoying," I jokingly mumble, bending down to pick all of them up when he's finished throwing them.

Walking over to him, I hold out my palm for him to hand over the ones he didn't throw. He places all but one blue paper clip in my hand.

I annoyingly clear my throat, raising a brow at him. "All of them," I say, holding my hand out further.

"Nope. This one's mine." He proudly smiles, clipping the small, blue steel wire on the collar of his shirt as if to taunt me with it.

"Excuse me, sir. I'll have you know I paid good money for that," I joke with a serious tone, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Too bad." He smirks, slipping back into his room and closing the door.

Rolling my eyes, I go back into my room and place the clips on the hotel desk, next to my laptop and planner. Quickly slipping on some shoes, I grab my phone and room key before meeting Alex out in the hallway.

"You're seriously going out like that?" I laugh, pointing at the blue paper clip still attached to his black t-shirt.

"Yep. Going to remind you of your mistake."

"Oh my gosh." I roll my eyes. "I threw paper clips at your door, get over it!"

"Wow, you're one modern day Romeo, you know that?" he mumbles sarcastically, and I can't help but laugh at his statement.

"At least I threw you something useful. What's Juliet going to do with pebbles?"

"Will you just shut up already? Let's get ice cream before I change my mind." He shakes his head, smile playing on his lips before leading the way down the hall.

Walking the few blocks to the diner, there's no one in sight. It's like a ghost town given that it's two in the morning.

Walking into the small fifties themed diner, an older man greets us at the front counter, setting down the newspaper he's reading and adjusting the paper hat on his head. "Have a seat anywhere you want, kids. I'll have a server be with you in just a moment," he says, holding up a finger before scurrying back to the kitchen.

Alex and I take a seat in the booth in the back corner, next to a big wooden jukebox that's softly playing music. There's no other customers in the restaurant.

Picking up the menu on the table, I quickly flip to the last page to check out the dessert section. They don't have any plain ice cream, but their milk shakes look phenomenal.

"Hello! My name is Candy and I'll be your waitress. How my I help you?" A middle aged woman comes up to our table, dressed in a vintage diner dress with an apron over it, pen and paper in her hand. She's way too chipper for 2:00 a.m., a huge smile plastered on her bright red lips.

"Hi, can I get a vanilla milk shake, please?" I ask, immediately knowing what I want.

"Sure thing, darlin'." She smiles, scribbling my order down on her notepad before glancing over at Alex.

"I'll have the same thing but chocolate." He smiles, picking up the menus and handing them to her.

"You got it. They should be out in a couple of minutes." She smiles and thanks him, grabbing the menus before walking back to the kitchen.

"So, how did tonight go?" Alex asks after a few moments, eyes flicking up to meet mine.

"Let's just say we may be sleeping out on the streets for this event," I mumble, picking up my rolled up silverware, fidgeting with the edge of the napkin it's wrapped in.

"That bad, huh?" he asks, giving me a small, sympathetic smile.

"Yeah," I sigh out, bringing my hands to my temples again, trying to stop the headache from creeping back in. "I just hate that this was pushed on me so last minute," I admit.

"I get that."

"Here you go." Candy, the waitress, smiles, handing us our shakes, causing me to open my eyes and drop my hands.

"Thank you," Alex and I say in unison.

"No problem. Just let me know if there's anything else I can get for you." She smiles before walking off.

I instantly unroll my silverware and find the spoon inside, shoveling the whipped cream on top of the shake into my mouth. The sugary substance immediately makes me feel better.

I let out another sigh, setting the spoon down to unwrap my straw and take a few sips of the shake. "I just hope I can find some place by tomorrow so this can all be over with and settled. Everything is booked and I couldn't really get ahold of anyone tonight. What if I can't find anything?" I ask, the worry and disappointment I feel clearly detectable in my tone.

"Hey, it's going to be ok. You'll find something," Alex says, reaching over the table to set his hand on top of mine in a reassuring manor. "If anything, this is Chris's fault. He knew about this months ago but was too lazy to do anything about it himself. So if anything goes wrong it's not your fault."

"Promise?" I childishly ask. I can't help but feel like this is still all on my shoulders if something goes wrong.

"Scouts honor." He beams his bright, beautiful smile at me. "Plus, sleeping out on the streets for one night may not be so bad," he teases, squeezing my hand a little.

"You better hope so," I teasingly mumble.

Looking up, I see that there's a teenage girl behind the counter of the diner. She's dressed like our waitress and has her phone out, clearly pointing it in our direction, trying to snap pictures of us.

I quickly snatch my hand out of Alex's grasp, bringing it to my side of the table. I can feel my face pale in shock and embarrassment, knowing those pictures can look misleading, especially if they get out to the public.

Looking back at Alex, his brows are furrowed in confusion and hurt at my sudden actions and change in demeanor.

"Joslyn, what's wrong?" he asks, cautiously reaching over to grab my hand again, but I put it down in my lap under the table. His back is to the girl so he can't see what's going on.

I quickly lower my head to create a curtain over my face with my hair, hoping she doesn't get a clear shot of me.

"Joslyn?" Alex asks again worried.

"The girl behind the counter. She... she's taking pictures," I whisper.

Alex turns around and the girl still stands there, shamelessly taking pictures.

He quickly turns back around, his face hardened and jaw tight. Letting out an angered breath through his nose, he quickly fishes his wallet out of his pocket, slapping some money down on the table. He immediately stands and signals for me to follow him.

Walking to the door, we both keep our heads down, trying to avoid the young girl behind the counter. She calls out for him, hoping to get a picture with him but he flat out ignores her, holding the door open for me as we walk out onto the street, back to the hotel.

The walk back is silent and slightly uncomfortable, tension clearly radiating off his body. His eyes are locked dead ahead as we walk, jaw still tight, and his hands are shoved deep in his pockets.

I don't dare to speak up. He's clearly angry and upset and I don't want to further that. It's my fault that this all happened. I should have never asked him to come along.

The silence between us is broken when he lets out a frustrated sigh, running his hand through his hair, slightly tugging at the ends.

"I'm sorry," he whispers, sincerity in his voice. "I just—I hate that I can't ever go out and be normal. I hate that everywhere I go people try to take pictures and post everything I'm doing on social media. All I wanted to do was hang out with you after not seeing you since this afternoon, but now you're going to be punished for it," he says, shaking his head in disapproval.

"It's ok," I whisper, trying to calm his nerves. But, truth be told, I'm terrified.

I know if that girl got pictures of us it's not going to be pretty, especially for me. If they get out I know I'm most likely going to face brutal backlash from his fans, just because I'm a female hanging out with him.

"No. It's not ok," he says sternly, tugging at his dark brown locks again.

"I'm sorry," I whisper after a moment of silence, guilt flooding through me. "I never should have made you come with me tonight."

"What?" he asks, eyes whipping over to look at me. He stops in the middle of the street, grabbing my elbow to make me stop too and face him. "Joslyn, no. You didn't make me do anything. I wanted to come out with you tonight."

"Still, I should have known better," I mumble, looking down at the concrete, guilt still bubbling in my chest.

"I should have too, but I guess I thought I could be normal for once and go out like any other person. I don't know, you just... you make me feel normal. I guess I got carried away and didn't think." He brings his hand up to cup the back of his neck. "But this is not your fault."

"It's not yours either." I shift my gaze up to his and another emotion bubbles inside my chest because of his words, masking some of the guilt.

"How about this," he proposes. "It's neither of our faults... People just suck." He lightly chuckles, his beautiful smile making its way back onto his face.

"Deal." I smile with him and we begin to walk back to the hotel.

The short distance back to our rooms is filled with a comfortable silence this time.

"Goodnight, Joslyn," Alex says when we make it back to our rooms, dropping me off at my door. He leans his shoulder against the wall beside my door until I go inside.

"Goodnight, Alex," I say before closing my door with a soft click. I lean back against the door and close my eyes for a moment, replaying the night's evens in my head.

Before I run through them all and let the undeniable guilt creep back in, there's a soft knock on my door bringing me back to the present.

Furrowing my brows, I turn around to open it. There, standing in front of my door, is Alex.

"Hey." He sheepishly smiles, awkwardly scratching at the back of his head. "I, uh—I sort of forgot my room key."

"Oh," is the only word that escapes my lips. "Have you tried going down to the front desk?"

"Yeah, but no one's there. Would y— would you mind if I maybe stay here tonight?" he stutters, a hopeful and desperate look on his face.

Biting the inside of my cheek, I know, again, that this isn't the best idea. But I can't let him stay out in the hallway all night.

"Come in," I finally say, stepping aside to let him in.

His features soften as he brushes past me, thanking me, before drawing back the covers and settling himself into the bed.

I shut off all the lights before crawling in next to him, nuzzling my face into my pillow, the both of us facing each other. I didn't realize how tired I was until right now, my body almost immediately slipping out of consciousness.

"Despite everything," Alex whispers out into the darkness after a few minutes, "I'm glad you asked me to go with you tonight."

"Well, I figured if I'm going to take somebody's time, it might as well be yours," I tiredly, yet honestly mumble out, my eyelids becoming extremely heavy.