┏━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━┓

┗━━━✦❘༻༺❘✦━━━┛

From that moment in the dressing room up until we got back to the hotel from dinner at a local restaurant, I couldn't get Emilia alone for a goddamn second. Someone or something was always pulling her away. She was helping somebody else once she decided on her dress, she was running around for people, she was passing a message from one person to another. It was chaos.

When we finally left the boutique, we were initially supposed to go for a drive but then the place where we had rented out a few cars from for the evening called us up and told us that they wouldn't have enough cars for all of us, so that plan went out the window. We ended up going shopping instead. We went from one mall to another and Emilia seemed to be in a completely different place from me every damn time. Whenever I finally found her, somebody called her or dragged her away to show her something or ask for her opinion.

Shopping lasted torturously long but I thought I'd get to be with her for dinner. Even then, nope. Emmy was already sitting next to Emma and while I helped Nana, Brett was already in the seat next to hers. On our way back to the hotel, we shared a cab with him too.

I swear he's a leech. Literally.

I sighed softly, closing the door behind me while she kicked her shoes off and set her purse down before walking over and sitting at the foot of the bed, watching me while I took my shoes off and left my wallet on the TV cabinet. She started laughing, her eyes following me where I went. "What?" I huffed, turning to her.

"You look so annoyed, it's very amusing. You genuinely seem angry."

"I am," I scoffed.

"Why?"

"It is unnecessarily hard to get you alone when we're out. It's very inconvenient, Emilia."

"Well, we're alone now," she shrugged, "what does it matter? Plus, it's not like we can talk when we're out and with everybody. Somebody will eavesdrop, someone will interrupt."

I grabbed a pair of sweatpants from my suitcase and then turned to her again. "I have to shower, so why don't you go ahead and use the bathroom first?"

She nodded and got up, taking her pajamas and then going into the bathroom.

While I was waiting, my phone rang with Joshua's name flashing on the screen. I answered, "Hello?"

"When are you getting back, Adam?"

I paused, blinking. "I just spoke to you last night. I told you, two days from tomorrow. Why do you keep pestering me about it?"

He sighed, "Do you know what Coach is doing lately? Contemplating holding tryouts to let in a new member on the team. I wonder why. If I were you, I'd be worried, Adam."

I hesitated for a split second, shifting on my feet. "Why is he holding tryouts?"

"I don't know, he's being weird about it too. You haven't even gotten back on the field yet and this little vacation you're on isn't doing you any good."

"It's not something I could miss and you know that, Josh."

"Look, I'm only calling to ask what you want me to do. I'm your manager and if I'm worried about something that concerns you, I'm going to tell you. Do you want me to start speaking to other teams?"

"No. No, don't do that. Not until you figure out why Coach is holding tryouts."

"All right. Just be careful with everything okay? You can't take another hit. No physical problems, no scandals, nothing."

"Noted." I heard the door unlock. "Look, I've got to go. We'll talk later." I hung up the phone. "Don't fall asleep," I warned, passing her to enter the bathroom.

"I'll try," she laughed, climbing into bed.

I took a quick shower, trying not to overthink what Joshua told me. It could be nothing. Maybe someone was leaving the team for some time. Maybe someone got in trouble and Josh doesn't know about it. Tryouts don't have to mean that Coach is considering kicking me off and replacing me.

He can't do that to me. He can't.

I forced myself to stop thinking about this, reminding myself that I was here for a trip. I'll handle work when I get back to New York. I walked out of the bathroom, shaking out my wet hair, and turned the lights off on my way to the bed, stopping when my eyes landed on her and I realized she was fast asleep.

She was hardly lying down, more so sitting up against the headboard, her head drooping with her chin tucked to her chest as she dozed off.

I watched her, amused, before getting in bed as quietly as I could. Pushing past the hesitation, I reached forward, nudging her chin with my knuckles. "Emmy," I whispered. Her head lolled back, resting against the headboard. "Emmy," I chuckled softly. "Lay down."

She definitely heard me because she wordlessly scooted down, her head hitting the pillow as she rolled onto her side with a soft hum.

"I told you not to fall asleep," I said softly, turning my lamp off.

"Shh!" she hissed, her brows furrowing.

I bit back a laugh, lying down and facing her, lying on my side. I tucked away a strand of her hair as it fell over her eyes minutes later and she inched closer to me, her breathing even. I threw a leg over hers on purpose and she huffed softly before working her leg out from under mine and throwing it over my leg instead.

"Let me sleep, Adam," she scolded, "I'm tired."

I moved a little closer to her. "I know. Sorry. Go to sleep."

She opened her eyes, staring at me. "You too," she mumbled, taking my hand that rested between us and holding onto it. She really did fall asleep not too long after that, leaving me to my thoughts.

I couldn't lie to myself, I was a bit worried about how she'd play back into my life once we're in New York. If she would be uncomfortable with her name in the media or if she wouldn't care. I know that she's had her own share of media coverage and interference when her book came out and blew up. I have read some articles on her and some of her interviews. I just hope the life I live doesn't scare her away because I wouldn't survive losing her again. I couldn't.

The next morning, for a change, I woke up before her and when I did, I saw that she was so much closer to me than when she dozed off. Pretty much her whole front was pressed against mine with her face so close to my neck, her lips almost touched my skin. Her leg was still draped over mine and my hand was sitting pretty high up on her thigh.

This is different. This is really different.

I didn't move an inch, too scared to burst the bubble that held this moment.

God, I wanted to kiss her so badly.

I reluctantly pulled away from her but only enough to look at her and lifted my hand from her bare thigh. The large, oversized t-shirt she was wearing with fairly short shorts wasn't helping my heart either.

I should get out of bed before I lose my mind like this.

She shuffled and I froze up a bit while she squinted her eyes open, looking at me.

"Morning," I mumbled, forcing my voice out.

"Morning," she mumbled back, closing her eyes again. After a pause, she asked, "Are you done groping my thigh?"

"I'm not groping your thigh."

She laughed sleepily.

"And no," I added, drawing circles with my thumb.

She rubbed her eyes. "Where are we going today?"

"For a hike," I answered.

She groaned softly. "Who takes people on a hike for their wedding trip? Jesus. What time is it?"

"I have no idea."

She tried rolling over to check her phone for the time but I refused to let her go. "Get off," she said calmly. I didn't. "Adam," she groaned.

I let her go, rolling my eyes. "You used to be a romantic, what happened to you?" I questioned.

"When was I a romantic?"

"Weren't you?"

"I've hardly even dated anyone," she mumbled, going through her phone. "Not seriously anyway." She put her phone back on the nightstand and stared at me. "It was just with you," she said quietly, fidgeting with the small gold hoops in her ears that she always wears. We stared at each other silently for a minute. "You knew, didn't you?" she finally asked. "That I liked you."

"I had a feeling. I didn't want it to be true."

"Because you didn't like me in that way?"

"No, Emilia. Because I didn't want to risk losing our friendship."

"But you didn't like me, Adam. That's okay, at least admit it."

"I can't admit to something that's not true. I did like you in that way. I kissed you. We did a lot more too. You think I would do that if I didn't like you?"

"I think you wouldn't say, 'we should probably never see each other again' the next morning if you did," she said pointedly.

I winced, regretting that moment so much. "I didn't mean it. You know that, right? I just flipped out."

She nodded slowly. "I know. I don't hate you for it," she shook her head.

"Why didn't you say anything?" I asked her. "You never told me you liked me. I felt like I was just overthinking things every time the thought crossed my mind."

"I didn't tell you because I knew you didn't want to hear it. I kept it to myself."

"Didn't it hurt?"

"It did. But at least it wasn't hurting you. Plus, it would have hurt way more to lose our friendship. You meant too much to me. You still do." After another beat of silence, she asked me, "Did you really go to sleep shirtless last night?"

"Yeah," I answered, a little confused.

"It's still a habit," she chuckled knowingly. "Anyway, we should start getting ready. You uh... you want to go ahead and freshen up first?" She raised both brows, glancing pointedly at my pants.

I felt it before she pointed it out. I closed my eyes, throwing an arm over my face. I heard her laughing while she shuffled closer to me again, hitting my chest softly.

"I gave you a boner!" she laughed. I choked on a laugh, not being able to look at her. "That's never happened before," she added, sounding so fucking amused.

"Yes, it has. You've just never noticed it before."

"When? When did I give you a hard-on?"

I looked at her in disbelief. "Emilia, we've had sex."

"That doesn't count."

"Yes, it does," I laughed.

"You're blushing," she teased, pinching my cheek.

I swatted her hand away, scoffing, "Please."

"Why? You're cute."

"Cute is the last thing I want to hear when we're talking about this," I snorted. I blinked in surprise when I felt her press a kiss on my cheek. I turned to look at her just as she pulled away.

"Then I'll freshen up first." She rolled out of bed before I could say anything or grab her and went into the bathroom.

.

.

.

.

.