Bad Temptations

Beauty Sleep

My face blushes and I mentally scold myself for even thinking like this.

"With you here we could discuss other matters."

Of course. How could I be so foolish? He just wants to talk and not actually enjoy my company.

"Right. What would you want to talk about?"

Bill takes a few papers from a folder on his desk. He hands them over to me as I take a seat across from him.

I look down at them and realize they are wedding spreads with different themes. A few of them look really nice.

"I'm surprised you took the liberty of arranging these." I tell him.

"Well it's my wedding too." He says coldly.

I just nod my head and look back down at the wedding ideas.

"The one on the left is my favorite. It's a simple look with a light off-white splash." He explains.

His terminology hints that he has planned a wedding before and my curiosity gets the better of me.

"Have you done one of these before?"

A look of surprise crosses his face but he quickly recovers.

"My dad married twice. First, my mom then the queen."

My mouth forms an 'o' and I nod my head as if to ask him to continue, but he doesn't.

"I...I don't know why I just told you that." He shakes his head as if to erase the thing he had just said.

"Well thank you. It's not often we talk. I hope this isn't too forward, but..." I take a breath to calm down my nerves.

"After the wedding, I'd like to talk more. Maybe we could become actual friends?"

I wait for him to respond and all I can hear is my heartbeat in my ears.

"Fine. If we must."

Despite his short reply, I can tell he wants to.

I give him a grin and look back down at the wedding plans.

"I like the one on the left, too!" I hand him back all the rest and he puts them back into the folder. I set the one we picked out on the desk and sit back in my chair.

He pauses his actions when he hears me sigh and quickly glances at my sitting position.

"Getting comfortable, are we?"

I give a sheepish grin and shift in the chair.

"I'm just tired. Being important is hard work." I say sarcastically.

He chuckles at my joke and continues his work.

I close my eyes and relax in the surprisingly comfortable chair. My intent was only that. Only rest my eyes for a few, and then work on some more wedding details while Bill works on some kingdom files.

******

Before I know it, I'm waking up on a leather couch, not knowing where I was.

I sit up slightly and feel a blanket also on me. I look around and realize I'm still in Bills office and I was just moved to the couch on the far wall.

I look over at Bills desk and see him still working on some papers, but his pile drastically smaller from last time I saw it.

He sees me awake and stiffens his posture.

"If your wondering, I asked Alex to move you. You were kinda in the way."

My face gets red and I look down at the ground in embarrassment.

"Oh um...sorry about that. I didn't mean to fall asleep."

He nods his head and softens his expression.

"Have you been getting enough sleep?"

I hide my surprise. Why would he care?

"To be honest...no. But I don't know why."

That was a lie. I thought to myself. I've been having bad dreams about that tailor and the time I went on a midnight walk with Alex.

Although they were weeks, if not months ago, I still have a part of me that fears those moments. Part of me is stuck reliving those memories and I've had to push the feelings down so far that they have become part of my subconscious.

After my not so convincing lie, Bill slowly nods his head as if he's saying 'yeah right'. Either he ignored my badly told lie or just didn't care, but he went back to work.

I sit up fiddle with the blanket, bored. What to do, what to do...

Suddenly I had an idea.

"I'll be right back, I'm just grabbing some food. Would you like any?" I stand up and head to the door.

"No." Alrighty then.

I walk out and head to the kitchen with Alex following. When we reach it, we see no one else is present and I can finally relax again.

"So, sleeping beauty, how was your nap?"

My face reddens again as I remember Bill telling me that he had Alex carry me to the couch.

"It was great, except I had a strange dream of this ogre looking monster carrying me. Huh, I wonder what that means?" I give him a playful smirk and search through the pantry.

"Oh, you must be mistaken, because it was quite the opposite. See, it was a very handsome knight. It was just after they slayed the dragon."

"Since when were you in my dream?"

He gave me a devilish grin and I wondered what was in store.

"I don't know. Since when was I in your dreams, Dipper?" He whispered my name in my ear, causing shivers to go up my back.

"I um-that's not what I meant-" my feeble explanation is cut short by the sound of laughter.

I look up at Alex and see the biggest smile I've ever seen.

"I was just kidding. Geez, do you take everything that seriously? I thought we were both joking?"

I nervously laugh with him and nod my head.

After a pause he takes a big breath.

"Well are you hungry? Want me to make you something?" I nod my head again and he walks over to a cabinet and starts pulling stuff out.

I watch him silently and when he senses my stare, he turns around and winks at me.