Stay With Me

Chapter 12: The Curse Strikes

(Name) woke with a start the next day. It took a while for her eyes to adjust to the new brightness. Suddenly, she remembered. Had it all been a dream?

Yet, her thoughts were proven wrong when she saw that she was in Gary's arms. (Name) blushed a violent shade of red as she gently kissed Gary's cheek before getting off the couch to cook breakfast.

"(Name)?" Gary asked sleepily as his eyes began to open as he heard the stove turn on. The brunet boy sat up to see his old rival already frying eggs in a pan.

"Good morning," (Name) said casually, as if all the strange events of last night had never happened. "About time you woke up."

"Shut up," Gary replied, although his mouth twitched as he tried to hide a smile. (Name) noticed this and smiled to herself that maybe, just maybe, Gary had finally gotten out of the habit of smirking all the time.

"Hey Gary...?" (Name) tentatively asked as she set the plates of food down in front of them.

"Yeah?" He asked. (Name) paused for a second before answering.

"What are we?" Gary stopped eating to look at the (h/c)-haired girl in confusion.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked. (Name) shrugged.

"Well... we're just kind of... strange. One minute, we're all polite to each other, the other minute, we're at each other's throats. Or one minute, we won't be talking to each other. And the next minute, we're... you know... kissing." Gary just smirked.

"We might have a weird relationship, with strange emotions," he said, kissing the girl's forehead. "But right now, I'm in a kissing mood." (Name) rolled her eyes.

"Don't be such a flirt. It won't work on me," she said matter-of-factly.

"I guess not," Gary admitted.

There was a comfortable pause as the two teens ate their breakfast.

"The fashion show's gonna be tonight, right?" Gary then asked. The (h/c)-haired designer flipped out.

"WHAT?! It was supposed to be next week! When- how- why- why didn't anyone tell me?!" She exclaimed.

"Maybe you should try paying attention more," Gary chuckled. "If you had been listening to Angela's rambling, she said that the fashion show's gonna be a week early because everything was ready, so why not?"

"But I'm not ready!" (Name) hyperventilated. Gary rolled his eyes.

"Chill. You're a designer. Not a model. You don't need to go around posing in slutty outfits." (Name) looked offended.

"Are you saying the stuff that I design is slutty?" She demanded. Gary shook his head honestly.

"Nah. But stuff other people design is slutty. So usually, I assume that all fashion show outfits are slutty. Except yours, of course," he added quickly when (Name) glared at him.

"Thanks anyway, even if I know you don't really mean it," (Name) smiled slightly, pecking his cheek lightly before going to get ready for another day at work.

Today was going to be especially busy, of course, since today was the day of the big fashion show that Angela had unexpectedly pushed back a week. (Name) was a little ticked off, but she knew that she had to be prepared for anything, now that she worked full time as a designer.

When (Name) and Gary arrived at the studio, (Name) no longer felt uncomfortable with Gary by her side as she walked in. She got plenty of glares from various models, but it wasn't like either teen cared.

At least SOME people were happy for her. Those people included Serena, Daniel the cameraman, and especially Angela herself, who seemed delighted to have a "romantic story" unfold in her studio.