A Whole New World...Or Possibly Life

New York, New York

My feet were hurting so bad by the time we made it back to the hotel. Chris was laying across the sofa, watching tv in the living room area of the suite. Once we were walking through the door, he was smiling and sitting back up. "So how was it? Did you guys have fun?"

I fell on the sofa where his feet had previously been, dramatically, as I let out an exhausted breath.  "My dogs are barkin'!  These shoes are super cute but why do woman have to be in pain to look fashionable?"

Reaching down with a chuckle, Chris grabbed my ankle and slid my shoe off, doing the same with the other before sitting back up straight.  His blue eyes staring into mine, he returned to his previous posture with a tight grin.

Scott spoke up, breaking our trance with a small exasperated breath.  "Well, I think we had fun, didn't we Trouble?"

"I know I did.  It was like nothing else I've been to before.  There were so many people and so many lights.  People were shouting all these names.  And that was all before and after.  Everything in between that was just as exciting."

Scott looked between us before speaking up, "I'm going to bed.  You still sure about the sofa Chris?  I don't mind."

"No, take one of the beds, I have an early call but it's just for an hour or two, then I have the day with you guys before you have to leave.  That way I won't wake anyone up when I leave.  The sofa's pretty comfortable, I've actually fallen asleep on it before anyway."  Turning to me he spoke some more.  "Why don't you go change, take your makeup off, get comfortable and come back and we can watch a movie or something if you aren't too tired yet?"   I could only nod, feeling like something was off.

Scott offered me his hand and I stood as he took my shoes from Chris in his other hand. Handing me my shoes, Scott gave me a big hug and I thanked him, for the hundredth time for inviting me tonight, before asking him if he could help with my zipper.

Following me into the bedroom, I shut the door behind me before I whispered. "Is Chris okay? He's acting weird."

"He's fine.  I don't think he's acting any different.  Turn around so I can get your zipper."

I did as I was told as I tossed my shoes over near my suitcase by the bed. I felt the zipper come down and I twisted back around, grabbing Scott by the arm before he could dart out. "Scotty, you and I both know he is acting funny, he's kind of quiet."

Scott stood there for a minute and I knew him well enough to know the look he had. It was the one he gets when he is thinking about how to word something or when feels stuck between me and Chris. Urging him on, I spoke back up, looking up through my eyelashes, worried. "Did I do something to irritate him?"

Scott sighed deeply, placing both of his hands on my shoulders, squaring my position to his before he began to whisper. "Look, the thing is, I can't get in the middle of this. He's my brother and he has talked to me about ... stuff. I know you understand that I can't talk to you about what he confides in me about. I'm gonna go in the other bedroom, probably turn the tv on and fall asleep, just please trust me, it's all okay. I wouldn't just bow out, go to bed and leave you two to end up like last time. I'm gonna let him talk to you about it."

There was definitely something to my hunch, something was eating at Chris. I must have looked like I had the fear of God placed in me because he bent down a little to look me straight in the face. Surely he caught on with how fast I started to breathe. There was no way I was ready to walk away from Chris at this point, hell, I was actually tired of fighting feelings for him. I couldn't take it if he was backing away from even hanging out.

Scott began whispering faster now that he registered my concern. "No, no, calm down Trouble! You haven't done a thing. Chris has missed you terribly and he wants to spend some one on one time with you, that's all. I've gotten to spend all the time here with you since we arrived. He asked me earlier while you were getting ready if he could watch a movie with you after we got back. Since we had talked about it already, that's why I offered to turn in early."