“What’s your favorite color?”  His hand trailed lazily through her curls.  Rylee’s head was resting on his chest and her arms were wrapped securely around his waist.

“Uhm…blue, and orange.”  They were wrapped up in blankets on Justin’s bed, enjoying a rainy afternoon away from the studio.  Christina still hadn’t called and they hadn’t been able to get a hold of her, so for now they were learning about one another and enjoying each other’s company.

“Mine is blue too, but I don’t really like orange.”  He wrapped a curl around his finger and then let it go, watching it spring back into shape.  “What’s your favorite food?”

“That’s a tough one.  I love Sheppard’s Pie, my mom used to make that for me all the time.  I think I’d have to say apple crisp, though, I could eat that anytime.”

“My grandmother’s peach cobbler is my favorite, you should try it sometime.  You’ll give up apple crisp in no time.”

Rylee scrunched her face and shook her head.  “I don’t think so.”

He laughed at her expression and couldn’t help himself, capturing her lips for a brief kiss.  Rylee snuggled in closer to him, drawing warmth from his body.  For California, it was a very raw and chilly day. 

“Ok, my turn.  What’s your favorite time of day?”  Rylee’s head tilted up to look at Justin, and she started to run her fingers over the stubble on his chin.  She watched his adam’s apple bob as he swallowed.

“I don’t really know.  I like the afternoon a lot, when the sun hasn’t really set yet and everything is glowing.”  His eyes shifted to meet hers and she smirked at him.

“You’re so poetic, it’s almost girly.”  She laughed at his wounded expression and patted his cheek lightly.  “I think it’s cute.”

She squeaked when Justin suddenly rolled them over and growled into her neck, placing kisses along her collar bone and jaw.

“I’ll show you cute.”  His fingers started to pick at her rib cage, dancing over her sides and across her stomach.  She let out a laugh and squirmed in an attempt to get away, but he seemed to be everywhere.  Finally, breathless and warm, she gave in. 

“Ok, Ok, I surrender.”  His smile was triumphant.  He leaned in for a deeper kiss and relaxed into her body.

“This afternoon has been perfect.”  The tone of his voice took on a dreamy quality and Rylee couldn’t help but nod in agreement.  “I haven’t had an afternoon like this in such a long time…I feel like a teenager again or something.”  He rolled them back over so she was pulled up tight against his side.

“What do you think’s going to happen when Christina gets back?”  She had been trying to keep her mouth shut and her curiosity at bay, but it was impossible for her to forget.

Justin shrugged, her head moving up and down with his shoulder.

“I’ll sit her down and tell her the truth.”  He faded off into thought for a moment before his eyes drifted to the girl in his arms.  “I’m more worried about you, though.  It won’t hurt me much if Christina decides to stop talking to me, but I know that it’s going to be a lot harder on you.”

It was Rylee’s turn to shrug.  She buried her head in his neck and breathed in deeply.  He smelled of laundry detergent and Old Spice, along with whatever masculine smell that guys always seemed to emit.  It was comforting and soothing.

“I’ve been going over it in my head every day since the studio…”  She trailed off, a smile playing on her lips as she remembered that day.  “I know it’s going to ruin our friendship, but I can’t seem to fully accept it yet.  I feel like I’m in a dream or something, and I’m going to wake up any second and you’ll be back with her.”

Justin lifted a hand so he could take her chin between his fingers.  He smoothed over the skin on her cheeks before moving her head so she was looking up at him.

“We did something wrong, Rylee, sure.  We slept together and we shouldn’t have, there’s no way around all of that.  But…”  He paused, searching for the words he needed.  “But we didn’t do anything wrong by having feelings for each other.  You can’t control who you fall in and out of love with.” 

He watched the thoughts swirl in her eyes as she stared up at him. 

“I just feel like I should’ve been able to stop myself from wanting you.  You weren’t mine to begin with, I had no right to fall for you.”

Justin scooted himself down under the covers so they were face to face.  He rested his forehead on hers and pulled her body in flush with his own.

“I was lying to myself when I was with her, Rylee, and in doing that I was lying to her too.  The last thing I want to do is hurt her, but it would be so much worse if I ignored how I feel for you just to salvage that relationship.”  He licked his lips and managed a small smile.  “Hopefully she’ll be able to get past things and just be happy for you.”

The scoff that came out of her mouth wasn’t very lady-like and the roll of her eyes made it worse.

“You don’t know Christina very well, then.  She’s Puerto Rican, for one thing, which means she’s got the temper of a pissed off bull.”  Justin laughed at the analogy, he could almost picture Christina with horns and steam coming out of her nose.  “Don’t laugh, I’m serious.  When everything comes out, the shit is going to hit the fan.  When someone does something to make Christina miserable, she’ll find a way to make them feel the same way.”

She was probably right, but Justin couldn’t bring himself to take it all the seriously.  He was comfortable, content, and he had one of the most amazing women he’d even met curled up next to him in his bed.  The moment wasn’t conducive to serious, heavy thoughts.  So, he captured her mouth in a reassuring kiss and dismissed the conversation, moving it in a direction better suited to his mood.

“You never told me what your favorite time of day was.”

~*~

The incessant ringing of the phone made its way into the bathroom and over the noise of the running shower.  Rylee recognized the specialized ring tone immediately and she almost slipped trying to get out of the shower to answer it.

“Please don’t hang up…”  She raced through the apartment and into the living room where her phone was perched on the coffee table.  She really hoped that no one was peeking through her windows at the moment because they were in for quite a show.

“Hello?”  The static on the other end gave her hope that she didn’t miss the call.

“Hey Girl!”  Christina’s cheery voice came over the line and Rylee had to smile.  She had missed her best friend, despite the drama that made the air thick with anticipation.

“Hey, what’s up?”  Rylee made her way back into the bathroom, grabbing a towel and wrapping herself up before she turned off the water.  She’d have to finish her shower later.

“Nothing much.  I’m sorry about running out on you, I just needed to get away.”  The noise in the background faded, and Rylee assumed that Christina had stepped outside.  Her assumption was supported when she heard the tell tale flick of a lighter and the inhalation of air.

“Don’t worry about it.  I just hope everything is OK.”  She was worried.  Christina was known for her disappearing acts, but the one person she always told was Rylee.

“Yeah…I just…well…”  There was a pause as she sucked on her cigarette.  “I think that Justin was about to propose.” 

Rylee almost fell off the side of the bathtub.  “What?”

“I know, right?” 

“No really, what?  Did he say something about proposing?”  Her brow was knit in confusion and she was starting to get upset.

“No, I just had that feeling.  After he asked me to move in with him he seemed to be really clingy and he wouldn’t stop calling me.  He kept mentioning something really important he needed to talk to me about but it had to be done face to face.”  Rylee could hear the sound of her blowing out smoke.  “I didn’t want to lead him on, and I certainly didn’t know how to handle that conversation, so I decided to head home and think about it for a bit.”

Rylee was shocked speechless and she was struggling to think of something to respond with.  What the fuck was going on?

“Tina, I don’t think Justin wanted to propose.”

“I don’t know…”  The voice trailed off and Rylee could hear her yelling something in Spanish at her father.  “Stupid idiot of a man…Sorry, Dad’s being an ass at the moment.  You really don’t think Justin wanted to propose?”

“Well…”  How the hell was she supposed to respond to that one?   “You two have only been together for a couple of months…I mean…”

Christina laughed and it made Rylee cringe.  “Ry, you remember Adam, right?  And Patrick?  They both wanted to marry me after only a couple of months.”

That little comment sent a spark of anger through Rylee for a moment.  She did remember those two, they were amazing guys, and she remembered having to pick up the pieces after Christina was through with them.

“You could just tell him ‘no,’ you know.  You didn’t need to fly to the opposite end of the country.”  Rylee’s mind was telling her to spit out the truth and get it over with but she couldn’t seem to find the courage to do it just yet.

“I know.  I just hate to break things off, they seemed to be going so well with him.  Too bad he had to end up like the rest of ‘em and get all clingy with me.  I’m hoping if I avoid him enough he’ll get the picture and break up with me so I don’t have to do it.”

The words were perched on Rylee’s tongue and she was so tempted to spit them out and give her friend a good tongue lashing.  Hearing Christina talk like Justin was just another notch on her bedpost was making Rylee sick, and really wanted to bust out with everything.  She wanted to shout out that he was an amazing person and he wanted Rylee, not Christina.  He wasn’t clingy, he was passionate and caring, and Christina wouldn’t know how to notice those if they bit her in the ass.

Taking a deep breath, Rylee calmed herself down as much as she could. 

“When are you coming back to LA?”   

“Sometime the end of this week.  I’ll let you know what my flight schedule is.”  Rylee nodded even though she couldn’t be seen.  Her thoughts were racing a mile a minute and she couldn’t seem to slow them down enough to finish off the conversation.  She was saved by someone needing Christina and goodbyes were exchanged before Rylee hung up the phone and let it fall out of her hand.

Here she was, kicking herself over stealing her best friend’s boyfriend, and Christina was half way across the country because she was too selfish to break it off with Justin.  It made her blood boil and her head ache. 

She almost wished she had told Christina everything that happened, but she knew that it wasn’t something to be done over the phone.  On top of that, it didn’t matter how selfish the girl was being, she still didn’t deserve to get cheated on by or to get stabbed in the back by her best friend.

This sucked.  Rylee was pissed but she was still the guilty party, and that just made her heart ache more. 

She picked up her discarded phone and dialed the familiar numbers.  He picked up after the second ring.

“How’s my beautiful girl?”  Rylee blushed and couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face at the sound of his voice.

“Hey.  Are you busy right now?”  She knew he had wanted to go into the studio today, even though it was a Saturday.

“Not really, I was going to head out in a half hour or so.  Why? What’s up?”

“Christina just called.”  Those three words sank like rocks in Justin’s stomach.

“Did you tell her?”  Rylee shook her head and then remembered that he wasn’t there to see her.

“No, I wanted to though, she deserved it.”  Justin was taken aback by the venom in her words.

“Why don’t I pick you up and you can come with me to the studio.  I could use some help anyway, and then we can’t talk.”

Rylee agreed.  “OK, I’ll be here.”

She hung up the phone and let out a long sigh.  She usually tried to avoid drama as much as she could, but this time she’d invited it into her life and it looked like it was going to stay.

Rylee finished her shower, enjoying the hot water and letting it relax her tense muscles.  She was stressing out and it was starting to have a physical affect on her.  She felt guilty for falling for Justin, but at the same time she was upset with her friend.  How could Christina just act so careless?  Rylee didn’t like thinking that her actions were justified, but a little piece of her couldn’t help but feel just that.

She didn’t know what would happen when everything finally came out, especially now that she knew Christina didn't have strong feelings for Justin. 

There were just so many questions and so many possibilities, it was all starting to make her head spin.