Ryan awoke with a start, and saw a dark figure beside him. He jumped up to yell and whoever was beside him, covered his mouth. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he realized it was Sam. She whispered. “Don’t say a word and come with me.”
He nodded and she grabbed his ear, pulling him out of the room.
After they reached his living room, he grabbed his ear and winced. “Owwww! What was that for?”
“Timberlake, you have some explaining to do!” she said.
“So do you Samantha. It’s like 3 in the morning!” he replied.
“Well if YOU wouldn’t have messed with me all day, I wouldn’t be going crazy right now.”
“Well if YOU wouldn‘t have run away and ignored me, I wouldn‘t have messed with you.”
She crossed her arms. “Well if YOU hadn‘t kissed me, I wouldn’t have run away.”
“Well if YOU hadn’t been so freaking beautiful, I wouldn’t have kissed you.”
She sank back and softly said, “What?”
Ryan realized what he said, and then sighed. He sat back on the couch. “Sam, what do you expect me to do? I can’t just see you right in front of me and not do anything about it.”
She sat down next to him and looked at him warily. “What are you saying, J?”
“I’m saying that I’m selfish. I don’t want to share you with anyone else,” He began. He ran his hand over his face. “Sam, I don’t want you to like some other guy more than you like me. I wanna be able to hold you and for you to actually want me to.”
She looked at her hands and was quiet.
“I need to know something, Samantha.” He took her hands
She raised her head to look at him.
“This guy, the guy that I have been the last couple of weeks, what do you think of him?” Ryan said, squeezing her hands.
She closed her eyes and finally decided to speak. “To be honest, J, I’ve never been more impressed by you. I’ve had so much fun with you lately. But you know we’ve built up too strong of a friendship to risk losing it.”
He nodded. “What if I told you that we don’t have to stop being friends? You could have the best of both worlds.”
“That would be amazing. But if we stay friends, then what do you want?” she asked.
“All I want for right now,” he said, “…is a date to the masked ball for Halloween.”
Sam smiled. “Okay.”
He kissed her hand. “Alright then, it’s settled.”
She shook her head. “No. You didn’t ask me what I want.”
“Well?” he asked.
“I want to cuddle up and sleep with my date to the masked ball.”
“Fine with me.” He said, pulling her close to him. “And by sleep, you meant….”
“I meant sleep,” she said, smiling with her eyes closed.
“Just checking.”
Justin held the sleeping girl in his arms and laid awake while the sun came up. He smiled down at her sleeping angel face. They had split a pair of large flannel pajamas. He was wearing the bottoms, and she was wearing the top like a nightgown.
As he held her against his chest, he sighed. What was he going to do now? He knew that he should have told her the truth, but he couldn’t do that, for Ryan’s sake. Once they switched back, he was sure she would think that Ryan was him and she would be heartbroken when he wasn’t interested. Justin also knew that if he told her the truth when they switched back, that she would want nothing to do with him. He had been pretending for too long, and he needed to face reality. Either way, he was going lose her.
She stirred and he hushed her back to sleep, running his fingers through her hair rhythmically. How did he ever let it get this far? All he wanted to do was hang out with her and see if she was the girl he had always thought she was. He should have known he would fall for her, and now it was too late. The ball was in three days, and he wasn’t ready to go back to his normal life.
How can someone visit heaven and then return to earth? Emma’s eyes fluttered open and she lifted her chin to look at him. “Good morning.”
He smiled at her. “Hey. How’d you sleep?”
She stretched out her arms and then returned to her place on his chest. “Unbelievably well. What time is it?”
He pulled the blanket up around them and held her tightly. “Only about six. When do you have to leave?”
She groaned. “I need to be home by eight.”
“Okay, well you can go ahead and shower. I’ll make you some breakfast while you get ready. Anything sound good?”
She smiled, and crept forward to kiss his lips. “Yep, you do…”
He kissed her, suddenly feeling an ache in his chest, knowing it could be one of his last.
“…and maybe pancakes? Those would be good too.” She laughed.
“Pancakes it is,” he said, placing a light kiss on her forehead before getting up.
Justin felt the cool air around him and wondered how the weather had changed so quickly. Just yesterday, he had been warm outside in his swim trunks, but today it seemed more like winter. He realized it was the end of October, but they had been enjoying summer temperatures for the last few weeks. He felt like the changing season was signaling that things were going to change quickly in his life. The cold wind made him feel like his dream was slipping away and things would go back to the way they were.
He walked Emma to her doorstep and gave her a big bear hug. She snuggled against his chest and neither of them wanted to let go. After several minutes he pulled away. “Can I ask you something?”
She smiled up at him, with her chin still resting against his chest. “Sure.”
“You know that masked ball I’m having at my palace?”
She nodded and her teeth chattered as the wind danced around them. “Yeah.”
“Will you come?” he asked hopefully.
“Only if you promise me a dance,” she smiled, and winked at him.
“As many as you want.” He leaned down and locked lips with her. Suddenly the cold melted away and the heat of her kiss made him feel warm all the way down to his toes.
She pulled away and opened her front door. “I’ll see you then, okay?”
He nodded. She squeezed his hand and he held on to it before letting it slip away.
