A deep sigh escaped Brenna as she closed her eyes slowly. The sound of the TV gradually faded from her senses as she concentrated on Justin’s arms around her.

About an hour before, she had been laying on the couch watching TV when he had joined her. She had grown tired of TV at a certain point and had flipped to lay on her other side, facing the back of the couch and him. Now his arms were wrapped around her waist, pulling her tight against him and he had pulled a comforter over the top of them.

Brenna breathed in deeply, smelling the scent of Justin’s cologne. She wasn’t really tired, but kept her eyes closed, savoring the moment. The past week had been busy and it was the first day they had off. She had spent the morning getting her hair done and then a lot of the afternoon shopping. Now at the house, she was content to relax for the rest of the night.

The past two weeks of dating Justin had been amazing. If any thing had been missing from her life, it no longer was. She was happy and content. It was hard to believe the changes that had occurred in her life in the past seven months. From becoming friends with Justin again, to moving to LA, to going out with Drew, and now finally, dating Justin.

It was so different dating Justin than it had been with dating Drew. With Drew, it had really all started as physical attraction. He was great but she realized now more than ever that he wasn’t right for her.

Everything with Justin was so much different. He was her best friend and he knew her more than most people. It was just natural with him. There was no more awkwardness; it was simply comfortable.

“I can turn the TV off if you’re trying to sleep.”

Justin’s voice brought her to the present and she opened her eyes to find him looking at her.

“No, I’m not trying to sleep. I was just thinking. The TV’s fine.”

“Okay.”

She closed her eyes again as he readjusted himself a bit. He slipped one of his legs between hers so she could move a little further onto the couch.

Drifting back into her thoughts, her mind focused on her senses. She was so warm, all the heat trapped inside the comforter. Her shift had bunched up and twisted around her ribs and Justin’s hands were hot against the flesh of her back. He had a way of making her feel so secure and she loved it.

The warmth and the semi darkness of the room eventually began to affect her and she was just starting to get drowsy when she heard Justin’s stomach growl loudly. She opened her eyes.

“Guess I’m hungry,” he chuckled.

She frowned slightly. “I don’t want to move.”

“Me neither.” He raised one hand and looked at him watch. “I can wait till Matt and Mike get here. They were gonna bring pizza.”

“Matt and Mike are coming over?”

“Yeah, at seven. I told you that this morning.”

“No you didn’t.”

“Oh. Sorry, I thought I did. They’re coming over to watch the basketball game.”

“So I’m gonna have to move.”

“You don’t HAVE to. If you don’t mind spending your night with three guys who are really into basketball, yelling at the TV.”

“I do mind,” she groaned. She started to sit up but he pulled her back to him.

“We’ve still got like ten minutes before they get here.”

She relaxed into the couch again and smiled as he threaded one hand through her hair.

“I like your hair. Did I tell you that already?”

“No.”

“I do. Did you get it colored too?”

“I got my highlights retouched. But she put this special relaxing shampoo and conditioner into it to make my hair really straight.”

“It’s nice.”

“Thanks.”

“So I was thinking,” he said after a short moment of silence. “What were you watching to do for Christmas?”

She raised her hand up to finger the beaded necklace he had on. “Probably go to Shelby Forest I’ve never spent a Christmas away from my mom.”

“Yeah, I really wanted to spend this Christmas there too. Mom’s been bugging me about it.”

“I wonder how far into December Johnny’s going to book you.”

“Probably not too far. The thing about December is that there’re so many parties being thrown everywhere. Usually when I’m going back to Shelby Forest I don’t get out of here until a couple days before Christmas.”

“Oh.”

“We don’t have to go down together though. You can go back earlier.”

“Yeah.” Her hand fell from his necklace and down to in between their bodies as she fell silent. No more sound was made until the doorbell ringing echoed through the house. She groaned at the interruption.

“That’s them,” Justin said. He leaned forward and kissed her quickly before sitting up and climbing over her to get off the couch.

Rolling onto her back, Brenna stared up at the ceiling as she listened to Justin walk to the front door and then the sounds of male voices. She pushed the comforter off of her and sat up on the edge of the couch. She yawned and pushed her hair behind her ears.

“Hey, Brenna,” Mike said as he came into the room.

“Hey.”

“Are you gonna watch the game with us?”

“No. I don’t think I can watch basketball for three hours.”

“It’s gonna be a good game tonight.”

She smiled. “Uh huh.” She looked over at the doorway as Justin walked in with Mike, each carrying a large box of pizza.

Justin set the box he was holding down on the coffee table and picked up the remote. “Did you decide to stay, Bren?” he asked as he flipped through the channels.

“No, I’m leaving,” she said as she stood up. She left the room and went to the kitchen. Opening the fridge, she looked into it, trying to find something to eat.

“Did you want some pizza?”

She turned her head to see Justin come into the kitchen and then she looked back into the fridge. “No, I don’t feel like pizza.”

He came over behind her and reached over her head to grab three bottles of beer from the top shelf of the fridge. “You’re not mad that Matt and Mike are here, are you?”

“No.”

“You just seem a little quiet.”

She shut the fridge and turned around. “I think I’m just more tired than I thought.”

“Are you going to go to bed?”

“Yeah, in a bit. I might have a bath or something first.”

“We’ll try and be quiet for you.”

She smiled. “You guys are never quiet when you’re watching basketball.”

He returned her smile. “Well we’ll try. I won’t make any promises though.”

“We have to leave the house tomorrow at eight.”

“Yeah, I remember. Can you make sure I’m up?”

“Always do.”

He smiled. “Thanks.” He gave her a quick kiss and then left the kitchen. She turned back to the fridge as he left and finally decided on eating some leftover pasta from the night before. She ate in the kitchen, to the sound of the guys yelling at the TV, and then went upstairs, skipping the bath and simply going right to bed.

A week later, Justin had been in his weight room for almost an hour when he heard Brenna come home. He yelled for her and a minute later he heard her descending the stairs. He sat up on the weight bench as she appeared in the doorway.

“Hey. How’d the meeting go?”

“Fine.”

“I don’t have anything on Wednesday, right?”

“No, you still have it off.”

“Cool.” He wiped his face with a towel and looked over at her again. “Are you alright?”

“Johnny asked me today if me and you were dating.”

“What did you say?”

“I told him yes.”

“What did he say?”

“He gave me a really long lecture about a working relationship being separated from a personal relationship and then he pulled your PR guy, Andrew, into the room to tell me what I can and can’t do when I’m in public with you.”

He felt some irritation go through him. “Are you serious?”

“Johnny also wants you to call him so can talk to you about it.”

He rolled his eyes. “Shit, I hate it when they butt in like this. They do it every time I go out with anyone.” He ran his hand over his face. “Was Andrew really rude to you? He can be pretty horrible to anyone who has the potential to make his job harder.”

“He was, um…firm. He started telling me all these horror stories about what people will do and say to me when they find out I’m your girlfriend. He said there would be hate websites devoted to me.”

Justin sighed. “He’s being overdramatic. People aren’t going to hate you. No one will even care.”

She gave him a doubtful look and he sighed again. “Seriously, Bren. It won’t be as bad as he made it out. Johnny and Andrew are trying to prepare you but they usually end up trying too hard and end up not doing any good.”

“I just didn’t realize how many problems it was going to cause by us going out.”

He got up from the weight bench. “It’s not going to cause any problems. It hasn’t so far. It’ll be fine.” He dropped his towel on the bench and went over to the doorway. “Forget about what they said.”

She slowly nodded and rubbed her hand over her forehead. “It was way too intense of a morning.”

He smiled and put his arm around her shoulders. “Sorry I’m such a pain to date.”

She cringed. “Ew…you’re all sweaty, Justin.”

His smile widened as she tried to squirm away. Instead of pulling his arm away form her, he put his other one around her and pulled her up against him in a tight hug and rubbed his face against her neck.

“Justin! Gross!” she yelled, trying to push him away from her. “Are you eight years old?!”

He grinned and let go of her. She jumped away with a disgusted look on her face.

“That was absolutely repulsive,” she said, wiping her hand over her neck. “You’re like dripping!”

He began to laugh. “It’s only sweat.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re such a child.”

He laughed harder, knowing she wasn’t really that upset. “I know you loved it, Bren. You don’t have to pretend to be grossed out.”

She snorted. “Yeah, I’m really pretending.” She turned to leave. “I guess I’ll be going to shower now.”

He followed her upstairs. “It’s not that bad.” They reached the main level of the house and he hooked his finger through the back belt loop of her pants, pulling her to a stop. He gave his finger a tug and pulled her back towards him. “I know you liked it, Bren,” he said, snaking his hands around her stomach.

“There is nothing about someone’s gross sweat all over me that I like. Don’t humor yourself,” she said but he could hear the smile starting to seep into her voice.

“I bet you were driving home thinking, ‘Damn, I hope Justin’s at home all sweaty so he can rub it all over me. That would be so hot’.”

She began to giggle. “You think so?”

“I know so,” he smiled. “You still gonna take that shower?”

“As “hot” as your sweat it, I think I might. I never showered this morning anyways.”

“I have to shower too. Let’s shower together.”

She turned her head and raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re such a dreamer, Justin.”

He laughed. “We’ll wear bathing suits. It’ll be fun.”

“But there’s two perfectly good showers upstairs.”

He began to move forward towards the stairs, walking her with him, his arms still around her waist. “But I’m trying to conserve water.”

“Uh huh.”

“Yep. And it’ll be fun. Come on, Bren.”

She sighed. “Fine. But I know you’re not actually trying to conserve water.”

He let his hands slide from around her so they could go upstairs. Once at the top, he turned to her. “Your shower or mine?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

She giggled. “Yours. It’s nicer.”

“Okay. Two minutes. Be there or be square.” He smiled as he watched her walk to her room and then he went to his own. He quickly changed into his bathing suit and then went into his bathroom and turned on the shower. After pulling out an extra towel and setting it on the counter, he stepped into the shower. He had been in there for only a minute when he heard the door open.

“Justin?”

He opened the shower door and Brenna stepped in, covered in a black two piece swimsuit. “That was definitely over two minutes.”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t be so picky.” She moved around him to stand under the spray of water and wet her hair. “Do you have any normal shampoo and conditioner in here or just your five hundred dollars per bottle stuff?”

He laughed and picked up a bottle of shampoo. “I don’t have enough hair to buy ‘five hundred dollars per bottle stuff’.” He poured some shampoo into his palm. “Turn around.”

She turned her back to him and he began to massage the shampoo into her hair. “Well this is nice. I feel like a full out celebrity. I don’t even have to wash my own hair.”

He smiled. “I’ll let you in on a secret, Bren. Even full out celebrities don’t have people to wash their hair.”

“I must just be really, really lucky then.”

He let his hands fall from her hair and turned her around so she could rinse the shampoo out. She closed her eyes as she ducked her head under the water. Once the shampoo was out, she put in conditioner.

“So Johnny gave me the whole December schedule today. There’s no more real work after the fourteenth. When do you think you’re going to be all ready to go to Shelby Forest?”

He sighed. “I dunno, Bren. I’m gonna get held up here for a while I think.” He picked up a loofa and soaped it up. “I think you should go for Shelby Forest when we’re done work. Unless you want to stick around here.”

“I think I’ll stay for a day or two but then I’ll go. How long do you think you’ll stay here?”

“So far it looks like the twenty first is when I’ll leave. It could change though.” He brought the loofa up and rubbed it over her shoulder, watching the soap run down her arm. “So what do you and your mom usually do for Christmas? Cause I bet my mom would want to do Christmas dinner together with you guys.”

“Yeah, that would be nice. That’s what we did last year.”

“Really? I guess I wasn’t home for Christmas last year.”

“Yeah. Turn around and I’ll do your back.”

She turned and he brought the loofa up to run over her back. Putting the loofa down, he used his hands to rub the soap into her skin. His hands slipped easily over her skin and he smiled a bit as she leaned back into him. He moved his arms around her stomach and brought her back against him. Leaning his head down, he kissed her wet neck softly and she sighed. She turned around after a minute and slipped her arms around his waist.

The water began to hit his back as he moved so he was now in the water spray and he pulled Brenna close to him as he kissed her. The steam, the hot water, and the feeling of Brenna against him caused him to become completely lost in the kiss and he didn’t come back to reality until he heard a thump. He opened his eyes and realized that she was now against the shower wall and his weight was pushing here there. He broke his lips away from hers, breathing heavily.

“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” he said, stepping away from her.

She smiled and pushed her wet hair away from her face. “Probably not.” She stepped away from the wall. “I’m done anyways.” She leaned up and gave him a quick kiss and then moved to the shower door. “I’m going to go find something for lunch. Do you want anything?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“Okay.”

He watched her step out of the shower and ran his hands over his face. With a sigh, he reached over and turned the hot water to cold.