Forbidden

Chapter 17

Ashley's POV

Meredith fell asleep but I am not tired at all. I am bored and look around the room and see Hudson's towel. I think of taking it to him, but I hesitate. Should I?

Before I can overthink my decisions, I am already folding the towel. As I am at his door, I knock lightly so nobody can hear me. He's still not answering and I knock again but this time a little harder. After some minutes he opens the door. He's shirtless. Like the night we met for the first time. But this time I recognize how many muscles he actually has. I catch myself staring at his body and immediately look at the floor.

"I'm sorry for disturbing but I wanted to bring your towel." I say nervously and notice he just woke up.

"Um... thanks." He says a little tired and grabs the towel.

"I'm sorry for waking you up." I say shyly and mean it.

"Never mind. I may stay awake from now on till I get tired." He smiles to comfort me. Oh no, now I really feel bad.

"If you stay awake anyway... Do you want to watch a movie?" I say and regret those words. How dumb can I be to ask him for a movie night? I mean, he's the brother of my best friend I don't think I'm going to be comfortable with that. And he might be mad at me for waking him up and have no nerves for me yet. I'd better just go to sleep now.

"You know what? Never mind..."

"Of course I want to." He says and smiles. I am standing with wide eyes in front of him thinking I just imagined those words coming out of Hudson's mouth.

"Come in." Hudson takes one step back to give me some space to walk into his room. And as I am in it he closes the door and gets the remote control for the TV on his wall.

"Make yourself comfortable on the bed." He says. And I would but how am I going to be comfortable with him? As I sit nervously on his bed he sits beside me but with a big space between us.

"What movie would you like to watch?" He asks. Everything that has love in it actually but for now I don't really know which could be the best movie to watch with him.

"I don't care. You decide." I say still nervous.

"You like romance, right?" He smiles but this isn't meant playfully.

"How do you know?" Now I am just confused about how he knew that. Did I ever mention that in our conversations? I don't remember that.

"I thought so. I mean, you are the best friend of my sister and you've been watching a lot of films since you've been here. Meredith likes romantic movies." He explains and he's right. Now I'm really getting comfortable with him.

"Ok, but still, you can decide – but no horror movies." I frown playfully and he chuckles. I don't want to decide on something he doesn't like but I don't want to watch a horror movie at 2 am, or even in the afternoon. I hate horror movies at any time.

He decides on a romantic comedy I already watched a hundred times in my life, but I still like it. It's one of my favorites and does not have any uncomfortable scenes. Snacks would be good right now, but I don't mention this.

"Do you want some snacks?" He reads my mind.

"Sure." I say normally but feeling a little embarrassed and I don't even know why. He stands up and grabs chocolate popcorn out of his bag. Hudson has a good taste in snacks I must admit. He turns around and holds out a little bottle of water and coke.

"Which would you like?" He asks me.

"Water, thank you." I say and he walks towards the bed with all of it. I think the coke bottle is for himself. He lays on the bed and now a little closer to me.

"Ashley, you can lay on my bed if you want. I mean, this would be not the first time we're laying on the same bed." He chuckles and I think he immediately regrets what he just said. But I don't want to ruin this night now, so I just stretch out my legs and notice I'm wearing my black pajama shorts. Now I feel really embarrassed but I can't move my legs again. He would interpret it the wrong way.

I catch him holding back a smile when I lay down and don't feel embarrassed anymore. He's just a friend. Maybe the brother of my best friend but still a friend.

The next morning, I feel an arm around my waist. As I wake up and turn to move Meredith's arm, I recognize it's not even her but him. Hudson and I are lying together on his bed. We must have fallen asleep last night. When I try to move his arm, he wakes up immediately and I can see he's as surprised as I am. Suddenly, someone knocks on the door. And we're both startled.

"Hudson? Can I come in?" Meredith asks behind the door. We both have eye contact and immediately stand up. What are we going to do?