We've Only Just Begun

Part 6 - The Hangover

"So where are we thinking?" Nath asked.

"I want really bad-for-you food, like a burger or something." I said. My stomach growled again. "Jesus, why am I so hungry?" I clutched my stomach to try and stop the noise, but it was no use.

"Uh..." Nathan laughed, "probably because you threw up loads last night." 

"Oh shit." I put my head in my hands. "And you were the one taking care of me, I assume? What a great first impression." I rolled my eyes. Everyone laughed.

"It didn't make me like you any less." Nathan smiled and patted my leg. I huffed with frustration. 

"So what's good around here?" I asked. 

"I know just the place for what you want." Jay said. 

They took us to a little diner with hardly anyone in it. It was so quiet, which is exactly what we needed since all five of us were nursing some degree of a hangover. Nathan and I sat on one side of the booth, Steph and Jay on the other, and Seev pulled up a chair on the end. I ordered the biggest burger on the menu and ate all of it with all of my fries. 

After we ate we went back to the house to finish unpacking the rest of the boxes. Tom, Max, Ollie, Becca, and Maria were back by then. Nathan helped with the unpacking again, even though I didn't have much left to do, just little stuff like my pictures and other decorations. 

"Wow, did you take this?" He asked. I looked to see that he was holding the picture I had taken almost three years ago of the old piano in my house back in Houston.

I laughed under my breath. "Yeah, I'm just an amateur photographer, but it's always been a dream of mine to be a professional. I took that picture with one hand while holding a flashlight above my head in the other hand for lighting."

"It's amazing. And how perfect, it's my favorite instrument." He smiled.

"Oh I didn't know you could play. I took lessons as a kid but it never went anywhere." I said. 

"Maybe I can teach you someday." He replied. 

"Ha. I'd like to see you try. You'd probably get so fed up with me, I'm the most impatient person." I said. 

"Well I'm a really patient person, so I think I can handle you." 

I smiled shyly. He was still gazing at the picture, he looked amazed. "Maybe." I said, then walked over to him and took the picture out of his hands. He looked up at me and I couldn't help but stare back at him. 

"Whoa..." He said.

 "...What?" I asked hesitantly.

"Nothing, I just never realized how gorgeous your eyes were. They're so blue...they look like lightning...or ripples of water." He began caressing my face. The butterflies were fluttering like crazy, now. Then I realized I wasn't breathing. I let out a large breath and tried to get my words out.

"W-Well yours aren't so bad yourself." I stuttered. My cheeks were so red, I could feel them burning. Our faces were so close. It was about to happen again, but this time we were sober. And right then was when I knew that what he said he felt for me earlier that morning was true. He did like me. And I couldn't deny it anymore, I liked him back. He was leaning in to kiss me again when we heard a knock. We both jumped and turned to see Tom at the door. 

"Hey mate." He said to Nath. He turned and nodded to me, "Abbey." He had a mischievious grin on his face. It was gonna be hard getting any privacy in this house. 

"Tom." I said, letting out a breath. "What's up?"

"Sorry to interrupt, just wanted to see if you lot wanted to watch a movie with the rest of us." 

"Uh, yeah sure. We'll be down in a minute." Nath replied, and Tom turned to go back downstairs.

"I have an idea." Nathan said.

"What?" I asked curiously.

"Well, since you said being a photographer was one of your biggest dreams, why don't you take pictures of us? Here at the house, at our shows...for posters, album covers...anything. We could always use more pictures. The fans love it. We could put them on the website, and you could make loads of money. It could be like a second job while you're looking after us." He smiled. 

"I don't know why I never thought of that before. I knew I liked you for a reason." I smiled up at him. 

"Oh so you like me huh?" He laughed. 

"Could you really not tell?" I asked sarcastically. 

"Just kidding." He bent down and gave me a small peck on the lips. "We'll talk to the rest of the lads about it in a bit. Let's go watch the movie." He grabbed my hand and led me downstairs where the rest of the guys were dispersed around the room with their girls at their sides. Nath and I sat by Jay and Stephanie on the couch, Jay had his arm around Steph again. I really need to catch up with her about how all of that went down. 

Nathan put his arm around me and I cuddled up next to him. 

"What should we watch?" Max asked. He was flipping through the movie channels on the TV. 

We ended up watching 21 Jump Street, a movie I had seen about four times in the past six months. But I didn't mind. Nathan kept his arm around me for the entire movie. He bent down a couple times to kiss my hair, or my forehead. Everything was just perfect. 

When the movie was over it was dinner time and the boys said they would cook for us. While they were cooking I dragged Steph upstairs to get the details on her and Jay.

"So...?" I asked.

"What?" She replied with a sly smile.

"Really Steph? Spill it. How did you and Jay get so close in one night? I need details since I wasn't coherent enough to see them for myself." I said.

"How did you and Nath get so close in one night?" She asked me sarcastically.

"Oh shut up." I said. "Come on. Details." 

"It was nothing special. We just got along really well from the beginning. We're not dating officially or anything, that'd be weird. We're just enjoying each other's company." She explained. "That's what you and Nathan are doing right?" 

"Yeah I suppose." I let out a sigh. "Just...doesn't it feel like everything's going really fast? We haven't even been here two whole days." 

"Gotta start somewhere." She said. She looked pleased with herself.

"So did you and Jay...you know...do anything?" I hoped she was catching my drift.

"Oh no. I just stayed with him in his room last night and we kissed a little. That's it." She said, smiling.

"Yeah. Same here. Nath stayed with me." I let out another sigh.

"Abbey. Stop worrying so much." She nudged my leg. "Live it up! You have to now or else things are gonna get real awkward real fast and you won't be able to do your job." She said.

"DINNER'S READY!" I heard Seev yell up the stairs.

"COMING!" I yelled back, then looked back at Steph.

"You'll be fine." She reassured me. "Come on." She gestured for me to follow her downstairs. 

She was right. And I've always been the one to live in the moment and just go with the flow when it came to relationships. What should make this situation any different? Your job. I thought. But then I remembered what Nath and Steph both said about keeping the relationship a secret. It would be hard, but it would also be worth it. At least I hoped so.