You're My Number One

Chapter Five

When I woke up the next morning, I didn't know where the hell I was. My surroundings seemed unfamiliar and everything seemed back to front. Where my en-suite was in the left-hand corner of my room, here it was in the right-hand corner. I was confused and cursed myself for drinking so much alcohol at the party.

I rolled over and realized that Paul was lying next to me. Oh my God, last night!! Instead of returning to the party, we'd gone up to his room, which was where I was right now. Suddenly it all made sense!

Yes, I know what you're thinking, but we didn't! We talked for hours and must have fallen asleep. We were still in the clothes we wore to the party.

I smiled as I remembered what we'd talked about. We admitted that we'd both fancied each other for ages but were scared of telling each other as we didn't want to ruin the great friendship that we had. Apparently Paul realised at Christmas when we went snowboarding with Jon. I told him that this was the same time that I realised how I felt about him too. He explained that he thought I had worked out how he felt and that's why I had been backing off since then. He thought I wasn't interested! We laughed at that and it led to a pretty intense make-out session. We talked about everything from preparations for the tour to why toast always landed butter side down. It gave me such a warm feeling just thinking about it. We lay there for hours, Paul's arms around me, my head on his chest, his fingers running up and down my spine, occasionally exchanging kisses of varying intensity. But we didn't take things further. Our hands and mouths kept firmly to safe areas and didn't dare stray beneath clothing or near to erogenous zones. There was an unwritten rule that we both seemed to understand.

Suddenly I remembered the others. Oh God, the others! I had to get out of here! I looked at Paul. He was still sleeping. I resisted the temptation to touch his face and slowly got off the bed. I heard him grumble something in his sleep as he rolled over and patted the bed as if searching for something, but he didn't wake. I smiled at him, still in shock at everything that had happened during the past few hours.

I tiptoed towards the door. The house seemed quiet. I'd no idea what time it was. Maybe it was still early and they were all still in bed.

No such luck.

I carefully opened the door and slid through it, closing it silently behind me. I was just about to sigh with relief when Rachel appeared around the corner.

I squeezed my eyes shut. Get out of this one then Hannah! How could I possibly deny anything when I was still in my party clothes and clutching the door handle of Paul's room?

"Morning Han," said Rachel in a breezy sort of fashion. "We were wondering where you'd got to last night," she smirked.

"Rach, it's not what you think."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever! I'm glad you two sorted yourselves out," she grinned. She gave me a wink and walked off.

I hurried to my room and collapsed on the bed. Everything was just as I'd left it the night before. I grabbed my watch from the bedside table. Thank goodness. It wasn't that late. Nine o'clock. Surely everyone would still be in bed? Everyone except Rachel that is.

I'm sure we had this weekend off. I couldn't quite remember. So much had happened during the last twenty-four hours.

I took a shower, got dressed and made myself look presentable. I wore lose jeans, a strap top and a shirt over the top - my standard clothing outside of work. No sooner than I'd finished putting on my makeup, there was a knock at the door. I froze. Who was it this time?

"Han, it's me. Can I come in?"

My heart skipped a beat. Should I play it cool? Make him wait? Nah, what the hell! I jumped off my bed and quickly walked to the door, opening it with a flourish. He stood there, grinning at me. He looked gorgeous. He was wearing a pair of low-rise jeans and a t-shirt declaring "I'm the man". His hair was still wet from his shower and it was sticking out at odd angles. I desperately wanted to run my fingers through it. He was once again wearing the aftershave that I had brought him. The warm feeling in the pit of my stomach returned.

I returned his grin. "You'd better come in."

He laughed, closing the door behind him, and came over to me. Our lips met and I experienced the same amazing feelings as last night.

"And where did you disappear to this morning?" he said when we broke apart. He kept his arms around me and was running his fingers up and down my spine. I had come to realise that this was one of his favourite things to do. He had of course run his hand up and down my spine many times before - mainly when I'd been curled up against him sleeping on the bus - but this was different. Suddenly I realised how intimate it was!

He said my name and it jolted me back to reality.

I laughed nervously. "Well, you know...the others!" I replied, draping my arms around his shoulders. I could feel his muscles ripple as he moved his fingers along my spine.

"What about the others?" he teased.

"I was a bit scared of what they might think," I replied. "But Rachel caught me coming out of your room anyway."

"That's that then!" he laughed and kissed my forehead.

We lay down on my bed and chatted for a while.

"So are we gonna tell the others?" he eventually asked.

"I think the girls kinda know anyway. They were grilling me about you before the party. Getting dressed up last night was their plan. They thought it might make you realise what you were missing or something!" I laughed. He laughed along with me and hummed his approval. "But yeah, I suppose we should," I continued, "face to face."

We could hear doors opening and closing. The others were starting to emerge. I knew we had to go downstairs at some point but I really didn't want to. I could have stayed right there, leaning against Paul, just talking, holding hands, occasionally kissing, for hours.

But then my stomach started growling. And so did Paul's! We'd both always liked our food and right now we were both starving!

"We'd better go or we'll miss breakfast," I said, leaning up to look at him.

"We'll have breakfast in bed next time," he replied with a grin, "cereal, toast, pancakes. The full works! I promise."

"Paul!" I giggled, gently hitting his arm. "Who says they'll be a next time?"

"Don't worry, there will be," he said, pulling me up from the bed, "and you won't have to sneak out before I wake up next time."

I smiled, "that sounds nice."

"Mmm, tell me about it!" Paul said as he kissed my hair, "I've waited a long time to be able to wake up next to you Han."

Those words will always be some of the most romantic words I've ever heard. I was speechless. We kissed again and I realised I wanted there to be many more nights spent together. I wanted to wake up with his arms wrapped around me, holding me close.

Suddenly my nerves kicked in. "I don't know if I can do this Paul. What if they react badly?"

"They won't. Like you said, they know how we feel about each other. We'll be fine. We've gotta do it some time. Just think, the sooner we do it, the sooner it's all in the open baby."

I was taken aback. Baby? He must have seen the shocked expression on my face because he burst out laughing. Soon I was joining him.

"Too soon?" he laughed, referring to the term of endearment. He was clearly embarrassed by my response. I ran my fingers through his hair.

"Nope," I replied eventually, "It's nice. I just wasn't expecting it, that's all." He grinned and placed a chaste kiss on my lips.

"Ok baby" he winked at me. I could get used to that, I thought.

"You realise that this means I need to give you a new name?" I smiled, thinking I could tease him a little. "What about honey-bunny?!" I suggested. I couldn't help but burst out laughing at the idea and soon he joined me.

"Hmmmm, maybe not that!" He frowned at me. "I don't have to say it you know. It just slipped out. Don't worry. I'll just call you Hannah or Spun. Just like always."

I realised he was embarrassed, a feeling that I didn't want to cause him. "Don't be silly. I like it. I just didn't expect it. I want you to call me baby. It makes me feel special."

"You are special Han. You're very special to me."

I smiled and he pulled me into another spine-tingling kiss.

"Ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," I said with a smile.

After a final kiss, we walked downstairs to face the music.