My Life as Duke Starr's Assistant

My Life as Duke Starr's Assistant...[Part 14]

"Thanks for letting me camp in your room tonight," I said to Zac as I pulled my hair up into a messy bun on the top of my head.

"No problem. I wasn't going to let you sleep on the streets, was I?" he replied, a small smile on his lips.

"Thanks," I said, returning the smile.

"So this is a king size bed. There's more than enough room for both of us," he said as we examined our sleeping arrangments, which were limited as there was one bed and one very narrow and uncomfortable couch that didn't pull out.

I took a breath, feeling a little awkward.

"I can call for a mattress and sleep on the floor if you're uncomfortable..." Zac suggested. I shook my head.

"No, we can share the bed," I said slowly. It couldn't hurt. We would just sleep on opposite ends. And not touch. At all. I let out a slow breath, feeling my cheeks burn a little from the thoughts in my head.

"Valerie?" he asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"I'm fine," I said, pulling on a fake smile.

"Are you sure?" he asked. I nodded and then climbed onto the right side of the bed. He laid down on the other side. There's was still a good two feet of space between us. It really was a huge bed. "All good?" he asked.

"I'm fine," I repeated. Maybe if I kept saying this to myself, it would make the fact that I was in bed with Zac Efron a little better and less daunting. He turned the light from the lamp off.

"So did you call Patrice?" he asked.

"Yeah, she said that Olivia didn't have a photoshoot here," I told him.

"I knew something weird was up. Why is she here then?" he asked aloud.

"Well, I overheard her on the phone. She was telling the person she was talking to to make sure that nothing was let out and that she would take care of things tonight," I told him. I turned to face him and he did the same. I could see the sparkle of his blue eyes in the dim light streaming from behind the curtains.

"Wow. It doesn't get any more sketchy than that," he commented. We lay in silence for a moment.

"You don't think Duke will get hurt, do you?" I asked in a quiet voice.

I didn't know why, but I had the dreaded feeling that something bad was going to happen and that Duke was completely unsuspecting. For some reason, and maybe it was because I managed his everyday life for the past few days, but I suddenly felt protective of him; like is something bad happened, it would partly be my fault for not being there to protect him. It was my job to make sure he was happy and safe.

"Let's hope it's not something bad. Maybe we're just being paranoid," Zac replied, noticing the worry in my voice. Then he chuckled.

"What?" I asked.

"You like Duke," he said.

"What? No I don't!" I replied.

"Not in that way. But you like him," he said.

"He amuses me," I admitted, a small smile creeping on my lips.

"That's funny because he says the same thing about you," he told me.

"Really?" I asked. He nodded.

"He says that you're clever enough to hold a conversation with him, which he likes," he told me. I smiled to myself, wondering why he never told me himself. Probably his stupid pride was stopping him.

I yawned and stretched.

"We should get to sleep. 8 a.m shoot tomorrow," he said, stifling a yawn himself. I nodded in agreement and snuggled into the soft pillows, sleep falling over me quickly.