Around and around we go

Chapter 7

"This is me."

I stop in front of the door to my suite, the one that's across the hall from his brother. Jared is staring at the door to Shannon's room like it might open at any second and I know he's ready to pounce if it does. He's just trying to protect me.

"Jared, it's ok, it's barely 6am, there is no way he's going to be awake yet.. not after what I saw last night...You may actually want to check in on him soon, he was rather... intoxicated." WHY do I still care about that man's well-being? The only reason I can think of is standing in front of me. If anything were to happen to Shannon, Jared's world would end.

  Jared makes a disapproving growling noise and turns his back to his brother's room "You're probably right... let me bring your gear in for you." 
I lead him into my suite and he lets out a low whistle as he closes the door and puts my gear on the table. "Holy fucking hell Nat! You sure are doing good for yourself. I think this room is nicer than mine, and I just won an Oscar!!....What EXACTLY is it you're doing these days??" 
I can't help but laugh. I can see him picturing some lavish lifestyle, which is very much NOT me at all. 
"I actually work for the hotel...Well, the people who own the hotels. I'm an auditor of sorts; it's a lot of quality control and a form of secret shopper really. I get to stay and experience everything a guest, such as yourself, should be experiencing and ensuring that everything is being done right. It's my job" I point at myself "to make sure YOU" I point at him "have every ridiculous demand met."  He's sticking his tongue out at me again AND giving me the finger. I know he's the least high maintenance person alive. 
"Excuse meeee? I seem to remember a certain someone who refused to eat regular ice cream because gelato was the only true form of frozen dessert..." 
"I still stick to that. Gelato is everything" 
"You're so fucking stubborn!" 
I roll my eyes at him and grab a banana out of the fruit basket on the coffee table. I was STARVING and still in my workout clothes. Sweaty workout gear. I needed a shower, and breakfast. I didn't have to do any actual work until 9, maybe I had time for a nap too. 
"So, which room are you in? Do you need to check in with Shayla?" 
"Fuck, yeah I should do that. What does your day look like Argh! I have no idea what I'm doing, I need my damn phone!! Stay here... don't move... I'll be right back." 
"I need to jump in the shower- here's my spare key. Just let yourself back in, k?" Just like the old days of traveling with them. At one point they stopped booking us seperate rooms because it was just a waste, we'd always end up staying together in the same room, in the same bed. This got awkward sometimes when he'd have a lady friend for the evening and I had to find somewhere else to rest my head. That's where Shannon came in, and eventually ruined everything.

 Jared just smiles with that familiar twinkle in his eye, kissing me on the cheek as he takes the key card from my hand and struts out of my suite, all hair flowing behind him. How exactly he manages to strut in those slippers is beyond me.

  I heard him come back into the suite as I was stepping into the shower. 
"It's just me! Everyone is still sleeping. I brought you some ice for your wrist. Do you want food?" 
"Thank you! and yes please- get two of whatever you feel like, I'll be quick." 
"Take your time... you were aawwwwfully sweaty"
"Fuck you Jared!" 
"Only in your wildest dreams darling." 

I do take my time, using all of the luxurious bath products that come with staying in these suites. I'm pretty sure this tiny bottle of conditioner is worth a month of my rent in the tiny apartment I'm never at; it's basically just storage these days. I make a mental note to take some of these home with me. 
I get out and put on one of the plush white robes and slip into my own slippers and pad out into the suite. 
"Jay?" 
"I'm in here." He says from the bedroom.

"Of course you are..." I mutter to myself under my breath. If there's one thing he's good at, it's making himself at home. Especially in MY bed. I gave up trying to kick him out of my bed while we were still in school. He claims he can only get a good night's sleep when someone is there with him.Turns out that someone is me. I've tried to get him another bed buddy SEVERAL times... but he would just sneak right back into mine in the middle of the night like a little kid, and I'd wake up with his long limbs all over me, or worse, to his snoring when he's sick. I actually got so used to him being there that I feel like I haven't slept properly in years. Maybe he had a point with his earlier comment about how he hadn't slept since I left... Huh...

 I walk into the bedroom, and he's right smack in the middle of the king sized bed, all snuggled into my blankets and pillows, watching something in Japanese on the flat screen TV. 
"What are you doing? I thought we were going to have breakfast! Get out of my bed!!"
"Make me!" He disappears under the comforter as he tosses a pillow in my general direction. 
I can hear him giggling like a child under there as he's squirming around and I can't help but smile. He gets like this when the jetlag sets in and he desperately needs to sleep. 
"Leto! You get your scrawny ass out of my bed right now or I will hold you down and shave off that stupid beard!!" 
"YOU WOULDN'T DARE!!" 
"Oh no? Stay in there and see..." 
He pokes his head of very messy hair out from the foot of the blankets...and blows raspberries at me. 
Choosing to ignore the child in my bed, I ask him if he ordered food. 
"Yeah, it should be here Soooooon." 
"Thank you. I'm going to get changed, are you staying in bed?"
"Only if you're joining me..." 
"Are you going to behave? I'll put pajamas on then. "
"PAJAMA-BREAKFAST-IN-BED PARTY!" 
And I get hit in the back of the head with a pillow. 

Our food arrives just as I finish pulling on my pajamas, red and black flannel matching nicely to his blue, and I have it set up in the bedroom while Jared is still hiding under the covers, giggling. This awards me a very strange look from the man delivering our food, I just shrug and tip him very generously. 
"You can come out now, he's gone"
"shhhhhhh sleeping" 
"Fine by me... just means more food for me... good thing too..I am STARVING" 
With a hugely over dramatic groan, he rolls out of bed and joins me at the little table by the window overlooking the city. He looks like he's aged 10 years since I got out of the shower. He needs to sleep. 
We eat the in relative silence, it was really nice having someone who knows me to share a meal with. I can't remember the last time I had a meal with someone and it wasn't business related. 
I watch as he struggles to keep his eyes open. 
"Whyre you lookin atme like that?" 
"Come on.. let's go take a nap, I don't need to be anywhere until 9. Did you get your phone?" He just nods and points at the nightstand. I get up and retrieve it. "Passcode?"
"Same as ever" 
I enter it without having to think about it and go to pull up his schedule, but before I can, his wallpaper is jumping out at me. It's a picture of the two of us that was taken when I first came out to LA. 
"Oh my god... Jared, did you just do this? How long have you been using this picture?"
He pushes his chair back, gets up and just shrugs. "We were moving boxes out of the Lab months ago and I found a few pictures, I really liked that one. It was like having you with me...." 
I put his phone down and go over to the gear he left on the front table and come back with my phone. "Here." He looks at me strangely as I hand it to him and watch as his expression changes to pure delight.

It's the same picture.

Before I know what's happening, he's wrapped his arms around me and he's once again kissing the top of my head and talking into my hair "You missed me! I knew it. And now I have you back. You're back. You came back to me." 
"I told you.. I'm not back."
"Yeah ok... whatever you say." He's crawling back into my bed, holding the covers up for me to join him. I get in and lay on my back and he drapes himself over me, resting his head on my chest.. 
"ohhh I like these..." he says as he's nuzzling into my boobs. 
 "JARED!" 
 "What? You were too skinny before..these are new and...niiiice!" 
 "Thanks?" I swat at him playfully. I had put on a few pounds once I left that life, and with that came some fairly impressive tits. 
"mmhhhmm" He's searching around for my left hand and I give it to him without thinking. he's drawing patterns on my palm with his finger. I'm doing the same on his toned back. Has he always been this skinny? He feels different somehow. It must just be from being apart for so long. 
 "Jared?" 
"mmmm?" 
"I'm sorry."
"Me too." 
He sits up slightly, kisses me gently on the lips, and settles back down onto my chest.
"Goodnight Nat."
"Sweet dreams Jay."