Stuck In Quarantine

12.

      Celeste was back in her apartment. She felt exhausted, and she didn't know why? She thought maybe it was the food James had made, maybe she ate too much? But the more she thought about it, the more she realized, that the reason she was exhausted. Was because of her phone call with Mark.
The emotion of it all, had left her mentally drained. So she figured the best thing to do, was to take a shower, and then go to sleep. And start tomorrow fresh.
      She entered her bathroom, and started up the water. Celeste let her hand sit under the faucet, as it went from cold, hot, to just right.
She stripped her clothes off, and slowly stepped in, letting the water wash over her. She stood still underneath the water, and tilted her head up towards the shower head. And got lost in her thoughts. She thought about the virus that was plaguing the world, her phone call with Mark, and most of all, she thought of James.
      She thought of what he was going through with Stacy, she thought about how deep he's been cut by the situation. And then her thoughts turned selfish. Thinking if James had any feelings towards her. She couldn't figure out where these feelings had come from, and why they were so strong. She enjoyed spending time with him, and she thought he was a great guy. But in the end, Celeste looked at her feelings as foolish. She didn't want to trust them.
      After Celeste finished her shower, and she had dried off. She entered her bedroom, hung her towel up on a clothing hook, and put on some sleep wear. She slid herself into a very baggy shirt, that went down to her knees. And she crawled into bed with her phone in hand. She sat up, with her back against her headboard. Buried underneath her covers.
And scrolled through her phone. Celeste went to her recent downloads and brought up James's book. And started reading. And from the moment she read the first chapter, she couldn't put it down. Eating up every word, and every chapter.
      She wasn't much of a reader, so she was shocked by how addicting the book was. It was filled with murder, detailed sex scenes, and corruption. The only books she had read up to this point were, The Fifty Shades of Grey series. And so far his one book, had blown those out of the water. Everytime she read a sex scene, she would put the book down, and collect herself. It had been so long since she had sex, that the scenes drove her mind wild.
And it didn't help that she knew the main character of the book, was based on James. It was a dead giveaway when she read the description of the character. From the looks, hair-style, and attitude. She didn't know if it was vain or not, to write yourself into your own book. But she wasn't a writer, so she didn't judge. She thought it was really cool though, that she knew an author. Especially one that was really good, atleast in her opinion.
      Before Celeste knew it, the sun was coming over the horizon, and it was early in the morning. She had stayed up all night, reading the book. It wasn't until she had finally finished the book, when she realized the time. It was, 7:30 in the morning, and was shocked she had stayed up all night reading. But she didn't feel tired, her mind was still buzzing, she was going over everything she had read in her mind. Enthralled with how good the book was. And she had to tell James.
She lept up from her bed, phone in hand. And made her way to James's apartment. Once she was at his door, she listened to any signs of life. And she could hear music through the door. She knew the song, it was, Daddy Yankee - Con Calma.
      Celeste opened up his door, and peaked through. James was working out, he had a, blue and black pull-up bar set up in his living room entrance. And he was doing wide-grip pulls ups, with his back to her. He didn't have a shirt on, so Celeste could see all his back muscles ripple and flex with lift.
She never realized how in shape he was. His back and shoulder muscles, had muscles on top of muscles. James wasn't a very big guy, but he was definitely toned, and ripped. His back glistened with sweat, and shined in the daylight.
      Celeste swallowed hard, as she slowly entered the apartment.
'Oh my god!' She thought to herself. She could feel her face getting warm, along with the rest of her body. She didn't make any noise, or even tried to get James attention. She just watched, watched as he switched from the pull ups, to pushups.
She leaned herself against his fridge, with her phone against her chest.
James still had no idea Celeste was in his apartment. And once he was finished his pushups, he stood up and took a big drink of water, and walked to his bedroom. And Celeste finally said something.

      "Hey James."

He stopped, and turned around to face her. Celeste felt embarrassment fall over her, for having watched him for so long without saying anything.

      "Celeste?" He asked, cocking his head to the side.

      "Yeah its me." She said, as she stepped forward.

      "What are you doing here?" James asked, as he walked toward her.

      Celeste swallowed hard again, as she glanced down at his stomach. His stomach and chest were just as toned as his back. His abs flexed with every step he made. And she had completely forgot what James had just asked her. James leaned up against the door frame of his bathroom, with his arms crossed, he looked at her with his left eyebrow raised.

      "What are you doing here?" He asked again.

      "Um-- I just-- Just-- Came by to tell you about your book!" She said, finally getting the words out. She was so flustered.

      "My book?" James asked, raising both his eyebrows.

      "Yeah! It was so good!" She exclaimed, holding her phone up to James. "I stayed up all night reading it! I couldn't put it down!"

      "All night? Really?" He asked her, feeling flattered.

      "Yeah, all night! I started reading it after my shower, and couldn't put it down!"

      "Thank you!" James said to her with a smile. As he turned an reached into the bathroom, grabbing a towel and draping it over his shoulders.

      "You're a really good writer! You should write another book!" She said to him, with excitement.

      "It's not that easy..." James said, as he leaned back up against the door frame again. "It's easy to write something when you're inspired, at least for me it is. And I haven't been inspired in a long time. And by the way, how long have you been standing there?"

      "Well maybe you'll be inspired again soon!" Celeste said. "But anyways! I can see you're about to take a shower. So I'll leave you be! I just wanted to tell you about your book!"

      Celeste completely ignored James, when he asked how long she had been there. She didn't want to tell him, she had been watching for awhile. She made her way backwards, out of his apartment. Feeling embarrassed, and feeling her whole body become hot. James looked at her confused, stepping away from the doorframe, and closer to her.
She backed up into his counter, and felt her embarrassment grow further. She couldn't get out of there fast enough, and James was still moving towards her, confused by her.

      "Anyways! You have a great shower! And I'll talk to you later!" Celeste blurted out, as she made it to his front door.

      She opened the door, and quickly closed it behind her. Completely shutting James out, before he could speak. She was so embarrassed, and wanted to crawl out of her own skin. She couldn't believe she just acted like that. She hadn't been that nervous about someone since her highschool days. Celeste leaned up against his door, her knees were weak and shaky. Celeste took a deep breath in, and let it out. Trying to calm her, and her body down. She started her shaky walk back to her apartment. Between the book and it's detailed scenes about sex, and seeing James like that. Celeste had never felt that flustered before, in her life. 'Hold fuck!' Was the only thing going through her mind.