Olivia's POV
Without warning, morning had managed to creep in through the spaces in the blinds, patterns of light dancing around as the pitter patter of rain filled the air. Although disturbed, I hummed in delight at the sound – it was a rare one on the West Coast and so I relished in it as I pulled my hand up to rub at my eyes; a soft yawn escaping my mouth. I hadn't slept so well in months.

I rolled over and reached out, feeling the night stand for my phone. Nothing. My eyes shot open immediately in search of my missing phone but what they were greeted with was much too distracting. I mumbled an inaudible “what?” as I rubbed my eyes some more. Where the hell was I? I sat up quickly, revealing that I was still wearing my clothes from yesterday – more confusion, but slight relief. Next to me was the painting Alex had done of me, it was still just as breathtaking the millionth time I laid my eyes on it. At the bottom of the bed were a few other paintings, as well as on the floor and stacked up against the wall. My eyes found my handbag and shoes beside a pile of canvases. It had slowly began to register where I was but my mind was doing all it possibly could to deny the fact that I had allowed myself to stay over at a man's house – which made it sound a lot worse than it was.

I pulled myself out of the bed and took a quick look in the floor length mirror beside the bed. My hair was a little messy but, other than that, I didn't look too unpresentable. I grabbed my bag in one hand and my shoes in the other – I already felt like I was doing a walk of shame, I might as well look the part too – and made my way down the stairs. I found myself tip toeing, as though I was planning on sneaking out, but I knew that would make this whole thing look way worse than it actually was. It was a totally innocent situation in which I just happened to fall asleep in a guy's apartment who I used have feelings for. About half way down the stairs the smell of pancakes hit me and I found my mouth filling with saliva; I hadn't even realised how hungry I was until now.

I reached the bottom of stairs and noticed beside the door Alex had a little shoe rack where he 'placed' all of his shoes; in reality they were strewn anywhere but the rack, but I decided to place my shoes beside it along with my bag – figuring I'd stay and explain myself.

"Heeey," Alex practically sang as he must've head my bare feet padding against the hard wood flooring of his hallway. He was leaned over the stove, a pan in his hand, but he turned to smile at me; seemingly excited to see me, which didn't match my dreading this confrontation.

"Hey," I responded a little sheepishly. I slowly walked into the kitchen and just stood beside the door frame, not exactly sure where to put myself.

"Come," he nodded with his head over to the small island seating area in the middle of the room, "Sit," again with smiling, it was strange, "Do you like blueberries or maple syrup with your pancakes? Or I have Nutella too if you want that," he rambled. Acting like this was unlike any other morning was making me more uncomfortable. Alex was most likely just trying to be polite, but it just felt weird.

"No, I really should get going," I began, deciding if he wouldn't talk about it then I would have to, "I'm really sorry about last night," my voice meek.

"What?" he turned from the stove now to full face me, his brow furrowed, "Sorry for what?" he pushed.

"For staying over, I didn't mean to obviously, just I'd had a long day an-" he cut me off from my rambling, which I was kind of thankful for.

"No, no, no," he shook his head, turning back to his pan, "don't be stupid, you don't have to apologise," he flashed me a smile, "and I'm not letting you leave without breakfast, so, berries or syrup?"

I cracked a small smile, honestly pancakes sounded so good right now that I had to cave, "Uh, berries, please," I responded in a shy tone as I made my way over to sit at the island. I could practically see Alex's smile from the back of his head.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked after a moment of silence. I wasn't sure if he was mocking me or he was genuinely interested but I answered anyway.

"Great, thank you," I chuckled a little, "beats the shitty hotel mattress I'm used to, that's for sure."

"I wanted to talk to you about that actually," he responded, his tone much more serious as he began plating up some pancakes. I watched as he sprinkled some blueberries over the plate and all I could think about was how many women he had done this for before. He brought the plate over and placed it down before me and then leaned against the counter to look at me, his face serious, "I think you should stay here until you get a flight home," he said. The pause after he spoke felt like it should've been filled with a laugh track.

"What?" I questioned, narrowing my eyes. Was he kidding? I didn't really get the joke.

"Well, it's Christmas soon and the thought of you spending Christmas alone in a hotel room makes me really sad, and we're good friends, you know me, we get along," he began, the pace of his speaking quickly increasing, "I have a spare room and a guest bathroom too and I just think it's a good idea, it's not like it'd be a long time and it'd be totally free and you wouldn't be alone," the more he rambled the more it felt like he was no longer trying to convince me, but himself. "Please," his eyes shifted, he was now trying to pull some puppy dog look shit on me, "Pleeeeeeaaase," he repeated, elongating the vowels and jutting out his lower lip. I couldn't believe he was trying this – the older trick in the book – and it was working on me. Man, I am weak.

"Dude, you're crazy," I laughed it off and looked away from him, my attention now on my food, which looked delicious by the way.

"No, seriously," he placed a hand on my shoulder to grab my attention again and as soon as I looked back up at him, the hand was gone, "Please, I really want you to stay here, I promise it'll be fun," he laughed lightly, a sincere smile on his face, "Just at least taste my pancakes before you decide," he smirked, his eyes soft as he walked back to the stove to fix himself a plate.

"I really appreciate the offer Alex, but I really wouldn't wanna put you out like that." Simply taking food from him made me feel weak enough, now he wanted me to allow him to put a roof over my head? I don't think my pride could even manage that. I took a fork full of pancake and placed in my mouth, my eyes immediately widening at the man who now sat across from me.

Chuckling, he responded, "I told you, bro, I'll make pancakes every day if that's what it takes to have you living here."

"Why are you so hell-bent on this?" I questioned, my brow furrowed a little but I just continued eating, hoping he wouldn't notice my slight frustration. It was a really sweet offer but I just wasn't sure if it was a good idea. It was a hell of a lot better than living in the hotel by myself, but I just would hate to go get my belongings and move in with him for it to just be extremely uncomfortable the whole time.

"Because I want you to enjoy your time in Baltimore, and you're not going to if you spend the whole time in a shitty hotel room," he retorted quickly, he flashed a cheeky smile as he then filled it with pancake and I giggled a little.

I didn't like it, but he was right. I was hating my time in Baltimore, except from the times I had been with the guys. It was leaving such a bitter taste in my mouth and I didn't want my memories of my hometown to be tainted by my time here. This whole trip just seemed like a disaster from the get go and I was just waiting to see what else could go wrong. I had been ignoring Derek's calls for days now and the thought that at some point I'd have to speak to him was making me feel sick; I hadn't heard much from anyone back home except Samuel and I knew Samuel's advice would be to live here. I laughed at that thought, mainly because Samuel's next piece of advice would be: 'but don't sleep in the guest room, sleep with him'.

My options were: spend an excruciating and depressing Christmas in a hotel room alone; swallow my pride and make the 4 hour long drive up to New York, with a car I don't have, to spend Christmas with someone who doesn't want to spend it with me and who I've been ignoring for days or spend it here in Alex's apartment with good cable, alone whilst he spends it with his family (like regular people). None of them were too appealing, but the latter sucked the least.

"Maybe," I chirped, I couldn't help but smile as his eyes lit up.

"Great, I'll take you to get your things later," he responded casually, continuing to eat his breakfast. I laughed and shook my head at him. God, what was I getting myself into?

Notes

just quickly, i think in an older chapter i mentioned something about christmas being in a couple of days, but that wasn't corrected, i'm thinking christmas is a couple days from this point in the story, or maybe like a week, idk it depends how the story goes
anyway, hope you like this chapter x