I woke up, light trying to burn my eyes. My surroundings were unfamiliar, a place I had never seen before. The naked body next to mine was still peacefully sleeping, taking small breaths as he hugged the pillow he was resting on. If it weren’t for my phone violently buzzing in my bag on the floor, I would have easily fallen back asleep. I comfortably stretched out, happy I didn’t have the problem of Jack being wrapped around me, before looking around to see if something could tell me the time. As I sat up slightly and rubbed my eyes, the digital clock on the other bedside table showed 7am.

Who the fuck was trying to contact me this early!

Wanting to let out a groan, I still got out of the bed that was still sweaty from last night’s events. Carefully, I stepped over to where the buzzing sound was coming from, picking up my panties on the way there and putting them on. Not feeling as exposed and vulnerable anymore, I took out my phone, only to see it only had 30% battery left. Well, great. If the person trying to contact me wanted to have a long chat, there was going to be a bit of a problem. But when I saw the messages my phone had been blown up with, my eyes went wide.

No, it wasn’t somebody discovering what I had done with Jack. It was worse than that, way worse. David had sent me countless of messages since 6am. First, it was only asking me if I was up yet and getting ready, but over time the texts turner angrier and desperate. He was freaking out more and more as each message delivered. After not finding me at my own house, he went to Judy to ask what was going on. He was coming here to pick me up. I had somewhere to be! What?!

I quickly scrolled through the countless of messages I had skipped, not wanting to read a whole novel, to find what I possible was needed for. With my quick skimming over, I nearly missed it again. It was only a short text, but it told me everything I needed. Once again, I had forgotten an event I had to go to. At least this one wasn’t a public one. I had completely forgotten that we had a script read through for the new movie I was in. Great. I couldn’t miss this, I was the main character.

To stop him from worrying any further, I shot him a quick text telling him I just woke up, but that I’d be down in 10. I could not have him ring the doorbell and try to come up. He could be pretty intimidating if he wanted, and it seemed like he was pretty pissed off already. No need to scare anybody that lived here.

I looked around the room, it was pretty impressive for a bedroom in an apartment, especially if there were other people living here as well. His closet was built into the wall, large mirrors as the doors. It was open halfway, showing off the collection of shoes he was keeping there. He was almost as bad as I was, only I had them ordered in a specific way… maybe he did to. Oh well, that wasn’t what I was looking for. I saw a door, hoping it would be the bathroom. There was no way I was going to leave this place without going to the bathroom first. I could just feel the makeup I had tried to perfect yesterday, now be completely smudged all over my face. And oh god… my hair must look like a rat’s nest! I couldn’t go out like that, as much as I wished I could.

I took my chances, knowing that there could be other people on the other side practically seeing me naked if my guess was wrong, but still went through with it. Fortunately for me, it was indeed a bathroom with a bath-slash-shower on one side, a toilet, and sink with a nice large mirror. I rushed in, turning on the light and preparing myself to see the hideous mess I was going to be. And just as I had expected, the once beautiful makeup was all over my face.

I mentally cursed myself for not bringing makeup wipes, which I normally took with me everywhere. No, this time I was going to have to improvise. There was no way I could take one of Jack’s towels. The black stains would ruins the fluffy white cloth. Splashing and spraying water on my face wasn’t going to work either, everybody who wore makeup knew that! This stuff was easy to put on, but taking it off was a bitch. I was going to have to use everybody’s nightmare: toilet paper. It would become too soggy and break off, but it was the best option, unless Jack randomly had wipes here, and from the cupboard I looked through, he did not. He probably hadn’t had a girl stay over for a longer period of time, or otherwise this bathroom would be full of girl products. But no. Not one except for the occasional bobby pin or hair tie.

After wetting a wad of toilet paper, I carefully started rubbing my face. At first the black covering my face only smudged further, making me lose hope, but eventually it actually started coming off. Using loads of toilet paper, I managed to make myself look presentable before running Jack’s comb through my hair a couple of times. At least I didn’t look like I either had the best night in my life, or the roughest night ever. I was the only one who knew it would have been the first.

I tiptoed back into the bedroom, trying to make as little noise as possible. The floorboards creaked annoyingly under my weight, but Jack continued to sleep calmly. I started putting on my clothes, only to nearly fall over Jack’s shoes that were still on the floor. Freezing, I turned to his sleeping body, only to be relieved that I still didn’t wake him. Maybe this was going to be a lot easier then I expected. I was just about to put my pants on, when I heard movement going on behind me.

“Where are you going?” Jack’s sleepy morning voice questioned as he rubbed his eyes to see me better. I quickly finished putting on the clothing article before turning to look at him, my eyes wide.

I suddenly realised what it looked like. Not only was I being quiet and sneaky, but I was putting on my clothes and getting ready to leave without wanting him to wake up. Shit, shit, shit! I didn’t want that to happen!

“I, umm, this isn’t what it looks like,” I stuttered, trying to find the best way to tell him without hurting his feelings. This was going to be difficult if I didn’t get my ‘to-the-point’ face on right now. It must have looked like I was planning on leaving and never wanting to hear from him again. “I have to be somewhere… I totally forgot, but yeah…”

Great fucking job, Stevie! That was the worst thing you could say! Seriously! Well good job, you just fucked up any chance you had with this guy! You finally find some guy you really like, and you go ahead and make him feel like you only wanted a one night stand. I can’t believe it! How stupid are you right now?

Jack squinted his eyes and sat up, looking quite disappointed, “Are you--”

“No!” I interrupted before he could even get to what he wanted to say. My heart was beating like crazy, begging for my brain to get me out of this shit. “Trust me, I don’t do one night stands. I don’t sleep around. I am not leaving because I don’t want anything happening between us, because I do. Unless, you don’t want any of that, of course, then just forget everything I said…”

It might have been my mind playing with me, but he still looked really confused. I actually thought I was pretty straight forward, I literally told him that I wanted to have a relationship with him. Was that too straightforward, maybe? It didn’t seem like that was going through my mind at the time.

I sighed and quickly put my hair up in a bun while sitting back down on the bed. I didn’t care if I was going to be later than what I told David. He was going have to deal with it. And I could always use the traffic excuse if I came late to the actual meeting. I mean, it was technically true. I could come in time because there were other cars on the road, and we couldn’t run red lights.

But first, fix the situation with Jack.

“Ok, so I’m not supposed to tell anyone, but I’ll tell you,” I started, trying my best not to notice that his naked body was just being covered by the covers. One of his legs was already sticking out, if the duvet was just moved a couple inches more, I would be able to see everything. “I’m acting in a new movie, we’re having a script read through today. I completely forgot that was today. And I have to be there in, like, an hour. Now I have a bodyguard, who’s basically my brother, freaking out because he was supposed to bring my there on time.”

“Oh,” Jack scratched the back of his head, actually making the cover move the last bit so he was fully exposed, but he didn’t seem to care. I just stared right ahead, focusing on his face instead. Was he trying to get back at me or something? “I’m sorry for assuming. But you should get going, I don’t want to be the reason for you getting in trouble.”

“Ok,” I stayed seated for a while without saying anything. I was sure how Jack felt about it all. While I thought everything was fine, he could possibly thinking that I just came up with the worst lame excuse ever, and I really didn’t want to leave things like that. But, on the other hand, I really had to leave. “I’ll better getting going then. I really had a great time… So, umm, I’ll text you, but if I don’t, make sure to text me, ok?”

Oh god, this was so awkward. Why was I making things awkward? Yesterday, I was still so carefree and it was all so easy. But now… boy, was this so much different. I just didn’t know how to act anymore. I never had a one night stand, as weird as that may seem. This really wasn’t one, but me leaving like this was very similar to it. I just simply didn’t know what to do.
I stood up and looked around awkwardly once more before my eyes settled on something. There was a gray zip-up hoodie hanging from a chair placed in the corner. I pointed at in and impulsively said, “can I borrow that?”

“Umm,” Jack’s eyes followed to where I was pointing, running a hand through his hair, shaking his head in slight confusion, “yeah… sure, go ahead.”

“Wait, is it one of your favourite ones? If it is, it’s fine, I don’t need--”

“Just take it,” he chuckled, causing his eyes to squint in an adorable way, “now go, and don’t be late.”

I quickly put it on and pulled up the hood, ready to hide for anything that could be in the living room or outside the apartment complex. After saying goodbye one last time, I picked up my bag and opened the door. And, weirdly enough, Jack’s roommates were actually up, eating breakfast at their kitchen table. However, when I saw that it was already eight am, I knew I really had to hurry. I made David wait an hour instead of the 10 minutes I told him it would take… shit!

Pulling the hood to hide my face more, I shuffled quickly to the front door. Whistles followed me, coming from the three guys watching me leave. They had obviously heard everything that had gone down the night before. But it wasn’t my fault! I told Jack I couldn’t be quiet! I just really hoped they didn't know who I was. There was no way I could deal with more rumours starting now.

I rushed down as soon as the door closed behind me. The large black range rover stuck out between all the lower normal cars. I ran over to it, my bare feet aching from the asphalt on the ground. Getting in the passenger seat, I was already prepared for what was to come. There was no way that David would completely be fine with this. However, I had to do something else first.

“We still have spare clothes in the back, right?” I asked, but climbed over the console and squeezed myself through the seats without waiting for an answer. I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing the same clothes as I wore the day before, as much as I really didn’t want to care.

David was about to scold me, but I put up the divider before he could even formulate what he wanted to say. It wasn’t that he hadn’t seen me clothingless before, but I couldn’t risk somebody looking through the windshield just to take a picture of me in my underwear. I even made sure to put up the extra shades we had on the windows in the doors, before reaching down and grabbing the bag that contained the very simple blue jeans, a gray Mickey Mouse tee, and my gray vans. It really was emergency clothing.

I put down all the screens again, leaning forward against the diver’s seat. (Yes, I know, no seatbelt. Danger! Oh my god! Yeah… with this slow traffic in LA nothing was really going to happen). I put on my sweetest smile and looked at the person here to take care of me, “Davey, we’ve got a problem.”

“Goddammit,” he sighed and shook his head disapprovingly, “did you get pregnant?”

“No,” I mumbled, glaring at him. I hated when people joked about that, it just wasn’t funny at all. “You know that’s impossible. I just really really have to go to the bathroom.”

“We’ll be there in an hour and a half, can’t you wait that out. We’re already late, don’t make yourself get into more trouble. I’m not going to be there to help you out of this.”

“No,” I emphasised, making my eyes wide while shook my head, “you don’t understand. The last time I got to pee was about an hour into the date. I’ve had 3 glasses of wine and 4 glasses of water, plus a whole night since then. I can no longer hold this.”

He made eye contact with me through the rearview mirror, “Stevie, seriously? Why didn't you just go at that guy’s place! You’ve been in there way longer than you told me you were going to be. Did you seriously not have any time to quickly go to the bathroom?”

“Shut up. I didn’t think about it then, ok?”

I grabbed an empty water bottle out of a cup holder, “Well, just pee in this bottle--”

“Are you out of your mind!” I shrieked out of shock, “I can’t pee in a bottle! That is physically impossible! Dude, no!”

“Well, there’s no other option…” He wiggled the bottle in front of my face, making me angrily take it from him. I just stared at the plastic in my hand. Well, how the fuck was I supposed to do this?! I didn’t know where to hold it, and there was a very large possibility of me getting it all over the beautiful leather seats in this car.

“Ok, fine, but only because I feel slightly bad for you,” David breathed out. I expected him to pull over somewhere so that I could quickly run into a store or something, but instead he reached out to the glove compartment and took something out, handing it to me.

I raised my eyebrows at the pink thing he gave me, “what the fuck is this and what am I supposed to do with it?”

“It allows girls to pee standing up,” he explained casually, not taking his eyes off the road, “it might help you with your aim.”

“What?! Why the fuck do you have this?”

“For emergencies like this. I don’t know if you realise, but I only drive this car when I have you along with me. All that shit in there is for you.”

“Fine.” I didn’t even care anymore. It was not going to end well if I waited any longer. After pulling down the zipper of my jeans, I tried to figure out to do with everything I was given. This was absolutely terrifying. Anything could go wrong if I was just a tiny bit off. But I just had to try, and I let go.

It was definitely relieving, but everything about it was so awkward. And it was up to David to make it even more awkward, which was one of his many talents. He made a weird face and looked at me through the mirror again, making short eye contact, “that sound, though.”

“Shut the fuck up,” I seethed, really not up for any of his jokes at that moment. Often I liked it when he made things even funnier, but, in situations like this, it just didn’t fit. “I need another bottle.”

“Another bottle? I don’t have another bottle!” He exclaimed while the traffic light we were waiting at turned green again. I tried my best to stay upright without making anything spill, but if he didn’t get me another container soon, it was going to happen anyway.

“Do you want your seats to be covered in pee?!” I shouted back in panic. This really wasn’t an everyday activity for me. I would have maybe expected to wake up with Jack, have some breakfast together, and be around each other until it was time to leave. But, nope. Nothing like that happened. I woke up at 7pm, left by eight, and was now peeing in a bottle. Oh how different reality was.

David looked around the car desperately trying to find something to give to me. So much for having a glove compartment with emergency supplies, but not for something like this. My eyes lit up when I saw him pull out another bottle… but it was full. Great. Well, David even came with a solution for that.

“I’m so wasting water,” he sighed and opened his window so he could pour out all the contents onto the dry scorching road that hadn’t seen water for days. Handing it back to me, I snatched it out of his hands and switched out the bottles as quickly as possible, not spilling a drop. To say the least, I was pretty impressed with myself.

I never thought I’d say it, but that was the time I learnt how to pee in a bottle in a moving car. Pretty awesome, right? A very useful skill. Something nobody would ever know. A hidden talent.

For the rest of the car ride, I was sitting in the front again, reevaluating my whole life. Where had I gone wrong to end up here? Oh yeah, right: falling out of love. That’s what got me into this whole mess. Minor detail, nothing too special. It wasn’t like the whole world was bothering me with it. No, not at all. It also wasn’t like paparazzi were shouting questions at me about it as soon as we got to our destination and had to get out of the car.

You see, I had learned to not careabout them following me around asking occasional questions, but it was just getting annoying right now. They were only doing it to me and leaving Travis alone about it. All the tabloids had rumours about me, but not a single one about him. It was like they were trying to oppress me. A girl couldn’t do something without being judged for it. Everything she did would be wrong, no matter how often she tried to change to make other people happy. I was completely fed up with that.

However, it was still relieving when I entered the building, leaving behind all those limpets running around me like lost puppies. David walked with me down the hallways and to the small studio the entire cast for the specific scenes we were running through today, were supposed to meet up. He wasn’t, however, going to come with me.

“Don’t forget to throw away those bottles, because it’s pretty disgusting to have that in your car,” I chuckled and patted his shoulder sympathetically.

“I have to throw them away? No way! You have to throw them away! I’m not touching that!” He looked at me with the widest eyes he could muster. He was honestly terrified of those bottles, it was actually pretty funny in my eyes.

“Ah, you see, David, I can’t do that. I already have enough rumours around going on about me, I don’t need one starting because I carried around pee bottles,” I gave him a smile before opening the door in front of me and disappearing inside. There was no way I was going to do it. I would have done it, if it weren’t for the people constantly spying on me. Doing something like this always made me feel guilty and sneaky, but if I had stood there any longer, David would somehow have convinced or blackmailed me into doing it.

And then I realised everybody in the room was staring at me. I knew I was a bit late, but seriously? Going all school class on me? Was that really necessary? I glared right back at them until they started feeling uncomfortable. Yep, I knew there were famous people all around me, but it seriously didn’t faze me. I was used to it.

I went over to one of the corners of the room to plug my phone into it’s charger. If I needed to call David that I was going to be later or earlier, it would be useful to actually have a phone to do so with. Pigeons didn’t really work anymore nowadays.

“Hey,” a guy was standing right next to me. I stood back up, leaving my phone on the floor to greet the person. It was Travis.

Notes

I haven't written for this story in over a month and a half, but I decided to put up this chapter anyway.