::Brook::

I walked around for the rest of the day essentially floating once I'd gotten back to school after my surprise coffee date with Alex.

I hated to admit it so soon, but that boy had me wrapped around his finger already so bad that it was going to take everything I had in me not to let my guard down.

Out of sheer boredom, I volunteered for hallway duty throughout the rest of the day. I figured I was being more productive monitoring the hall and sneaking texts to and from Alex than doing it hidden away in my office.

"What's got you all super smiley today?" Jenny asked me as soon as I walked into the apartment.

"What are you talking about?" I asked her, setting down the few bags on the kitchen table from my quick stop at the store after I'd gotten out of work.

"You have this enormous smile on your face."

I shrugged. "It's Christmas time, Jenn. I'm in a good mood."

She raised an eyebrow at me, wiggling her finger. "Yeah. But this is different. This isn't your it's the most wonderful time of the year smile."

"Do you have a point?" I asked, unloading the contents of the plastic bag on the table - most of which were baking stuff for tonight.

"I think it's this boy," she said, hitting the nail right on the head.

"What about this boy?" I asked, trying to stop smiling.

"You have got it so bad, dude. You can't even stop smiling right now. And I know you're trying to so hard," she laughed at me.

"Jenn, he surprised me at Starbucks today."

She looked confused. "Like he followed you there?"

"No," I laughed. "Like I told him I was going there for a much needed coffee fix on my break and he told me he needed to go Christmas shopping, but really, he showed up at Starbucks right after I got there."

She smiled. "That's really cute."

I nodded. "And then..." I trailed off.

"And then what?" she asked, her eyes widening in the way they did when she was interested in something.

"I'm not sure I want to tell you this part," I said, looking away.

"Oh my God," she gasped. "You didn't bang him in the back of the car in the parking lot, did you?"

"Jesus, Jenny," I rolled my eyes. "No. I didn't bang him in the back of the car in the parking lot."

She smirked. "But I bet you wanted to," she winked.

"Jenny!" I gasped. "No. He was standing behind me so I'd have to walk passed him after I'd gotten my coffee. When I turned around, I slammed right into him and spilled my coffee all the way down the front of his coat."

Jenny shook her head, snorting in an attempt to not full out laugh at me. "Brook, first his dog then his coat? What's next?"

I shook my head. "The dog was fine. And he said he was getting rid of that coat soon anyway."

"Yeah. He was getting rid of it because it was ruined by coffee."

"Shut up, Jenn," I hissed. "Or I'll leave you to do all this baking on your own."

She laughed as I headed to my room to change into sweats. "You wouldn't dare," she yelled after me.

I changed quickly before heading back into the kitchen. "Ready to do this?"

"Absolutely," Jenn smiled, popping the cork off a bottle wine and pouring us both a glass.

"Thanks," I said, taking a sip and looking over at all the baking ingredients. "Where do we start?"

"Hmm..." she hummed to herself, looking over the stack of recipes we had and glancing over the stock pile of ingredients. "We should probably start with all the cookies. We'll be able to bake all the different batches at once cause they take the same amount of time and degrees in the oven."

"Sounds good to me," I nodded and started to take the baking pans from the cabinet.

"You know, I was thinking," Jenny said a little while later, once the cookie dough was made and we were using the cookie cutters to make Christmas-y shapes.

"Should I be worried?" I asked, finishing off my second glass of wine and reaching for the bottle and re-filling mine and Jenny's glass.

"You're dating a guy who's pretty much a semi-celebrity," she said and I kind of rolled my eyes. "No," she protested. "Just hear me out... You're dating a guy who probably has his entire life on the internet."

"Where are you going with this?" I asked carefully.

"I'm just saying if you want to find out the dirt on this guy, I bet you just have to type his name into Google."

"No," I shook my head as I saw Jenny stand up, no doubt in search for one of her many electronic devices that had internet access. "I don't want to know anything unless he tells me. That's not fair. It's like cheating the system."

Jenny shrugged, sitting back down. "It's also protecting yourself. I mean, don't you want to know if he's the kind of guy in a band that fucks around with everyone? Or are you still into guys that do that?" she eyed me.

I sighed. "Low blow, Jenn." I got up to pre-heat the oven.

"I'm just saying you have the upper-hand here. You can totally find out what you need so you don't get hurt."

I sighed again, sitting back down. "I get hurt either way, Jenn. I don't want to find out he's a bad guy. I want to keep thinking of him as the guy who kissed my bruised knee, came back to the house five minutes after he left to give me a goodnight kiss and surprised me at Starbucks on my lunch break."

"I hope he's a good guy, too. I'd hate to see you go through all that again. But I'm just saying dating a guy in a successful band is going to have its issues."

"Issues?"

"Fans. Groupies. Touring. Did you think of that? I bet they tour a lot. Did he mention to you his next tour?"

"No," I frowned. I honestly hadn't really thought about the whole touring aspect of his career. "We're not that serious that he would have to tell me any of those things yet."

"Yeah right," she rolled her eyes. "You're one really drunk night away from tattooing his name on your ass."

"I don't know about that," I said, finishing up my tray of snowflake shape cookies and bringing it over to the oven that had finally pre-heated. “We’ve only been on a date and a half. I’m not getting all too attached just yet.”
“Well, hey… That’s about a date and a half more than you’ve been on in over a year so there’s got to be something there, right?”
“I’m not denying that I like him. I’m just denying that I’m one really drunk night away from tattooing his name on myself…”

"Have another glass of wine,” Jenn smirked, bringing me her tray of Santa hat shaped cookies. "All kidding aside, I think this guy is good for you."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "You do?"

She nodded. "I do."

"But you haven't even met him," I pointed out.

"I know. But you’re smiling a lot again and I just have this feeling."

I smiled. "Well, I hope your feeling is right."

About four hours and two bottles of wine later, Jenny and I had made enough baked goods to last us way into the New Year.

"Brook, your phone is vibrating," Jenny said and I looked away from the TV that was playing A Year without a Santa Clause.

"What?"

She laughed, no doubt because I'd been so absorbed in the movie. "Your phone."

"Oh," I said, grabbing my phone off the coffee table and flipping the screen up. "Thanks."

Broookkkk! Are you still awake?

I smiled when I saw the text message from Alex.

Alexxxxxxxx! Yes. I'm awake. What's wrong?

Nothing at all. I need your help.

With what?

what to wear to dinner tomorrow night :P

That's cute. But how can I help you from my couch?

does your phone get picture messages?

No :-(

You're such an old lady :-P I don't suppose your computer has a webcam...

It actually does!

do you know how to work it?

Actually I don't :)

But I can figure it out. Give me a few minutes.

can't wait :-D

"Jenn, I need your help," I said sitting up.

"What's wrong?"

"Help me set up the webcam on my computer," I said standing up and walking towards my room, stopping in the kitchen first to grab an ice pack from the freezer for my knee that was starting to bother me again.

Jenn laughed as she followed me to my room. "What do you need your webcam for right now?"

"Alex wants me to help him decide what to wear tomorrow," I said with a blush.

"Cute," she rolled her eyes, waiting for my laptop to boot up.

"Here," I said, passing her my phone that was open to a text with whatever information from Alex she needed to connect to him.

"Okay," she said looking away from that computer, "just click connect when you're ready."

"Okay, thanks," I said, sitting on my bed and placing my laptop in front of me. "What?" I asked when I noticed Jenn was watching me.

"Nothing," she laughed. "Goodnight."

"Night," I yelled after her as she left my room and closed the door behind her.

Ready when you are :)

I read the text from Alex and smiled as I tossed my phone to the side and clicked the button Jenny instructed me to.

"I can see you," I said, smiling when Alex popped up on my screen.

"I can see you too," he laughed, waving at me. "How was your night?"

"Good. I baked enough goodies to feed a small army."

"I can tell," he said, pointing towards his screen. "Your shirt is covered with flour. And I think you might have some in your hair."

I gasped, looking down at my t-shirt that was in fact covered in white powder. "I probably should have changed before this."

"Nah," he shook his head. "You look cute."

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks."

"What's that?" he asked and it seemed like he was pointing to my knee.

"What's what?" I asked quickly, throwing the ice pack out of his view.

"Was that an ice pack?"

"I'm fine," I assured him. "It was bothering me a little bit before so I figured I'd ice it a bit, just in case."

"Are you sure it's okay?" he asked, a worried look in his eye and it made me smile.

"Yep, totally fine. So what are your outfit options for tomorrow?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Okay, hold on," he said, standing up from what seemed like his couch. "We're going to my room."

"Okay," I laughed, trying not to look at the screen because the jumbled picture was making me a little dizzy.

"Okay. Here we are," he said and turned the computer to his bed where he had three shirts laying out. "What do you think?"

"Okay, well first off, that plain black t-shirt can go."

"Easy enough," he said and I watched as one of his hands came into view, reaching for the t-shirt and tossing it off the bed.

"Can I be really lame and ask you to try on the other two?"

I heard him laugh. "Yeah. Okay. One second."

I saw him step around to the front of the camera to grab the first shirt and then step out of view.

A few seconds again he appeared wearing a white button down shirt with a black vest. "What do you think?"

"Very handsome."

"Oh yeah?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Now let me see the other one."

He disappeared and reappeared again a minute later. This time he was wearing a red sweater.

"How's this?" he asked.

I smiled. "That's adorable. You need to wear that. And you should wear that white collared shirt underneath it."

He nodded. "You think so?"

I smiled. "I know so."

"Well, then we're good," he said, disappearing one last time and changing into his first shirt. "So, tell me Brook. What did you ask Santa for this year?" he asked once he'd gotten comfortable on his bed.

I laughed. "Honestly? This year I was a nerd and didn't ask for anything exciting."

"What did you ask for?"

"Pajamas and new windshield wipers for my car. Oh and knitting supplies."

"Knitting supplies? Really?"

I nodded. "My grandma taught me when I was younger. It relaxed me. What did you ask for?"

"I just needed a new suitcase. And Ravens' tickets. But I kind of just bought my own so I could go to a few games with my dad while I'm home."

I smiled. "You're really into sports?"

He shook his head. "Just football really. What about you?"

"Under the influence of my dad and brother I'm pretty into baseball, football and hockey."

"Oh yeah? Who are your teams?"

"My dad grew up in Brooklyn-"

"Wait," he interrupted. "Is that where your name came from?"

I nodded. "Exactly. My middle name is actually Lynn."

"Really?"

I nodded. "I hated it when I was younger but it's grown on me now that I'm older."

He smiled. "I like it."

"So, my dad is from Brooklyn, so all things New York sort of run through my veins. Yankees, Giants, Rangers."

"Oh boy," he laughed. "I guess we just have to hope the Giants and the Ravens never make it to a Superbowl together."

"Don't get me wrong, I'm a Baltimore girl all the way through. I root for the Ravens just as hard. I even have special purple socks and underwear I wear when I watch each game."

::Alex::

"Wow. We're definitely going to have to watch some games together," I smirked.

"You wish," she laughed, sticking her tongue out at me.

"You have no idea."

She laughed again. "I bet I do."

"Okay," I said looking for a way to change the subject. "When you were a kid was there ever something you asked Santa for that you never got?"

"Oh no," she shook her head. "You want to open up old wounds?"

"I thought it was a festive way of getting to know each other more," I shrugged.

"Okay. I was five years old and Home Alone 2 had just come out. And you know how Kevin used that Talk Boy recorder?"

I nodded. "Of course. I had one."

"Well, they had a pink Talk Girl recorder that I wanted more than anything. I think it was because I kind of had a crush on Kevin McCallister. I told every Santa I saw that's what I wanted and even wrote multiple letters. Christmas morning came and there was no Talk Girl. I was devastated."

"That's terrible," he said with a slight chuckle. "One year all I wanted was an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle but everyone told me I’d shoot my eye out."

She laughed, clearly getting my A Christmas Story reference. "Cute."

"No. I really did ask for it. And I too was devastated when it didn't show up under my tree."

"Well, I can't really blame Santa for not bringing that one. You probably would have
shot your eye out."

I nodded. "You're probably right."

We talked a little while longer about Christmas from our childhood and different family traditions we had. I'd notice her yawning a lot and could tell she was fighting sleep.

"Brook, you look exhausted."

She smiled sleepily. "That's because I am."

"I think we should call it a night," I said reluctantly.

She nodded. "I think so too," she yawned again.

"Have a good time with your family tomorrow."

She smiled. "Thanks Alex. You too."

"Thanks."

"Goodnight," she said, waving at the screen.

"Goodnight Brook."

I watched her for another second as she blew me a kiss before disconnecting from our web-chat.

I yawned, shutting down my computer and setting it down on my nightstand.

It was silly but knowing that I wouldn't see Brook for at least two days bothered me. What bothered me more was the looming fact that I had a European tour coming up soon and I would be away for a lot longer than two days.

I decided not to think about that for now. Brook and I weren't even that serious yet. We'd only been on one date technically and I wasn't about to ruin it was "the future" talk.

I yawned again, settling under my covers and turning on the TV, after making sure the dogs were taken care off. I was just about to drift off to sleep when my phone vibrated next to me.

Sweet dreams<3

I smiled, reading the text from Brook. It was lame, but it was the kind of smile I didn't see going away anytime soon.

Sleep well, Brook.
***

Notes

Story Title: Taylor Swift - Sparks Fly
Chapter Title: Demi Lovato - Catch Me
Brook's outfit

Hmm... Two updates tonight? Maybe I can get some comments now..
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XOXOXO