After what seemed like hours of directions, instructions, and lessons, we were finally handed over the responsibility of watching the child for the evening. I found it hilarious that Leah was reminded half a dozen times to make sure Maddie brushed her teeth, ate dinner, and actually went to bed before midnight. Leah rolled her eyes and nodded, saying she'd done this gig a million times and would make sure Maddie was fed and watered.
As soon as they were out the door, Leah pulled Maddie up in her arms. "Thank goodness! I thought they'd never leave! Ready for some fun?"
Maddie nodded excitedly, and we started the evening with a game of hide-and-seek. It was Maddie's turn to be the counter, and Leah and I were in charge of hiding. Playing this game as an adult was much more difficult than as a child. We were too big to fit in any of the cool places, like the laundry basket or the cupboards.
As I listened to Maddie's voice downstairs, counting from one to sixty, I quickly moved through the house, looking for someplace to hide. Leah was nowhere to be seen, so she'd obviously found her sweet spot. Hearing Maddie hit fifty-five, I dove into the nearest closet and shut the door.
"Ouch!"
"Leah?"
"Who the hell else would it be, Hotshot?" she whispered in annoyance. "You're in my hiding place!"
"Well, I guess it's our place now, isn't it?" I grinned, and knowing she couldn't do anything to stop me due to the enclosed space, I slowly ran my hand under her top, savoring the feel of her bare skin against mine.
"What are you doing? Maddie is right outside that door!"
"Is she? I can't hear her," I whispered in her ear right before claiming her lips with my own.
She moaned as I plunged my tongue into her mouth, caressing every luscious inch. Sliding my hands in her jeans pockets, I pulled her hard against my body, and she gasped.
God, she's so f**king sexy.
Her leg snaked around my hip, and she began rocking her pu**y against my rock-hard erection. Just as my hand moved to the front of her jeans, fully intent on ripping them from her body and f**king her senseless, we heard Maddie giggling down the hall.
"Where are you? I'm coming to find you!" She laughed.
Still breathless and wrapped around each other like our lives depended on it, we burst into laughter, giving away our spot immediately. We managed to make ourselves look presentable before Maddie opened the door and proclaimed herself the winner.
"I can't take you anywhere, Hotshot," Leah said, shaking her head.
I gave her a wink. "I kind of like babysitting."
Two hours, several pizzas, and a living room fort later, we had successfully put our young charge to sleep. Well, Leah had. My duties consisted mostly of standing around and supervising, considering I had no idea what went into the nightly rituals of a young girl. Hell, I didn't even know what a grown woman did before bed. Heather and I had never lived together, and I guessed I didn't care enough to pay attention when we had spent nights together.
I suddenly wondered what it would be like to watch Leah get ready for bed. She would probably be in that robe I'd seen her wear that first night when I came back to Richmond, and she'd stand in front of the mirror as she tenderly brushed her golden locks. I'd come up behind her and wrap my arms around her waist, watching her sigh in pleasure from my touch.
"Hey, you still here?" Leah asked, taking me out of my weird fantasy.
I was brought back into the present where we were settling onto the couch at Clare and Logan's. Leah had just pulled out a movie and was about to hit Play.
"Yep, I'm all here." I flashed my award-winning smile, hoping my little checkout from reality would go unnoticed.
Where the hell did that come from? Maybe I was letting this friends-with-benefits thing go a little too far. I enjoyed spending time with Leah, and I actually considered her a friend now. The image I'd just had though went way beyond the level of friendship, and that was not okay. I needed to take it back a level —no more adventures like tonight. Things like this created feelings, and neither of us could risk that. Nope, back to just good clean sex. I was great at that. In fact, I excelled at it. It was everything else in a relationship that I sucked at.
We decided to watch a movie, The Princess Bride. Leah had chosen it when she found out I'd never seen it.
"How could you never have seen this movie, Declan? You're a self-declared movie expert! It's like the greatest movie ever created!" she had declared.
"The greatest? Really? What makes it so great?"
"It has everything —love, humor, mystery, honor, deceit, and a hot guy in a mask! What is there not to love?"
"All right, all right, put your damn movie on, woman!"
She'd laughed and we'd settled in to watch our movie. When the young kid from The Wonder Years appeared, I got really confused.
"Wait, is this a kid movie? Is there sex in this?"
She hit me on the arm and shushed me before telling me I was ruining it. I chuckled and found myself pulling her closer to me. We were lying together on the couch, watching the weirdest movie I'd ever seen. But she was right. It was good...in a strange eighties type of way.
When it finished, she looked up at me and asked, "So, what did you think, Hotshot?"
"Not half bad. I love watching older films even if they are from the eighties and include Rodents of Unusual Size, and terrible accents. Older movies are so different from the films we create today."
"How so?" she asked, genuinely interested.
"Well, the filming alone is different. So many movies are filmed by digital cameras nowadays. It creates a different look on the screen. The picture is clearer...more vivid, but I think you lose that original quality that only film could produce. It's like every time we take a leap forward, we always lose something from the past in the process."
"You know, I've never heard you talk about acting the way you talk about creating a film. Why do you do it? Act, I mean," she asked.
I puffed out a breath of air and fiddled with a strand of her hair. "I hate acting. I honestly do. If I could act and not have all the bullshit that went along with it, I might be able to enjoy it. But you can't have one without the other in Hollywood, and I'm just not built that way. When I started getting noticed, I thought it was nice. Women paid more attention to me, and I got into bars without any problem, but then the cameras would show up every time I tried to exit a club or restaurant. Out here, away from it all, I can almost start to feel normal again. But in L.A., the paparazzi are relentless. Some people are able to handle the constant attention, but I'm not one of them. I can't live my life in a f**king fishbowl."