Chapter Sixteen

Brian paced back and forth. It was getting close to midnight and Nick and Anita were still not back. Suddenly he heard footsteps and dove into her bed and pretended to be asleep. Anita stopped with Nick outside her room.

'Good night Nick, and thank you for this perfect evening.'

'Good night, my sweet angle.'

Then he leaned down and bushed his lips gently over hers. Anita felt as if she were floating on clouds as she walked into her room. She slipped out of her clothes and into one of Brian’s shirts. Then she turned to her bed. Brian lay with his eyes closed. She bit her lip feeling bad about their misunderstanding earlier. She tiptoed next to him and carefully slid in like they usually slept.

Suddenly Brian’s arms shot out and wrapped around her.

'You still mad at me baby?'

'You know I can't ever stay mad at you for long.'

'I'm glad, I hate it when you are.'

He cast his innocent blue eyes upon her.

'You know I love you forever?'

'And ever. I know I know. It's just that sometimes Brian, you really act like an old man.'

He smirked.

'Old man, yeah right.'

She turned to face him. The light danced on his reddish hair making it glow golden copper. His blue eyes twinkled with happiness. He is so boyish, yet so handsome she thought.

'Nick asked me to be his girlfriend... and I said yes.'

Brain was silent for a moment. He was confused. Anita was his best friend, but why did he feel such jealousy. He tried to shake away his feelings.

'Wow, I'm happy for you sunshine. I hope Nick makes you happy. You deserve only the best. If he doesn't treat you like the best, you let me know and I'll take care of him for you got that princess?'

She smiled and kissed his cheek.

'Yeah I got that.'

She then snuggled deep into his arms ready for sleep. She drifted off quietly and Brian watched her as he did many times. Why do I have these feelings? This is Anita, someone I've known since she was three. I can't be feeling this way. Brian once again tried to shake away what he felt, but it was no use. He was in love with his best friend.

The next morning

Anita woke up happy in Brian’s arms. When she looked at him, she discovered he was still asleep. She smiled at him. She moved and tucked her head under his chin like she always did. He shifted in his sleep and opened his eyes.

'Mornin' sunshine'

'Mmmm mornin rok.'

'Sleep good sweet pea?'

'Yup, I did.'

'Gee aren't we talkative this morning?'

'Yup.'

She looked at him sleepily.

'Yeah, sure uh huh.'

So Brian called room service then settled back with Anita. He looked down at her and smiled seeing she was asleep. Someone then knocked at the door. Brian carefully moved away and went to the door. He opened it.

'Good morning Brian, is Anita awake?'

'Good morning Rachel, and nope I'm sorry, she was awake for less then 5 minutes but she went right back to sleep.'

'Yeah it figures, Anita believes in a lot of sleep. She believes in having plenty of beauty sleep.'

'Yeah funny, she has been that way since she was four. I remember whenever she spent the night she would always sleep late.'

Rachel laughed as she tried to imagine a little Anita insisting on her beauty sleep.

'Do you want to come in and wait for her to wake up?'

'Sure, I wanted to see how her date with Nick went last night.'

Brian bit his lip. He didn't want to hear anymore about it but he flashed her a smile and let her in. Just as he was about to close the door, he heard his name ring out. He looked back out into the hallway to see Nick jogging towards the room. He sighed but gave Nick a smile.

'What's up bro?'

'Not much just wanted to see if Anita wanted to hang out or something.'

'Sorry dude but she is still asleep and I ordered room service for the two of us.'

'Oh, well.'

He started but was interrupted.

'Nick!'

A smile lit his face when Anita came to the door.

'Hey, sweetie, I just stopped by to see if you wanted to hang but Brian said you two were going to have breakfast so I guess I'll see you later.'

'I'm sure B won't mind if I went with you would you Brian?'

YES! I do mind, he screamed in his mind. I do mind. But he knew he couldn't say anything so instead he sighed.

'Yeah sure Anita, you can go ahead and have breakfast with Nick. No big deal.'

Anita smiled and hugged him.

'You are the best B-rok. I love you. We'll do something later ok?'

'Sure, we can do something later.'

He felt tears well up as he watched her leave with Nick. Oh why does this have to be so hard? He wondered.