"Bir-die. Bir-die," Teddy was calling in a sing-song voice. I opened my eyes. He was smiling at me from inches away, face lit up in bright sunlight.

I smiled back, stretching and yawning, reaching for him, pulling him to me for an enthusiastic good morning kiss.

"How can you party as hard as you did last night and wake up looking like that?" he asked me.

I smiled. "By waking up in the night, peeing for, like, ever, washing my face and brushing my teeth."

"Well, that explains this, I guess," he said, touching my sleep shirt. I was wearing his old plaid flannel, which I'd packed for comfort, just in case I had a chance to wear it.

"Yeah," I said, kissing him again.

"You know I can't see you in this without wanting to take you out of it?" he murmured, unbuttoning the top buttons, kissing me with more purpose.

"Yeah," I said, kissing him back just as purposefully.

So we had some fun in bed, then we had some more fun in the shower, and we were just getting dressed when Teddy got a text from Geth, saying they were all out in the common room getting ready to order a huge brunch, and asking did we want in on it.

"Hell yes," I responded. Teddy relayed the message, telling them to just add a little more of everything on to the order, and that we would be out shortly.

'And coffee, please?' I texted to Geth.

'Already done,' came the reply, with a little heart. God bless Gethin.

We packed up our stuff and set it in the connecting hallway before unlocking the door to the common room.

We were greeted with cries of "Hey, there they are!" and "Finally, the sleepyheads arise!", and "Good morning, finally," and stuff like that.

I was curious about the dynamics of what an actual "morning after" was like with UK Crush. It wouldn't be a typical "groupie" situation, like it would've been a few years ago; they were grown men, after all, and their partners were grown women; still, they were technically hookups, one night stands, to put it bluntly.

Of course, in this age of social media, of Tinder and the like, this was how people met. Many relationships began with one nighters. The only unusual aspect of this situation was that it was a group set up. The boys of UKC came as a set; whatever they did, they usually did together, so their hookups had to interact on the morning after, which might be awkward for the women involved.

Everyone was dressed, at least; no one was prancing around in a nightie. Allie, Marie, and Julia were all pleasant and didn't seem hung over or weird. I guessed I might have to revise my opinion that none of these women were good enough for my boys, even for a one night stand.

I sat down in a chair near the window, a little apart from everyone else, and pulled out my phone to check the headlines and see what was new on this first day of the new year.

The world of social media had lost its mind over Teddy's use of the word "permanent" last night. It was everywhere. Online teen magazines and entertainment sites led with that story, and the picture of us kissing, and not all of the stories were positive. Some were snarky, making fun of the fact that Theo Shelley didn't seem to know what the word meant, anyway, while some were running with a drug addiction angle, saying I was obviously hooked on something, as evidenced by my rapid weight loss, adding that I wouldn't be around long enough for him to follow through, even if he wanted to.

The UKC website was, predictably, in total meltdown, with most of the vituperative directed at me. How had I bewitched their beloved Theo? I wasn't even his type. He couldn't mean it, we hardly knew each other, we had nothing in common, I wasn't in the business, I couldn't possibly understand him or his creative process. The moderators of the site must have been losing their minds trying to keep up with the negative and offensive comments.

And something new: There were fans out there calling themselves "Wendy Darlings", or just "Wendies", who had "proof" that Teddy's and my relationship wasn't real, that it was just a publicity stunt cooked up by Management to help rid him of his womanizing reputation. There was even a website, called "Neverland", dedicated to exposing our fraudulent relationship.

Wow.

Some online sources "close to the band" said they'd heard there was trouble in our relationship, anyway, that Theo was already tired of me and my relentless shopping sprees, sniping at the rest of the boys, complaining about the time he spent away from me, at how much time he gave to his fans; a break up was imminent, they said. They told the fans not to worry, I'd be kicked to the curb "soon". This story, while awful enough, was at least something that made sense to me. The whole "Wendie" thing I needed to file away for another time.

I got absorbed in reading and jumped when Teddy put his hand on my shoulder.

"Sorry, didn't mean to frighten you," he said, kissing my temple. He pulled me up so he could sit, and sat me down in his lap. The chair was oversized, and we both fit comfortably. He put his lips next to my ear. "Why are you being so antisocial?" he asked softly.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "I'm not. I said good morning to everyone. Now I'm just reading the paper before brunch."

"Please. You said good morning to the lads. You barely glanced at the women, and you've been all the way over here ever since." He gave me a little shake.

I shrugged. "I don't know. I feel awkward around them."

"What? Why?" He looked at me.

"I told you, I don't know." I gave up pretending to look at my phone and put it down, looking at him. "I don't know why, I just wish they'd leave already, so things could be the way they usually are." I looked over at them.

The six of them were sitting in a group, watching some program on the TV, laughing intermittently. They seemed comfortable, relaxed, happy. The boys had their arms around their respective partners, talking to them from time to time, pointing things out. It was the kind of situation where I would have been completely at home if the women hadn't been there.

Teddy looked at me, over at them, then back at me, comprehension dawning on him. "You're jealous," he whispered gleefully.

I sat up and looked at him. "What?" I said loudly enough for the boys to look over at us.

Teddy kept quiet until the boys looked back at the TV, then he squeezed me and repeated, "You're fucking jealous of those women! You want them to leave so you can go over there and be the pet like you always are." He smiled at his own cleverness.

I glared at him. "You take that back," I whispered to him.

"'Take that back?' What are you, ten?" he repeated, mocking me with words I'd spoken to him a few months before. He chortled.

I elbowed him in the ribs. "Teddy, I mean it, I'll hurt you," I threatened.

He looked at me, trying not to smile. "Okay, you're telling me you're not a little jealous?" he asked. "You're not wishing they would disappear so you could go over there and sit in the middle and have them pet you and cuddle with you, kiss you and hold you and pass you around like they usually do?" He kissed me. "Hmm? Poppet?"

I looked daggers at him. He collapsed back into the chair, helpless with laughter. I gave up and left, both the chair and him, not realizing that I should've chosen a destination before I got up. Now, having risen, I had to go somewhere.

Gethin saw me and motioned me over, so I went, having no reasonable way not to. He motioned everyone to scoot over a bit, and made room for me on the end. I sat down in the space he made, and he put his arm around me, pulling me close, kissing my temple. This wasn't lost on Marie, though she didn't acknowledge it.

"Did you sleep well, poppet?" Geth asked. Teddy heard Geth's usual term of endearment for me, and I could see his smirk from across the room.

I nodded, leaning my head on his shoulder. "You?" I asked in return. He lifted his other arm from Marie's shoulder to hold it in front of himself and make a comme-çi, comme-ça motion. He put that arm in his lap instead of back around her.

I looked over at Teddy. He was still watching me, smiling and shaking his head.

I shrugged at him in a "What could I do?" gesture. Gethin had called me over, after all; he'd put his arm around me.

At that moment the food arrived, and we were busy for a few minutes, rearranging furniture so we could all sit and eat together. The coffee was fantastic, and so was the food. As usual, the boys put away enough food for six or seven people. Julia and Marie were typical women, being very "Oh, I usually just have a bit of toast with my tea in the morning," about everything, which annoyed the shit out of me. But I loved Allie, who smiled and said, "Wonderful, that'll leave more for me, then, I'm a starving actress, I never say no to free food."

"You'll have to fight Tinker Bell for it," said Ronan through a mouthful of something. "She can usually keep up with us, she can, which is amazing, considering her size." He smiled and air kissed in my direction. I grinned back at him, loving him this morning, loving his honesty, his openness and transparency, his complete lack of subterfuge.

"How on earth can you eat so much and be so thin?" asked Marie, side-eyeing me and my loaded plate as she put a dab of jam on a piece of toast before eating it.

"I'm not usually this thin," I said. "I was really sick over the fall, lost a lot of weight."

"That's lucky," she remarked. "You won't keep it off eating like that, though."

I stopped eating and looked at her. "Thanks for the concern, but I'm okay, really."

The boys weren't so polite.

"She doesn't want to keep it off is what she means to say," said Matty, speaking very clearly. "She's much too thin, she needs to gain it back." He looked over at me. "Right, lass?"

I looked over at him and smiled before going back to my food.

"Would you like a bit more coffee, petal?" Ronan asked me. I nodded and smiled gratefully, both for the coffee and for the change of subject. He winked at me as he poured.

"Hang on, though. How tall are you, and what do you weigh?" Marie continued. Teddy and Allie's eyes widened in disbelief.

I swallowed my coffee. "Um, I'm average height, about five-five? And I think right now I weigh about a hundred-ten? I usually weigh about one-thirty-five or so, maybe a little more, depending on how much swimming I get in."

"Yeah, that sounds about right to me," Marie said, taking a swallow of tea. "The hundred-ten, I mean. Most people are a bit over and don't even know it. The models I know who are your height try to keep it under one-ten, or even a hundred pounds."

"But she's not a model," said Teddy firmly. "And I shouldn't be able to lift her with one arm. Nor should I be able to count her ribs. She's much too thin, and she needs to put the weight back on." He looked at Marie, daring her to say another word.

"Sorry, I didn't know I was treading on such sensitive ground," she said defensively. "I'm just trying to encourage some sensible, healthy eating habits, that's all. England's becoming an obese country, following in the footsteps of America, and she's an American, after all--"

"Oh, give me a fucking break," Teddy interrupted her. "That's such a fucking load of shit--"

"Teddy, stop," I put a hand on his arm. "She's Geth's guest," I said softly. "There's no need for this." I turned to her.

"I'm not comfortable at this weight," I said. "I don't think it's healthy, either. And luckily, my livelihood doesn't depend on my being this skinny, so I'm going to get back to where I feel healthy and good about myself, that's all." I bit back the rest of my words; that women like her and Jennifer Jordan put out the wrong message, made healthy, lovely girls feel awful about themselves and how they looked. I gestured to the boys, who weren't without blame; they did, after all, keep dating these women, letting the world know that's what they found attractive and desirable.

"And my friends support my decision. And that's all there is to say, okay?" I smiled at her.

She gave a brittle smile, and said, "Sorry," again, though she sounded anything but.

I gave Teddy a look, and he nodded. Geth gave me a look too, of gratitude, and I gave him a smile in return.

With the atmosphere the way it was, I felt no urge to linger, and as soon as I was finished eating, I excused myself and went back into our suite.