My face felt hot, like it was burning. From underneath my eyelids, it looked as if I was in a bright, red room. It was so hot. Why was it so hot?

I opened my eyes. Sunlight was pouring through the window of the hotel room I was staying in. I blinked a few times and realized that I wasn't on the couch. It took me another few seconds before I realized that someone's arm was draped lightly around my waist, their torso pressed up against my back. I felt the soft breath of whoever it was on my neck.

I blinked again. I didn't remember sleeping with anyone last night. I wondered in confusion who it could be and then turned slightly to face the mystery person. When I realized who it was, I screamed, tumling off the side of the bed.

Duke had woken up, too, at the sound of my yell, and screamed as well, falling off the other side. We both looked at each other manically, staring at each other from opposite sides of the bed and breathing heavily.

"What the hell?!" I shouted.

"What did you do?!" he yelled at the same time.

"ME?!" I yelled.

"Yes you!" he replied, his eyes wide.

"I didn't do anything!" I shouted.

"Then how did we end up in the same bed?!" he exclaimed.

We took a moment to pause and try and remember the events of the night before. I calmed my nerves a little as I remembered how broken hearted Duke was and how he couldn't sleep. I had played with his hair until he fell asleep. I guess sometime during that I had fallen asleep as well.

I guess he realized this, too, and he visually relaxed a bit, loosening his tight grip on the sheets.

"We didn't....do anything did we?" he asked in a quiet, slow voice. I felt my heart speed up a bit.

"No! Of course not! I would have remembered. And neither of us was drunk," I replied.

"I was a little drunk," he admitted. I frowned.

"Well I wasn't. And I would have remembered. We didn't do anything," I said in an adamant voice.

I saw him let out a sigh of relief. He ran his hand through his hair, making it stick up slightly in different directions. Then he looked at me, a cocky expression forming on his face.

"I bet you wish we had done something, though," he said, smirking.

"Oh please. You wish," I replied, rolling my eyes.

"Why would I wish?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow in an amused way.

"Please. I see the way you look at me," I said in an overly confident and girly voice. He laughed.

"Actually, I think that would be borderline inappropriate, seeing as your my assistant and what not," he told me. Now I smirked at him. We were still kneeling on opposite sides of the beds. The tense atmosphere had lifted, though, and we were joking around again.

"Usually when an employee sleeps with their boss, it means they want something," I said.

"You're not my boss. Technically, I'm your boss. So what do you want from me?" he asked.

"No, technically, Patrice is my boss. And trust me, I don't want anything from her," I answered. He laughed again, his blue eyes sparkling. We both grinned at each other from across the bed.

"You all right now?" I asked him after a moment. His smile faded a bit, but he nodded.

"Yeah. I'm fine," he answered. I gave him a sympathetic smile and stood up.

"We should probably get ready. Patrice wants a statement out today," I told him. He got up, too, and stretched, making his shirt go up a little, revealing his abs slightly. I looked away, feeling awkward all of a sudden.

"I call shower first," I said, making a dash towards the bathroom. As I ran past him, he grabbed me by the waist, pulling me back.

"I don't think so!" he whispered in my ear, sending chills down my back. I struggled against his grip and he picked me up and set me on the bed with strength that amazed even me. He turned to stride towards the bathroom door, but I pounced onto his back from the bed.

"GAaaaaaah!" he yelled, just barely catching his balance.

"You won't defeat me that easily, silly peasant!" I shouted, almost leap-frogging off his shoulders and jumping in front of him. He looked at me, partially amazed, partially angry, but mostly amused. I stuck my tongue out at him in a very mature way and then ran the rest of the way into the bathroom, locking it.

"You suck!" he yelled at me.

"Not as much as you, though!" I replied back, a smile on my lips. I knew he was laughing, too.

~~~~~~~~

"God, it's good to be back home," Duke said, yawning as we got off the airplane at LAX. I tried to stifle a yawn as I nodded in agreement.

"Too bad you have an interview to go to in like, two hours," I said.

"Thanks for ruining it, loser," he said, smacking the top of my hair, making it come out of the ponytail it was in. I glared at him from behind my sunglasses and slapped him in the stomach. He flinched forward slightly, but kept that annoying smirk on his face. I shook my head at him, a smile forming on my own lips.

"What took you so long?" Patrice asked when we got into the limo that came to pick us up.

"Can we be more conspicuous?" I asked, ignoring her question and indicating the white stretch limo.

"The Escalade wasn't running," she said.

"And there were no other back up cars besides this?" I asked. She glared at me and I fell silent. Duke nudged me slightly, a smile on his face.

"The flight was delayed because there was a storm in Italy," he told Patrice.

"Of course. Now we only have an hour and a half to get to your fitting and then interview," she scolded.

"Next time I'll make sure we strap a jet pack on the plane to make it go faster," I said sarcastically. Duke snorted. Patrice glared at me again.

"Who am I being interviewed by today?" Duke asked, running his hands over his tired face. He had bags under his eyes.

We didn't get too much sleep the night before. The director had the cast stay much later than usual doing some last minute touch-up takes. It ended up going late into the night and when we got back to the room, we had to pack. Then the flight was bumpy and we couldn't sleep during that either. At this point, we were both cranky and exhausted.

"Us Weekly," she answered. "They want to talk about the Olivia situation," she added. He groaned, slouching in his seat.

"They're still talking about that? It was like, two days ago," he said.

"Until Lindsey Lohan gets arrested again, your break-up is the hot topic for now," Patrice said. I laughed at this and Duke shook his head.

"I just want to sleep," he complained, rolling his head around on the back of the seat.

"Instead of going out tonight, why don't you take an early night," Patrice suggested.

"Because it's Friday night and that's not what cool celebrities do," he said.

"Good thing you're not cool," I said. He jabbed his finger into my side and I yelped. Patrice eyed the two of us suspiciously.

"Valerie, you can take the night off. You did well in Italy," she told me. I grinned and then smirked at Duke's incredulous expression.

"What? Why? That's not fair! She doesn't get a night off!" he exclaimed.

"She does. And it's just the night. I'm sure she's sick enough of you to not want to go with you to the club where you no doubt will be going," she replied to him. He frowned.

"She's right; I am pretty sick of you," I said to him. He pushed me so I fell into the side door. I glared at him.

While Duke was giving his interview, I texted Brandon telling him I was back.

I have the night off from work.

Brandon: Seriously?

Yep.

Brandon: Can I steal you for a night then?

Just make sure the cops don't find out. =P

Brandon: I'll be sure to be careful. ; )

I laughed to myself. One of the camera guys looked at me and I walked away, dialing Denise's number.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Hey, I'm back in LA," I told her.

"Oh! Great! When will you be home?" she asked.

"In a few hours," I replied.

"I feel really bad, but I have a date with Jared..." she started, but I cut her off.

"I'm going out with Brandon tonight anyway," I said. There was a pause on her end. "Neese?" I called.

"Brandon the lawyer?" she asked.

"Yes," I answered.

"Since when are you two dating?" she asked.

"We're not dating. It's just a casual dinner," I replied.

"Right. Dinner with a hottie like that can never be casual," she said.

"He's attractive. And it's just dinner," I said.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," she sighed. I rolled my eyes and then glanced over at Duke, who was standing and shaking hands with the interviewer.

"I have to go. See you later," I said.

"Bye!" she called. I hung up the phone and walked towards Duke.

"Ready to go?" I asked.

"Yeah. What time is it?" he asked.

"It's almost 4 o'clock," I answered. "Why? Got a hot date?" I asked. He silently mimicked my words as we began walking to the car.

"No; I just wanted to sleep for a bit before I went out tonight," he said.

"Don't you think you party too much?" I asked him, getting into the car.

"I'm a celebrity. It's what I do," he replied.

"But don't you get sick of it?" I asked, starting the engine and backing out of the lot. It would be about an hour and a half drive back to Beverly.

"I don't party hard every night. I don't go to get drunk. I go to listen to music and hang out," he told me. "What are your plans for your night off?" he asked. I looked at him, a smirk on my lips.

"Already missing me?" I asked, reaching over and pinching his cheek. He slapped my hand away and I laughed.

"I'm just wondering. What could Valerie Sparks possibly do in her free time?" he asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I exclaimed, getting defensive.

"It means that you're so up-tight and intense. You don't seem like the kind of person that goes out to chill," he told me.

"You are a class A douche bag, did you know that?" I responded, my cheeks a bit flushed at his comment.

"I'm just making an observation. The fact that you're getting so angry about it is just backing it up," he said.

"Well if you must know," I said, "I'm going on a date with Brandon," I told him. He turned his head towards me, raising an eyebrow.

"You're going on a date?" he asked. I nodded. I knew I had just told Denise that it wasn't a date, but I needed to prove a point. "I find that hard to believe," he said, leaning back.

"Why? I went on that quasi-date with Zac," I pointed out.

"You didn't consider that a date, though," he said.

"Hence the use of the word 'quasi'," I retorted sarcastically. He flicked my arm and I glared at him.

"You were just hanging out with Zac. I can't picture you acting all girly on a date," he said.

"I can be very girly when I want to," I responded.

"I don't think so. You're too intense all the time. You need to loosen up," he said.

"I am not intense all the time. I know how to have fun," I argued.

"I don't think so," he repeated.

"You know what would be a lot of fun for me right now?" I asked, glancing at him for a moment. "Pushing you out of a moving vehicle onto the side of the road and then driving off," I answered. He rolled his eyes.

"You're just bitter because you know I'm right," he said, adjusting his seat so it went back and placing his hands behind his head.

"No; you're just a big stupid head," I told him.

"Aha. Good one," he said sarcastically.

"Good one," I mimicked in a high-pitched voice. He rolled his eyes and fell silent as I sat fuming.

How dare he say I didn't know how to have fun? I knew how to have fun. And I was going to prove it to him by having a great time on my "date" with Brandon.

_______________________________________________________________________________

A/N: Hi guys! It hasn't been a week, yet, so I'm doing good. At least this part is a little long!

Do you think Valerie and Brandon will end up dating? Or do you think it'll be a one night stand?

Let me know what you thought of the chapter!

Comment and VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!!!

XOXO