*James*

It's been two weeks.

Two weeks of Julia at the Avalon.

Two weeks of reporters outside the gates, hoping to get more news from our private lives.

Two weeks I've been seeing her only on occasion for short visits. But we text and talk daily. Being physically around Julia is too hard for me. 

Two weeks of Trisha having to look over her shoulder, worried about her own safety thanks to Dave and Paul on duty 24/7 to make sure nothing happens.

"What's the occasion?" I ask while me, Trisha, and Paul take the elevator up to Nate's apartment. Trisha has  two big bags of take out food. I swear, for someone who looks as healthy as Trisha, she eats like crap.

"The occasion, Mr. Gallo, is that Nate and Julia are at a spa hotel for the weekend. So we get to watch whatever we want on TV, eat and drink whatever we want, and not have to deal with sound effects coming from their bedroom, that's what."

Their  bedroom. 

I hate that Trisha phrased it like that.

"You sound like a teenager whose parents are out of town for the weekend." I laugh as the elevator door opens. Jonah is already on the couch waiting.

I watch Trisha furrow her brows when she looks at her phone. 

"Didn't take long for that!" She shows me her phone. Nate and Julia are all over Instagram already. It looks like they are heading into a fancy restaurant. It's an expensive restaurant. One I could never afford for her. Julia looks happy. She looks good. Too good.

"Have you heard from them?" I ask while Trisha empties the fast food out onto the coffee table.

"No, Nate hasn't answered my text yet. Jerk." She scoffs and hands me a beer.

"Only one. I still have to work in a little while." I remind her.

"When are you gonna sleep??" The nurse in Jonah rears its ugly head.

"I'll sleep tomorrow. For sure." I grab a cheeseburger and plop down next to Trisha. "Where are they staying?"

"You're gonna drive yourself crazy, James. Move on." Jonah cocks his head at me. He knows I'm already driving myself crazy.

"La Constantine." Trisha sighs, knowing I know what type of hotel that is.  The rich can barely afford it. You have to be someone like  Taylor Swift....or Nate Hollan to afford such a hotel stay.

"Are you fucking serious?"

"Sorry. You asked."

I've suddenly lost my appetite. Again.

*****

*Trisha*

I knew hearing about Nate and Julia's weekend would get to James. I tried to cheer him up by having him come over and hang with us for a bit before he has to go in to work but it backfired once he heard Nate was taking Julia to La Constantine.

James works in the Hotel industry. He knows all about La Constantine.

 It's a very upscale, high end hotel. Nate has stayed there once before. I remember booking it for him and Macy. This time he wanted to go even bigger and booked the Presidential Suite which he's never been in. I imagine it's amazing. 

"You  barely touched your food, James." I look over at the sad man.

"Sorry. I'm not that hungry. I'll bring it with me for later."

"James. Hey." I nudge into him a little. "Stop thinking about it, ok?" 

He knows what I'm saying. His mind is going a mile a minute thinking about Julia and the things Nate can afford for her. I hate that James thinks like that. He's such a good guy and hard worker.

"I can't help it."

"I know you can't.  Listen. Let's go out tomorrow. We can do whatever you want. AFTER you sleep." I take a bite out of my burger and push his back to him. "Now eat before you wither away on me." I joke.

Everyone else is almost done with their fast food but James only takes a few more bites before laying his head back on the couch tiredly. He's exhausted. He's taking on too many hours and running on empty with no sleep. He won't let me help him financially so I try to do little things, like bring him dinner. Things that he doesn't have a choice but to accept.

I look over at the sleepy man who closes his eyes and set an alarm on my phone. Even if he gets two hours of sleep in before work. It's better than nothing.

"He's really working himself to the bone, isn't he?" Jonah says softly while I wrap up James's food for him.

"He's taking on all these extra hours to make up for the time lost  when he was out.  He won't let me give him money." I sigh, frustrated.

"He wouldn't take the extra money from me either. I gave him his cut for working the 4th floor and added a few extra bills in there but he refused."

"Is ANYONE going to explain to me what the hell the 4th floor mean???" Jonah asks in an irritated manner.

"You haven't heard from Nate, have you?" I ignore the nurse and turn to Paul.

"No, but I don't usually unless it's job related."

"It's not like him to not answer my texts." I state.

"He's probably a little busy... Better there than here." Jonah shoves French fries in his mouth while talking.

"You really DO have a tapeworm, don't you?"

*****

 Two hours go by and I know it's time for James to go to work. He's already in his Marriott polo shirt and mandatory Khaki pants. I feel bad I need to wake him, he looks so childlike right now. He fell asleep on the couch and his head dropped down so I laid him down so his his head rested on my lap. I've been held hostage since, not wanting to move to let him sleep.

 Jonah retreated to his room, having the weekend off for once, and Paul fell asleep on the other end of the sectional couch. What a crew we are. It's not even six pm and everyone is napping. 

I text Nate again asking how the restaurant is but still no response. Loser.

I then start running my fingers through James's hair to wake him up a little. I lean down and kiss his cheek. I don't know why I did that but I did.

"Hey, sleepyhead. You gotta go to work soon." I whisper and he groans  and shakes his head no with his eyes still closed. "You've got people to check in and out. Pool towels to fold... phones to answer.."

"I quit." He smirks, still keeping his eyes closed.

Out of nowhere I do something that for sure wakes James up.

I lean down and kiss the corner of his mouth. He puckers his lips a little when he feels it and slowly opens his eyes. Our faces are so close to each other while he rests his head on my lap and I lean down. I stare at his lips and kiss them again. They're so soft, just like I imagined. My hand falls down to his stubbled jaw and I continue pecking his lips. It takes a few tries before James is fully awake and realizes what's happening. And then..

He kisses me back. He lifts his head up off my lap and sits up straight now.

"Sorry. Is this ok?" I ask and lean my forehead against his. James cups my face and answers me with another kiss. He alternates between my top and bottom lip before grazing his tongue against my lips. I let him in and his tongue touches mine, sending a shockwave straight through my body. James is an outstanding kisser and I'm turned on a thousand percent right now.  My hands are in his hair and his are holding my face  as he deepens his kiss and pulls me over more so I'm on his lap.

Paul is in a beer and food induced coma and out like a light while I'm straddling James as we make out on Nate's couch.

"I really need to go to work." James says in between kisses and ticks his hips up into me a little, making my breath hitch.  He's rock hard and I can feel him against me. My phone alarm I had set for him goes off and I quickly reach over and grab it so Paul doesn't wake up.

"You really need to go to work?" I ask and find myself kissing his jawline and down his neck. What has gotten in to me?!  James sighs loudly and nods his head.

"I really do. Fuck..." He pulls me in for one more desperate kiss before backing away. I get off him and watch him stand up. Yep. He is fully aroused and what I see right now makes it known James is very well endowed. Holy shit. I suddenly want to know what he feels like inside me. 

"You're checking me out." James sees where my eyes are fixated and laughs.

"I can't help it, ok?!" I shrug my shoulders. James smirks and takes a deep breath.

"Call me later if you're bored.  You know where I'll be." He kisses my forehead and just like that, James is gone.

I kissed James. He kissed me back.

******

*James*

What just happened? I replay the scene in my head over and over again as I drive to work. I woke up to Trisha kissing me. It felt good. Real good. I'm suddenly wishing  could call out of work and finish what we started. I'd lie if I say she's all I'm thinking about because I'm still also thinking about Julia. Why hasn't she answered my texts? Trisha said Nate hasn't answered her texts either. I'm hoping they just both shut their phones off for awhile but that's not like Julia.

 I try my hardest to get through the shift. It started off busy, with me checking people in and out but then died down by 10pm and I found it hard to keep my eyes open. I need to snap out of it. I have a long night ahead of me if I can't keep my eyes open now.

I spend the night in a group text with my sisters. Kendall is the night owl and can stay up longer than the rest of them so when the chat dies down, I know everyone has fallen asleep and it's just me and Ken left.

[ Seriously, James. What happened between you and Julia? I text her every once in awhile but she doesn't go into detail.]

[She's just confused, Ken. She'll come around]

Even though we kissed, what I felt was nothing in comparison to what I feel when I kiss Julia. I still have hope that things will work out in my favor. Maybe once she's out of The Avalon.

I refuse to move on now. It's not that I can't. I very well could. I could with Trisha. I could settle. But that's not fair to anyone. It's not fair to Trisha. 

It's not fair to me.

 I'm refusing. Refusing to settle. Refusing to move on. Refusing to let go.

I spend the night thinking about it. I spend the morning wondering why Julia never answered my texts.

"You're not eating?" Al looks over his shoulder at me while scrambling eggs. I sit at my usual table and look down at my breakfast. I'm usually shoveling food into my mouth by now but I have no appetite. "Talk to me, brother. Is it your mom?'

"No. She's ok. They switched up her meds. Expensive as hell but they seem to be keeping her calm." I  play around with my eggs with my fork before looking up at the old man.

"It's the girl, huh?"

"It's the girl."

"You look tired, James. You're not taking care of yourself. You've been here a lot lately. Taking on extra shifts. Why?" Al stops cooking and wipes his hands on his apron before sitting down across from me.

"I'm trying to catch up. Mom's new medications are expensive. Even with all of us working and pitching in..we're falling behind." I admit. Al understands what I'm talking about. His wife passed away not long ago. She also suffered from Dementia, among other things. Al knows how expensive everything becomes. 

"She's bad but not bad enough. She's young. She doesn't qualify for much help." I continue. "It's so frustrating. And then.. Julia.. shit." I rub my tired eyes and sit back in my chair. "I'm  losing the battle, Al. I refuse to lose her."

"You can't win the battle if you're not focused. You need sleep. food. prayer."

"You don't think I've been praying? Hell, that's all I seem to be doing. He doesn't care. This is small shit to Him. I try to be positive, I do Al." I throw my hands up in the air and let them fall down. "But God. This life. When do I get MY break??" 

*****

*Trisha*

"You're REALLY not keeping up today!" I slow down to a jog and then to a walk when I see James fall behind. He bends over and places his hands on his knees to catch his breath. I've always been faster than him with my long legs but he's really struggling this morning.

"Sorry. I'm so tired."

"Lets walk back to the cars, slowpoke." I nudge into James, and we start heading back.  We have yet to talk about last night's kiss and James hasn't flirted at all with me today. I'm starting to think he is still caught up in Julia. I KNOW he is, but wonder if he feels like  our little make out session was a mistake. I know he felt something. That was obvious. But maybe it wasn't enough.

"Still haven't heard from Nate, huh?" James is getting nervous.

 As am I.  My hope is they shut their phones off to block out the outside world. But my mind automatically goes to something bad happening.

"Nothing. I'm trying not to worry about it. It's just not like Nate to shut his phone down completely like that. I get it if he wants to not deal with stuff this weekend but with his heart, I worry." I admit. James can tell it's been weighing on me.

"You said they were staying at La Constantine, right?"

"Yeah, why. Wanna go for a ride?"

******