I kept trying to wrap my head around the familiarity of that hat. Did Minerva know the Bum? Did they rummage through the same dumpsters or something?  What the hell had she been doing in Paris?

My mind felt like it had run a marathon by the time we finally landed in London. Thankful, I was able to actually walk out of the jet with my dignity intact; I got into one of the many cabs that would be taking us to the hotel.

You could imagine how I jumped with joy when Johnny ended up sitting next to me.

I halfheartedly faked trying to get out from the opposite side, just so he could know how much I didn't want to ride with him.

"Go ahead, actually, can you wait until it's actually moving?" He told me sweetly.

"Wish I could, but I'll be too busy pushing you out of the car instead" I told him in a similar tone of voice.

The cab driver's chuckle was the only thing that could be heard, while Johnny and I turned in the opposite direction with a huff.

Good. Now I didn't have to see his annoying face for the damn ride. Why couldn't Amanda be the one to pick this cab?

Thankfully, the ride only lasted half an hour. We pulled up into a fancy hotel named 'The Dorchester'.

From the moment that we walked in, floral patterns and pastel colors attacked me. Talk about overkill. I understood that most hotels tended to adorn with flowery couches and shit, but this place had lace curtains and a chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

"When's tea time?" I muttered.

"Oh! You've heard about their award winning tea too?" Gola gushed from somewhere up front.

I was conscious during the check in, compared to the last hotel, for which I had been drunk off my ass. After being on a plane for so long, even if it was a jet, I was very sleepy.

I had tucked in my key card and the started to press the elevator button when I remembered Joshua.

Oh, right.

I had to get little Joshy to bed early.

I scanned the room and panicked, thinking that he had already pulled another disappearance stunt. He couldn't get out of my sight this fast right?

Johnny noticed my panicked state and told my wryly, "Chicken flew the coop?"

At that, I really started to panic. Twitching back and forth and scanning the room, I started to bite my nails.

Could he have gotten really far?

Jesus, it wasn't even five minutes since we got here!

"Don't worry he's probably in the weight room. He likes to check them out every time we go to a new hotel. You would have known this since the last place we stayed, but well...you weren't exactly sober..." Amanda trailed off awkwardly.

With a nod of thanks, I sprinted towards my room, lugging my huge bag with me.

I burst into the room once I found it. I kept telling myself to go down to the weight room quickly. Sure, I knew he was there at that moment. No doubt that he would disappear in a millisecond, though.

The weight room turned out to be an industrial looking place. No tea time in here. It was two in the morning; I had caught sight of the alarm clock when I was speeding out. Someone needed to get to bed soon, even if I wasn't totally sure why.

The room was pretty small and Joshua turned out to be the only person in it. He was lifting some weights and hadn't noticed that I had entered the room.

I made my way towards him, ready to order him to bed. I could see him lifting weights; the sound of the metal clinking was the only thing that could be heard. Just when I was about to speak, he interrupted me and spoke instead.

"I've been thinking..." He said, breaking through the silence and sitting up from the bench.

Joshua thinking? Now I was positive the apocalypse was close.

"You do that too? Well, that's always a good sign," I replied sarcastically.

He looked about to speak, but I didn't give him the chance.

"Why don't you continue to think some more in bed? Or better yet, you can go to sleep and make my job easier," I tried to coerce.

He smiled at that. As if giving me what I wanted was the last thing on his mind.

"As I was just saying, I was thinking..." He trailed off in that annoying way people do when they want to you to question them further.

If he wasn't going to give me what I wanted, I wouldn't give him anything either.

After about five minutes he finally gave up with a huff.

"Fine, since you're going to be stubborn, I'll let you know anyway. Would it be ok if I decided to confide in you?"

What the fuck? Was Joshua trying to have a heart to heart with me in a weight room?

"Er, yeah I guess if you want...I do owe you for the whole magazine thing..." I said awkwardly.

So this was the moment that Joshua would bear his heart to me. Show me that there was more to a good looking face and perfect body. Surprise me with his honorary character and real heart.  The sky would clear and I would realize that there was a genuine and worthy person in front of me.

He began to speak, "It's been on my mind for a while. What I was thinking about was," he paused for a moment, adding dramatic effect.

"Would you...still look as funny when you ran on the treadmill?" He wondered.

Or, not.

I don't think I had ever rolled my eyes as intensely as that moment when Joshua "confided" in me.

I can't explain why I still didn't want to accept the fact that I ran like an idiot, because I said, " I do not run funny damn it! The camera just got me at a bad angle and it was a bad shot..."

"I looked pretty good actually" He responded with a wink.

"Yeah, well you can make sweat look good," I thought to myself.

I had the urge to prove him wrong, so without a second thought I turned on the treadmill that was beside me. I really did know how to dig myself in a hole when I put my mind to it, because I ended up running the fucking treadmill on the highest setting with Joshua staring at me in shock.

Yeah, I was pretty shocked too. What was this setting for? Racecars?

It was two in the morning and I was practically flying on a treadmill, instead of being all nice and cozy in my hotel bed. In about 5 seconds I was huffing and puffing, doing my best to keep up with the speeding machine.

Stupid need to prove him wrong.

In the next ten seconds I began to huff and my legs felt like they were on the brink of giving out. I was in a pair of dark skinny jeans, so that shit didn't help either.

It was all a blur at one point. The only thing on my mind was staying on the damn thing and not falling off on my out- of- shape ass.

I didn't even care if I was running funny, I just needed to survive!

At the same moment that I mentally gave up on proving anything to Joshua, my legs decided the same thing.

I lost my balance and felt myself quickly drop to the ground. Except that the only thing under me was the treadmill's still moving conveyer belt.

My butt landed there, but wasn't on the belt for long. The motion of the conveyer belt sent my body flying through the room.

In the blink of an eye, I was laying on my back with fluorescent lighting being the only thing I could see.

I think I even passed out a little, because the next thing I did was open my eyes.

Joshua loomed over me with what I could only call concern.

Good, because everything hurt. From my toes to the top of my head, my entire body vibrated with an uncomfortable tingle. I wasn't just going to have a bruise, I was going to be a bruise.

"Lilly, are you...." Joshua started to say in a serious and concerned tone.

I was about to tell him that I was fine, but I ended up hearing the rest of his sentence.

"...serious? Even on the treadmill you run funny!" He said before he broke out in laughter.

"Thanks for the fucking concern!" I yelled angrily from the ground.

"Sorry, but that is what you get for showing off..." He chided.

"I was not showing off! I was proving a point!"

I looked up at him with a frown on my face. What an ass! He hadn't even asked if I was ok or tried to help me up!

I was shocked when he leaned down and scooped me up in his arms instead.

"Put me down!" I yelled with worry. I did not want him to carry me anywhere.

He ignored my protests and turned to look me in the eyes, "Sorry, are you ok?"

He almost sounded sincere, except he was probably just humoring me.

I kept wiggling and trying to get out of his grasp, even when he already had my halfway to the elevator.

I wanted to die when the three British women from behind the front desk spotted us.

"Oh my god!" One of them yelled when she caught sight of us.

"Congratulations on your wedding!" The second one gushed with happiness.

"Ah, young love", the third and oldest sighed from behind the counter.

What? No!

"He's not my-" I was cut off when Joshua stepped into the elevator and the doors shut.

I hit my forehead with my right palm, while the elevator started to rise.

Joshua simply chuckled while he held me.

Shit, he had carried me for a long time already. Was I getting heavy? That would be embarrassing.

I mean, I was considered really skinny. Some people had even called me 'Model' skinny once or twice. That's as far the compliment went, because I obviously didn't have the face to be a model. I always thought that by calling me 'model' skinny, people were just being nice instead of calling me totally flat chested.

The boob fairy needed a new assistant, because my name never came up on her to-do list, that was for sure.

The elevator finally got to the right floor, at a sluggish pace I might add.

"You have your key on you?" Joshua asked from under me.

"Yeah, It's in my back pocket," I yelped when I felt his hand poke into the pocket of my jeans.

"Hey, you perv!" I hit him in the back of the head.

"Sorry," He smiled sweetly, which let me know that he really wasn't.

My ongoing questions were answered when Joshua said winded, " Lilly, for being so skinny I would have thought..."

"Well put the key in right and you can set me down!" I yelled angrily. It had been his stupid idea to carry me all the way here.

"I'm just kidding, relax" He said with a laugh.

All the while, my arms had come to encircle his neck, because even though I was being carried, I was starting to feel tired.

Could it be three A.M. already?

My eyelids started to slide closer together, all the while Joshua continued to fumble with the hotel key. His hands were really occupied with me, so I could sort of understand why he was having a hard time.

That didn't mean that I didn't get annoyed with him.

"Get it in!" I yelled drowsily.

"That's what she said," Joshua said with a hint of frustration.

I thought that it was sort of funny, even if I did hate the 'that's what she said' jokes.

My eyelids finally snapped shut, and all consciousness left me as I fell asleep in Joshua's arms.

Here is the Ninth chapter. Please vote, comment, and fan!

This chapter is dedicated to my second winner Cerizette! She made a lot of amazing banners for the story and there's a slide show of them to the right. Thank you so much! The song I used is to the right, check it out because I'm obsessed with their new CD! :)