I wake up, a little groggy, and there’s a guy in my bed.

It takes me a second to realize that it’s Jackson. He slept over last night.

I can’t believe it. Jackson slept over, in my bed, and we cuddled all night. His body is still against mine, and it feels so good.

I snuggle closer to him, not sure what the hell’s happening. He wasn’t drunk and neither was I. We just had sex, and then… we fell asleep.

Booty calls don’t normally sleep over. So maybe that wasn’t just a booty call.

I watch him sleep for a second, surprised at how vulnerable he looks. He’s breathing deep and slow, handsome as always, but there’s a softness to him while he’s unconscious. He looks like the teenager I fell in love with all those years ago.

I slowly slide out of bed after a few minutes, not able to wait anymore. I use the bathroom and rinse my face off before looking at myself in the mirror.

For a second, I see that teenage girl I used to be. I was angry back then, hated everything about my hometown and dreamed about so much more. I wanted to get out, come to Hollywood, and live a life that my parents could never have dreamed of. And I wanted to do it with Jackson.

I remember the way I was after he left, so broken and sad. But those feelings don’t feel current anymore. I can’t relate to that anger and that hurt. Those emotions used to be very present for me, the hurt and the betrayal, but now… it feels like just another memory. My anger toward Jackson is gone, and that teenage girl is my past.

When I sneak back into the room, Jackson is sitting up in bed.

“I thought you were running away,” he says, smiling at me.

“No, that’s your move,” I say, surprised that I can joke about it.

He laughs and throws a pillow at me. “Get over here.”

I get into bed and crawl up next to him. He kisses me, wrapping his arms around me, pulling me close.

I let him hold me like that, not sure what any of it means. We talk about nothing, mostly just work, and mostly just gossip. He laughs and he makes me laugh, and an hour passes that way.

He looks over at the clock and sighs. “We should get going,” he says.

I groan. “We have to work, don’t we?”

“Lionel will castrate us both if we’re late.”

I sigh and get up. “Fine, fine. Do you need to shower or anything?”

He shakes his head. “No, I can do all that on set.”

“All right.” I hop out of bed. “Let’s get going.” I head into the bathroom and quickly get ready.

I take a short shower and I’m dressed and ready to go in record time. I find him idly looking at his phone in bed, fully dressed now, which is disappointing. We walk together back out into the living room and there we find Laney, looking like we never left her.

She looks over at us and takes her headphones off. “What?” she asks.

I realize that I’m staring at her. “Did you go to sleep at all?”

She shrugs. “What time is it?”

“Morning,” Jackson grunts. “Early.”

“Oh. Then no.” She goes to put her headphones back on.

“Wait,” I say. “Hold on. Did you come up with something?”

“I did,” she says, looking smug.

“What is it?” Jackson asks, stepping toward her.

“It’s a masterpiece, is what it is.” She stands up and turns her laptop around to us.

On the screen is a Word document. It’s clearly a script, though I have no clue what it’s about.

“That’s your plan?” I ask her.

“That’s my script,” she corrects. “You said Holly wants to stay with Jackson until she has another movie, right?”

He nods at her. “Yeah, that’s right.”

“So let’s get her another movie. You guys convince her to attach herself to this script.”

I stare at her for a second and slowly the plan opens up to me. “That’s genius,” I say. “You have some cachet, so we can probably sell this script. Especially if she’s attached.”

“It’s win-win,” Laney says, grinning huge. “She gets another amazing movie to do, and you guys get her off your hands. You just have to convince her to do it first.”

“Email that to me,” Jackson says. “[email protected]gmail.com”

“Cool email,” Laney says, rolling her eyes.

I walk over and sit down next to her as she starts typing away on her laptop again.

“Do you think this can work?” I ask her.

“Depends on if the big guy over there can sell her on it,” Laney says with a shrug. “It’s possible, though.”

“I can do it,” Jackson says. “Script better be good, though.”

“Oh, it’s good,” she says. “Really good. Just get her attached to it.”

“I’ll do it,” he says.

“Sent.” Laney shuts her laptop lid and yawns. “It’s not totally done yet, but it’s more than enough.”

“Works for me,” Jackson says.

“You sure you’re okay with this?” I ask him.

“Positive.” He grins at me. “I can do anything. I’m an actor and a SEAL, remember?”

I sigh and Laney groans. “Either I’m exhausted or that was super lame. Either way, night night, fuck buddies.” She waves and heads off.

“Hey, we’re not--!” I call out, but she just slams her door shut.

“Not fuck buddies?” Jackson asks, coming up behind me.

“No,” I say, not able to stop myself from smiling.

“Damn. I guess we’re just the fuck part, then.”

“Cut it out. Come on, let’s go to work.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

I head over to the door and he slaps my ass as I walk by.

“Asshole,” I say.

“Don’t pretend like you don’t love it,” he says, kissing my neck, and I can’t help but smile.

Maybe this can work. Like he said, he can do anything. If he can convince Holly to take this script, she might actually back off.

And then what? I don’t know. But I want to find out.