“I watched her—”

“Please tell me this conversation is going to get less creepy soon.”

“Shut up.” Jaymeson threw a Cheerio at my head. “Girls. They get this weird look when they sleep. Her eyebrows are all furrowed, and her lips are in this tight line and I swear to you her eyes are like rolling behind her eyelids.” He shuddered and threw a handful of Cheerios in his mouth. “I swear to you the only thing she’s dreaming about right now is how to trap me into marriage.” Shaking his head a few times he banged the table with his fist. “And that, my friend, will never happen. Seriously. I already feel smothered.”

I stared at him blankly.

“What?” He shrugged.

“Nothing.” I leaned back in my chair. “I’m still trying to decide if you’re a genius or insane.”

“And?”

“Jury’s still out.” I saluted him and pushed away from the table. “And I need more sleep.”

“Damn. I thought I could convince you to go surfing this morning.”

“And get eaten by a seagull? Or better yet, have one poke my eyes out? No, thanks.”

Jaymeson let out a bark of laughter. “Seagulls don’t attack people.”

“Um, tell that to the website that has a recorded three thousand eight hundred and two seagull attacks to date!”

Jaymeson was silent and then, “You made that up.”

I flipped him off and walked up the stairs shouting, “Who cares! It’s probably true somewhere!”

I tried to quietly creep into Alyssa’s room. The camera crew for the morning shift was usually too lazy to follow us around the house. Most of them were either out getting coffee or taking a breakfast break, meaning I could go jump into her bed without her parents murdering me for compromising her on national television.

The wood floor creaked just as I made it to her bed. Damn, but my girlfriend was beautiful. Seriously. And now I was the creepy one because I was seriously happy to watch her sleep. I reached out and touched her cheek with my hand and sighed.

Alyssa’s eyes flickered open just as she jerked back into the bed and swore. “What the hell, Demetri! I was sleeping!”

“I know.” I gently pushed her farther across the bed and crawled in. “But I thought we could have a morning slumber party.”

“You piece of crap. You just want me to rub your head while you go to sleep and I stay awake staring at the ceiling!” Alyssa turned away from me, but I grabbed her and tucked her into my body.

“Not true! I just want to hold you.”

“Right.”

“And I mean, if you wanted to rub my head or my back or something, I wouldn’t complain…”

“Slut.”

“Whore.”

“You woke me up.”

I grinned. “That I did.”

“You know I can’t go back to sleep once woken up.”

I kissed the top of her head. “I’m well aware of that fact, which is why I was so quiet upon entering your room. Notice that I only hit two of the squeaky parts of the floor, not all six.”

Alyssa turned to face me, her eyes still barely open and her lips all flush. “Notice how you were staring at me like some creepy homicidal killer that belongs on one of those crime shows.”

“Hey!” I dug my hands into her mop of dark hair and massaged her skull. “No fair. Besides, I was staring at you because you’re really pretty.”

“One point for you this morning.”

I sighed happily and kissed her forehead, then threw my leg over hers so she was trapped with me in bed.

“Are we going to talk about it, Demetri?” Alyssa’s head was against my chest so her voice was muffled.

“About you and Alec and why the hell he’s acting different? Ten days ago you were freaking out about what he may or may not do, and now you won’t even talk to me about it.”

I swallowed and played with a piece of her hair. Did things always have to be so complicated? “All I know is that I hope whatever’s bothering him, he can get it out before he and Nat get back here. If anyone can help him it’s Nat.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely. I mean, it’s like they’re already married. She’ll fix him.” I had to hope she would; otherwise, I just wasn’t sure I could handle any more bombs getting dropped on our happy little lives. Not after all the shit we’d already been through. I just wanted to be done.

****

We all sat around the dinner table that night with Ruben and the rest of the production crew. He called the meeting to order and took a sip of his soda. “Alright, kids…” I groaned, why did he call us kids? “This week’s theme is…”

“Please let it be sleep,” I interrupted.

“Sex?” Jaymeson grinned shamelessly while Alyssa punched him. Angelica was staring at the ground like it was going to suddenly open up and swallow her.

Ruben looked around at all our eager faces. “The past.”

“Son of a bitch.” Was the man trying to kill me?

“How is that a theme?” Alyssa asked.

Ruben nodded happily to Alyssa. “Great question!”

I rolled my eyes. “Shoot me now.”

Ignoring my outburst, Ruben took a seat. “Not only does your past define your future, but it makes you seem more real to your fans. They want to know what you were like growing up. Did you play any sports? When was your first kiss? You know, that type of stuff. So we’ll have a series of confessionals this week where the producers will ask you questions, but you’ll also be getting to know the rest of the cast and their pasts through a series of games and activities.”