"Indie?" Chase groaned, clearly I had woken him up.

"Yes. It's me, Indie." I laughed, my words hilarious to my drunken mind.

"Are you okay? It's two in the morning." Chase asked, sounding concerned.

"You know what? I'm not okay, Chase. I'm bored." I slurred into the phone.

"Are you drunk?" He asked.

"Are you drunk?" I repeated.

"Uh... no?" Chase answered.

"Good, so you can come over." I hadn't planned on inviting him over, but oh well. Too late now.

"What?" Chase asked quickly.

"I said, good, so you can come over." I repeated myself.

"Yeah, Indie I heard what you said. Why do you want me to come over?"

I frowned, did he not want to hang out with me? "You can't come over anyways, because you don't have a car."

"Uh- Well, Asher is here, so I can take his car, I guess." I heard shuffling like he was getting out of bed.

I gasped. "You're going to steal Asher's car?"

"No, I'm just going to borrow it." Chase chuckled.

"So you're going to come? Really?" I could practically hear the desperation in my drunken voice. "I'll send you my address. Bye." I hung up, not giving him a chance to change his mind.

After sending him my address, I jumped in the shower, brushed my teeth and brushed out my freshly washed hair. I pulled on a pair of cotton shorts and a tank top before going downstairs to wait.

A couple minutes later, I opened my door to a very tired looking Chase. He was wearing grey sweat pants and a grey hoodie, his camera in his hand. I realized I had never seen Chase without his signature skinny jeans, and my eyes quickly ran down his body, and then back up again.

"Why'd you bring your camera?" I asked, opening my door and allowing him inside.

"I wasn't sure if you called to work on the project." He said quietly, glancing around the foyer.

"You thought I called you here to do school work? It's night time." I led him into the main living area, before stumbling and catching myself on the couch. I let out a laugh before turning around to see Chase eyeing me, concerned once again.

"Are your parents home?" He asked, his eyes darting back around the house.

"No. They're never home. I think they forgot about me." I walked closer to him, stopping when the tips of my toes touched his. "I've never seen you without skinny jeans. You look good." 

"I- uh." He looked down at his clothes. "Yeah, thanks. Can I get you some water, Indie?"

I nodded and gestured towards the kitchen. "In the fridge. You are so nice to me, Chase."

He walked to the kitchen and came back a minute later, holding two bottles of water. He handed one to me, "the whole thing, please." I rolled my eyes at him, but downed it anyways. He held out the other one.

"No way. I'm going to have to pee all night." I pushed it away but he just brought it back.

"Please, Indie."

"Fine." The second bottle took longer to drink, but Chase just watched me until I finished.

"So, was there a reason you asked me to come over?" Chase asked once the bottle was empty.

"I just wanted to hang out with you. Is that a crime?" I actually didn't know the reason I asked him.

"Uh- no. No it's not. Just unexpected, I guess." He scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"You want to watch a movie?" I asked him, not sure what else to do. When he nodded, I grabbed his hand and led him towards the stairs, heading to my room. My coordination seemed to suffer as I climbed the stairs, I tripped and was expecting to fall when Chase's hands gripped my waist from behind. He pulled me upright, leaving his hands there and guiding me up the rest of the stairs.

I opened the door to my room and beelined for the bed, climbing in the blankets and turning back to see Chase entering the room slowly, taking in the space as I had done when I went into his room.

He let out a short whistle. "Nice room."

"Yeah, yeah. Come." I patted the bed beside me, signalling that he should sit. He hesitantly approached the bed, but didn't climb in.

"What? I'm not going to jump you." I muttered, slightly offended at his reluctance to be close to me.  His eyes snapped to my face at my words, as he steadied my face, a look of confusion on his face. After a moment, he took his shoes off and sat beside me.

"What do you want to watch?" I asked as I turned on the TV and opened Netflix.

"I don't mind." Chase said.

"Oh, you're going to regret that." I giggled, smiling at the fact that I had free reign. "Have you seen Gossip Girl?" Chase shook his head, so I put on the first episode. We watched silently for a while, before I glanced at Chase and realized he was still sitting stiffly on the bed, his back straight as a board.

"Get comfy, Chase. Unless you're planning on bolting as soon as I pass out." I nudged him with my elbow.

"You want me to stay?" He asked, surprised.

"Did you think I would ask you to drive all the way here just to watch me fall asleep?" I wasn't that mean.

"I honestly don't know what to think, Indie." Chase muttered.

"Stop over analyzing my drunk actions and get comfy." I ordered again, smiling to myself as he listened and sunk into the bed. I threw the duvet over his body and laid back down.

"So what did you end up doing tonight?" Chase asked me.

"We went to this party down the street. It was Brock's birthday party." I told him.

"Did you have fun?"

I reflected on the night, quickly. "It was okay. I had more fun last night."

"Really? You did?" Chase seemed genuinely surprised.

"Of course I did. Oh, that reminds me, Bella was bummed that Asher didn't ask for her number." I raised my eyebrows up and down, pursing my lips.

Chase laughed. "Yeah, he said he was too nervous. I'll tell him that, though. Thank you."

"My pleasure." I said as my phone dinged. I glanced at the screen and saw that I had been tagged in an Instagram picture. I opened the app and saw that Brock had posted the selfie he had taken of us. You could tell that I was sitting on his lap, and his arm was wrapped around my waist. I was mid-laugh, my face turned towards him. He had captioned it, "birthday party was a success." I felt my face wrinkle as I tossed the phone away from me.

"What's the matter?" Chase asked softly.

"Oh... it's nothing. Well, Brock posted a picture of us and I'm sure it's going to cause drama." I explained.

"Why?"

"Well, it looks like we're together. I'm sure he didn't do it intentionally, but whatever." I knew it would cause gossip, even though there was nothing to gossip about.

"Yeah, I'm sure he didn't." His voice was laced with sarcasm.

I looked up at his face, "you think he did it on purpose?"

He was quiet for a moment. "I don't know, Indie. I don't think he did it to cause drama, but I doubt he didn't notice that the way it looked." Chase looked like he wanted to say more, but didn't.

"It doesn't matter anyways." I muttered, turning back to face the TV.

"It doesn't?"

"No, because we're not together and I don't intend for us to ever be." I explained. Chase didn't answer, so I refocused my attention on the show. I shifted slightly so I could intertwine my feet with his, as my feet felt like icicles. His body startled at the contact, causing me to giggle.

"Sorry. My feet are cold." I lied, I wasn't sorry at all. He didn't say anything, but I felt him press his feet against mine. The contact brought back up my feelings from this morning, I peaked up at him. "Hey Chase?"

"Yes?" His eyes were still on the TV.

"So, that girl you like..." I trailed off. I watched him as he turned his head towards me.

"What about her?"

"You, uh, think, uh, you'll get over her?" I was stammering and I couldn't stop myself.

His eyes narrowed. "Why?"

I felt a rush of embarrassment, so I turned my head and pretended to pay attention to the show. "No reason." I muttered.

"Ok." I could feel his eyes burning a hole into my head.

***

The slight heat of the orange glow of the sunrise in the room woke me up. I didn't want to open my eyes, because I was incredibly comfortable. I was about to force myself to fall back asleep, when I felt a light pressure on my upper back, reminding me of the feeling I felt when Brock was rubbing circles on my skin last night. I forced myself to open my eyes, and was shocked when I found myself laying on Chase's chest, my leg and arm both draped around him. I realized now that he was gently stroking my skin. I glanced up at him. He was staring up at the ceiling, seemingly lost in thought. My small movement didn't seem to alert him that I had woken up.

"Shit. I am so sorry Chase." I mumbled as I sat up and separated my body from him.

He looked at me, with a soft smile. "It's okay, Indie." He looked tired, like he hadn't slept.

"Did you sleep? Fuck, I kept you up with my annoying cuddling." I rubbed my eyes, trying to hide the embarrassment in my face.

He sat up and turned to me, before his eyes slightly widened. "Wait here. Don't move." He jumped out of the bed and grabbed his camera from my dresser, where he had placed it last night. He climbed back into bed, kneeling and pointing the camera at me. I frowned, positive that I looked like shit, as I had just woken up and had no makeup on.

"No, Chase, I look horrible." I protested, waving my hand in front of my face.

"Indie, you look so fucking beautiful right now. Please." Chase said, bringing his camera to his face.

I dropped my hand and stared at him. The butterflies that were erupting in my stomach were unlike anything I had ever felt. I barely noticed the shutter sounds emitting from the camera, as I felt a smile form on my lips. After a minute or two, he returned the camera back to the dresser and stood by the bed.

"Come on," I said, the smile still on my lips. "Let's go back to sleep." I grabbed his hand and pulled him, only releasing it when I was certain he was following my instructions. I laid down, closing my eyes and trying to fall asleep, but when I couldn't find the same comfort that I had when I woke up, I rolled over and placed my head back on his chest. He hesitated, but draped his arm around me, where he continued to stoke my upper back. Sure enough, sleep came easily.

I woke up a couple of hours later, to an empty bed.