*James*

Julia pulls me through the crowd as we make our way to the Karaoke corner.

"You're singing with me, you know that, right?" Julia asks, and my eyes widen. She wants ME up there singing with her?! I put my beer on the table and shake my head.

"I can't sing!" I admit, now feel nervous that she's gonna drag me up on stage with her.

"Neither can I. Let's go!" I watch Julia talk to the man in charge of the Karaoke night but can't hear what she's saying.

"What did you tell him?"

"Just that neither of us can sing, but we are gonna do it together anyway." She smiles up at me.

"I REALLY can't sing, Julia. I'm not drunk enough for this! What song did you pick?"

"My favorite song - you'll see."

I start getting nervous. Like really nervous. My hands get clammy, and there's not enough alcohol in my system for this.

"The things I'd do for you." I mumble as Julia drags me up on stage. She's got me wrapped around her finger, doesn't she? We are both handed a microphone, and I anxiously wait to hear what the song is she requested.

"Fair warning everyone - we can't sing. My sincere apologies!" Julia announces, making the crowd laugh before the song starts.

"Play It Again" By Luke Bryan begins, and a wave of relief washes over me. Julia's favorite song is actually one of my new favorites as well.

"Oh good. At least I know this one." I whisper in her ear, but the microphone picks it up, making the crowd laugh more.

Julia doesn't let go of my hand the entire time we sign. I still need to look at the screen to read the lyrics, and Julia watches me while singing.

We sing in unison, terribly, and the crowd goes wild. I start laughing halfway through as Julia puts on a little show, walking around me while we sing. My eyes dart back and forth from the beautiful woman dancing around me and the screen to keep up as we sing.

At one part of the song, I spin her around without letting go of her hand and loosen up a little more. The crowd starts singing along with us, and I smile down at Julia now.

The song ends, and everyone is now on their feet cheering. Julia jumps up and throws her arms around my neck in front of everyone. "Thank you!!" She whispers in my ear, and I hug her, lifting her up so she can't touch the ground, earning us another round of applause. I've never seen her this happy. She's so cute, and everyone is loving her. 

We head back to the bar, still holding hands.

"Seee!? Tell me that wasn't fun!" Julia exclaims in the middle of our adrenaline rush. I smile down at her, and without asking, Charlene gives us another order of drinks.

"This one's on the house, kids." She winks and walks away.

"Ok, Ok, it WAS fun. And you were right. We can't sing at all! But now I know your favorite song." I grin and take a sip of my beer.

"And now you know my favorite song."
She lifts up her glass and clinks it with my beer with a smile.

I'm so in love with this woman.

*****

Another hour or so goes by, and a few more rounds of drinks are in our system. We are certainly both feeling intoxicated now.

"I've never seen you drunk before!" Julia yells over the crowd.

"I'm not quite there... yet." I respond in her ear while Charlene comes back with another round for us.

"I can pay this round..." Julia nods to the bartender and gives out her card.

"Stop. You are not!" I spin in my chair, ready to grab the card away, but she beats me to it and slams my hand down on the bar.

"Uh-uh, Gallo." She keeps my hand on the counter with hers on top. "Anything hotel related is reimbursed by the show." Her words come out a little jumbled from the alcohol and I laugh at her.
"Nate can pay for this round." She throws out a devilish smirk. If Nate Hollan only knew how much he's paid for me now. A few cups of coffee, some lunches, a dinner, now drinks. I feel like I owe him a fuck now too after these dates.

"I'm the last person that kid would buy a drink for."

"Me too, right now." Julia admits.

"Yeah. I thought there was tension when you said practice ended early tonight. You guys seem to fight a lot, from the way you look walking in after 'practices'."

"We're like oil and water." She shifts in her seats at the topic, and I can tell this is not something Julia wants to talk about, so I end it quickly.

"Yeah," is all I say and then continue to drink my beer.

The DJ announces a ten-minute break from the horrendous singing and starts playing regular music. A slower song, "Save Me" by Jelly Roll, fills the lounge.

"Dance with me." I demand and take Julia's hand to help her down off her bar stool She follows me to the middle of the room, and I wrap my arms around her. She places her arms up around my neck and I pull her in closer, looking down at the gorgeous woman in my arms. She won't look up at me yet. She keeps her eyes on my chest, and I can tell her mind is racing.

"What's going through that head of yours right now?" I pull her chin up to force her to make eye contact with me as we slowly dance to the song.

"Just shit I can't shut off." She sighs and rests the side of her face on my chest and closes her eyes. I rub her back and bury my face in her neck. I can smell her vanilla perfume and the clean scent of shampoo in her hair. I never want this moment to end. I never want to let go of this woman I have in my arms right now.

Julia melts into me, and her hands find their way up to the nape of my neck, her fingers now threaded in my hair, pulling me in closer. My heart starts beating harder against her from that one gesture, and Julia smiles a little. She knows what she's doing to me.

"Hey, I told you what would temporarily make you forget." I move my mouth closer to her, so my lips touch her ear and as we sway to the music, I whisper, "That offer still stands."

"Stopppp. I'm not gonna use you like that."

Jesus Christ, woman. Use me. Please!

"I'm telling you, it's ok." I continue to rub her back and smile down at her.

"Knock it off, James." She sighs.

"What? We can pause the 'friend mode' for one night. Start fresh tomorrow. We're allowed to forget about shit for a little while. You know I'll take whatever I can get. I'll take whatever you give me, Julia."

A moment goes by where we just dance silently, and I notice she's still stuck in her own head.

"You're overthinking again. If you won't make the decision, I'll make it for you." I whisper. "Just for tonight. We'll be friends tomorrow." I cup Julia's face and kiss her. I peck her lips a few times at first until I know she won't push me away. After making sure it's ok, I deepen our kiss and graze my tongue against her bottom lip. She lets me. She lets me kiss her passionately, and our tongues skillfully swirl perfectly together. All our self- control vanishes as we make out in the middle of the room.

Julia leans into me more, threads her fingers through my hair, and kisses me with more hunger now, letting me know she accepts my offer.

"I want to take you home with me, Julia." I whisper, my lips once again grazing her ear as I move my hands back to her waist, pulling her in tight.

"We can't drive. We're both drunk." She reminds me as I start kissing down her neck, needing to taste every inch of skin now. She closes her eyes and tilts her head to the side to give me all the access I need to continue. I'm aching for this woman, and the alcohol in our system is heightening everything we are feeling at this very moment.

"Then take me to your room." I boldly demand. Julia looks up into my eyes and nods. I take her hand and pull her through the crowd, through the lobby and into the elevator.

The elevator door closes behind us, and the 4th floor button is pushed. Julia barrels into me and pushes me up against the wall, catching me off guard with her aggression. I've never seen her like this!! Our kisses are desperate, and our hands are everywhere. I'm now fully erect against her.

The elevator makes the familiar bing sound and the doors open. As much as we both could stay in the tiny room and continue right there, we exit. Julia pulls me to her room.
We both make eye contact with Paul, and my face immediately heats up. I had forgotten he had a job guarding someone tonight.

"Hi Paulie." Julia waves drunkingly to Paul and unlocks the door to her room. I give him a little smirk, and he shakes his head at me. I just shrug in return.

"Miss Moretti." Paul nods hello but with a confused expression. I wonder if we will remember this tomorrow.

The door slams shut behind us, and I take her to bed.

We have sex. Like, REALLY good sex.  It's possibly the best I've ever had.  Julia wore her red bra and matching lace underwear, and the sight of her will be etched in my brain forever.

She drove me crazy, and I think I drove her crazy by the sounds of it.

The entire floor had to have been aware of our loud hours' worth of fucking in the hotel room.  Between the bed banging against the wall hard for so long and the moans and groans coming out of us from driving each other insane, never mind the 4th floor, the 3rd and 5th probably knew as well.

I think about poor Paul having to listen to us and laugh a little.

When we are finally done fucking, I collapse on top of Julia, exhausted. We silently lay like this for a few minutes, catching our bearings from what just happened.

"That felt so good." She breathes out, kissing the crook of my neck. God, if she only knew how amazing that felt for me.

"Mmm..." I turn my head and kiss her perfect lips a few times before pulling out, making her gasp from the sensitivity. I have a feeling Julia's gonna be sore tomorrow.

After, we lay in her bed, naked, and talk for over an hour like we've been together for years. That's the thing with Julia.  You go from zero to a hundred within days and then can't get enough of her. She's an addiction and she doesn't even have a friggen clue what she does to me.

We talk about some serious shit. She asked why I decided to get a vasectomy after Carter died, I asked why she said she couldn't get pregnant. Come to find out. She almost died at 18 from giving birth to her son and now can't have kids. I think of that for a moment. Imagine being an 18-year-old...Girl...and having something so big happen that your future dreams of ever having more children gets taken away from you, and there's nothing you can do about it. That must have been an awful trauma for her to have to deal with at such a young age.  I can tell by the way Julia talks, she wanting a big family too.

I told her she could be a part of the Gallo girls any day. My five sisters would love Julia. She'd fit right in with them.

Then....she joked and said I must have been spoiled being the only boy. Hell, if she only knew how bad it was under that roof. It makes my stomach turn.  But my stomach turns more when Julia tells me that her mother died the same way Julia almost did. Giving birth. Some blood disorder that couldn't be resolved. I imagine a girl not having her mom. I imagine myself not ever knowing my mom. It brings a painful heaviness in my chest. Ma is everything to our family. I can tell Julia is caught up in think shit and needs to be reeled back in to the current moment. This seems to happen with her often.   I can feel tears on my chest from where she is laying her head, and that breaks me more. 

Then, Julia starts laughing. God her moods change so fast without warning!

"What's so funny down there?" I ask, thoroughly confused at this switch of mood.

"I can only imagine what Christmas must be like at your house."

"It's a zoo. And very loud. Everyone goes to my mom's and trashes her house. It's complete chaos." I roll my eyes thinking of the craziness in ma's house.

"I love that." Julia wipes her tears and smiles up at me.

"Me too. You should come with me some time. Everyone lives here on the West Coast. None of us could ever move far from mom. She was...is... our everything."

"I'd love to meet everyone....as a friend, of course..."  She reminds me, and apparently herself, of what we are.

"Of course." And even though we both agree, at the same time, I lean down, and Julia scoots up so we can reach each other's lips. We kiss each other passionately, and she rolls on top of me, letting the covers fall off us.

"Friend Mode doesn't start till tomorrow. We still have an hour left." She looks at the time and nods for me to look at the small hotel clock on the nightstand. 

"We can get a lot done in an hour." I flip her over fast so I'm on top of her and go crazy kissing her face while we laugh. Our laughs die down and turn into lust when I slow down and trail my mouth down Julia's body.  I drag my tongue down her stomach and look up at her before going any further. "One more time before midnight."

She nods giving me the 'ok' and arches her back the minute my mouth touches her core. God, she's so sexy.

I love it when we're not in Friend Mode.

*****

*Trisha*

It's late. I spent the entire afternoon with Dave, but happy that I was able to control myself. All we did is talk in the coffee shop and give the owners business with our multiple orders of tea and pastries. I didn't bring him home. I didn't have sex with him. I made sure to keep it simple. Dave is trying. Real hard, to better himself.  What I really like is the fact that he's doing it for himself. Not for me, not for anyone else. I believe he truly wants to be sober and healthy and happy. When we finally do part ways, he kisses me on the cheek and that's it. We go no further.

I spend the rest of the night doing what I was SUPPOSED to be doing all day. Booking Nate's schedule for Austin.  After, I take a long shower and try to NOT think about my day with Dave. I wonder what James is doing tonight? Probably bored out of his mind at work.

But, of course, my fucking night can't end on a good note, can it? I have not one, not two but three damn missed calls from Nate while I was in the shower. He calls again and his speech is so slurred giving away exactly where he is and what he's been doing all night.

I'm fuming.  Right as Dave is turning his life around, Nate is taking his fucking place. I love Nate too much to watch him do this to himself. I'm so pissed off right now. 

I dry my hair quickly and throw on clothes to head to Sullivan's tap. Again.

I enter the bad and there he is... it actually breaks my heart. He's sitting at the bar with his head buried in his arms on the counter. Passed out. This is getting bad. REAL bad.

I tap his shoulder gently a few times to not startle him. Last thing I need is to be bringing him to the Emergency Room because he drunkingly fell off the barstool.

Nate finally comes to and looks at me confused while trying to sit up.

"Really Nate??"

"Why are you here, Trisha?" 

"You're fucking kidding me, right? Nate. YOU called me. Needing a ride, once again."   I'm so pissed.

"I did?" Nate looks down at his phone and sees how he called me three times. 

I look over at Slutty Natalie. (That's what I've named her in my head. I know Nate fucks her every once in a while.) She looks nothing like James. Hard to believe they are related. But Slutty Natalie IS beautiful. Really beautiful. I think that's what gets to me a little. 

Natalie just shrugs while cleaning off a table. I catch on real quick tonight was one of her lucky nights with him. I roll my eyes at yet another bad decision of Nate's. God, I hope he used a fucking condom, or two ... ugh.

"Christ, I'm sorry. I had no idea I-"

"Save it. Let's go" I interrupt him, pay his tab with his credit card and watch him sign the receipt and give Natalie a fucking real good tip. Disgusting.

I literally have to help him up and out of the bar, into my car. He's so wasted he can barely keep his eyes open. I find myself starting to cry but, fortunately, he's too drunk to catch on. This isn't the way his life is supposed to go. 

"What happened this time, Nate?" I ask, while driving him home. He rubs his face and leans against the car window with his eyes still closed. I cry harder and quickly wipe my tears and sniff before he can ever notice.

"Julia happened, that's what. Fucking Julia happened."

What the fuck does THAT mean?? I don't even understand what Nate is saying. Did he have a bad practice with her? I know she's not doing that great learning the guitar, but I mean.... this isn't like Nate to care about stupid stuff like that. Not to the point to get plastered.

I don't get anything more out of him. He passed out in my car. There's no way I can get him up to his apartment alone. I have no choice but to wake him up .

"Cmon, Nate." I cry while trying to get him out of the car. "Help me out a little...please." I start crying harder when he doesn't budge. More out of frustration than anything.

I let myself fall apart for a few minutes before I pull it together. C'mon Trisha. Just do your damn job. I force myself to stop crying over this stupid shit and pull Nate out of the car. I wrap his arm around my shoulder and practically drag his sorry ass up to his apartment.

I struggle so hard but this has to be done. No one can find Nate passed out somewhere and it's not like I can just leave him in the car. That's all we need on the internet. I get him to his bed with no help and he finally, just now starts to wake up.

"I'm sorry. Trish." He mumbles once his head hits the pillow. I glare at him and  pull his shirt over his head because I know he hates sleeping with a shirt on. I take his shoes, socks and pants off, leaving him just in his boxers. 

He tries to get up but leans on his elbows instead. I can tell the room is spinning for him. 

"Lay back down." I demand and he does. I swear I'm dealing with a child some days. I sit on the edge of the bed and push his hair way from his forehead.

"I'm  sorry Trish. I fucked up." Nate says and looks at me. I continue stroking his hair. "I fucked up and now your crying."

Shit.

"I'm not crying."  I lie.

"Yeah you are. I made you cry, I make Cara cry,  I made Julia cry."

God damn it. Did he yell at Julia for not catching on to the fucking guitar as quickly as he would like? He can be such an ass. But he doesn't need me to rip into him now. What he needs is to sleep it off.

"Shh. Everyone's fine...Just close your eyes, Nate."  I rest my hand on his cheek and he starts to close his eyes.

"I keep fucking up, Trish. I don't know how to stop." is the last thing Nate says before he falls asleep.

And once again I say-"God, I hate you Hollan. You're lucky I love you."

* * * * *