~So cute

About two or so hours later, Esmene had woken up. Making her way downstairs to the restaurants kitchen on her crutches, Esmene was greeted by the wonderful smell of burgers. Hearing the grease popping she walked over to Alexander and said, "It smells really good!"

"Oh, look who is up?"

Alex hadn't expected Esmene to be awake yet and was going to bring dinner upstairs when he had finished cooking.

"Was it hard coming down the stairs by yourself?" he asked with his brows slightly furrowed.

"A little bit, but I am sure the good food will make up for it." she told him with a bright smile.

"Dinner will be ready in a few minutes, and there is ice cream in the freezer upstairs for desert."

Smile getting even bigger she exclaimed, "Yummy! Oh, by the way, where is the bathroom down here?"

"Come with me, I'll show you." Leading her to the bathroom, Alex felt his heartbeat quicken.

In front of Esmene he was trying to appear calm and collected. However on the inside he was freaking out! He had never invited a girl inside his house, let alone to live with him! The only girl who had ever even stepped foot inside his apartment was his sister Olivia. She didn't come over too often though because when she did, she'd lecture him about how he needed to get a girlfriend soon or else he was going to die a single man. But he would never let that happen. He was just waiting for the right one to come around. This made him think of Esmene....

"Here it is, just call my name if you need me."

"Ok." she responded. By now, Esmene didn't have any problems getting around on a pair of crutches. As a teen, she had fallen down the stairs at school and had to use them for several month's. Of course her family didn't care about her back then either. The only one who was responsible and caring enough to get her medical treatment was the butler Jerimiah. Esmene was always thankful to him no matter what little thing he did for her from then on.

After dinner had been finished and the dishes had been taken care of, Esmene and Alex went upstairs to watch some movies. With a pail of ice cream in one hand, Alex helped Esmene up the stairs.

Going inside the apartment, Esmene tripped over the door mat. Feeling a slight pain in her ankle, Esmene was quickly pulled back and felt Alex behind her. He had pulled her against himself so she wouldn't fall! Feeling him so close made Esmene's heart speed up and face blush.

"Whoah, I guess I'm gonna have to put that somewhere else. You ok?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, no biggie."

Sitting down on the couch, Esmene suggested they watch a scary movie. She was actually pretty bad at watching scary or gory movies, but it was still fun.

Choosing a movie Alex remembered something. "I thought you didn't like scary movies." Last he remembered, when they would watch movies together on there phone's during lunch, she would always freak out. Maybe she had changed.

"I do now. I still think they are pretty scary, but they are always fun to watch. Especially the cheesy ones! Those are the best." Esmene told him enthusiastically.

"Ok, but just warning you in advanced. If you jump, try not to smack me in the face again." He said this with a bit of humor hidden in his voice.

"Huh?" she asked. "When did I do that?"

"Remember our last year of college, during lunch we were watching the Shining...."

"Oh...now I remember. It was the producers fault! He was the one who decided to put the jump scare in there...." As Esmene started to pout, Alex let out a sigh and laughed. 'So cute.' he thought.

"Hey, I was just joking. No need to pout." he said walking over to the couch. Sitting down he told her, "You have to admit though, it was pretty funny."

"Yeah."

While the movie was playing trailers, Alex served up the ice cream.

"You got any chocolate syrup?" Esmene asked.

"Always."

Only half an hour into the movie, Esmene was already freaking out and was clutching Alex's sweatshirt tight. When there was a jump scare she suddenly screamed and held onto Alex even tighter. If it was anyone else, he would have been annoyed and tell them to back off immediately. But since it was Esmene, it was ok. She was the exception.

The rest of the movie, Esmene was holding on to Alex's arm. Because of this, he just couldn't pay attention at all! His heart was beating faster than normal and his cheeks had turned a pale shade of red.

Noticing she had been holding onto Alex after the movie ended, Esmene quickly released his sweatshirt. "Oh, sorry. It was scarier than I imagined."

Turning to face her he said, "Its ok. It was pretty intense. Even for me."

"Ooooooh. Now that's saying something!" Esmene retorted. "Can we watch another?"

"Sure, I'm just going to go to the bathroom real quick."

"Ok! I'll pick out another in the meantime."

"Mhmmm."

Walking into the bathroom, Alex quickly shut the door and leaned against it. "Damn it." He quietly said. Who knew just holding onto him would get his heart all riled up like this? "The effect she has on me...." He was so sensitive to her touch.

Nearing the end of the next movie, Alex noticed Esmene had loosened her grip on his sweatshirt. Looking down at her, he saw she had fallen fast asleep. After turning off the TV, he scooped her up princess style and carefully took her into her room. Laying her down on the bed, he whispered to the sleeping girl "You shouldn't touch me so carelessly. I am a man you know."

Mumbling in her sleep she said, "Cold, it's cold..."

Trying to pull the covers over her, Esmene clumsily reached up and threw her arms around Alex's neck pulling him down. He almost landed right on top of her! 'Shit, you really know how to test me dont you?' As he tried to pull away, she tightened her grip around his neck. 'Damn, you sure are strong.'

After he stopped resisting, she released her grip. Taking the chance, Alex hurriedly slipped out of her reach and put the covers over her. After he brought her crutches into the room and placed them by her bed side, he retreated into his own room.

"Damn...she just keeps making it harder and harder to hold back. Sleeping Esmene sure is dangerous!"