7. Chapter Seven

Idrifted awake the next morning, cozy under a duvet with the cool air of the bedroom circulating around me. I could've slept for another eighteen hours probably, but nature was calling. As I woke, I realized that I wasn't just cozy under the duvet—I was snuggled up to Matty, spooning him, with Matty resting in my arms peacefully, snuggled deeply against my body. His breathing was soft and even, his blond hair mussed, his pale skin a contrast to my darker complexion even in the dim light of the room. One of my arms was slung around him, holding him close to my chest, and his head rested on my other arm.

My heart raced as I realized that I was holding my best friend, my fake fiancé, so close to my body. We were both shirtless and the press of his skin against mine made me ache in a way I wasn't used to feeling about him. Good God, I need to get laid. I didn't want to think about sex while holding him. It felt like a violation of our trust somehow. His hair fluttered as I exhaled sharply, trying to figure a way out of the situation.

I started to ease away but Matty snuggled deeper into me, burrowing his body against my warmth. It quickly occurred to me that not only did I have to use the bathroom, but I was sporting morning wood, too. I rocked my hips away from him as I tried to slide my arm from under Matty's head. He groaned in response and stirred.

"Hva…?" His voice was soft, confused and thick with sleep.

"Shh," I murmured. "Sorry. I'll just…" I pulled away from him completely and he whined slightly before reaching up and rubbing his face.

"Hva skjer?" He sat up and looked around, confusion painting his features as he rubbed his face and hair with both hands. When he turned to face me, we made eye contact and his cheeks flushed pink. "Oh."

"Yeah," I said. "I… um… sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. I had to use the bathroom and I… I'll just be right back, okay?"

"Ja, okei." He sank back down onto the pillow and lay there, blue eyes blinking at the ceiling while I disappeared to do my business.

As I was washing my hands, I was startled by the rapping of knuckles on the front door of the apartment. I froze, wondering who it could possibly be at that hour.

"Hallo? Hvem er det?" Matty called. He padded across the wood floor barefoot a moment later.

My stomach ached distantly at the sound of his voice sleepily calling out in Norwegian. I washed my face and ran my damp fingers through my hair before opening the bathroom door, brow furrowed.

"Good morning," Steve called from the vestibule as I opened the bathroom door, far too cheerfully. "Are you ready for another day?"

I groaned inwardly. Not especially.

"Good morning," Matty said. "We were just waking."

"Not a problem. We can duck outside and scope out some good spots for interviews, maybe walk around and get some B-roll footage of the area. Today will mostly be low-key, filming various interactions until the cookout, so we'll get a few minutes of you doing whatever you'd like—walking to the park, or shopping together, anything you can think of that's domestic or cozy—until your friends start to arrive."

"Thanks. Good to see you guys again," I said before ducking into the bedroom.

Matty came in and shut the door. He looked at me, eyebrows raised, and opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, I jumped in.

"I'm sorry," I blurted as quietly as possible, not wanting Steve and Brock to hear.

His brow furrowed. "For what?"

"The… snuggling with you in your sleep."

"Oh," he murmured. "I…" He shook his head and scrubbed his hands over his face before running his fingers through his blond hair, his cheeks growing pink. After a few moments, he exhaled sharply and nodded once. "We can discuss it later."

I nodded, my stomach roiling in an entirely different way than before and rummaged through the shopping bags to find something comfortable to wear for the day. Once we were dressed and cleaned up, we made our way into the living room and Matty put on a pot of coffee to brew. Steve and Brock were nowhere to be seen, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"What should we do today?" I asked brightly, trying to sound as casual as possible.

"I need to go shopping for the cookout this afternoon. I thought you could accompany me if you'd like. You could rest here instead if the jet lag is too bad. Maybe nap."

As tempted as I was to hide from him and nap to avoid thinking about our impromptu cuddle session, I also wanted to spend as much time in his company as possible—and not just because of the cameras. Despite the awkwardness of waking up with my best friend in my arms, he was still my best friend, and I was still excited to spend time with him in his hometown, my first trip out of the country. "No, of course I'll go with you."

Matty handed me a cup of coffee. "Okay." He paused to sip his coffee and then sighed quietly. "Listen…"

"I know," I said. "I'm so sorry. It won't happen again."

"It was as much my fault as yours. I don't know what happened."

I nodded and looked down into my coffee cup. "We can just agree it won't happen again and move on, right?"

Matty hesitated and when I looked back at him, he pressed his lips together firmly for a moment. "If that's what you want."

"I think it's best for both of us. We don't want to complicate things, right?"

"Right." He sipped his coffee again. "Okay."

"Okay," I echoed.

Matty set his cup on the counter and let out one last little sigh. "Let's make a grocery list."

The day flew by. I helped Matty decide what to serve at the cookout, making several suggestions to Americanize it, as well as peppering him with questions about Norwegian food, and we spent the morning shopping before spending the afternoon preparing the meal together, reminiscing for the camera and laughing, as well as talking about his plans for my week-long visit. Matty wasn't moving back with me right away—we had to wait until the visa came through—but we wanted to make the most of our time together. We were taking a trip to Kristiansand the next day, to visit his mom and brother. The whole time, Steve and Brock were close on our heels, Steve coaching us on what he'd like us to say or do, making us repeat things if they weren't quite good enough for the camera.

As for the rest of the trip, he hadn't made any concrete plans, but he did have a ton of suggestions. We could sightsee in Drammen, visit breweries, go swimming in the fjord or at the water park, see an incredible sculpture park in Oslo, or so many other things. I mostly wanted to relax, and assured Matty that I didn't care what we did, as long as we got to spend time together.

Finally, dinnertime rolled around, and guests started appearing, mostly friends from the other apartments, kids in tow. Matty's apartment building, which was comprised of only six units, had a large yard, boxed in by hedges to give it privacy. He had set up a soccer goal with some playground balls for the children to play with, and I busied myself practicing kicks while he fired up the grill and started cooking hot dogs. Nearby, Brock and Steve were interviewing some of the guests and capturing footage of Matty cooking.

"Hallo?" Two male voices called out to us as a pair of guys rounded the hedge.

Matty put the grilling tools to the side and went to greet the newcomers with fist bumps. "Jared," he called to me, gesturing for me to join them.

I stopped kicking and jogged over. "Hi there."

"These are my friends, Jakob and Benjamin."

I nodded at them and offered my hand to shake. "It's good to finally meet you. Matty's talked about you a lot."

"Same," Benjamin said, smiling brightly.

Jakob looked around. "Where's the cooler? I need a drink."

"Rough day?" Matty asked.

He shrugged. "You know how it can be. Discovered lots of bugs today."

Matty looked at me. "Jakob is a software tester."

"I would've guessed an entomologist," I said with a grin. They all laughed, and Benjamin clapped Matty on the shoulder.

"I like this one. You made a good choice."

The comment warmed me down to my bones and I couldn't hide the pleased smile on my face.

After we'd all eaten and had several beers, Benjamin announced that we were going to play croquet.

"Wait a second," I said, holding up a hand. "Can't we play something a little more… interesting?"

"What's your suggestion?" He pointed his croquet mallet at me as he asked.

I grinned. "Kickball." The yard space wasn't quite large enough for an actual-sized field, but it didn't matter to me, and I went around gathering items to lay out for the diamond.

Matty's laugh was warm and fond. "Jared plays kickball competitively in America."

"I'm a good teacher, I swear. I won't make it too difficult. Here, Jakob, you go stand there, at home plate. We don't have enough for two full teams, so I'll pitch, and the rest of you can be the fielding team." After giving a few more directions to Matty, Benjamin, and some of the other onlookers who were joining, I pitched the ball toward Jakob.

He kicked it and it rocketed toward Matty, who caught the ball smoothly and tossed it to Benjamin at first base. Jakob yelled in protest as he was tagged out.

"It's okay, you'll have your chance to get him out, too." Time slipped by as we played, the sun sinking low in the sky and twilight falling over us. As people started to leave, I realized just how tired I was.

Matty must have noticed, too, because eventually he called the game off. "I think that's enough for our guest for one night, everyone. Thank you for coming." He took the ball from me and leaned in close. "Why don't you go to bed? I'll be up shortly."

"And that's why I love you," I murmured, blinking my eyes heavily. I did just as he'd instructed, a few minutes later burrowing myself into his bed and drifting off to sleep.