She had been at my house all night. We didn’t get much sleep until the sun came up. When we did get some sleep, I didn’t want to actually sleep, since I couldn’t bring myself to stop looking at Allie. She was nothing like any of the girls I had ever liked, yet alone dated, before. She was not skinny, nor was she fat, but rather had enough padding for me to hold. I had never found that before, and yet I found it so attractive and so alluring. Her red hair, so untamed, acted as a halo around her head, and oh did the curtains match the drapes. She had a few small tattoos, all in places where most people would never notice. She had a white cross behind her ear, which I had almost missed myself since she was so pale herself. By far, my favorite tattoo of hers was a world map on the inside of her hip. Secretly, I wondered if I was the first person to see the tattoo, god I hoped so. Eventually, I felt myself drift into unconsciousness, only after kissing her softly.
Sometime after eleven, I was startled awake by a noise. The bed was empty, but I heard the noise again. “What is she doing?” I wondered aloud as I slowly willed myself to get out of bed. I didn’t bother putting on any clothes except a pair of black briefs.
My heart skipped a beat as I entered the living room, finding Allie sitting on the floor in my shirt and laughing at my dog as he chased after the ball she just threw.
“I see you’ve met Loki.” I said before planting a kiss on her head.
She smiled, oh that smile, and giggled slightly. “I have, he is a cute dog,” Widening her smile before she continued saying, “most defiantly a Norse God.”
“I thought so.” I said as I fell back into my overstuffed couch. “How long have you been up?”
“You know, I am not sure. I heard Loki whining and I decided to get up. Turns out, someone didn’t feed him.” She said as she playfully nudged my leg.
“It’s not that I forgot, but I normally feed him early morning when I get up.”
I just sat on the couch for a few minutes watching Allie, who was obviously an animal lover, interact with my dog. I had not been so content or at peace in ages, so long that I was not sure that I had ever been truly this happy.
“Alright, that is enough attention for my dog, I think. Let me take you out to lunch.”
“What if I like your dog more then you?” Allie asked, looking at me and not showing any signs of if she was sarcastic or not. “Lunch would be great.”
I helped her get to her feet before both of us went back into my room to put on clothes and become presentable for the world. Allie kept my old grey shirt on which made me happy since she looked sexy in in.
Around the corner at my favorite little hole in the wall restaurant, we were seated at a table near the back. It was quiet and bright, a nice change from many of the other London restaurants. Allie looked through the menu, settling on a salad with goat cheese, apples and honey vinaigrette. I just ordered my usual. I could tell that Allie was nervous since she kept fidgeting. After ordering, she finally spoke.
“Liam, I don’t think I can do this.” She said.
My heart sank and I went into full on panic mode. “You’re breaking up with me?” I asked.
“Oh God, no!” She exclaimed, quickly adding, “That’s not at all what I meant. What I mean is I can’t continue to live in this fantasy. So I have a proposition for you.” Fantasy? What was she talking about? Was I the fantasy? Well, at least she wasn’t breaking up with me. “And what’s that?” I asked, attempting to keep by voice calm.
“I want two weeks. No kissing and no sex, just you and I getting to know each other” she said.
My heart and mind had begun to calm. Slowly, I said, “On one condition.” Quickly, I racked my brain for something that could make two weeks with her not hard. How could I not kiss her for two weeks? That was it… kissing. So I began my attempt at negotiating saying, “I still need to kiss you.”
There was no way for her to hide her smile from me, yet she counter negotiated with, “No tongue, and no longer than twenty seconds.” She was extremely serious.
“I guess I will take what I can get.” I said bringing her hand up to my mouth and giving her a kiss. “We have a deal.”

He agreed! I had panicked all the way to the restaurant on our walk, thinking that he would refuse and just leave me. Instead, I had seen the break in his heart when he thought I was breaking up with him. My heart was slowly coming back into its normal rhythm.
Just then, the waiter arrived with our food, helping to ease the tension that had built between Liam and me.
“How is your food?” He asked between bites of his burger.
“It is really good. And you food?” I asked.
“Same as always, still my favorite.”
“So how often do you come here?”
“Well, seeing as I have been home for the past three weeks and I don’t cook…every lunch for the past three weeks.” He replied.
“We are really going to have to change that.” I said, having grown up in a rural town going to a restaurant was a luxury that my family could not really afford considering the number of children they had.
“Well, considering that I do not cook much, unless you count pouring milk into a bowl of cereal, you are going to have a hard time with that.”
“Well, I am just going to have to teach you.”
“Good thing we have two weeks with nothing to do.” He chuckled.
“Nothing to do? We are in a city with so much history, in a country where everything is perfectly green. Seriously, there is nothing to do?” I clambered. “Well, we are just going to have to change the way you look at things. No more looking at the world as Mr. Famous.”
“Just wait until you see me get swarmed by people, maybe then you will understand why I don’t see the city as my play ground.” He grumbled, honestly looking a little sad. “It’s not that I don’t like the whole being famous. But, every once and a while, I wish that I could have a life like everyone else. Not one where I am never sure how far away from my friends and family I will be next week, or next month. Sometimes it is hard not knowing when I get to see friends and family.”
“I really understand that.” I sympathetically stated. “With my family so far away, and spread out, I never know what to expect. I have no idea when I will be going home and seeing my family, I simply cant afford it right now. And with my sister in Africa, I don’t even know if I will ever see her again. So I understand the missing of the friends and family. As for your fame, I am sure that if I hand around you long enough that I will see what you mean.”
He raised his eyebrows in agreement since he had a mouth full of food.
“For now, do me the favor and oblige me by going places with me. You can go incognito if you really wish.”
“I can wear a fake mustache.” He snickered. “For now, love, I will oblige you.”
“Thank you.”
“Just do me one thing.” He demanded.
“Name it.” I replied.
“Promise me that at least one time these two weeks you will cook me dinner at your house or mine, that way we do not have to deal with people, even if I am incognito with my impressive mustache.”
“I will cook at your apartment, that way we don’t have to worry about Maggie, who by the way, is infatuated with the idea of meeting your band mates.” I said.
“I kind of had this plan to keep you all to myself, at least for a while. So I have no problem keeping her away from the boys.” He asserted.