TORN

Chapter 7

Jacob woke up the next morning confused as to how he ended up in his hotel bed. Malichai carried him and placed him in bed, but Zena took his shoes off. That was one of the few times she's seen him asleep in a shirt. "How did I get here?" he asked groggily as he sits up in bed rubbing his eyes. His voice carried to the kitchen startling his best friend. He climbed out of bed examining himself and walked into the living room.

"Morning sunshine," Zena teased as he looked confused. Ok so Jacob is cute when he's fully awake, but I think he's even cuter when he's sleeping or just waking up. Bedhair is a real turn-on for me.

"How did I get here?"

"I carried you here. Well, Malichai and I carried you here. You're heavy." He shot her a glare before smiling. "Last night Malichai came out of his room to get a cup of coffee when he noticed me struggling to get you to the elevator."

Flashback...

"You need help? Malichai said in a groggy voice.

"No I got it," Zena said struggling to get Jacob in the elevator.

Malichai set his coffee on the counter and caught the elevator before it closed. "I'm a lot stronger than you." He picked up a heavy Jacob and slung him over his shoulder. "He's heavier than I thought," he laughed as Malichai followed Zena to the room dropping Jacob down on his bed. He then handed her two front row tickets and backstage passes to their next concert. "In case you want to get some more footage tomorrow night."

"Thanks. And thanks for helping me with Jacob. He's a lot heavier than I thought," Zena smiled.

"You're welcome." Malichai hugged her goodbye placing a small kiss on her cheek, an action that startled her but she's a master at hiding emotions. "Good night beautiful." He left the room leaving Zena with her thoughts.

"Goodnight handsome," she whispered. 'He called me beautiful, the same word Hayden called me the night before. And he kissed me on the cheek and walked off.' She tried to wrap her head around the past few days as she took off Jacob's shoes and hat.

End of flashback...

"I'll have to thank him when I see him again." The two best friends ate in an awkward silence before Zena spoke up.

"Chai gave me two front row tickets and backstage passes to tonight's concert. You in? We could get more concert footage. He said that they'd be singing different songs tonight," she explained to a tired Jacob.

"Sounds good. What time does it start?"

"9:30 pm," she stated and he looked shocked. "Stop acting old, it'll be fun."

"So when you want to leave."

"I was thinking we leave with the boys since we're all going to the same place. I asked Chai and he said that it was fine," Zena said plainly staring at the counter.

"Okay. When are they leaving?"

"7:00," she said earning a nod from him.

"Cool. Well, we got some time. It's 10:30, you want to watch a movie before we get the day started?"Zena nodded walking over to the couch with him trailing behind. Jacob got to pick the first two movies so he chose Anchorman and The Sixth Sense. Zena stared at him and burst in laughter. "You let me decide, remember," he said with a smile before joining her on the couch with his coffee and waffle.

The two laugh all the way through Anchorman and she looked at him periodically and watched as he mouthed all the words as she did last night. After the movie, they took a quick bathroom break. Zena cleaned the breakfast mess and broke open a box of popcorn Thompson gave her the night before. She placed the second bag in the microwave when Jacob joined her in the kitchen. "Ooh popcorn..." he said as took a handful. "...With the movie the-a-ter butter," they said at the same time causing them to erupt in laughter. "Alright let's watch the second movie. And if you get scared, I'll protect you," he said smirking at his queen.