No, the reason she was still awake was down the hall, probably sleeping. She was sure he wasn't having this problem. She sighed and sat up. If she'd been awake like this for two hours, there was no way she would be falling asleep anytime soon. She kind of wished she was at her own house, so she'd feel comfortable going to the kitchen and having a glass of milk. But she wasn't at her house, and she couldn't bring herself to do it. She stood up and paced around the room, finally sitting on the floor against the wall, cross-legged and completely uncomfortable.

Why couldn't she stop thinking about him?

She put her head in her hands and rocked back and forth against the wall. She sighed. Stopping her motion, she lay down on the wood floor and did a few stretches. Maybe if she did something else she'd be able to stop thinking and get to sleep. At this point she didn't care if she fell asleep right on the floor. Unless he tried to wake her up in the morning and tripped over her, causing them both great bodily harm.

She stood up.

She moved her suitcase off the chair and sat down, this time trying a different tactic. If she let her mind wander, maybe the thoughts would just leave and she'd be able to fall asleep. That really was all she wanted – to sleep. She'd had a fantastic time, hanging out with him. Forgetting about the part where he scared her out of her skin as a way of waking her up, the rest of the day had been one of the best days she'd had in a long time. She was glad he'd forgiven her for being a royal idiot to begin with. She supposed if he hadn't, she'd never know what she was missing, but she certainly knew now and was thrilled that she wasn't missing out on it.

He was the first guy she'd met in a long time that she wanted to actually spend time with. She wasn't sure if that meant she wanted to be friends with him or more than friends, but she really liked it. She was a very outgoing person, so she spent a lot of time flirting with guys and talking to people, but she'd only had four good friends in her life. Two girls she knew in England, and now Brooke. And Aaron.

If she really thought about it, she was closer to him than she was to Brooke. At least now that she'd gotten her head on straight. He was fun. He didn't get mad at her when she teased him and was just as capable of dishing it out as taking it. He'd taught her how to surf, an activity she'd never have done otherwise, but could very easily become one of her favorite things to do. At least if he'd surf with her when she went out.

Not to mention the fact that he was certainly a good-looking young man. She'd caught herself thinking about that more times than she wanted to admit.

As much as she had her rule that she never admitted she was wrong, she occasionally would break it. But only to herself, and never out loud.

This was one of those times.

She had a crush on him. She knew it, had known it since Worlds, but she still hated to admit it. It wasn't a big thing. Nothing she couldn't get over, and certainly nothing that would make her relationship with him awkward. She'd just have to be very careful not to get drunk near him until she was completely rid of it, or she might say or do something very embarrassing.

"There," she whispered to herself. "That wasn't so hard, admitting that and getting it off my chest. Now I can go to sleep." She nodded and patted herself on the back, climbing into bed and closing her eyes.

*

An hour passed and she still couldn't sleep.

"Oh for fuck's sake," she said softly, getting out of bed and opening the door to the hall. She padded out of her room silently and stopped in front of the door to Aaron's room, frozen, trying to decide what to do. She took a deep breath and tried the door. It opened.

"Its like everybody loves you...And everybody wants you lately...Its like everybody needs you...And everybody sees you today..." she whispered, almost inaudibly, barely aware she was even doing it. It was the song that was stuck in her head. She crept up to Aaron's bed and hovered there for a second.

What the fuck am I doing? she thought, mentally hitting herself and turning around to leave. Just as she was about to slip quietly out, she stepped on a creaky floorboard and stopped dead in her tracks. She heard him shift on the bed and sighed, relieved she didn't wake him. Then she clapped a hand to her mouth, realizing she'd sighed out loud, and then clapped the other hand over her first hand, realizing it had made a sound as well. "Shit!" she muttered against her hands. Shit! she thought.

Aaron grunted and she froze, eyes wide. Oh please oh please oh please let him still be asleep. This would be so embarrassing.

She heard more noise coming from the bed. "Is somebody there?" he whispered. She scrunched up her face and turned around, causing the floorboard to squeak again. He turned on the light next to the bed, blinding both of them. "Laney?" he whispered, squinting against the light. He sat up on the edge of the bed, the blanket over one leg. "What are you doing? With your hands over your mouth? And in my room?"

"Uh, I was just–" she started, her hands still over her mouth. She removed them and closed her eyes as though that would make this whole thing go away. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I couldn't sleep."

"So you decided to wake me up?"

"God, I'm such an idiot," she muttered, more to herself than anything. "I'm so sorry."

"It's ok...I think."

"I really didn't mean to wake you up. I just...well, I don't really know to tell you the truth. I wanted to see if you were awake, too, I guess, and when I tried to make a quiet getaway, I was thwarted by your floor."

He chuckled, then frowned. "Were you singing? Something about everybody wants me or something? Because I was dreaming about swimming, and we were at a meet and Michael Phelps started telling me that everybody loved me and everybody wanted me. I think."

Laney smiled. "Yeah. Sorry about that, too. Stuck in my head. I'll be going now," she said, turning around and making a face when he couldn’t see her. "Sorry I woke you up and made Michael sing to you in your dream."

"Me too. He's got a really bad voice," Aaron commented. Laney stopped and turned. He had a grin on his face. "Stay. I’m up now; you may as well tell me what was keeping you up." He glanced at the clock. "For three hours?"

She grimaced and sat next to him on the bed. "Yeah. Three hours."

"Wow."

"I know."

They were silent. "Thank God I don't sleep naked," he remarked. Her eyes went wide.

"Thank God," she agreed. "I didn't even notice," she said. This was getting better and better.

"Yes, well, luckily for you I find that incredibly weird so I wear boxers."

She smirked. "And here I was, half expecting you to have Mickey Mouse pajamas," she said sarcastically. He elbowed her and pointed to his boxers. Her jaw dropped. "Well, I was close," she said, trying to figure out how he was wearing Mickey Mouse boxers.

"So," he said. "What's going on? Are you ok? Usually my mom's Thanksgiving dinner puts me into a coma."

"Yeah, turkey usually puts me to sleep too. But my head kept going about...stuff...and I couldn't fall asleep. And I couldn't make it stop." She yawned. He chuckled, and then yawned himself. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," she said. She yawned again and rested her head on his shoulder. "Anyway, I'll go back down the hall now. I'm sorry I woke you up." She didn't move for a few seconds, but eventually stood up, yawning a third time, and started to shuffle to the door.

"Laney?" he said.

She turned half around, almost falling over. Going to see him had the effect she'd desired – she was now fully ready to fall asleep, but she felt really bad about waking him up. "Hmm?"

"You want to just..." he trailed off and looked down at Mickey Mouse.

"Stay here?" she asked softly. He looked at her, a little startled, but nodded. She shrugged. "Why not?" she said. She walked around to the other side of the bed and sat down. "Wait," she started, shifting to face him. "This isn't going to be weird, is it?"

"Er...no...I just kind of thought maybe you'd have an easier time...not thinking... Or something. I don't know."

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah, that's what I was thinking."

They both lay down and he switched the light off.

She could feel his breath on the back of her neck, and she fell asleep almost instantly.