Author's Note: First of all, sorry this chapter took so long. I've been at GHA for the past three weeks and had very limited free time. Secondly, this chapter is shorter than the others, so I apologize for that as well. As always please read and review! :D

Oh yeah, and btw, I changed Leo's name to Nate due to people getting him a little mixed up with Lee sometimes.

Chapter Five: Down With Sleep Deprivation!

Seeing Rose and Brent’s impromptu make-out session which, to me, came out of nowhere, made me indescribably jealous. It’s not that I wasn’t happy for them, I mean I teased Rose about him all the time, but that certainly did not mean I was expecting Rose’s confession. Brent’s reaction though was right on target.

Unfortunately, despite my happiness for them, the tinge of jealousy did not diminish. It kept gnawing at me, especially when I would catch sight of a guilty looking Lee out of the corner of my eye. I guess it was good to have more of the cards laid out on the table, but I really wished the dealing had been in a different manner.

Irritated, both with myself and with him, I sighed heavily. Damn, I wish I could lean against the window, I wistfully mused, desperate for some way to close my eyes without the possibility of falling asleep on Lee again.

“Cami?” I turned towards Lee, tempted to slap him for grabbing hold of my hand, but his remorseful expression stopped me.

“What?” I questioned cautiously.

“I really am sorry,” Lee began and I had to bite back a groan. Despite the sincerity in his eyes there was only one possible explanation he could give me, and that was, “I have no excuse to offer you.”

Wait a minute. Rewind.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“I do not have any explanation to offer you?” Lee repeated, bewilderment making it sound like a question.

“Oh.” I paused incredulously. “Really?”

“Really. Why? Were you expecting me to say that your feelings about the matter are completely null and void just because we weren’t together?”

Meekly, I nodded my head.

He looked at me, clearly shocked that I would accuse him of such a thing. “Cami, has there been a time in the past four years where you haven’t wondered if we would still be good together?” He continued before I could respond, “Because there hasn’t been for me.”

“Then why?” I asked, my voice breaking and tears welling up in my eyes. Damn emotions and sleep deprivation. It sucks hardcore.

“Calm down, love,” Lee soothed me warmly. “We can talk about it later if you want to, instead of here and now.”

My throat felt choked still, and I knew if I tried to say anything then I would completely lose it so I just nodded my head.

“Here, sweetheart.” Lee lifted his arm up and around my shoulders and I reluctantly sank into his comforting embrace. “There’s no need to be so tense, Cami. I’m not going to hurt you.”

“I know,” I said, “I know.” And slowly, muscle by muscle, I began to relax, because he would never hurt me. Not physically, anyway. Truthfully, I don’t really think he would hurt me emotionally either. Not anymore. I believed him when he said that he was a stronger person. I noticed him distancing himself from his friends and I thought it was kind of curious. Hm… Thoughts like this aren’t meant for sleep deprived me.

The next thing I remember is waking up to, “Cami! Wake up, love! We’re here!”

Groggily I lifted my head and peeked out the window. “Oh my gosh! It’s so pretty!” I squealed loudly, the fog in my head disappearing thanks to the sudden jolt of adrenaline that coursed through my body.

“Thank you for killing my eardrums. I really appreciate it,” Lee joked.

“You’re welcome!” I responded cheerfully, gazing in amazement at the skyline before me.

“We’re going to be living here next year!” I heard Aly exclaim elatedly to Nate.

“I know! It’s amazing…” Nate breathed.

Eventually we made our way into the hotel, collected our keys, our luggage, and information about the next day. Exhaustedly, we made our way to the eleventh floor, luckily managing to snag an elevator instead of having to lug our suitcases up too many flights of stairs.

As I wearily stepped out of the elevator Lee gently touched the small of my back, pausing me in mid-step. “Will you please meet me downstairs in an hour?” he questioned, softly.

Grudgingly, I agreed. Although there was a lot for us to discuss I had a feeling this discussion was going to end in tears. Probably just mine, and they probably wouldn’t be very significant, but still, I hate crying. I’m not a pretty crier.

Miraculously, and strangely, the boy’s room was right next to ours. The discovery of this fact went something like this:

“Why are you stopping?” Aly’s question sounded more like an accusation.

“My room is here,” Nate answered slowly, as if speaking to a five year old. “Why are you stopping?”

“Because this is my room, Nate.”

“Wait a minute,” Brent paused, “you guys are right next to us?”

“One, we’re girls,” Rose snapped, “but two, apparently…”

“AWESOME!!” Brent yelled excitedly, causing several people to angrily poke their heads out the door, yell at him, and then mutter something about stupid teenage boys. (Honestly, I can’t say I disagree with that last part…)

Finally we made it inside our hotel suite, which caused us all to gasp in amazement. The word suite hardly seemed to do it justice. The living room was amazingly big and nice, with a very large TV, and the kitchenette had a microwave, which would of course be put to use making us all popcorn later. And that was just the entryway. The bedrooms were wicked sweet. There were two rooms, so Lils and Rose shared one, and Aly and I shared the other. The beds were full sized, the mattresses perfectly cushy, and the comforter was amazing. Happily, I fell into mine, rolling over and curling into a fetal position as soon as I hit the bed.

Aly laughed at me and then proceeded to do the same thing. I rolled over to face her.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey.”

“We need to talk, don’t we?”

“Yeah, probably.”

We sat in silence for the next couple of minutes anyway.

Finally, “I’m sorry,” Aly murmured quietly.

“I don’t-“ I paused. I’d started to say that I didn’t understand, but that would be a lie. “I just wish you had chosen a better time, or better yet, trusted me to ask those questions on my own.”

Aly gave me a pointed look. “Even Nate agreed with me that you wouldn’t have asked him those questions. He said that it’s good that you know the truth even if my method kinda sucked. But Cami, I know you. That’s not a conversation you’re ever going to want to have and I didn’t want you to continuously put it off.”

“Maybe that shouldn’t matter.”

“What shouldn’t?”

“The fact that he slept with someone. I mean, we weren’t together at the time….”

Um… Right. Suddenly I was arguing against everything I’d ever believed in.

“Cami! Don’t even say that. When you found out Nate slept with Danielle you flipped out on him.”

“That’s because the two of you are meant to be!” I defended myself.

“And you two aren’t?! Cami, if I can say that, despite my immense dislike of Lee, then you should know that it’s true. The two of you have been together even if you haven’t technically been together… Do you understand?”

I nodded. Aly and Nate were like that too though, so if I had a reason to get mad at Lee then she had a right to be pissed off at Nate.

Aly didn’t seem to appreciate it when I pointed that out though. “Please stop saying that, Cami! Didn’t you hear him describe the girl he likes today?! He used the word, ‘gorgeous’. That does not fit me. He’s never called me that.”

I starred at her in shock. “Aly, seriously, who else could he have been talking about? He’s known her for a long time- oh yeah, that would be either me or you. He thinks she’s gorgeous- most guys would say that describes you. Oh goodness, what else did he say?” I trailed off and then shook my head. “No, you know what, it doesn’t even matter because he did mean you and the sooner you accept the fact that he’s madly in love with you the faster you two can spend the rest of your lives together.”

Aly laughed caustically. “Yeah. That’s totally going to happen.”

“You never know!” I sang out cheerfully.

“Yes. Yes, actually, I do.”

I sighed. Winning an argument with Aly is something that is about as rare as finding a 100 bill randomly on the ground. It just doesn’t happen. She is incredibly obstinate, sometimes irritatingly so, but I love her anyway.

“What time did Lee ask you to meet him downstairs?”

“In an hour.”

“What time would that be?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably like…” I glanced at the clock.

“Right now?” Aly suggested, smirking.

“Oh crap! I’m late! Want to unpack my stuff?” I called back to Aly as I rushed out the door.

As it shut I heard her yell, “Yeah right!”