Chapter 17

Ashley's POV:

Meredith fell asleep but I am not tired at all. I am bored and look around the room and see Hudson's towel. I think of bringing it to him but I hesitate. Should I?

Before I can overthink my decisions I am already folding the towel and getting ready to bring it. As I am at his door I knock lightly so nobody can hear me. He's still not answering and I knock again but this time a little harder. After some minutes he opens the door. He's shirtless. Like the night we met for the first time. But this time I recognize how much muscles he actually has. I catch myself staring at his body and immediately look at the floor.

"I'm sorry for disturbing but I wanted to bring your towel." I say nervously and notice he just woke up.

"Um... thanks." He says a little tired and grabs the towel.

"I'm sorry for waking you up." I say shyly and mean it.

"Nevermind. I may stay awake from now on till I get tired." He smiles to comfort me. Oh no, now I really feel bad.

"If you stay awake anyway... Do you want to watch a movie?" I say and regret those words. How dumb can I be to ask him for a movie night? I mean, he's the brother of my best friend I don't think I'm going to be comfortable with that. And he may is now mad at me for waking him up so he has no nerves for me yet. I better just go to sleep now.

"You know what? Nevermind..."

"Of course I want to." He says and smiles. I am standing with wide eyes in front of him thinking I just imagined those words coming out of Hudson's mouth.

"Come in." Hudson is walking one step back to give me some space to walk in his room. And as I am in it he closes the door and gets the remote control of the tv on his wall.

"Make yourself comfortable on the bed." He says. And I would but how am I going to be comfortable with him? As I sit nervously on his bed he's coming beside me but holds a big space between us.

"What movie do you like to watch?" He says. Everything that has love in it actually but for now I don't really know which could be the best movie to watch with him.

"I don't care. You decide." I say still nervous.

"You like romance right?" He smiles but this isn't meant playfully.

"How do you know?" Now I am just confused about how he knew that. Did I ever mention that in our conversations? I don't remember that.

"I thought so. I mean, you are the best friend of my sister and you're watching movies often since you're here. Meredith likes romantic movies." He explains and he's right. Now I'm really getting comfortable with him.

"Ok, but still you can decide but no horror movie." I frown playfully and he chuckles. I don't want to decide something he doesn't like but I don't want to watch a horror movie at 2 a.m. Or even in the afternoon. I hate horror movies anytime.

After he decides a romantic comedy I already watched a hundred times in my life I still like it. It's one of my favorites and does not have any uncomfortable scenes. Snacks would be good right now but I don't mention this.

"Do you want some snacks?" He reads my mind.

"Sure." I say normally but feeling a little embarrassed and I don't even know why. He stands up and grabs chocolate popcorn out of his bag. Hudson has a good taste of snacks I admit. He turns around and holds out a little bottle of water and coke.

"What do you like?" He asks me.

"Water, thank you." I say and he walks towards the bed with all of it. I think the coke bottle is for himself. He lays on the bed and now a little closer to me.

"Ashley, you can lay on my bed if you want. I mean, this would be not the first time we're laying on the same bed." He chuckles and I think he immediately regrets what he just said. But I don't want to ruin this night now so I just stretch out my legs and notice I wear my black pajama shorts. Now I feel really embarrassed but I can't move my legs again. He would interpret it wrong.

I catch him holding a smile back when I lay and don't feel embarrassed anymore. He's just a friend. Maybe the brother of my best friend but still a friend.

The next morning I feel an arm around my waist. As I wake up and turn to move Meredith's arm I recognize it's not even her but him. Hudson and I lay together on his bed. We've must fell asleep last night. When I try to move his arm he wakes up immediately and I can see he's as surprised as I am. Suddenly, someone knocks on the door. And we both frighten.

"Hudson? Can I come in?" Meredith asks behind the door. We both have eye contact and immediately stand up. What are we going to do?

... (to be continued)