5

I was absolutely knackered last night, I don't even remember falling asleep. I'm still running on UK time so my body started waking up naturally around 6 am which is immensely early for me. I stretch my body, slowly the off-white sheets fall off me. I sit up in bed and instantly last night's events flash through my mind making me grin from ear to ear, I touch my lips remembering how they tingled when Karter kissed me and how we spent hours and hours talking, connecting immediately as if we've known each other our whole lives. I'm in big trouble already.

I step outside onto the balcony and observe that it's nice out today, and it's still pretty early so I decided to go for a run. I got back home around 8:30 ish, I immediately hop in the shower. I took over an hour-long shower with prickling hot water letting it burn every last cell in my body. I wrap a towel around my chest and another one around my head stepping back into the bedroom.

I shriek when I see two men sitting on my bed, It was Allan and Jay, "Well well well look who's back and didn't even bother with a text" Allan shakes his head disapprovingly.

As always Allan was dressed in black head to toe while Jay was plastered in colors. You would think Jay just got off the runway with his bright rainbow sweater, khaki shorts paired with blue converse. I know it sounds like an odd pairing of colors but trust me, he was rocking it. My fashion sense is a combination of both of theirs. At times, I prefer the neutral colors like Allan other times I'm all about the bedazzle and flamboyant bright-colored outfits.

"Guys, I'm naked can you please?" I roll my eyes gesturing to my towel-covered body.

"Maria I'm gay, I will not get a boner looking at your tits or hooha" Jay states flatly, "and he's" He looks over at Allan.

"Not interested, you're just not my type. You're like a little sister" Allan shrugs.

"Can you fuck faces turn around for two minutes so I can put on some damn clothes?" I groan getting slightly annoyed.

"Really M? I thought we were closer than that. You've seen both of us naked numerous times but you still don't let me see you naked? It's not a big deal" Jay pouts.

"That's because I'm insecure as fuck and do not like stripping down 24/7 like you two, now turn" I scold them, the boys get off the bed and turn around facing the other way.

One thing I should mention, Allan, Jay, and I are very close. Too close some might say. We are basically like conjoined triplets, we have no boundaries and when all of us are in LA we barely spend any time apart. Is it the healthiest of instances? No. But is it bad? Sometimes yes but that is simply how we function. We are moderately codependent on each other I would say.

I put on a pair of plain khaki sweatpants and a matching sweatshirt. "Okay, y'all can turn around," I say and the boys turn around and sit back down on the bed.

I take off the towel from my head and grab my brush from the vanity and start brushing my hair, "Seriously M, once before I die I have to see you naked." Jay's face plastered with solemnity.

"Are we still at this" Allan groans shaking his head and I chuckle softly putting the brush down then grabbing moisturizer and taking a seat on the bed sitting with my legs crossed.

"Did you sleep in all day yesterday or what?" Allan asks as the boys shift to face me.

"Yeah I did rest when I got home around 7 am but then we had a meeting with the company who sponsored my tour around 6 pm and after I was done with that....." I trail off a sly smile appears on the corner of my mouth as I remember the night I had with Karter.

"Then what? What are you smiling about?" Jay moves closer to me furrowing his eyebrow.

"I spent the rest of the night with a boy," I say then quickly correct myself, "no with a man"

Both of them stare at me confused, "Did you hook up with Greg? Cause Maria no" Allan shakes his head.

Greg is my ex-boyfriend for reference but he's literal trash so never ever mentioning him, "Eww no, let me clarify, I met a guy yesterday and we hung out"

"ooh, who's this gentleman? Do we know him?" Jay wiggles his eyebrows at me.

"His is name is Karter. I met him yesterday, he's the CEO of the company that sponsored my tour."

"CEO? Jeez, how old is he?" Allan humors me.

"He's 33, which is fine"

"It's a bit old, but for you it's ideal" Allan nods and I tilt my head, "yeah exactly".

"Are you telling me you spent the night with a man you just met?" Jay raises a brow, "I have groomed you well, you're a slut now" Allan laughs at his comment.

I lightly slap Jay on the knee, "No I couldn't get an uber so he offered to drop me and then took me to this bar for dinner/drinks, he referred to it as a date. He then dropped me home"

"And?" Allan raises a brow. The boys' collective gaze making me blush slightly.

I bite my lower lip, "We made out outside my front door and that was that" I say hiding my smile.

"Are you going to see him again?" Jay wiggles his eyebrows yet again.

"I want to, he was really nice and funny and boy was he hot. He gave me his number to call him but I don't know how long I should wait?"

"Definitely wait 3 days, can't come off too desperate," Jay says right off the bat.

"What do you think?" I turn to Allan.

"If a girl waited 3 days to call me back I'd lose interest, hard to get and the chase keeps you on your toes but they need to be showing some form of reciprocation towards me. I don't want to feel like a second choice. So I say give it a day and call him tomorrow or the day after tops." Allan says and I nod.

"Might I recall, however, didn't you swear off boys before going on tour?" Allan smirks at me.

"I swore off boys, not men and that was bloody 9 months ago." I justify myself.

"When a hot, successful, funny guy shows interest in you, you can't just send him away," Jay argues with Allan making me laugh.

In my past though, all men have been bad news for me. Which sucks but they help me make the best angry and sad breakup songs that usually top the charts for months on end. Maybe I shouldn't be getting too excited about Karter, after all, I know little to nothing about him, he could be trouble for all I know. Now that I think of it, we basically spent the whole night flirting and making small talk, we didn't have a real conversation. Am I just overly romantizing the night in my head and getting ahead of myself as always or was there actually chemistry between the two of us?

"Didn't Terizon sponsor your tour?" Jay asks abruptly snapping me out of my trance.

"Yeah, why?"

"That's a pretty big company, if he's the CEO there's bound to be something on the internet. Let's google him." Jay says taking out his phone and quickly I snatch it from his hand.

"No, I do not want to google this guy. Because as we know from experience the internet lies about everyone and everything. I mean if you google me it says I've been dating Shawn Riley for 18 months now and I've only met the dude twice. So no." I say.

"I agree with Maria, the internet is just going to feed us some lies about the dude. Let Maria get to know him before she learns about how the internet feels about him." Allan backs me up.

Jay opens his mouth to say something but I beat him to it, "You can't google him either please. Otherwise, you'll be tempted to blurt some things out to me" I pause and hand him his phone, "Please Jay"

Jay rolls his eyes at me, "Fine, but only a week."

I extend my hand to shake it with Jay, "done" I nod at him.

So Mr. Karter Allan, who really are you?