Summary: A follow up piece to Keys, from Seth’s point of view.
One Tuesday night, a few weeks after Audrey’s moved in, neither of them is working and they end up watching movies in Seth’s apartment. Audrey almost falls asleep on his couch, jerking awake when the music in a scene gets loud, and laughing as she yawns and tells him goodnight.
It becomes a regular occurrence when they have the same night off, taking turns picking movies and ordering take out. She regularly almost falls asleep, and it becomes a running joke, that she can be on set all day making a movie, but can’t make it through watching one. He looks forward to those nights, just relaxing with Audrey, a good movie, and greasy food. She’s fun and easy to be around, and it’s been a while since Seth has had someone he felt he could really rely on, especially here.
He’s a little torn one night when a last minute spot opens up at a comedy club he’s been trying to break into, and he has to cancel movie night. It’s not a great time slot, but it’s a decent club. Audrey is excited for him, waving off his apology. She gives him a brief hug and tells him good luck and that she’ll see him in the morning, since he’s promised her a ride to the studio.
It’s late when he gets home, his apartment hot and sticky in the heat of summer, even at this hour. He takes a quick shower and lays in bed, but he’s not really tired, so he gets up and starts jotting down ideas for jokes. He’s engrossed in a new one when there’s a sudden knock on his door. Seth is surprised to see Audrey, standing there in pajama shorts and a tank top, her long, blonde hair even curlier than usual in the humidity.
“What’re you doing up so late, Iowa?” Seth asks.
It has to be almost four in the morning, and she has to be on set at noon.
Audrey shrugs as he lets her in. “Can’t sleep.”
She nudges his shoulder as they sit on his couch. “I knew you had a late time slot and figured you’d still be up.”
Seth swallows hard as she leans against his side to read the new jokes he’s working on, her hair tickling his face, the subtle scent of her perfume wafting over him.
“You should take a break,” she says after a little while, her voice low as she gently takes the notepad from him.
“Oh yeah?” he asks, trying to keep his voice casual as she leans in.
“Yeah.” Her breath is warm and soft as it puffs against his neck.
“Audrey,” he murmurs as she leans closer, her lips nearly touching his.
“I keep thinking about kissing you,” she breathes, and Seth is so taken aback that he just stares at her, his mouth opening and closing as he tries to think of something to say.
They flirt, sure, and tease each other, and he’s definitely attracted to her, but she’s never pushed the friendship they have, and neither has he.
“Seth,” she whispers when he doesn’t say anything right away, her dark eyes vulnerable as they stare into his. “We don’t have to…I just thought…”
“I want to,” he reassures her gently. “But I don’t want to lose this. Lose you.”
He cups her face in his hand, running his thumb along her cheek, and Audrey softly says, “You won’t. I promise.”
Their lips meet, gentle at first, testing the waters, but then she runs her hand around his neck and into the ends of his hair, kissing him more insistently, and he groans as she slides her leg over his and settles in his lap. A little moan escapes her lips as he brushes his tongue over hers and pulls her closer.
He burrows his hands into her hair, deepening their kiss, groaning as her hands wander down his bare chest, her fingertips tickling over his skin. It feels incredible, better than he’d imagined, to have Audrey here and wanting him, her lips hungry against his. Distantly, he hears a faint knocking sound, but he ignores it, wrapping one of his arms around her, trailing his fingers over her lower back. She shivers as his fingertips skate across her skin, biting his lower lip and laughing softly when he jumps. “You like that?”
“Mm,” he mumbles in agreement.
He runs his fingers from her back to around her side, inching up under her tank top, opening his eyes to watch her, to make sure she’s okay with this.
“Yes,” she says, inhaling sharply, tangling her fingers with his and guiding his hand higher.
The knocking sound grows louder and more insistent, and Audrey makes a quiet noise of frustration as she drops her hand and leans against him.
“It’s almost five in the morning,” Seth grumbles, looking at his door, as if he can make whoever it is go away. “Who could possibly be here?”
When he turns back, Audrey is gone. Seth frowns. “Audrey?”
He doesn’t understand how she could have just vanished in ten seconds. How did he not notice her getting up? “Audrey?”
His floor creaks, and he gets the distinct impression that someone is staring at him. He says her name again, glancing around his apartment, and then his eyes are opening and he’s lying on his couch and it’s light out. Seth squints, blinking blearily, and glances up. Audrey is there, but she’s dressed and Seth is confused as to how she snuck out and got changed so fast.
It hits him, all at once, that he was only dreaming about her kissing him, and that he’s actually sprawled out on his couch in nothing but his boxers and Audrey is staring at him.
“I…you didn’t answer…” she stammers, playing with her keys.
Her cheeks have a tinge of pink to them, and if he hadn’t just been having a dream about them kissing senseless, he’d probably tease her, just a little bit, for checking him out. He’s about to ask why she’s there when he remembers that he promised to give her a ride to the set. Seth runs a hand over his face, trying to wake up; trying to wipe that dream away so he can look at her without thinking about her straddling him and pressing her lips to his.
“Just let me get dressed,” he says, yawning.
“Sure. I’ll just…wait outside,” Audrey mumbles, still fidgeting with her keys.
Seth laughs as he walks into his bedroom. “I’m just getting dressed, Iowa,” he calls. “Give me thirty seconds.”
By the time he’s dressed and they’re getting into his car, they’re back to normal, joking and talking easily. And then she goes to kiss his cheek goodbye, right as he turns to look at her, and her lips almost touch his, and his dream comes roaring back. He thinks he could probably push that aside, brush it off, but then she tells him she didn’t mean to interrupt whatever he was dreaming about with a distinctly curious look on her face, and he knows that dream will haunt him again.