Summary: Damien and Kai try to process their feelings after their “fake” kiss.
Damien had to get out of there before he self-combusted. He didn’t want to just run out on Kai, but he didn’t know what else to do. He was probably just as surprised as she was that he kissed her. And it wasn’t just a kiss. It was the culmination of two years of bottled up feelings all spilling out at once. Damien thought about kissing Kai more times than he could count, but none of his fantasies came close to measuring up to the real thing. When he saw the look in her eyes, he knew she felt it too, and that terrified him. So he ran, and there he sat in a bathroom stall trying to compose himself.
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Kai felt dizzy. So many thoughts were swimming around in her head. She was a jumbled mess of emotions. Why did Damien run? The kiss felt real to Kai, but had he felt the same? Did he regret it? Was he scared? There was no way Damien didn’t feel the sparks between them. Kai had no idea how long Damien had been gone, but she had already downed 3 glasses of champagne while she waited. If Damien wasn’t going to deal with this now, neither was she.
A group of Kai’s college friends were out on the dance floor. It had reached the point in the evening where most were too drunk to care about looking like fools. Kai was at this point herself, so she decided to join them. She was having fun. Dancing like an idiot and not thinking about Damien was just what she needed right now.
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Damien decided he better get back to the ballroom. He had taken a walk outside on the hotel grounds to clear his head, but he was more confused than ever. Nothing was going to be resolved by moping by himself. He summoned the courage to go back and face Kai.
He saw her across the room, laughing and dancing with her friends. Maybe she was over it already. After all, the kiss was supposedly just for show. Damien felt both disappointment and relief at the thought of this. Maybe it wasn’t a big deal to her.
He sat and watched Kai for a while, not wanting to interrupt her good time. But then she tripped over her own feet one too many times, and came dangerously close to face-planting on the dance floor. Damien took this as his cue to rescue her.
“Hey guys, sorry to interrupt, but I think it is time for Kai and I to head back to our room.”
“Come on Damien, you never want to dance. You are no fun!”
“So you’ve told me. I’m pretty tired, and I don’t want to leave you here alone. You will thank me in the morning. Please come with me Kai.”
“Fine Damien…Bye everyone, Mr. Party Pooper says we have to leave now.”
Damien rolled his eyes and put his arm around Kai to steady her as they walked to their room. Once inside, Kai went into the bathroom. He could hear her fumbling around and considered checking on her, but he didn’t hear any loud thumps so he let her be. He got out of his suit and into more comfortable clothes for bed. He was starting to nod off when he heard the bathroom door open.
“Woah…” Damien was speechless. Kai stood before him, naked from head to toe. His eyes traced down the curves of her body. He had only ever imagined seeing her like this, and the reality far exceeded his expectations.
Kai climbed into bed. “I usually sleep naked,” she stated nonchalantly.
“Umm, did you forget I was here too? You know, your friend who is only pretending to be your boyfriend.”
“You know Damien…I would be okay if we kept playing boyfriend and girlfriend.”
“What do you mean?” Damien could only guess what she was getting at.
“Why don’t you let me show you?” Kai climbed on Damien and straddled his hips. She pinned his arms over his head and slowly lowered her lips to his.
“Kai, stop, I don’t think you really want to do this.”
“Damien, I want you so much right now. Don’t you want me too? I think you do.”
“Kai you don’t even know how long I’ve wanted this and how much it is killing me to stop you, but I’m not even sure you are fully capable of consenting to anything like this right now. If we ever get the chance again, I want us both to be thinking clearly, and I want it to be memorable… for both of us. I don’t want to be your drunken regret and risk ruining everything that we have.”
Damien sensed the disappointment on Kai’s face as she rolled over to lie down next to him. “Oh Damien, why do you always have to be so sensible?”
“Trust me. You will thank me in the morning.” Damien looked over at Kai but she was already sound asleep. He grabbed a t-shirt from his suitcase and dressed her in it before covering her with the blanket. She stirred but didn’t wake. Damien replayed the night’s events over and over in his mind and eventually succumbed to sleep.
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Kai opened her eyes and saw the sunlight peaking in along the edge of the curtains. Her sensitive eyes couldn’t handle the brightness. She hadn’t felt this bad since the time she went out with Nadia after breaking off her engagement with Kyle, and from what she remembers of last night, her decision making skills had been equally as bad. Damien was nowhere to be found, and Kai wondered if she had scared him off.
Just then, Damien walked through the door with coffee and handed one to Kai. “I thought you might need this. You were pretty far gone last night.”
Kai was not up for an uncomfortable conversation about her behavior last night. She quickly scrambled for a way out. “Yeah…sorry about that. I had a few too many glasses of champagne. Last thing I remember clearly is you dragging me off the dance floor,” she lied. She remembered everything. Damien had been right that sleeping together last night could have ruined things between them. It was really just best to move on, she tried to convince herself.
Kai watched Damien’s face to gauge his reaction. His expression was unreadable. Did he believe her, and was he relieved or disappointed that they were going to act as if nothing happened? “So you don’t remember anything after we got back to the room?”
“Nope, not at all,” she lied again. “Why am I wearing your t-shirt?” This she honestly didn’t know.
“You, uh, couldn’t find your pajamas, so I let you wear my shirt.” This time she knew Damien wasn’t telling the truth and was probably going to give her a pass and not talk about what really happened. She remembered falling asleep without any clothes on. He must have put the shirt on her while she was sleeping.
“Thank you Damien…for everything.”
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Two years passed and neither Kai nor Damien brought up the details of that night again. They continued on as friends and Kai had all but given up on either of them ever being brave enough to act on their feelings. She knew deep down how she felt for Damien had kept her from developing any real connections thus far, but she couldn’t wait around forever. Sooner or later, she would find somebody new.