The Winner

I Love You More Than I Love Myself

*Julia*

I open my eyes painfully. My whole body hurts. My head is pounding, my throat sore. I can barely lift my head. I can hear a heart beating. I realize I'm on the couch in the studio. I look down to see Nate laying down, with me on top, my head on his chest, his arms lightly holding on to me as he sleeps. I lift my head a little to see him. His eyes look swollen.

"Nate." I say but nothing comes out but air. I try harder through the pain of my scratchy dry throat. "Nate!" I try to yell but it barely comes out a whisper. I push myself off his chest a little and his eyebrows furrow as he turns his head.

"Nate." Finally a sound comes out and he flinches. "Wake up. We can't stay here. C'mon, wake up!" My voice is raspy but it does the trick. He opens one eye just a little to see what is annoying him in his sleep.

"Nooo, one more minute." He pulls me in tight and tries to turn to his side, not knowing he isn't in his big king sized bed. Nate lifts his head and sees where he is.

"Shit." He whispers groggily and then meets my eyes. I'm still laying on top of him, leaning myself up off his chest, with my hair falling down into his face a little. Without warning he grabs my face with both his hands gives me a closed mouth kiss, before pulling my head into the crook of his neck. "I'm sorry Jules. I'm so sorry."

"Yeah, later. C'mon! We need to get out of here before someone sees us." I plead in desperation. I get off him and try to stand. I lose my balance and grab on to the side of the couch. My head pounding extra hard. Nate jumps up and grabs my arm to straighten me up.

"Slow down.. hold on."

"No we gotta go!"

"Ok, ok," He looks at his watch. "Its almost 7. We still have time. This place doesn't open till 9." He says groggily, but I need to get out of here. I try to walk again and hold my throbbing head.

"Julia, slow down." He demands.

"We can talk later, I don't want get caught. Please, Nate lets just go." I look around the room. I can't find my purse or my phone. I remember throwing my phone at Nate in the middle of my stupid temper tantrum. I pull my hair off to one side and kneel to the ground to look under the couch, anxious to leave. "My purse, my phon-" I look up to Nate waving my phone in my face.

"This old thing?" He teases, looking at my cracked screen I never fixed from a year ago. "I'm buying you a new one. This sorry thing needs to go in the trash." I grab it out of his hands and can't help but crack a smile at his accent coming through when he is groggy.

"I think I dropped my purse in the lobby." I frantically get up off the floor.

"Julia. Wait. Calm down."

I glare at him. Now is not the time. "We will talk later. Lets go." I grab his arm and he reaches to the desk to grab his keys and wallet as I pull him out of the room. I look around the hallway. No one is here yet. I yank his hand and he follows me to the lobby where my purse is thrown on the floor. Quickly I snatch it and we head out to the parking lot.

The sunlight pains my eyes and my head throbs. I immediately cover my eyes and look away.

"Are you ok to drive?" Nate stops walking when he sees me stall in the middle of the lot. I nod my head and hit the button to unlock my car. "I'll follow you to make sure."

I say nothing. Just rush to my car and skid out of the lot, Nate barely keeping up.

Once we get to my hotel, I wave him off so it isn't obvious we were ever together, and he slowly drives away, giving me a quick "Call me" sign. I nod and park my rental.