"Morning," I say keeping my mouth as closed as I can.
"Morning, did you sleep okay?"
"Yes, you?"
"I'm afraid I did; sorry. I was at least going to make it hard for you to keep your hands off me but realise I must have passed out while you were brushing your teeth."
"Yes, you did. You were snoring, well snorting actually, and blowing spit bubbles." I laugh and push myself off the bed but when I see Ethan's look of embarrassment I decide to backtrack. "I'm joking, you sleep like an angel."
He smiles and winks at me. Bloody actors; so needy.
We use the bathroom before making our way downstairs.
"I can smell coffee," I whisper to Ethan.
"I can smell pancakes."
We arrive at the kitchen and I'm about to wish Gracie and Chester good morning when I notice they are staring at the television where a picture of Ethan flashes between film of us running away from the paparazzi. They both turn their heads to look at us briefly before turning back to the screen. The journalist continues with his report.
...'Caldwell, who has recently been discovered to have been involved in the attack on a post office clerk, refused to give a statement and was last seen with celebrity trainer, Wanda Mikos; who has herself been involved in a violent attack on Roma Antonelli, owner of The Riva restaurant...'
I swallow the dry lump in my throat and look at Ethan who is pulling on the end of his nose and looking even paler than normal.
I realise I'm wearing Megan's scary puppet face and waiting for someone else to break the silence. No one does, so I compose myself and spew forth an explanation of why our hosts are harbouring two violent celebrities in their home. During my speech, Ethan nods enthusiastically where appropriate and I attempt to make light of the whole situation by laughing a lot.
I can see Gracie and Chester begin to relax and I even notice a smile creeping onto Gracie's face when I tell her the story about kicking Roma Antonelli in the head. I finish with how we came about being in Santa Barbara so late and wait for a response.
"Well," says Gracie shaking her head and pulling out a chair to sit on. "You two have had some excitement haven't you?"
"You could call it that," Ethan says.
"Why don't we all have some breakfast and you can tell us more," says Chester who is pouring us mugs of coffee.
I look at Ethan who is blowing out air in relief as he accepts a plate of pancakes from Gracie.
"So what's your next move?" asks Chester looking at Ethan.
"I think we will have to get back home and face the music. You know what Hollywood is like: all publicity is good publicity eh?"
I nod in agreement.
"So just tell them you're in love and let the chips fall where they may eh? I like your style lad."
Ethan and I look directly at each other. Luckily, Ethan speaks first.
"Erm ... I meant about the rumours, you know that I attacked the man in the post office."
His usually pale face has turned a rose pink and I'm not sure where to look.
"Oh, I'm sorry. You are a lovely couple though; remind me of us when we were young. Always at it weren't we Gracie."
I almost choke and squirt coffee out of my nose.
Gracie places her hand on his arm. "Oh yes we couldn't get enough of each other could we dear? Of course we've had to slow down a bit since Chester's back but ahh, I remember what it was like when we were in love like you young 'uns."
I'm having to hold my coffee in my mouth as I can't seem to swallow. I don't know what I'm more embarrassed about, Chester's disclosure of their apparently active sex life or the fact they keep referring to us as being in love. Plus, I notice Ethan hasn't confirmed that we are but on the up side, he hasn't emphatically denied it either.
After breakfast, we gather ourselves together for the journey home and say our goodbyes to Gracie and Chester.
"Thank you so much guys," I say giving Gracie a hug, "you've been amazing."
Ethan hugs Gracie too. "Yep, you guys are awesome as you would say here. I don't know what we would have done without you last night."
"It was our pleasure," Chester says, grabbing Ethan's hands in his and shaking. "It was nice to have young people in the house."
"Yes and if you're ever in Santa Barbara you come back and see us ya hear?"
"We'll keep in touch," I say hugging Chester.
"Try and keep out of trouble you two. Don't want to see you on the news again ... unless of course it's an announcement of some kind," he says with a wink.
Ethan and I turn pink as we finish our goodbyes, exit the house and make our way back to the station.
"So, that was one of the most interesting evenings I've had in a while." I look up at Ethan who is still red from Chester's comment.
"Aye, it was certainly up there."
I'm about to say something else when Ethan stops dead and turns towards me. "Wanda, I just want to say that this has been the most relaxed I've been since I arrived in LA."
I smile up at him. "Good, I expect it was nice for you to be normal for a while."
"No it's you; you make me feel relaxed. You make me laugh and you make me feel other things, which I would have demonstrated last night had we not been in a strange house."
I laugh. "I can't believe we were so restrained. From the comments Chester made about their love life, I think we could have bounced the bed through the ceiling and they would probably have cheered." I look up at Ethan who doesn't laugh but takes my face in his hands and kisses me so soft and sexy—I think I may stab him with my nips.
"Sorry," he says, looking around. "PDA's are frowned upon aren't they?"
I look around us. "Ethan, any time you feel like showing affection just go for it. Public or otherwise; I won't judge."
With that, he sweeps me off my feet and squeezes me like someone in love. The euphoria flooding through my veins suggests I may be a little in love too. Why did I have to fall for a bloody actor? Everyone knows it never ends well.