“Chris stop. I have to get back to my room. Okay, that tickles, now knock it off.” Skittles tried
to wrestle out of the hands of Chris, but he had a tight hold of her waist. “Come on, please.”
“No, not until you promise me something.” She turned around in his arms to look at him.
“And what might that be?” Their eyes met, and Chris held her gaze for quite some time before
actually speaking.
“Promise me, that tomorrow, you’ll go out with me.” Skittles carefully slipped out of his grasp,
before answering his question.
“Chris, I can’t, and you know that.” He hung his head, as she turned him down once again.
“You keep telling me that, but I don’t understand why.” He looked over at her, as she pushed the
elevator button.
“Because, if would look bad for both of our groups, besides that, why get into something that
we’ll only have to break up in three more months.” Skittles eyes held a sort of sadness as she
spoke those words. She didn’t want to say them, but she had to hold off as long as she could.
There was no need for her, or any of the other girls to get hurt, and this would be one way of
putting them directly in the line of fire.
“Skittles, please.” He was on his knees now, begging her, and for some reason, she just couldn’t
hold back. She gazed into his eyes, the brown puppy dogs eyes that she had grown to love and
trust.
“Alright, I will, but you have to promise me, that you won’t tell the other girls.” Chris nodded his
head, as he leaned in to give Skittles a quick but sweet kiss on the cheek. She blushed, smiling
back at him, before getting in the elevator. All the way up to her floor, she thought about what
had just happened. Chris seemed so interesting, so intriguing to her, and she just couldn’t shake
the feelings she got when she was around him. He always knew exactly how to make her laugh,
and he knew her soft spots. She loved that about him, how he always made her feel special. Just
as she was about to turn the knob to her room, it flung open with Skeeto running out of it at full
speed.
“Yo Skeeto, where do you think you’re going?”
“Downstairs Skittles, there are fans out there, for us.” Skeeto jumped up and down with
excitement. Skittles begin to feel it too, and together the two went back down to the street level,
where they signed autographs for what seemed like hours.
“Okay, tell me something, how did we ever live without a mall of this size.” Misty spun around in
circles, trying to take it all in at once.
Skeeto snickered under her breath, watching Misty with total amusement. “Hey, I’m gonna go
down to that store, anyone want to join me?” Skeeto took off in the direction of the nearest sport
shop, with Sugar right on her tail. Misty and Mellie decided to just look around, they’d worry
about finding the other two later.
“It’s too bad that Skittles is missing all this.” Misty sighed as she looked through racks and racks
of shirts and skirts.
“Well, whatever it was that made her stay back at the hotel, I’m sure it was important.” Mellie
grabbed a pair of shorts, rushing to the dressing room to try on.
The girls spent hours in the mall, and didn’t make it back to the hotel until after midnight. They
thought for sure no one would be up when they returned, but just as they walked through the
doors, they spotted Skittles and Chris, talking quietly together on the couch.
“I wonder if that could be the reason to why she didn’t join us tonight.” Sugar smiled as she
walked past the two, deep in conversation. Skeeto kept one eye on them, as she passed them,
heading towards the elevators. She just shook her head, wondering how Skittles could find him
charming enough to actually begin to like. She wasn’t paying any attention when the doors
opened on her floor, and she ran right into Justin, who fell backwards, landing hard.
“Ya know Skeeto, you could find a nicer way of saying hello.” Justin smiled up at her from his
position on the floor.
“Sorry Justin, I guess I just didn’t see you.” She reached down to grab his out stretched hand,
pulling him to his feet.
“Where have you been all afternoon?” Justin wouldn’t let her pass, so she leaned against the wall,
preparing to answer the questions he would throw her way.
“I was at the Mall of America with Mellie, Sugar and Misty, why?” Skeeto yawned, covering her
mouth with one hand.
“Why didn’t you invite me to go along?” Justin grew serious as Skeeto continued to yawn.
“I didn’t think you’d want to go, besides that, it was sort of a girls night out. Now if you’d
excuse me, I have to get back to my room, I need sleep.” Skeeto pushed past Justin, and waltzed
down the hall. Justin stared after her, wondering when she would stop blowing him off, and just
pay more attention to him.
Skeeto shut her door, and let out the breath she had kept in for so long. The times she spent
around Justin sent her into a tug of war game. On one hand she wanted to run away, to get away
from him, and on the other hand, she wanted to sit near him, and get to know him better. The run
away part always won though, and Skeeto found herself running in all directions.
“Of course Lance, you and me tonight.” Misty giggled into her phone, causing Skeeto to roll her
eyes. One by one her friends were falling prey to the guys, falling hook line and sinker. First
Skittles and Chris, now they were a serious item. Lance and Misty, they were just starting out,
but it was turning into something more. Even Mellie and Joey seemed to spend a lot more time
together. Skeeto was beginning to spend more time in her bunk with her notebook, but none of
the other girls seemed to care, all expect Sugar. Skeeto picked up her belongings, and crawled up
into her bunk, closing her eyes, trying to let the world disappear. Performing was rough,
especially on girls that weren’t season vets at this, but she was loving every minute of it. The best
part was that she had just gotten word from Lou that there was serious talk about KRAZY
headlining their own tour. Skeeto’s heart lept, as she thought about what Lynn had told her. Her
thoughts deepened, but were disturbed as Sugar popped her head into the bunk.
“Hey there girlie, guess what we get to do.” Sugar’s smiled widened, as Skeeto opened her
eyes.
“What?”
“You and I get the lovely privilege of eating dinner with JC and Justin.”
Skeeto’s eyes shot open, starring hard at Sugar. “You have got to be kidding me.”
Sugar only shook her head, and Skeeto let out an exasperated sigh.
“This is totally not fair, just because three of us are totally falling for those guys, why do the other
two of us have to suffer.”
“Come on Skeet, it won’t be all that bad.” Sugar patted her friend on the knee, letting her know
that she was with her through all this.