While I was looking for a way out of one situation, Paige was looking for her way out of another one. This Trace guy was all up on her. And the further she tried to back away, the more he tried to get closer.
"So, what's your name girl?" He asked, trying his damnedest to look like James Dean or some shit...he looked more like Jerry Lewis to Paige.
"My name?" She said, trying to slip around the back of the bra rack he had her pinned against, "Umm...My name is..." She noticed a sign on the back wall of the store and looked back at him, unblinking, "Victoria."
"Victoria, huh?" He said with a cock-eyed grin, he lifted a bra off the rack and held it to his chest, "So these be your secrets, huh?"
She laughed at his joke, but only because she thought he was such an idiot, "Yeah...I guess you could say that."
"You maybe wanna have lunch with me?" He asked her, backing her into the wall once more.
She cringed, taking the punch she had been expecting.
"I...uh..." She stammered, "I really can't."
"Why not?" He asked, putting his hand on her shoulder.
She reached up and wiped his hand off, as though it was bird shit or worse.
"Because...I..." She stammered, trying for the life of her to come up with something, and fast.
"Because my friend is over there talking to Justin, and she'll be mad if I'm not here when she gets back."
He laughed.
"Listen baby, I don't think your friend is gonna be comin' back...If J takes any liking to her at all, she'll be busy for a while." He said, giving her a knowing wink.
Her stomach turned. Just what she was afraid of...
"Hey Trace..." Just then another guy came up behind Trace, putting his hand on his shoulder, "What's up, man?"
Paige looked up into those brown eyes...and knew instantly that she was in the presence of a Fatone. He had that familiar smile, that same voice...
"Wassup, Steve?" Trace said, confirming Paige's suspicion that this was Joey's brother..."I was just talkin' to this fine lookin' girl here..."
Steve looked at her and smiled, and it gave her a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach...Maybe HE would be her hero, and save her from Mr. "Rico Suave."
She looked at him with pleading eyes, and he nodded slightly toward Trace, asking her silently if he was the source of her discomfort. She nodded at him, and he gave her a slight wink.
"Hey Trace..." Steve said, turning him so that he was looking him square in the eye. "I have GOT to tell you something!"
"Yeah man?" Trace asked, looking back over his shoulder at Paige to make sure that his "prey" was still cornered.
Steve reached down with one hand and waved for her to go...he moved Trace a little more, keeping his attention on him, and subsequently clearing her pathway to the door.
Paige grinned at him graciously, and made a bee-line for the exit. Once she was outside, she ducked into the next available store...which happened to be Radio Shack, and wondered if she would get a chance to see Steve again.
"An Nsyncer is nice..." She said to herself with a slight smirk, "But a brother could be just as good..." She pictured those doe-brown eyes, and her smirk turned into a full-fledged grin, "No...better!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Lex stepped into the lobby of the hotel, amidst the sea of teeny-boppers hoping to get a glimpse of their musical "gods", and looked around for how she was going to find Chris.
She walked up to the concierge desk, and rang the bell there. The concierge came out and looked at her strangely.
"I'm looking for Chris Kirkpatrick." She said, trying to sound as important as possible.
The concierge gave her a stifled chuckle and motioned to the girls standing outside, and all around them.
"You, and every other girl here...go buy a CD, honey." He said, starting to turn back for the offices that sat behind the desk.
"Excuse me!" Lex called to him, "If you will contact Mr. Kirkpatrick himself, I can assure you that he's expecting me!"
The concierge, who couldn't have been older than twenty himself, rolled his eyes back in his head. "Okay honey, you win." He said, picking up a telephone behind the desk, "What's your name?"
"It's Lex." She said, giving him a snide smirk, "And you can stop calling me honey, any time!"
He frowned at her, and then had a hushed conversation on the telephone. After a moment, his eyes grew wide, and he nodded his head frantically, agreeing with whomever was on the other end.
"Okay, right away sir...thank you." He said, hanging up the phone and looking sheepishly back at Lex.
"I apologize, ma'am." He said, "Mr. Kirkpatrick is, in fact, expecting you...I'll call someone right away to escort you to his room."
"Thank you!" Lex said with a self-satisfied little "hrmph", and crossed her arms over her chest, secure in her victory.
Seconds later a young man in a hotel uniform came out from the offices and directed Lex to the elevator, apologizing profusely for the misunderstanding. Lex tried her hardest not to laugh, and merely nodded her head at him.
He led her off the elevator and down the corridor to Chris' room. He knocked briskly on the door, and a moment later, Chris opened it, his eyes shining when he saw Lex standing there.
"Hi!" He said, with a happy smile, "I didn't think you'd show up!" He took her by the hand and pulled her into the room, totally ignoring the hotel worker standing next to her as he closed the door in his face.
Chris' room was a disaster area. There were clothes strewn all over the place, and the bed looked like it hadn't been made in days. There was a Sony Playstation hooked up to the television set.
"Make yourself comfortable!" Chris said, giving her a huge grin as he tossed a bunch of clothes out of a chair.
She laughed, and sat down, folding her legs and resting her hands on her knee. Chris was watching her closely, she could FEEL his eyes on her...it was making her nervous, but at the same time, strangely excited.
"You're hot." He said, completely out-of-the-blue.
Lex was taken aback by his words at first, but then she blushed slightly and laughed.
"Thank you, Chris..." she said, smiling at him, "That's nice of you to say..."
"Oh geez..." He said, putting his hands over his face, "That was really forward of me, wasn't it?"
She laughed softly, "It's okay Chris...I really didn't mind it."
He looked up at her, wide-eyed, "You didn't?"
She shook her head, "Not at all."
He stared at her again...and she could tell by the look in his big, brown eyes that he wanted to say...or do something...
"Chris?" She said, making him shake his head from side-to-side, coming back to reality.
"Yeah?"
"Do you wanna say something else?"
"Nope."
"You sure?"
"Yup!"
"Did you want to...do something?"
"Uh huh..."
"What did you want to do?"
He didn't say anything else, just stood up and walked across the room to her...he bent over and pressed his lips against hers. She sighed, and put her arms around his neck.
He gently flicked his tongue against her lips, requesting permission to enter her mouth. She allowed it, and the kiss grew deeper. Their tongues tangled momentarily, and his hands reached up and became lost in her hair.
"This isn't all I want to do..." He whispered, running his hands down the length of her back as he got to his knees in front of her to accomidate their kiss.
"Good...because Chris?" She breathed, tilting her head to one side as his lips found her neck.
"Yeah?" He asked between planting soft kisses up to her earlobe.
"This isn't all I want you to do..."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~I checked my watch again, and paced nervously in front of the fountain. He was already 20 minutes late, and I couldn't help but wonder if I had been stood up.
I was just about to give up and go sulk when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and was looking into those blue eyes that had fed so many other girl's fantasies.
"Lookin' for me?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at me playfully and jamming his hands into his pockets.
I laughed, "Yeah...I guess you could say that."
"You wanna go now?" He asked after a long moment of strained silence.
"Yeah...sure..." I said, following him as he started toward the exit, a six-foot black guy with a body like a brick wall following just a few feet behind us.
I leaned into him as we got into the parking lot, "Are we gonna be trailed everywhere we go?"
He laughed, "Nah...He's just makin' sure I get out of here okay." He said, looking back over his shoulder at the bodyguard, "Aint that right, Mike?"
"Whatever you say, Justin." He called back.
"Ya damn right..." Justin said with a smirk, showing me to his car. It was a rental, but it was still damned nice...a sleek black BMW convertable.
Sure enough the bodyguard watched us pull out of the parking space, and then turned to head back into the mall.
"Where you live?" He asked, turning out of the mall parking lot.
"The Valley..." I told him, "Just keep going straight."
He grinned, and looked over at me, "You got your own place?"
I shook my head, "No, I share a place with my friend, Paige."
"Tight..." He said, stopping at a red-light. "Hey Liz?"
I looked over at him quizzically, surprised actually that he remembered my name.
"Yeah?"
"C'mere..." He said, leaning over toward me, and putting his hand at the side of my face, pulling it toward his.
I let myself be pulled, and our lips met. He thrust his tongue between my lips and I sucked at it...losing myself in the kiss.
"Mmmmm..." He moaned, snaking his tongue against mine.
"Justin?" I said, moving away from him slighty.
"Hmmm?" He asked, eyes still closed, still attempting to kiss me.
"Green light..." I said, motioning toward the traffic light with my hand.
"Oh yeah..." He laughed, turning his attention back to the road as we pulled away from the light, "I'm drivin' aint I?"
I laughed at him, "Yeah...you're supposed to be."
We drove in silence for a few minutes, and then he reached over and put his hand on my knee.
"Y'know.." He said, starting to move his hand steadily northward, "That kiss wasn't half-bad."
"Gee...thanks..." I scoffed.
"Awe, come on...that's not what I meant!" He said, his hand now sitting comfortably in the center of my thigh. "The kiss was good, Liz..." He said with a menacing smirk, "But I bet what's to come is gonna be even better."
I raised an eyebrow at him, "Oh yeah? And pray-tell...what's to come?"
He looked over at me and winked, "You..."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~