*****
Samantha was sitting in her room staring out the window at the busy city. She still hadn't heard from Jen and she was beginning to get worried. Sam had left the message for her around ten Eastern Time, right before she had fallen asleep. Between the busy day she'd had and the jet lag, Sam hadn't even realized that she fell asleep so early. She had woken up around eleven feeling refreshed. Just as she was thinking of how odd it was that she hadn't heard from Lance either, there was knock at her door.
"Who is it?" Sam asked standing up and walking across the room.
"Room service ma'am."
Sam checked the peephole and saw a member of the hotel staff standing there with a cart full of platters. "There must be some mistake, I didn't order anything yet," she explained, opening the door and moving aside as he wheeled the cart in.
"This is the room number I have," he stated, looking confused. "Are you Sam?" he asked looking down at the small card in the middle of the plates addressed to her.
"Yes, that's me. I guess this is mine," Sam said as she reached into her purse for a tip.
"No thank you ma'am. That's already been taken care of," he said refusing the money.
"But…" Sam paused, already knowing the answer to her question. "Thank you," she said as she closed the door behind him.
She walked back over to the cart and lifted the lids off the platters. One by one, she discovered all of her favorite foods. There was a fruit platter consisting of strawberries, kiwis, cantaloupe and red grapes. Also included was a large selection of bagels and cream cheese. There was a small pot of French vanilla coffee, a large bottle of water and a pitcher of orange juice. Sam couldn't help but laugh as she opened the last lid and saw a bowl of Ramen noodles. She sat down as she read the card.
"Hey there it's me again. I tried to call you back last night but there was no answer in your room. I hope you were just resting up and not out getting wild (ha ha). In any case, I figured you'd need a healthy brunch (since I knew you wouldn't be up in time for breakfast) to get your strength back. I spoke with the talent reps and they all told me what a remarkable job you did yesterday. Thank you again. Now sit back and enjoy your food and your mini vacation. I wish you could have heard the staff's reaction when I asked them to make you Ramen noodles. It was priceless! Lance."
Sam poured herself a cup of coffee and sat back, amazed once again by his thoughtfulness, but also a little upset. She loved how generous and caring he had always been towards her but every time he did something like this, her heart only ached for him more. She was so crushed the other day when he had told her again that they should only be friends. She tried to hide her pain from him, but she knew it was useless. He knew her too well. As she nibbled on a bagel, Sam thought back to a week earlier, although with all of the events in the past week, it seemed like a lifetime ago.
*****
Samantha slid out of her bunk and walked to the front of the bus. She grabbed a bottle of orange juice out of the refrigerator and sat down at the table, resting her head in her hands.
"You know, most people sleep at night and are awake during the day, not the opposite," Lance said walking up behind her and playfully messing with her hair as he sat down across from her.
"Yeah, well you're the one who told me to go back to bed this morning," she said looking up and narrowing her eyes at him while combing her hair back into place with her hands.
"You were sicker than a dog," he said leaning forward and placing his hand on her forehead. "Your fever seems to be gone. Are you feeling any better?"
Sam smiled warmly at him, touched by his concern. "Yeah I'm feeling much better now. I'm just trying to recover from my sleep hangover," she said laughing. "And I'm starving."
"Oh! I almost forgot," Lance said jumping up and walking to the cabinet. "I got something for you." He turned back to her and placed a can of chicken and stars soup in front of her on the table.
"Aww, how'd you know?" she asked, standing up next to him.
"You told me one time that your mom used to always make it for you when you were sick."
"I did?" she asked surprised. "I don't remember telling you that. But thank you very much for taking care of me. You're such a sweetie," she cooed in baby talk, squeezing his chin with her hand.
"No worries, just protecting my investment," he said smiling as he pushed her hand away and sat back down at the table. "And you must have told me, or how else could I have known?" he teased.
She moved back over to the table and sat across from him as she waited for her soup to heat up. "I don't know. Sometimes I think you're psychic or something, all the stuff you know about me."
"Oh you're one to talk, you don't even want to tell me all the stuff you claim to know about me," he said while rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, but that's different. I've had almost two years to compile all my info on you, not to mention the help of media. You've had what, two months with me? You are the scary one my friend."
"I bet half the stuff you think you know about me isn't even true, yet everything I know about you is 100% factual," he said grinning from ear to ear.
"Did I hear you say bet?" Sam asked as she got up to get her soup. "If you're so confidant that you know me better than I know you, then why don't you put your money where your mouth is," she said as she blew on the hot liquid. "But don't forget that I've had time to see for myself which of my assumptions about you were right and which weren't."
"Alright fine, I'm up for a little friendly wager," he said chuckling. "But not money, that's boring."
"Okay then, what did you have in mind?" Sam asked smiling. Lance looked around the bus for inspiration. His eyes rested on an equipment bag that their hairstylist had left on the bus earlier. His face erupted into a mischievous smile and Sam turned around to see what he was looking at. "No," she said flatly.
"Oh come on, I thought you knew all there is to know about me," he said mockingly. "If I win, I get to dye your hair whatever color I want, and if you win you can do the same to mine."
"Oh man, I must still be delusional from the cold medicine. How are we gonna do this? Just start asking questions?" Sam asked giving in.
"Yep. Ladies first."
"Hmm, okay lets start off easy…What's my middle name?" she asked before taking a bite of her soup.
"Gale. Mine?" he asked, pretending to be bored.
"Umm, gee I don't know, I'm gonna have to think about that one for a minute," she said sarcastically as she paused and tapped her fingers on the table. "Can I phone a friend?" Lance sighed loudly and stared at her waiting for her answer. "Fine, I'm done being a smart ass now. It's Lance, duh!" she said emphatically before bursting into laughter. "Your turn to ask the question."
"Lets go with another easy one for now. My birth date?"
"May 4, 1979." Sam was kind of surprised that he asked this question because it meant that he obviously knew hers as well. She didn't even have to ask him for it before he offered on his own.
"Your birthday is July 26, 1978. Next question," he said smiling.
They went back and forth for a few more questions, still not able to trip each other off. Until Lance came up with one that he knew she wouldn't know about him. He sneered at her as he prepared to ask. "What is my home address?"
"Oh no way!" Sam whined while leaning across and setting the empty soup bowl up on the counter. "There is no way you could have mine memorized and yours is practically a military secret."
"So you have no idea then?" he asked, taunting her.
"One of them is something something, Orlando, Florida and the other is something something, Jackson, Mississippi." Sam glared at him. "Alright, Mr. Know It All, what's mine?"
Lance couldn't stop his laughter. "Well, it's nice to know that you weren't one of those stalker-type fans," he teased before he rattled off her address.
"But you obviously are the stalker-type. How the hell did you know that?" she asked stunned.
"Calm down," he said still laughing. "First of all, I am your boss and it's plastered all over your employment paperwork. And second, did you forget that I saw it printed on everyone of those credit card bills I paid off?"
"Okay, I'm a little less scared now."
"I can't help it if I have a photographic memory," he said shrugging his shoulders.
They quizzed each other for a couple of hours longer and Sam was able to trip him up on one question so at this point they were even. Although, he had complained that she was cheating and the age that she said she'd gotten her first kiss was wrong and that he had actually given the correct answer. He finally gave in when he knew it was a losing battle. They were running out of interesting questions again so Lance decided to go back to a simple one.
"What's my favorite color?" he asked.
"Vivid red and blue or something like that. Mine?" Sam asked curling up on the couch.
Lance paused for a moment. "Oh wow, I don't even know if I know this one and I asked the question," he said laughing slightly as he scratched his head while he thought about it. "Well, you seem to wear a lot of blues and greens so I'm going with that."
"Yeah that would probably be right if I had to pick a favorite, because I don't really think I have one," she paused tilting her head to the side as she looked at him. "No, I take that back. I do have a favorite."
"What would that be?" he asked yawning widely.
"The color of your eyes. I always knew they were amazing in pictures and on television but when I saw them in person…it was just like whoa. I can't even explain it." Sam hadn't realized that she had just spoken out loud what she thought she was only thinking to herself. When she looked up and saw Lance blushing she knew what she had done. "See there's that favorite color of yours," she said smiling warmly as she reached over and touched his cheek. He placed his hand over hers and held it there as they both sat silently gazing into each other's eyes. Sam pulled her hand back while looking down as she cleared her throat. "Well, I don't know about you but I am tired of talking about myself, so what do you say we call this a draw and go to sleep?"
"No way. You're not getting out of this. We're gonna sit here until the next person gets one wrong," he said trying to look stern. "Besides, you can't possibly be tired. You slept all day."
"Actually I am tired again. It's that tired you get when you've had too much sleep," she looked back up at him and smiled as she continued. "Listen, we obviously know each other too well. It's frightening. It could take us all night to come up with another stumper. How about we compromise and both color our hair?"
"Sounds like a good plan to me," he said grinning like a child. "You're first since it'll take me longer to do your hair. Sit here and I'll get the stuff," he said walking over to the bag. He turned back to her. "No peeking! You will not see your new hair color until I'm done with it!" he said laughing evilly. He came back over to her and placed a towel around her neck and began working.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Sam asked with a worried tone in her voice.
"Relax," Lance said leaning forward so they were face to face. "Don't you think with as many times I've had my hair done or watched the other guys get theirs done that I've picked up some tips along the way?" he asked grinning at her. "Besides, don't you trust me?"
"Yes. I trust you." 'With my life' she thought to herself.
*****
Sam smiled as she remembered the awful colors the two of them ended up with. Monica, their hairstylist, was not as amused. She made Lance wait a day before she dyed it back for him, she said that is was so his hair didn't fall out but everyone suspected that she just wanted to give him a hard time. Sam had been luckier, although he didn't know it at the time, Lance was nice enough to use a rinse in her hair. So after about 20 washings in two days, she was able to get rid of the lovely shade of pink/purple/red that Lance had come up with without doing any further damage to her hair. She was thinking about picking up the phone to give him a quick call when it rang, startling her.
"Lance?" she answered excitedly.
"Nope. And please tell me you're not sitting by phone waiting for him to call," Jen said laughing.
"Very funny. I was just sitting here thinking about him and then the phone rang and I just thought…" Sam trailed off.
"You thought what? That you two were having one of those psychic friends moments?"
"Yeah something like that," Sam said smiling in spite of herself. "So did you call just to make fun of me or is there a point to this conversation?"
"Oh okay fine, take away all my fun," she said sighing heavily as she continued. "Anyway, I got your message last night. How dare you go to Vegas without me!" she exclaimed.
"Duh, that's why I called and asked you to meet me out here. So can you make it or what?"
"Unfortunately no, I promised I'd help out a friend this weekend. Maybe if you would've given me a little bit more notice," Jen said emphatically.
"I wish I could have too. I just found out a couple of days ago myself and the past few days have been hell," Sam said dejected. "This sucks. Now I'm stuck out here by myself for the next two days. What friend are you helping out?"
"I'll tell you about it later. I talked to Lance the other day."
"For what?" Sam interrupted.
"WELL, I was getting to that before your little outburst."
"Sorry, go ahead," Sam said laughing.
"He called me because he was worried about you. He said you could use some cheering up. Such a compassionate fella he is," Jen said mockingly.
"So did he tell you why?" Sam asked.
"Nope, he said he'd leave that to you. I think he was afraid I'd ream him a new asshole or something."
"You're probably right. There's not much to tell actually. He just told me that he thought we should just be friends. Same ol' same ol'," Sam said nonchalantly.
"Yeah right. You and I both know that there's a lot more to it than that and as soon as we get a chance to talk face to face we're gonna hash it all out. This over the phone crap is starting to get on my nerves."
"Speaking of which, when are you going to get time off work?"
"Very soon I hope. My boss is supposed to let me know on Monday. Hey listen, I have to go but I sent you a care package to help you out until I can get there to regulate Lance's ass. You should be getting it any time now," Jen said snickering.
"Aww, you're too good to me. What'd you send?" Sam asked eagerly.
"Impatient much? It'll be there soon enough girl." Just then there was a knock on the door. "See, that's probably it now. I'll let you go so you can get it," Jen said trying to hold back her laughter.
"Alrighty, who's the psychic now?" Sam teased. "I'll talk to you soon."
"Yep, you can count on that," Jen said cryptically as they said goodbye.
Sam walked over to the door and opened it, forgetting to check the peephole first. Her jaw dropped when she saw her standing there with a small box in her hands.
"I told you I was sending a care package. I wanted to make sure it got here okay," Jen said, her face erupting into a huge grin.
"You brat!" Sam screamed as she embraced her with a hug. "I can't believe you went through that whole conversation standing out here."
"Well, I wasn't standing out here the whole time," Jen said as she and Sam walked into the room and sat down. "I was in the elevator for part of it."
"Oh sorry, my bad," Sam said rolling her eyes at her friend. "Hey wait a minute. How did you get up here? You need a key just to get in the elevator."
"What can I say? Your boss thinks of everything," she explained pulling a card key out of her back pocket and tossing it on the coffee table in front of them.
"Of course, I should've known," Sam muttered.
"I'll go if you don't want me here," Jen said standing up.
"No, that's not what I meant and you know it," she said pulling her back down onto the couch. "It's just that first it was this room, and then the flowers," Sam said motioning to the flowers that she had placed throughout the suite.
"Yeah I was gonna ask you who died," Jen said laughing. "The last time I saw so many flowers in one room was at a funeral home."
"They were waiting for me when I got here yesterday and then today he had all this food sent up," Sam said glancing at the room service cart. "And now you. He just doesn't know when to quit."
"I don't care what he keeps telling you, that kid has got it bad," she said standing up to look over the contents of the cart. "I'm starving, airline food just doesn't cut it. Is this what I think it is?" she asked pointing to the noodles.
"Yes it is, take whatever you want. I'm not hungry," Sam sighed. "And you're right Lance does have something bad, it's called guilt. Plain and simple."
"Whatever, do you really think that he did all of this for you just because he felt bad for hurting you? If that were the case, the flowers would've been more than enough," Jen said sitting back down next to her with the bowl of noodles.
"I don't know what to think. I'm so confused," she screamed waving her arms frantically before plopping back against the couch.
"Calm down woman. You're gonna give yourself an aneurysm," Jen said smiling.
"I hate how you do that every time."
"Do what?"
"Make me laugh when I need to, even when I don't want to," Sam said smiling.
"Somebody has to do, or else you'd be a nervous wreck. I can't have you walking around a threat to society and all," she teased.
"Gee thanks," Sam said sarcastically. "I am such a loser. I'm living my dream life, I have the best friends in the world and I'm sitting here whining about a stupid guy. I'm through, no more. It's time to get over it."
"Yeah sure, whatever you say girl," Jen said nodding her head.
"I'm serious. Lance doesn't want to be with me. Time to move on, there are plenty other fish in the sea."
"You are a dork, but if you say you're over it then good for you," Jen told her, knowing full well that Sam was lying through her teeth. "Besides you could always jump back into bed with Justin."
"That is so not funny," Sam said laughing hysterically. "But I'll keep it in the back of my mind just in case," she said jokingly.
"Yeah, you can keep him on layaway, for a rainy day or something," she said joining Sam in laughter. "But since you're all cured I guess you don't need this anymore," Jen said reaching for the box she brought along.
"Well, I wouldn't go that far. So what'd you bring me?" Sam asked bouncing up and down like a little girl.
"Okay, let's see what we have in this box of goodies," Jen said opening the lid. "Well first we have all the comfort foods to drown your sorrows with. Chocolate chip cookies, microwave popcorn with pour over butter, miniature Reese's cups, and gummy bears."
"All of which I'm going to have to hide from the guys," Sam said laughing. "Is there more?"
"Of course, you have to have something to do while you're pigging out. So for that I brought all of our favorite cheesy 80's movies, along with your two all time favorites, Grease and Dirty Dancing," she said piling them between the two of them.
"I can't believe you did all this for me," Sam said, grateful for Jen's efforts.
"Well it's not a posh hotel suite or anything," she said motioning to their surroundings. "But just hold off on the mushy stuff, I'm not done yet."
"Please, this stuff is better than any hotel suite. And there's more?"
"Yeppers, I saved the best for last," Jen said digging into the box again. "You can't have cheesy movies without cheesy music. So for that, I brought you these kickin' compilation CDs with all the hits from the 80s." She sat the box down, still holding one CD in her hand.
"This is so awesome," Sam squealed, her face lit with happiness. "What's that one?" she asked pointing to the one Jen was holding.
"This is to show you just how much I care about you. I figured you probably haven't had time to pick this up since you've been so busy touring the county and all, so here ya go," she said tossing it to Sam.
"Oh my goodness! You bought me Britney's new album?" Sam said shocked.
"Yeah don't rub it in. I know you like the girl and since you're like me and ain't exactly shattering mirrors with the high notes, her stuff is more fun to sing along with," she paused before continuing. "And we both know how much you LOVE to sing along," she teased, crossing her eyes and sticking her tongue out doing her favorite Britney impersonation.
"See this is the stuff I miss the most," Sam said laughing. "I miss being able to see your face when you're saying all this funny shit."
"Well you have two whole days to look at this beautiful mug of mine," Jen said making a frame around her face with her hands and smiling from ear to ear.
"I'm am so glad I am not alone in the dork club," Sam said throwing a pillow at her.
"Yes, we are life long members and don't you forget it," she laughed throwing the pillow back. "Now, I don't know about you but I'm stir crazy after sitting on the plane all morning, so I say we blow this popsicle stand and go find us some trouble."
"Sounds like a good idea to me. I just need to make a quick phone call and jump in the shower," she said standing up and walking to her room.