Well, sure enough, they did talk, ALL night. Liz wanted to pat herself on the back when she realized just how well she was beginning to know the girls. They WERE so predictable. Trace hadn't been able to make it to Ft. Lauderdale this trip but would see Jenny in a couple of days in Tampa. Until then, he wanted to hear about the bus ride down, the show that night and how everyone else was doing.
Liz excused herself and decided to get a bite to eat in the restaurant downstairs. The groups had just finished their first show and were all in their rooms. Liz couldn't sleep, even if she was tired. She told Jenny she would be back in a little while and heard a faint 'yeah okay' come from the room before she closed the door behind her. She smiled again at that. Jenny was just too cute. 'I wonder if Trace makes her insides melt?' she thought to herself, remembering the person she described for Lance and Justin earlier.
She was thinking about that when she rounded the corner of the restaurant and found it completely empty. She didn't notice the sign when she came in that said it closed at 11:00 p.m. so now she was out of luck. She decided to venture around the hotel and see what was there.
She made her way through the lobby and saw a few onlookers waiting for a glimpse of one of the guys. She wanted to inform them that they were all in their rooms but didn't want to burst their bubbles. She knew that maybe one of them would come down and if they did, the girls would be upset if they missed him.
She continued to walk around until she found herself outside where the pool was. She looked around and saw someone sitting on the edge, dangling his feet in it. She was about to turn and walk back inside, she didn't want to disturb this person, but when she took a better look at the stranger, she recognized who it was immediately.
She smiled at the sight before her. He looked so peaceful just swinging his long legs in the cool water as the moonlight covered his body. He almost shined in its light. 'He must be thinking awfully hard about something to not have heard me come out', she thought to herself. She crept closer to his highlighted form and lightly tapped him on the shoulder.
His body jerked around so fast that Liz jumped back as well. "Oh Lance, I am SO sorry. I thought you must have heard me come out but I guess you didn't." She said, tying to hold her laughter back. The shocked look on his face was too much for her. She smiled before taking the seat beside him.
His face softened when she took off her shoes and sat next to him. "I guess I was zoned out there. Sorry about that." He said as he looked over and noticed her gazing up into the night's sky. "So what brings you out here so late?"
She lowered her head and met his eyes with her own. "I could ask you the same thing. I thought you'd be tired after the show you guys put on tonight."
He again smiled at her before tilting his own head up and looking at the same stars she had just noticed. "Yeah, I'm tired but I guess I just have a lot on my mind right now. Besides, Joey's snoring louder than a freight train so I couldn't get any sleep even if I wanted to."
She laughed at the thought of Joey asleep. "Yeah, well, I have to contend with the two lovebirds in my room. Jenny and Trace are about as cute as they come but DAMN do they talk a lot."
Lance joined in with her laughing and the two were so caught up in their thoughts that they didn't hear the door open again and a stranger come up behind them. Liz nearly fell into the pool when a hand landed on her shoulder. She grabbed Lance for support but the two still managed to scream bloody murder when it happened.
"Lord, you two could wake the dead with those hollers." Justin said as he tried to contain himself. The two of them were hilarious to see. All the color had run out of their faces within the brief second he arrived. He squatted down behind Liz and propped his hands on his knees. "What are you guys doing out here, anyway?" He finally asked the pair.
Lance pushed Justin's shoulder back and he landed on his butt with a 'thump'. Justin tried to get back on his feet but Liz stopped him. "You SO deserved that so don't try to go after Lance." She said as she held up a finger to his face. "And don't try to go after me either." She was meaning that the position she was in, he could easily push in the pool if he wanted to.
Justin took it to mean something else. He shrugged the feeling off…for now. "Oh, I'll go after you if I want to and there ain't a thing you can do about it, missy."
Lance cut in. "Justin, don't okay."
Justin merely glanced his way before sitting down behind them and turning his head towards the sky. "I was just playin'. Anyway, you didn't answer my question: what are y'all doing out here?"
Liz glanced over her shoulder and looked Justin up and down. He had his knees pulled up to his chest and his long arms encircled them. He was rocking back and forth on his butt. He looked like a little kid eagerly awaiting the next cartoon to come on the TV. She smiled at him before answering his question.
"Well, I can't speak for Lance but I'm here because your best friend is on the phone with my roommate tonight. I didn't want to disturb them so I thought I'd walk around for awhile."
She was satisfied with her answer and returned her attention to the stars.
Lance chimed in right when she finished. "I'm out here because I just couldn't sleep. Joey's at it again." He said as he saw Liz's shoulders shake as she chuckled to herself and heard Justin crack up laughing. He had shared a room with Joey before and he knew the full effect of his snoring. What Lance left out was the OTHER reason he couldn't sleep.
Lance had several things on his mind lately but the one that stood out was bothering him the most. After hearing Liz describe the guy of her dreams to him and Justin that afternoon on the bus, he couldn't get the image of someone out of his mind. He knew he was just being silly for feeling this way about a girl he hardly knew but he couldn't help it. She had been invading his thoughts for awhile now and he didn't know what to do. He really wanted to spend time with her but his busy schedule made that feat impossible…ALMOST. If he could only get her alone…but he was always interrupted by one of the guys. He had to figure out how to talk to her alone or he would lose his sanity, and soon!
"Hello, earth to Lance, come in boy." Lance's head turned sharply when he heard his name called. He looked at the two smiling faces that were staring at him.
"What? Oh, sorry, I zoned out again."
Liz eyed him carefully. He looked almost lost in his thoughts. What she saw on his face was that of urgency mixed with a little pain. She was about to ask him if he was okay when he suddenly stood from his spot and dusted his pants off.
"Hey, I think I'm gonna try to get some sleep now. You guys don't stay up too late." With that, he turned and started to walk towards the door that led inside.
"Lance…" Liz called out. He turned his attention back towards the pool area. She decided to ask him later about what was bugging him. "What about Joey?"
He laughed a second before answering her. "Oh, I'll probably just hit him over the head with something. Anything to shut him up." He turned back around and headed inside leaving Justin and Liz alone.
The two laughed a second at their friend before turning quiet…a little too quiet for Liz. "Sooo…" She started as she chewed on the inside of her mouth.
Justin looked at her when she began to speak. "Yeah, so. Um, are you gonna go back inside or do you want to talk for awhile?"
She smiled warmly at him and patted the spot where Lance had just vacated. Justin took the hint and slid over towards the edge of the pool. He took off his shoes and placed his feet in the water. At first he shuddered, the water was a little too cool for him but soon, he stretched them out then dangled them beside Liz.
They sat there a minute or two more before Liz finally broke the silence again. "Justin, do you think Lance is okay? I mean, he looked a little upset before he left." She looked over at Justin who had his head down towards the water.
"Yeah, I think something's buggin him but he won't say. He's kind of acted weird the last few days and I don't know what's going on. He keeps to himself about a lot so until he feels like talking, I guess we're out in the cold on this one."
Liz followed his lead and looked down at the water below them. She slowly circled her feet to make a small whirlpool effect and caught Justin's attention.
He brought his own legs over and began circling his feet with hers. They began picking up speed and were making quite a splash when Justin's legs got tangled with Liz's. They started laughing with one another and questioned who would have the most bruises from their collision.
"I'm gonna have one big bruise from that bony leg of yours. My shin is already starting to blacken as we speak." Liz started to complain but was interrupted by Justin.
"Oh don't give me that. Its dark out, that's why your leg looks black. Besides, I didn't hit it that hard, merely tapped it…and I'm not that bony, thank you very much."
Liz started laughing at him. "Boy, have you looked in the mirror lately? You are skin and bones. I know your mother got on you for not eating right back in Orlando so don't tell me you aren't skinny. What you need is a LONG vacation back home to fill you up and put some weight on that body of yours." She pointed out as she lifted the corner of his shirt to look at his stomach.
He quickly smacked her hand away when she did this. "Hey keep you hands off the body. NO ONE touches this well oiled machine but a select few." He said with an evil grin on his face.
She couldn't help herself with the comeback she thought of. "Oh, I see. Well, I didn't know you were that flexible."
His eyebrows merged and he looked at her questionably. "What are you talking about?"
She returned the evil grin he just had before speaking again. "Well, I think highly of myself too, but I've never been able to kiss my own ass the way you do yours."
She finished and noticed the shocked look on his face. She quickly stood up so he wouldn't be able to do what she knew he wanted to do and push her in the water. She ran towards the door to get back inside the hotel.
She slammed the door behind her but heard it open a second later. Having just come from the warmth of outside and rushed indoors, her glasses were fogging up which made it practically impossible to see through. She took them off in a hurry, wiped them with the corner of her shirt and replaced them on her face. They were still somewhat smudged but she couldn't let that stop her.
She squealed as she ran through the hotel towards the elevators. Passersby looked at her as though she had lost her mind but she didn't care. For the first time since taking the job with Lynn, she was actually letting loose and acting like a complete idiot…and it felt GREAT!
She rounded the corner and came up on the elevators. She could hear Justin right behind her and decided to fake him out. As the elevator doors opened, she ran inside, pushed the buttons for the first few floors, then ran around the side and towards the stairs. She knew that he would get in the elevator just as it was closing and she would be able to make it to her floor (4th) before he got there since it would stop at every one before it.
She laughed out loud as she heard a frustrated young pop star slam his fist against the wall of the elevator just as the doors were closing. He had to realize by now that she was no where to be found. She ran up the flights of stairs and made it onto her floor without any problems. She was 10 feet from her room when the infamous 'DING' of the elevator was heard behind her. She turned around and as Justin walked out, she saw fire burning in his eyes.
Everything around her seemed to be moving in slow motion after that. She returned her attention to her door that stood only a few feet away. She tried as hard as she could to get to it before he got to her. Her legs felt like concrete, perhaps from running up the stairs only moments ago, but they refused to move as fast as she wanted them to. She could hear Justin yell her name and he was getting closer by the second.
She made it to her room but the key card wouldn't go in right. She struggled with it until she felt a hand touch her shoulder. She stopped what she was doing and with the sweetest face she could muster, turned to smile at Justin. He was trying to hold back his smile himself but was failing miserably.
His face softened when he saw the innocent look she was giving him. "You are too much you know that?"
She batted her eyelashes at him before answering. "I know."
He laughed at her playfulness. It was a far cry from the uptight look she had going on and he knew that she was letting go a little of the conservative ways she held so close to herself. From the outside, she appeared to be reserved, almost to the point that if one didn't know her, they would think she was a ninety year old woman trapped inside a twenty-one year old body. But tonight was her wake up call and Justin could only smile at what he saw. He prided himself for helping bring the girl in her back out, although he couldn't be sure it was him that did it.
Since he met her in his mom's office, he had tried to get her to loosen up and not until today had she shown that she could. Oh, there were hints here and there but nothing came close to the sound of her laughter that rang through the hotel or the innocent look she was now giving him. He couldn't wait to see what happened next.
He gave her one last smile before he finally spoke to her. "I'll let this one slide for now. You are just too cute to be mad at, but this is the one and only time I'll let it go. Next time…" He waved a finger in front of her face. "You'll be kissing my ass."
She busted out laughing then leaned towards him and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "No my dear, you will be kissing MY ass next time." With that, she put the key card in the slot and opened her door. She gave him a little wave as the door closed slowly behind her.
Justin stood there a second before he finally realized what just happened. He let a sly smile cross his mouth before he turned to leave and go back to his room. As he walked through the doorway, he stopped halfway through and took one last look at the room down the hall. "I just might do that." He said as he entered his room to find a few hours of sleep before the next day.