Chapter Seventeen:
Have A Little Faith
- - -Early February- - -
Dana wiped the counter off, and stacked the freshly washed plates. She pushed her hair away with the back of a soapy hand, and sighed pleasantly. She was anxious to get away from work that morning. Brian had returned from a business trip the night before, and she hadn't seen him in a little over a week. Before that there'd been her schoolwork, plus the catering, and his travelling for 'appearances' and whatnot.
Dana was slowly being inducted into the world of Backstreet Girlfriends, and learning about the nights when all you need is a hug, and your sweetheart happens to be half way across the city, country, planet, etc. Her elbow banged against the corner of the counter, and she swore softly.
"Are you okay back there?" Lisa called, hearing Dana's stream of obscenities.
"Fine," Dana grumbled back. The sunshine filled morning was almost gone as noon fast approached, and Dana was getting ready to go see Brian. She pushed all of the dishes back against the wall, and looked at Lisa. She wasn't supposed to leave for another twenty minutes, but what the hell? You never know if you don't try. "Can I leave?" Dana asked in a small voice.
Lisa looked at her watch, then back at Dana. "Well..."
Dana begged silently with her eyes.
Lisa frowned slightly. "Sure... just don't say anything to Jesse, or my position as supervisor will be gone faster than my money after payday."
Dana smiled gratefully. "Thanks Li," she called, and jogged out of the room. "You're the best."
"Yeah, yeah," Lisa was trying to seem stern but it wasn't working. "Go see your boyfriend already."
"Bye Lisa."
- - -at the rehearsal- - -
Brian heaved a breath, and dropped on to the mat. They'd been running through the dance arrangements, and one of the dancers was having a bit of difficulty. It was frustrating him, but he felt bad for her nonetheless. The girl had been called in at the last minute when Stacy quit, and she'd been learning all the new dances within a matter of days.
The door to the studio banged open behind him, and could see in the mirror that it was Dana. He smiled instantly, and waved, resisting the longing to run over and kiss her. She waved back to him and went to sit with Rachel.
The music started again, and Brian stood up.
"From -" Fatima demonstrated the move they were starting at. "Now come on, guys especially, get into the dance! Look like you really want to be doing it!"
"We don't though," someone called from the back, and a relaxed laugh ran through everyone.
"Too bad," Fatima smiled.
"How are they doing so far," Dana whispered to Rachel.
"Good," Rachel whispered back.
The two girls got along well, being so close in age. Rachel was nineteen, a few months younger than the brand new twenty-year-old, Nick, and a few more months younger than Dana was.
They watched as the dance troupe went through the routine two or three more times. "Take five," Fatima finally called.
Dana stood up and walked over to Brian. "Hey," she called as he took another drink of water.
"Hey," Brian called back, and he enveloped her in a hug. He smelled sweaty, and when he kissed her he tasted salty because of the sweat, but Dana didn't mind. She had missed him.
"You guys look good," she encouraged.
"We've been better," he sighed. "But, hey?"
"There is nothing you can do but dance more."
Brian smiled at her attempt to be philosophical. He sat back down on the mat, and Dana sat next to him. "How was work?" he asked, and rubbed her back idly.
"Good," Dana closed her eyes and rested against his shoulder. "Lisa let me off early to come and see you."
"I think I like Lisa," Brian said with a grin.
Dana inhaled, memorizing the smell of sweat and cologne that clung to her nostrils, and kept her eyes closed. "You would. How was your trip?"
"Good." Brian nodded, and stared at their reflection in the huge mirrors in front of him. "We did a few radio interviews, schmoozed with the rich and famous, couple TV promo's, couple magazine photo shoots and interviews. The average."
"That's pretty un-average if you ask me," Dana laughed.
He'd missed her immensely, more than he'd assumed he would. "Come with me to refill the water bottle?" Brian changed the subject, wanting to focus on the moment at hand.
Dana peeked up at him, and Brian gave her puppy eyes.
"Pwwease?" he asked in a baby voice.
"Course," Dana kissed the side of his jaw, and his stubble tickled her chin.
"On second thought," Brian smiled slyly. "If we're going to do that let's stay on the nice soft mats and catch up on our week of lost-" kiss "-time."
She smiled back at him, and relaxed as Brian trailed kisses along her neck. He nuzzled her collarbone, and dropped light kisses into the hollow at the base of her neck. Shivers traced up Dana's spine as he pulled her into his lap and wrapped his arms around her. She ran a hand through his hair, and tried to pull away slightly.
"Brian," she whispered, not actually wanting the moment to end but knowing it needed to.
His eyes examined her questionably.
"Public place," Dana reminded.
Brian gave a dissatisfied sighed. He'd been getting into the moment, and people had started to filter back into the dance studio, much to his dismay.
"Sorry," she murmured.
"Naw, don't worry about it, it's a good thing you said something," Brian waved it off. "Plus," his eyes glinted mischievously. "There's always later."
"You and your brain," she smiled.
"It's not my brain that's waiting for later," Brian grinned, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
Dana laughed, then sighed. "I missed you," she mumbled into his shoulder.
Brian kissed the top of her head. "I missed you, too."
" 'Scuze me, Brian?" a female voice interrupted their moment.
He glanced up absently. "That's me."
"Hi, I'm Faith... the new dancer."
"Oh, hey Faith," Brian greeted her kindly.
Dana eyed the girl suspiciously. Faith was bending over, and the already low tank top was flashing cleavage that would make Pamela Anderson Lee jealous. She would lick her lips every few moments, and Dana was sure that the make-up would melt off her face should anymore sweat develop. Faith stuck her hand out rauciously.
"Nice to meet you," she said, and shook Brian's hand strongly, forcing her chest to bounce.
Dana scowled, and attempted to interrupt. "Nice t-"
"So how come that other dancer quit?" Faith cut Dana off pointedly.
"I can't remember exactly, I think her mom got sick, or was hurt or something," Brian shrugged.
"Awl, that's too bad," Faith said, her tone signifying that she felt everything but sorry.
"Let's go!" Fatima shouted from the far side of the room.
Dana slipped out of his lap and stood up. Faith laughed, and Dana noticed her chest bounce again. Very aware of Faith's almost perfect, curvy figure, and how it looked in comparison to her own thin, less curvy figure, Dana sucked in her tummy, and stuck out her boobs.
"So Brian," Faith began, instantly slipped in between Dana and Brian.
Dana stepped in front of him, and kissed him lightly, but obviously. She was staking her claim, making it visible to Faith that Brian was off limits. "I'll see you later," Dana said, placing emphasis on the 'later', trying to remind him of their earlier moment on the mats. "I've got class now."
"Yeah," Brian looked at her lovingly. "I'll see you later Dan."
He gave Dana a kiss, and squeezed her hand affectionately. It was small reassurance however, because she had a sinking and suspicious feeling about Faith that refused to go away.
- - -that night- - -
Dana looked at Brian looking at the stack of CD's in the living room, then went into her kitchen. Brette was out with Curtis, doing God knows what, and Dana had been lonely, so she phoned Brian. Dana retrieved the ice cream from the fridge, and set it on the counter. She closed her eyes and longed for the days when buying the more expensive cases of Ben & Jerry's was possible, then opened her eyes and stared at the cheap SnoStar. "Damn college budget," she muttered.
She searched through the dirty stack of dishes that sat in the sink. 'Spoon,' Dana thought. 'If I were a clean spoon, where would I be?' After pausing a moment, Dana laughed out loud. "Not in this kitchen, that's for sure." She grabbed a fork, and stabbed at the ice cream, struggling to get it into the bowl. After finally filling it up to the rim, Dana drizzled Quik syrup over the top, and dropped a handful of chocolate chips on the cold vanilla lump.
Brian wrapped his arms around Dana's waist, and rested his head on her shoulder. "Sundae?" he whispered, and kissed her shoulder.
"Yup." Dana tried to ignore the kisses that were travelling over the side of her neck and focus on looking for a spoon, but it wasn't working well. Gathering all her mental power, Dana stared at the sink. She dipped her hands in the murky dishwater, searching blindly for the ever elusive spoon, and working very hard to ignore Brian.
He continued nibbling the sensitive skin around her neck, trying to pull Dana away from the sink. She attempted to shake him off. "I came in here for a reason, you know," Dana chided.
Brian caught her eye and smiled sexily. "So did I," he responded softly.
"Mmmm," Dana vocalized her approval, relaxing at Brian's touch. He reached around and put pulled Dana's hands out of the dishwater.
"Come on," he persuaded. "Relax for a while." He was accenting each word with a kiss.
"I'm making ice cream," she mumbled. The chocolate syrup was beginning to melt into the vanilla, and the whole bowl looked like pale brown goo with bumps in it.
Brian held Dana's soapy hands in his, and massaged them tenderly. "Come on," he cajoled.
"Not sleeping with you," Dana managed to get out.
"I don't care," Brian whispered. "We don't have to."
Dana finally relented, stepping away from the sink and directly into Brian's arms, losing all sense of time and reality as he kissed and sucked her skin.
++Chapter Eighteen++Chapter Index++Main Page++
