~chapter twenty-five: when i'm with you
He opened the door, and stepped into the hall. Instantly he spotted her, and she saw him too. Smiles washed across both of their faces. She walked faster. He held open his arms. She jumped into them. Brian couldn't remember anything about the renunion. Not how they got from half way down the hall back to his room; not how Dana put all her bags down and changed into jeans and a tee-shirt. It all functioned as a euphoric blur, almost like he was so happy that he achieved a high and the placebo effect was zero memory. It was curious, but anytime for the rest of his life that he tried to remember that afternoon he couldn't. A feeling of sheer joy would engulf him, and he would be briefly happy, but the memory never returned to his brain. So, after the blurred out moments passed, they were sprawled across the plush carpet next to the bed.
Brian pushed up the hem of her light green tee-shirt and examined the smooth set of abs in front of him. "You know," he began with a coy smile. "I've always had a thing for tummies. Smooth ones, lumpy ones, well-defined ones, and ones that just sort of flow along the bones. Tummies are so cute."
She gawked at him. "What?"
"Well, see, I love stomaches." Brian traced his fingers along the lines of her muscles. He drew a happy face. "Wanna play a game?"
"What kind of game?" Dana yawned. The sleeping pills she'd taken before the flight were still in effect.
"I write something, you tell me what I wrote." He rested his head on her chest and listened to her heartbeat.
"Sure, why not?" Dana closed her eyes.
Brian thought for a second, then ran his fingers over her tummy.
"Finished?"
He said he was.
"You wrote BSB."
"Smart girl."
She smiled. "I know." She felt his fingers writing something again, and mentally kept track of the letters she discerned from the pack. "DC + BL."
He applauded lightly. "Wayta go."
"Make some harder ones, these are all simple."
"Harder like what?" he murmured quietly, and blew a raspberry onto her midrift.
Her muscles twitched after he blew the raspberry, and she inhaled quickly before laughing. "I dunno... full sentances, just make them harder for me to guess."
He traced some words across her tummy, and waited for Dana to translate the letters into words.
"Um..." she laughed. "Not that hard... what did you write, by the way?"
"Dana is really sexy," he said with a smile.
"Yeah, my ass," she laughed. "Do something that is sort of hard."
Brian slid up so his face was a pinkie finger length away from hers. He smiled. "New game, repeat after me."
Dana nodded.
"I am good looking."
Dana arched an eyebrow, and grinned, knowing what he was trying to get her to say. "Brian is good looking."
He rolled his eyes. "Dana is good looking."
"Dana is good looking," she repeated, and smiled.
"You are good looking."
"You are good looking."
He let out a growl of mock frustration. "Why do you refuse to recognize how beautiful you are?"
She looked at him sweetly. "Why do you refuse to recognize how beautiful you are?"
He cupped her chin firmly. "You are so beautiful. You, Dana, are so beautiful. You just don't seem to realize it, and I can't for the life of me understand why."
She only smiled wistfully. "Because I don't find myself as appealing as you apparently do. Is that so bad?"
"Uh huh, it is." He tilted his head to one side, and leaned in to kiss her, but Dana turned her head away and sat up. Brian looked up at her immeadiately after, and caught the childish grin on her face.
She cupped his chin, rubbing the stubble that had grown. "It's nice to see you again," she informed him. "I'm really glad I came." And with that finishing statement she pressed a kiss on his forehead, and ruffled his hair affectionately. "And I think I'm going to take advantage the that fabulous hot tub down near the pool. Have you seen that thing? You could wash frikkin' elephants in it."
"Soooo, that means that I'll fit in there too?" He pursed his lips sexily. "I'd love a good hot-tub jet massage right now."
"Go for it... but if my relaxation hour is ruined by your fans..." she punched the bed a few times, and grinned.
"No fans," he promised.
"No fans?" she asked him doubtfully.
"No fans," Brian reassured.
Dana pretended to consider the statement. "Well, I suppose. Let me grab my suit."
He watched her walk away, noting the way she swayed from side to side, and how her hair appeared to ripple across her shoulder blades like a sea of mahogany or chocolate. She was enticing and he was simply the fly caught in the web. 'Except,' he thought a few seconds later. 'I'm a really happy fly.'
++later++
"Don't you even try it," Dana warned, her eyes still closed.
Brian's smile turned into a frown, and he allowed the water in his hand to trickle back into the hot tub.
"Good boy."
"How can you see what I'm doing?!" he demanded, frustrated that each attempt to splash Dana had been turned down as she magically pointed out her knowledge of his intentions right before he carried them out.
"I have ears baby doll, I can hear the water swish when you move around."
"Over the jets?"
"Super-sonic hearing," she murmured jokingly.
He grunted, and stood up. "I'm swimming."
"Why don't you just relax for a while... enjoy the steamy water," Dana suggested gently. She swished the water around her, and patted the bench in front of her. "Come sit with me."
Brian wrinkled his nose. "I'm not in the mood to sit, I'm fidgety."
"So I've noticed." Dana was nearly unconcience, a hot-tub-jet induced sleep was fast approaching. She was barely registering thought, but was awake enough to avoid Brian's playful splashes.
"I'm gonna go for a swim," he informed her again.
Dana shrugged dozily. "Whatever you say."
Brian exited the hot tub, and dove smoothly into the deep end of the pool. Goose-bumps developed all down his legs and arms as a post hot water chill covered his body. He surfaced and shook the water out of his hair. The glass door to the pool sqeaked open, and Brian looked over.
Q peaked his head in. "Twenty minutes Brian."
He nodded his acknowledgement, and ducked beneath the water once more. In order to obtain an interruption free swim, he had coughed up $60 dollars, standard hotel pool rental fee. Well, Dana had paid half, against Brian's will, but he preferred to think that he had paid the whole amount. She refused to let him pamper her, something that he couldn't comprehend. He had the money, he wanted to spend some of it on her... what was wrong with that? Nothing, as far as Brian was concerned, but Dana was severely against it. It frustrated him. He resurfaced, and spouted out the water that had leaked into his mouth.
Dana was standing on the edge of the pool, glistening with water."Brian?"
"Yeah?"
"When do we have to go tonight?"
"Go...?" He wasn't sure what she was talking about.
"To your concert. What time do we leave the hotel?"
He shrugged, and the water swirled around his shoulders. "Seven o'clock or so... why?"
"Damn!" Dana declared softly. "The Packers play tonight at 7:30."
He chuckled at her Green Bay football obsession. "Against who?" he questioned, then laughed.
"The Bucs," Dana informed him, and grumbled.
Brian stopped laughing. It became apparent to him that it was 'his boys' against 'her boys'. "The Bucs? Against the Packers?"
She nodded glumly and slid herself into the pool near him..
"We can tape it," he stated resolutely. "That is one game I refuse to miss."
"Uh, newsflash," Dana said semi-rudely. She was pissed about missing the game. "No VCR in the hotel room."
"So get the front desk to tape it," Brian shrugged. "No big deal."
Dana rolled her eyes. "Sorry, I've just never had the luxury of demanding a hotel to do something and they will actually do it. I've never been what you'd call a preferred customer. Give me the $20 a night hotels and I'm a happy camper."
Brian smiled. "No need to get defensive." He stepped closer and Dana thought nothing of it, expecting a sweet kiss. Abruptly Brian rammed his hand into the water, splashing Dana swiftly.
"Oh!" She shrieked in surprise, then shook the water off of her face. "Now it's war!"
++after the show++
"FRAAAACK!"
"NIIICK!"20
"BRIAAAANNN!"
Screaming voices entered Dana's brain from every angle, and she struggled to think. The secure area that lead from the venue door to the bus had slowly gotten smaller until it was nothing more that a meter-wide space between metal barracades; the only thing protecting her from the throngs of girls. Head low, face covered, Dana kept walking. Twenty feet behind her, Brian and Nick were attempting to walk without being hit by flying teddybears and basketballs, and at the more daring end of the ladder, condoms, g-strings and edible underwear. Finally reaching the bus, the door was opened, and Dana surrounded herself in the safety of the giant silver bus. She sighed quickly. Kevin was speaking softly into his cell phone, Dana could hear his voice but she couldn't see him. AJ was somewhere closer to the back of the bus. Rachel was sprawled across her bunk. Claudia and Howie had already left the arena, they were going straight to a local night club. Dana supposed that the walk to the bus was normal to the five men in the group, but the entire was she had been shaking like a leaf... unfortunately. She dropped herself into one of the soft chairs and let out a whoosh of breath.
"Whooo!" Nick shouted as he boarded the bus. "Thank God for buses."
Brian laughed knowingly.
Dana watched him from her perch. He had yet to notice her sitting in a semi-dark corner of the 'kitchen'. He stripped off his hoodie and dropped it onto the table. Nick left, searching out Rachel. Brian pulled open a box of cereal and grabbed a handful of the crunchy flakes. He chewed methodically, and turned to pour himself a glass of water. "Hey hotstuff," Dana called with a hint of teasing in her voice.
Brian turned to the location of her voice, and smiled. "So what'd you think?"
"Good," she nodded approvingly. "Very high tech."
He approached her, and pulled her to her feet. He set his hands on her hips, and lowered himself into the chair, bringing her down with him. Brian wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. With a yawn, Brian nuzzled her neck. "I'm tired now," he mumbled and intertwined her fingers in his.
"You didn't seem tired two seconds ago," Dana pointed out with a quirky grin.
Nick returned, grinning. "Guess who won the footbal game?"
"No!" Brian and Dana shouted simultaniously. Four hands flew up to cover four ears. Four eyes scrunched shut, and both people blocked out everything around them.
Nick's eyebrows had crept up his forehead, and he was examining the couple skeptically. "Oookayyy..." he mumbled, and turned away, the phrase 'to each to his own' running circles in his mind.
Dana peeked one eye open. Noticing that Nick had left, she elbowed Brian gently. He opened his eyes, and they slowly lowered their hands from their ears.
Brian smiled. "He was happy... bet you any money the Bucs won."
"Kiss my Green Bay ass," Dana retorted cheekily. "There is no way the Packers would lose to Florida."
"No way, huh?" he murmured into her ear. "Can I get a signature to prove you said that, cause you sure as hell won't want to admit that thought when we watch that video tomorrow."
Nick shot his head into the room, and opened his mouth to shout the winner of the game.
They both slammed their hands over their ears.
Nick snickered, and retreated.
++at the hotel++
Brian held Dana's hand. "Don't bolt," he instructed again.
Dana tried to pull her hand out of his so she could proceed up to their room, but Brian's grip kept her firmly planted next to him. She wriggled her hand around, determined to get away from the crowd of people.
Calmly Brian approached the second fan of about thirty that had gathered in the lobby of the hotel. He signed his own face on the CD jacket, answered a few questions, gave a one handed hug, and made sure that Dana never left his side. She had insisted that she could just go up to their room but he was bound and determined to have her stay with him. Sooner or later she would have to get used to the crowds, and sooner was better that later.
"Brian," Dana hissed as they proceeded very slowly towards the elevator. Slowly because there were twenty five people blocking their path. "Let go."
His grip never loosened and his smile never waivered. "No," came the simple reply.
"Jerkface," she whispered,
Brian just laughed, and introduced himself to a pre-pubescent girl with glitter and writing covering 90% of her face. Dana tugged persistently, positive that if she bugged him enough then he would let go. "Yeah, it's fun," Brian nodded.
The young girl absorbed every single word escaping her idol's mouth. Then she noticed Dana. "Are you his girlfriend?"
Dana opened her mouth to decline, and say she was a family friend, but Brian cut her off.
"Yep," he nodded. "She is."
"I can speak for myself," Dana chided.
Brian smiled, and let go of her hand to scratch his eyebrow, not remembering to hold tightly.
Dana pulled her hands out of his reach and immeadiately walked away from him. "See you upstairs," she called over her shoulder.
He didn't panic, it was no big deal. All Brian needed to do was make eye contact with one of the security guards positioned around the lobby and point at Dana. She'd be stopped before she even got near the elevator.
Upon seeing the 'signal' (eye contact) and the 'target' (pointing at Dana), Q knew what to do. It was a routine procedure, only it was normally used to point out fans who were a bit too energetic not girlfriends who were desperate to escape the lobby. He moved closer, and finally stepped out in front of her. He slipped a friendly arm over her shoulder. "Ah, ah, ah..." he clucked his tongue, and laughed when Dana groaned. "It's not that bad, is it?"
"It is," Dana moaned uphappily, knowing that she would end up having to wait with Brian now.
"Just smile, answer any questions they may ask, and be generally pleasent. You'll be a crowd pleaser within days." He eyed the frowning face. "Come on, stay down here. Brian's worried that you'll never get over this little fan-phobia, make him feel less worried and lounge with the fans."
She rolled her eyes. Trust Brian to get every person willing to persuade her into something she didn't want to do. It was so predictable of him, yet she found it rather... cute. Dana nodded slightly. "Okay," she agreed. "I'm staying. Happy?"
Q didn't say anything. "Don't tell me that, go see Brian. Make him happy."
She grumbled a bit, but returned to the throng of girls that had accumulated. It seemed that in the three minutes she had been away from him, almost twenty more people had entered the lobby. She sucked in her butterflies and tried to get to Brian. Fortunately, before she even had to push her way through the crowd, he spotted her and moved to the edges. He stood next to her while both of them were peppered with overzelous and excited questions. He slipped his hand into hers, and flashed a quick smile in Dana's direction. She squeezed his hand in return.
"Is it true you're getting married?"
"Are Kevin and you gonna get married in the same church?"
Dana and Brian looked at each other and burst out laughing. "Um," Brian managed between laughs. "No, we've only been going out for a couple months. Getting married now would be kind of-"
"Sudden." Dana finished, smothering another round of laughter. "Very sudden."
"Yeah," Brian nodded, and disguised a laugh as a cough so the people asking the marriage questions wouldn't feel insulted. There was a lapse in conversation as he signed a round of CD covers and other various photos. Finally someone broke the silence:
"Are you worried that *NSync might break your first week sales record?"
"Not really," he said diplomatically. "If they do then congratulations to them. If they don't," he shrugged. "Better luck next time."
- - -later- - -
It's currently 2:17 am, and on the phone lines we've got Jason from East-
-crowds in excess of 1000 people gathered to welcome the bo-
-ow that there are some freaks out there but this is a little out of han-
-it was an amazing game, the Leafs out shooting the Sabres, out passing the Sabres, and ou-
-I just wish she could be here with us to see how much everybody-
"Stop channel surfing!" Brian declared at length. "Stay on one channel for more than two seconds, PLEASE!"
Dana arhed an eyebrow and crossed her legs Indian-style. "There's nothing good on," she pointed out. "I need to channel surf, it's a fixation."
"Go back to ESPN."
"No, it's sports news and we might hear something about the game." Dana faced the TV again, and pressed the up arrow on the remote. She watched everything flash by, waiting for something to catch her attention, but nothing did.
Brian reached across the bed and grabbed the remote from her. He pressed the red off button, then shoved the remote under his fluffy blue pillow.
"Brian!"
"Dana!" he imitated. He punched the pillow a few times to fluff it up, then dropped his head down.
She watched him for a second, then crawled up the bed so she was lying down next to him. "Can I have the clicker back please?"
Brian pretended to think about it. "Um... no."
"Please baby," she pouted.
"Hmm, lemme think... no."
"Brian, pleaseeeeeeeee," Dana whined, exaggerating her vowels.
"Go to bed," he instructed dozily.
"I'm fidgety," she said, imitating Brian's tone of voice from the afternoon.
He looked at her, very amused by her energy. "Go to bed." Dana pouted, but Brian just chuckled at her expression.
The alarm rang four hours later, at 6:20 am. Brian was not pleased. He was crushed under Dana's arm, and she was breathing on his neck. Her breath was warm, and not the most pleasent smelling of things, and though her arm was not particularily heavy under normal circumstances, it currently felt like a load of bricks squishing his stomach. He'd woken up about fifteen minutes earlier, and was too kind to wake her up. But now the alarm had rung, and everybody was fair game. "Get up," he whispered, and pushed her arm off of him. One would suspect that the shrieking of the alarm would have been enough to rouse Dana fom her sleep, but no. Brian telling her to get up? Not even close.
He rolled out of bed, extremely tired, but knowing that they needed to get a head start on bus travel. Busying himself packing, Brian decided to allow her 'overlap' time to roll out of bed. He finished packing his stuff, and moved onto her stuff, knowing that he should get her up but feeling that a little sleep wouldn't hurt her. At 6:42 Brian had reached the end of his rope. "Sweetie," he called softly. She didn't budge, but responded with a soft grunt... or was it a snore... he wasn't quite sure. "Dana?" Swiftly Brian pulled the covers off the bed, knowing that eventually she would get very cold and wake up.
It was a matter of seconds, and she rolled over with a very sour expression on her face. "What do you think you're doing?" she grumbled unhappily.
Brian smiled sweetly. "Morning Baby."
++later++
She dragged her feet along the floor of the bus, and examined the list of few songs on the Sheriff CD that was in Nick's discman. Her own discman was packed safely away in her bag... where Dana couldn't use it. She hadn't thought to put it in her backpack, and Nick was kind enough to share his. After Rachel told him to do so. She'd sifted through his extensive collection of CDs, and selected the old Sheriff CD, which was from 1982. It was a favorite of hers. She skiped to "Kept Me Comin' ", then changed her mind and went back one to "When I'm With You".
The soft opening bars of the song filled her ears, bringing a gentle smile to her face. The song was a favorite of hers. She didn't even get to the first word before there was a tap on her shoulder. Pressing pause, Dana opened her eyes.
Brian looked at her. "Whatcha listening to?" he asked after she removed one ear piece.
"Sheriff," she replied with a yawn.
He took the ear piece she'd removed and put it in his own ear. He pressed play, and recognizing the song, stood up. "Dance with me?" he asked, his gaze hopeful.
She pretended to lament over the choice. "Well..."
He took her hand in his, and kissed it.
"Alright," Dana agreed softly. She restarted the song, and Brian wrapped his arms around her waist. The song started once more, and she smiled.
I never needed love
Like I need you
And I never lived for nobody
But I live for you
Ooh, Ooh babe, lost in love
Is what I feel
When I'm with you
Maybe it's the way you touch me
With the warmth of the sun
Maybe it's the way you smile
And I come all undone
Ooh, Ooh babe, lost in love
Is what I feel
When I'm with you
Baby, I get chills when I'm with you
Ooh oh Baby, ya, ya, ya, ya
My world stands still when I'm with you
When I'm with you
I never cared for nobody
Like I care for you
I never wanted to share the things
I wanna chare with you
Ooh Babe, lost in love
Is what I feel when I'm with you
Baby, I get chills when I'm with you
Ooh oh Baby, ya, ya, ya, ya
My world stands still when I'm with you
When I'm with you
Baby, I get chills when I'm with you
Ooh oh Baby, ya, ya, ya, ya
My world stands still when I'm with you
When I'm with you
When I'm with you....
**note: I will be adding a clip of this song if I can find one... it's a beautiful song;)<
~chapter twenty-six~
~chapter index~
