“I’m gonna go in there and get some food. The guys are all in there. Gimme five minutes then walk in and act like we’re in love.”
“Ok,” I grin at him and he pushes open the door to the catering unit.
In five minutes our little scam would begin. When Nick and I had hatched our little plot I had seen a new side of him. A light-hearted, laughing side and it was incredibly attractive. When he smiled his entire face lit up and his eyes held a wicked glimmer within. I was actually kinda looking forward to having him kiss me. Just in the interests of curiosity of course. I count down the minutes and head inside the room. Brian, Howie and Kevin are sat by the long table eating. AJ and Nick are by the buffet table filling their plates. They all look at me as I walk in and smile. Nick winks and I work hard not to giggle.
“Hey Starr, hungry?” asks Howie. “The food is great today.”
“Especially the macaroni,” grins Brian.
“There’s a surprise,” I grin and head over to where Nick is standing by a bowl of fruit. “Mm, those grapes look good…” I slowly lick my lips and he reaches for a bunch with a smile. He picks off one and beckons me towards him. I stand closer and he places the grape inside my mouth. I gently suck on his finger as he withdraws it and then eat the grape with closed eyes. When I open them Nick is looking kinda dazed and AJ’s mouth has dropped open. I grin. “Mm, delicious.”
I reach past him for a plate and load up with food. When I’m done I follow Nick and AJ to the table. They sit down and I put my plate down beside an empty place. Before I can sit, Nick’s arms wrap around my waist and pull me down into his lap. He kisses my bare neck and smiles.
“That grape sure looked good.”
“It was,” I grin and reach to feed him one off my plate as the other guys stare at us. It’s so hard not to laugh at their dumbstruck expressions. “Good?”
“Oh yeah,” he smiles softly as he traces the contours of my lips with his finger and I can see the laughter sparkling in his eyes. “I’m kinda not hungry any more.”
“Me neither honey,” I say desperate to leave this room before we both erupt into laughter. I can see he feels the same way.
“’Least not for FOOD…” he adds suggestively and I giggle.
He places a finger under my chin and tilts my face up to his. He bows his head and kisses me softly. Almost instinctively I wrap my arms around him and he deepens the kiss, slipping his tongue inside my mouth so that our tongues entwine. I jump back and cover it by standing up and taking his hand.
“Let’s move this show some place more private,” I say and walk outside with him. When we get far enough away from the room I drop his hand and turn to him angrily.
“Did you see their FACES?!” he laughs.
“What the FUCK was that?!” I say.
“What?” he looks shocked.
“That KISS!”
“What?! We agreed!”
“Yeah, but I said no tongues!”
“I had to make it believable!” he yells. “And tongues is believable!”
“It’d be believable without,” I retort.
“Really?” he asks before pulling me close and kissing me. His lips hit mine and squash them before breaking away. “That’s believable?” I stare at him. “Or this?”
He kisses me again, breaking my lips apart with his tongue forcefully and licking the edges of my mouth. I can’t stop myself gasping into his mouth as our tongues meet. His hands run up my back and mine entangle in his hair.
“Get a room,” AJ’s voice breaks into the kiss and we pull apart guiltily.
What the hell was that?! It wasn’t exactly part of our scam cos there were no witnesses. Nick had just been proving a point. That was all. Point proved. Absolutely NO attraction involved.
“And care to tell me exactly WHEN you two decided to stop playin’ Tyson versus Lewis and start playin’ Romeo and Juliet?” AJ added.
“Uh, I guess we always liked each other,” says Nick. “And she leapt on me last night.”
“Did not! YOU jumped on ME!”
“Huh?! In your dreams honey.”
“No wait, that’s YOURS,” I retort and AJ starts laughing.
“Wow, I take that back. You guys still ARE Tyson and Lewis.”
Nick pulls me to him and kisses me deeply before letting me go. I stare at him dazedly and he grins at AJ. “But does Tyson ever kiss Lewis like that?”
“Uh I dunno but I sure hope not,” says AJ.
I stare out of the bus window as the driver pulls up outside a grocery store. I’m riding on Howie’s bus right now cos he decided to fly to Vegas a day later so he could use his day off in LA with his sister Pollyanna. The rest of us decided to drive direct to Vegas. Howie had offered me his bus to get my work done and I accepted gratefully. Ever since Nick and I had revealed our “relationship” I had had to travel on his and Brian’s bus. The lack of space had just about driven me crazy. Plus it was hard to ok photos with the subjects constantly peering over your shoulder.
“Going in?” asks the driver climbing out of his seat. I shake my head and he opens the door. “Get you anything?”
“I’m fine thanks.”
“Ok,” he disappears into the store.
I settle back into my seat and close my eyes, plugging in my discman and drifting away to the sounds of Eric Clapton. The song is Wonderful Tonight and it’s been one of my favourites ever since I was a little girl. My dad used to sing it to me before I fell asleep and even today it makes me sleepy and happy. It’s dumb but it makes me feel safe. I open my eyes as the song ends and almost scream. Nick is leaning over me with a big grin on his face. He kisses me.
“Fuck, you scared me!”
“Sorry, you just looked so peaceful.”
“So ya figured you’d ruin it?”
“Aw,” he pouts and then kisses me again.
I lean away from him. “Uh, what’s with the kissin’? It’s not like there’s anyone around.”
“I know,” he shrugs and climbs into the seat next to me. “I just love kissin’ ya.” He looks at me. “And you love kissin’ me too.”
“I do? What makes ya think that Mr Cocky?”
“Cos you do,” he responds confidently.
“Maybe I don’t.”
“Well you sure do respond like ya do.”
“Maybe I’m just a good actress,” I suggest and he kisses me deeply. I feel myself respond and my tongue flicks inside his hot mouth. A few minutes later he draws back with a smile.
“If that’s acting, I’ll give you the Oscar myself.”
“Oh shut up,” I pull him close for another long kiss. When it came to Nick’s lips, I sure found it hard to resist.
“So, what were you listenin’ to?” he rests his head against mine and his blue eyes gaze into my brown ones.
“Wonderful Tonight. It’s by Eric Clapton. It always makes me feel peaceful.”
“Yeah? Why is that?”
“I guess cos my dad would sing it to me whenever I got scared or sad. It always worked then and it still does now.”
“Let me hear it,” he reaches for my headphones and slips them on, pressing play on the track. His head is so close to mine that I can hear the song playing and I close my eyes. “Ah, I know it,” he says quietly after the first few lines. I look up at him as he starts singing along softly. “And then she asks me Do you feel alright? And I say yes, I feel wonderful tonight…”
I smile and nestle against his shoulder as he carries on humming. When the song ends he takes the headphones off and wraps an arm around me, staring out of the window. I can see his reflection in the glass. After a few minutes our eyes meet in the reflection and we hold each other’s gaze for a while.
“What’s happening to us Starr?” he murmurs.
I so want to tell him that my heart right now feels like it could burst. That the feel of his skin against mine is all the comfort I’ll ever need. That when he put his arms around me, it felt like I’d come home. But I’m just too damn scared. In some way, we are all victims of our past and mine has been particularly crappy when it came to love. It is so much easier to pretend that the only thing between Nick and I is company and lust. We like the look of each other and we are both lonely, hungry for another’s touch. To call it anything else would just be confusing it.
“Nothin’,” I shrug. “We’re just pretending, right?”
He looks at my reflected eyes for a few seconds and then slowly takes his arm away from me. “Right.”
“Nick…” I sit up and turn to look at him, wanting to find the right words to say. “I…”
“You got good taste in music,” he starts flicking through my CD wallet, avoiding my gaze as the driver climbs back onto the bus.
“Well… Ya know… No Backstreet Boys, so I guess I MUST have,” I slip right back into our familiar relationship and he chuckles.
“Another passenger huh?” says the driver slyly as he closes the door.
“If Starr will have me,” says Nick sweetly.
“I think she already HAS had ya,” laughs the driver starting the engine as we both blush like hell.
“Ignore him,” says Nick standing up and pulling me towards the back of the bus. I sit on a bunk bed as he draws the privacy curtain and then sits next to me. He gently pushes me back onto the bed and leans over me, tracing his finger lightly along my cheek before following it with soft kisses. “We’re pretending, but… We agree we like kissin’ each other?”
“Yes,” I say breathlessly.
“But we’re not dating?”
“No,” I say. “We’re just friends.”
“Friends who kiss?”
“Yeah.”
His finger moves lower, tracing the outline of my body as Nick’s tongue enters my mouth. “Friends who do OTHER things?” he asks between kisses.
“Yeah,” I say arching my back to meet his body. “LOTS of other things.”