~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Writer: Tami Story: Don't Fight It chapter eight Written for: Rachel!!!! Writing Partner: Miriam A Venus Fanfiction Crew Production www.angelfire.com/music2/venuscrew DO THE CREW!!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Hey Rae! Come here!" Joey shouted from the back of the bus. She was sitting in the front eating food. She was always eating; the guys wondered how she could keep her amazing figure. They often teased her about her eating habits and she would always retaliate with quick comebacks. She trotted to the back. "What? I was eating!" She whined to them. They looked at her for a second before laughing out loud. "Remember that video we were working on for the fans? It's finished. We're gonna watch it and we thought you would want to." JC gestured towards the television. They were all crammed in the couch that wrapped around the back of the bus, but they had left a spot open for her. Next to Lance. She quickly surveyed the scene, wondering how she could get out of this. There was a space open between Joey and Chris's feet and she sat between them on the floor. Lance couldn't hide the disappointment on his face and JC gently patted his shoulder. The movie started and she began to laugh. It had all of it in there - bloopers, special moments, excepting awards, at their homes, everything. They saved the best for last and it was their relationships with their family and friends. Lance was sitting on a table talking and Rachel was walking by him. "Hey Rae, come here. Say hi to all the fans!" He pulled her hand over to him and positioned her in between his legs. He had his hands resting gently and casually on her hips. His head was tucked on her shoulder and he was smiling. "Hi fans! I'm Rachel, I've been best friends with Lance for years now. You have the privilege of not dealing with him and seeing his face everyday." She laughed, throwing her head back. Lance had a pouting look on his face and he laughed too. "She loves me and she knows it!" He smiled at her and gently kissed her cheek. Anybody who watched the video could see the love and friendship between the two. The way they stood together and fit together showed the bond they had. "Hey Rach! Let's play basketball!" Chris shouted from the background. "That's my cue everybody! I must go play basketball and beat Justin. Don't let this guy charm you too much, he's not that perfect." She blew a kiss towards the camera and laughed. She ruffled the back of Lance's hair and ran off towards the others. Shortly after, the movie ended with NSYNC performing an acapella version of Bye, Bye, Bye. Rachel stood up abruptly and turned off the video. "It was awesome you guys! I loved it." The guys smiled up at her, not noticing the tears on her face. She tossed the tape to Justin and cleared her throat. "I'm going to go back to eating now." They laughed and she quickly walked out of the room. "Lance, go. You noticed it, I know you did." Justin declared turning towards him. He noticed the tears on her face and could tell she was physically shooken up. Lance hesitated a moment and stood up. He looked back at Justin. "I'm sorry about everything Justin. I wasn't being fair." He turned and walked out of the room. Rachel was turned on the couch and was staring out the window. "Rachel?" He asked hesitantly. He didn't know if she would talk to him or not. He wanted to fix this, to apologize to her. He hated not being able to talk to her and hug her. She was his life, without her...he didn't even want to think about life without her, it was too hard. "Yeah." She answered, hastily wiping the tears off her face. Just once she would like to cry in peace and not have one of these guys find her. It had been hard ignoring Lance the past couple of days and she hated it. But she was not going to back down from him. It wasn't fair for her to apologize to him, when she did nothing wrong.
"Why are you crying?" He questioned. She didn't answer him and swallowed back more tears. He opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of her seat. "Look at me, Rachel." He demanded. She tried looking everywhere but him. She refused to let her gaze settle on him. He cupped her chin with his hand and forced her to look at him. She couldn't stop the tears from welling in her eyes as she looked at him; they flowed uncontrollably down her face. "Why are you crying, sweetie? Please, tell me." He pleaded with her. He let go of her face and held her around her waist. "I just miss the times when we didn't have to worry about anything, when we didn't have that hidden stuff behind us. Like Sierra." He grimaced when she said Sierra's name. "I want to go back to those times, like in the video. I just...I hate it! I hate seeing the images I get in my head everyday. I can never forget that. I can't get them out of my head. I'm sorry Lance. I know I disappointed you, but you disappointed me too." She sobbed, falling into his arms. She was right, he was disappointed in her. Because she failed to forgive him. Their friendship was based on forgiveness. They vowed to never let somebody come between them and they had. They were letting the past "and Sierra" come in between them. He swallowed back the tears that had gathered in his throat. He hated to see her cry and hearing her cry was much worse. He gathered her into his arms and gently rubbed the back of her head and neck. They didn't say anything, there was nothing to be said. He bent down to hug her closer to him and buried his head in her neck. After moments had passed, they pulled away. "I don't know how to fix this."
Lance sighed, dropping his gaze to the floor. He wanted more than anything to fix it, to take back all those months with Sierra, to take back those weeks he had been with Rachel as more than a friend.
"There is nothing you can do. It's up to me to forgive and forget about it. I want to forgive you Lance, I do. I don't know what to do or how to fix it and I hate that. I want nothing more than to bring back what we had. And, it scares me because I don't know if I can." She sighed, tears building in her eyes again. "Dammit. I wish I could stop crying!" She grumbled angrily.
Lance took one look at her face and started to chuckle. "This isn't funny!" She snapped at him. "I know. I'm sorry, it's not." He apologized. He tried to hold in the smile and laughter and he knew his adam's apple was giving him away. He knew it was moving up and down, cueing the fact that he was trying not to laugh. He thought of that and he burst out laughing.
"You're right it. It is!" She started to laugh and pretty soon the two of them were holding on to each other, laughing so hard there were tears flowing down their faces. Her stomach started to hurt and she was doubled over. He was laughing so hard, he was choking.
"I hear laughter! I think that's a good sign!" Chris shouted, pumping his arms in victory. The other's laughed at him and walked out into the hallway to go to their respective bunks.
When their laughter had died down a bit, she gently hugged herself to him. "I think, in time, it'll go back to the way it was." She gently kissed his cheek and walked back to her bunk.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>
