***3 years later***
"Ouch!" Chris laughed as he hit the floor.
Lori leaned over the edge of the bed and laughed at him. "Oh my God, that was the funniest thing I've EVER seen!" she cried.
Chris tired to sit up but he fell back over. "Are you talking about me falling off the bed or the movie?" he asked in between laughs.
"You!" she said as his hands pulled on the bed spread. His head appeared and he crawled back onto the bed. He looked over at Lori. Their eyes met and they burst out laughing all over again.
Lori grabbed Chris' shirt.
"What are you doing?" he laughed.
"Making sure you don't fall off the bed again!" she exclaimed.
"Oh yeah? Well you'll just come down with me then!"
"I'm not going ANYWHERE with you!" Lori said, letting go of his shirt.
Chris watched Lori while she laughed. They were both three years older and Lori had kept her promise to him. She hadn't kissed Joey once since that day and she never let a guy talk her into anything she didn't want to do. Chris had had more trouble keeping his promise. He still felt like knocking out every guy who got close to Lori, but he controlled himself better than before.
Suddenly the doorbell rang and they stopped laughing.
"Lance will get it," Chris pointed out.
"Lori!" They heard Lance yell. "Rick is here!"
"Oh!" Lori hopped off the bed and ran over to the mirror. "Do I look okay?" She asked Chris, still looking at herself in the mirror.
"You look fine," Chris said, noticing the now familiar feeling in his stomach. "Despite the fact that you've been laughing your head off and rolling around for the past fifteen minutes!"
"Very funny, Christopher!" she said as she ran a comb through her hair. "I'll see you in the MORNING," she said, stressing the word, morning. The last time she had been on a date she had found Chris waiting up for her. "I get it, I get it..." he chuckled as she walked out of the room. He smiled to himself. Technically, after midnight it was morning...
Chris woke up when he heard someone opening the front door. He took a quick glance at the clock. Good, it was twelve thirty... morning.
Lori opened the door and walked in. She set the keys on the table and was about to throw her purse on the couch when she saw Chris sitting there. "I thought I told you not to wait up for me?" she sighed.
"No, you said, 'see you in the morning,'" Chris said, patting the spot on the couch next to himself.
Lori sat down next to him and looked at the clock. "Chris, it's not morning..."
"Well, technically..." Chris grinned. "It is morning after midnight..."
Lori put her hand to her head. "Oh, God."
"Did you have fun?" he asked her.
"Yeah, we went out to a movie and he took me back to his place..." It was too late, she had already said it.
Chris put his arms around her and pulled her closer. "He didn't hurt you... did he?"
"No, of course not."
Chris didn't want her seeing this Rick guy anymore. They were getting WAY too close. "Hey, how about tomorrow you and I spend the whole day together? Just us."
"Sure," she smiled. Wow, Chris didn't even get that upset about the fact that she had been at Rick's house late at night. She found that kind of strange. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"I'm fine, Lori. Why wouldn't I be?" he mumbled into her hair.
"I don't know... I guess I thought you would be a little upset..."
"Well... Rick seems like a nice guy," Chris forced himself to say.
Lori kissed his cheek. "I KNEW that you'd like him!"
"Hey!" Chris grinned. "I have a surprise for you in your room!"
"What kind of surprise is it?"
"You'll see!" he said, pulling her up from the couch.
Once upstairs, Lori flicked on her light and gasped. "Oh... my... God!" She was staring at a huge poster of Chris on her wall. "I can't change my clothes with that thing in here!" she exclaimed. "I'll feel like you're staring at me!"
Chris burst out laughing. "You have your own bathroom. Change in there!"
"Only YOU would think to hang a poster of yourself in MY room!"
"Do you want ones of the other guys? 'Cause I could have that arranged..."
"No, no! Yours is enough for me!"
"Okay, go to sleep now. I'll see you in the morning."
"The REAL morning!" Lori called after him as he left her room.
Chris closed the door behind him and turned around only to bump right into JC. "Whoa!"
"What do you think you're doing?" JC frowned.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to run into you, man."
"That's not what I'm talking about." JC grabbed Chris' arm and led him down the hall. "What ARE you talking about?" Chris wondered.
"Chris, I've watched you with Lori for three years now and I've stood back long enough." JC turned to face Chris when they reached the end of the hallway. "You need to tell her how you feel."
Chris' eyes widened and he pulled his arm away from JC's grip. "What in the hell are you talking about?"
"It's so obvious that you love her," JC replied. "All of us have noticed how you look at her."
Chris could feel the blood rushing through his veins. How DARE JC accuse him of being in love with Lori! "I don't have to listen to this!" he said through clenched teeth. Chris turned around and stomped back to his room.
The door next to JC opened and Justin came out. "What's going on out here?" he asked as Chris slammed his door at the other end of the hall.
"He's in denial..." JC said softly, not taking his eyes off of Chris' door.
Chris sat on his bed, crossed his arms and looked at the wall. Had JC gone mad? That seemed like the only logical explanation. JC was absolutely insane! For Christ's sake, Lori was like his little sister!
"Am I the only one who can see this?" JC asked, still upset about Chris' behavior.
"See what, JC? I don't even know what you're talking about." "He's been in love with her for as long as we've known him! Why won't he just admit it?" JC rambled.
"Who are you talking about?" Justin asked, talking louder than before.
"Chris and Lori."
"Oh! Yeah... I know what you mean. He acts like her big brother but a brother doesn't look at his little sister like that..."
"He really blew up at me when I confronted him about it," JC informed Justin.
Later that night Chris crept out of his room and peeked into Lori's. She was sleeping peacefully on her bed with her feet sticking out of the covers. He wanted to go into her room and hold her while she slept, but he knew that he couldn't. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried not to feel anything, but the second he opened them all of the emotions came back. He shook his head and closed the door. "No, this can't be happening! JC can't be right," he said under his breath.
As he walked back to his room he decided that he couldn't let himself feel this way. He had to do something about it. The problem was... he didn't know what. Maybe he could try and stay away from her. The two of them had seen each other every day for the past four years. Chris sighed. He knew that he couldn't go without her for too long.
Lori woke up at eight thirty the next morning and traveled over to Chris' room. She opened the door and saw him with his head in his pillow. She walked over to his bed and tapped on his shoulder. He didn't move. "Chris, wake up!"
He rolled over and opened an eye.
"What time did you go to bed last night?" she asked.
He groaned and pulled the covers over his head.
Lori giggled and pulled them back down.
"Can't you see I'm sleeping?" he mumbled.
"It's eight thirty!"
"Leave me alone until nine..." Chris frowned at Lori, grabbed the covers away from her and turned over.
"Come on, you promised to spend the whole day with me, Chris." Lori sat on his bed and tugged at his hair.
"Ouch," he mumbled, covering his head and moving away from her so she couldn't reach. "I will at nine. I promise."
"Okay, you win." Lori kissed his cheek and then walked out of his room, shutting the door behind her. JC saw her and gave her a funny look.
"What?" she asked.
JC shook his head. "Nothing... Lance is making French toast in the kitchen if you want some," he informed her. "Is Chris up?"
"He told me not to bother him until nine," Lori answered as she passed JC and walked towards the stairs.
"Well, that's Chris for ya," JC smiled.
Lori was talking with Lance and Joey when she looked up at the clock. It was nine twenty and Chris still wasn't up. "Sorry guys," she said. "But I've gotta go wake up Chris."
"He missed breakfast," Lance pointed out. "The man's gonna starve!"
Lori laughed as she got up from the table. Once up to Chris' room, she opened the door. Yep, he was still sleeping.
"Chris..." she sighed, plopping down on his bed and trying to wake him up.
"It CAN'T be nine yet!" he said, not opening his eyes.
"It's almost nine thirty, Chris. Come on! You're ruining our day!" She said, pulling on his sleeve.
He opened his eyes and grinned at her. "All right, all right!" Without thinking, he grabbed her and pulled her down into his arms.
"I wanted you to get up... not bring me down with you..." Lori commented as she put her head down next to his on the pillow. "You never told me what time you went to bed last night."
"I don't know. I couldn't get to sleep," he mumbled, tempted to kiss her.
"Do I have to drag you out of this bed?" she asked, trying to get up but Chris wouldn't let go. "You promised me that you would get up," she reminded him.
"But it's so nice and warm here," he argued, tickling her from behind.
Lori giggled. "So put on some sweats!" she said as she squirmed in his arms.
Chris put his face in her neck. "Let's just stay here..." he whispered.
His breath on her neck made her shiver. "We should really get up... You promised that we could spend the day together, Chris."
"We're together." He smiled against her skin. "We can get up in a while. I'm really tired."
Lori sighed. "All right..." She felt like she should be uncomfortable being that close to her best friend, but for some reason, she didn't. She got under the covers with him and put her head on his chest.
Chris smiled as he wrapped her arms around her. "We'll get up in a little while. I promise."
"Yeah... we all know how YOUR promises work," Lori chuckled, resting her hand on his chest.
Chris laughed. "Shhh!" he hushed as he closed his eyes.
Lori laid there for a few minutes. She could feel him breathing evenly. 'He must be almost asleep,' she thought. She grinned as she started to tickle his legs with her toes.
Chris jumped. "What are you doing? I'm trying to sleep!" He moved his legs away from her toes. "You know you NEVER win that game anyway..."
"What are you talking about?" she asked, grabbing his arm so he couldn't tickle her. "I ALWAYS win."
"Not when it comes to tickling!" he argued as he reached across her waist with his free hand.
"Stop!" she laughed.
"You asked for it!" He sat up and tickled her till she was laughing so hard that she could hardly breathe.
"Chris! Stop! I can't breathe!" she gasped in between laughs.
"All right... but now we know who the REAL tickle champion is!" he said proudly, raising his arms in the air and waving to a few pretend fans.
Lori laughed at him as she pushed him down on the bed and began to tickle him. He laughed, but not half as much as Lori had. She sat on his chest and tickled him some more.
"You can never win!" he laughed.
She bent over and put her face so that their noses were almost touching. He stopped laughing. "I always win," she reminded him right before giving him a quick kiss on the lips. Then she got off his chest, off the bed and walked out of his room without another word.
Chris sat up in shock and stared at the door. Lori was right. She ALWAYS won. He shook himself out of the trance, hopped out of bed and changed into some clothes.
Lori walked downstairs slowly. She couldn't believe that she had just kissed Chris. Was she crazy?
When she reached the bottom of the stairs, Chris appeared at the top and then ran down. She looked at him. He was already dressed! "Wow! That was fast!" she told him.
He looked at her with a confused look on his face. "Why did you kiss me?"
Lori giggled. "To prove to you that I could win." She paused. "It wasn't supposed to work!"
Chris turned a deep shade of red. "Let's go somewhere," he said, trying to change the subject.
"Okay," Lori agreed, feeling his hand on her arm. He led her to the door. "Wait! I have to get my purse." Lori ran to the kitchen and then came back with her purse over her shoulder. "Where are we going?"
Chris thought for a second. "Um... Let's go see a movie. I wanna see that new Adam Sandler one."
Lori frowned. "I think I've had enough laughing for one day," she said, trying her best to keep a straight face.
He rolled his eyes and smiled as he opened the door. "Let's go..."
She giggled as she walked past him and out the door.
Once in the car, Chris realized that he was hungry. "Hey, we've got an hour or so to kill before the movie. Why don't we go to Perkins?" he suggested.
"Well, if you would have eaten with everyone else..." Lori trailed off.
"I was sleeping."
"Well, I'm not hungry now."
Chris grinned. "Then you can keep me company!"
"Fine, fine..."
He pulled into the Perkins parking lot and found a spot. "Come on!" he said, grabbing her hand once they were out of the car. "I'm starving!"
Lori sighed as he dragged her through the doors.
After Chris had finished eating, they traveled to the mall to look around before the movie started.
"I want some ice cream," Chris announced.
Lori wrinkled her nose. Ice cream gave her a stomach ache. "Ick..."
"You can, 'ick' all you want, but I'm still getting ice cream," he smiled as he looked for an ice cream store. He found one and then paid for a chocolate ice cream cone. He was about to take a lick when Lori bumped his arm leaving chocolate ice cream all over his mouth and nose. "You did NOT just do that..." he said, looking down at the cone.
Chapter 3
A Chance
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