The two of them walked home. Every now and then, Justin would have to pull Chris forward because he was walking too slow. When they reached the front door, Chris stopped completely and stared. "Maybe I'm not ready..." he whispered.
"Yes, you are," Justin told him, opening the door and pushing him in.
Lori saw Chris' tearstained cheeks and ran over to him. She threw her arms around him. "What's wrong, sweetie? Where have you been all day?"
Chris tensed up and closed his eyes. "I don't wanna talk right now," he blurted out as he pushed her away and ran up the stairs. He flung open his door and flopped down on his bed. What was he gonna do?
Downstairs, Lori looked up the stairs in shock. What was wrong with Chris? She turned to Justin. "What..." she trailed off.
"He's upset," Justin told her.
"I can see that! I'm gonna go talk to him..." She was halfway up the stairs when Justin stopped her.
"Maybe that's not such a good idea," he said, grabbing her arm.
"Why not? He's upset and I wanna make him feel better."
Justin sighed. He let her go. There was no way he was gonna be able to stop her. "Okay..."
Lori walked to Chris room and opened the door. He was lying face down with his head in his pillow.
"Go away, Justin..." he mumbled. "You promised me that you would leave me alone if I came back."
"Chris, it's me." Lori told him.
Chris sat up quickly and looked at her. "I don't wanna talk," he said, clutching his pillow.
Lori felt tears in her eyes. "What do you mean, 'if you came back'... were you planning on not coming back?"
"Can you blame me?" Chris asked, wiping his eyes.
Lori walked over to his bed and sat down. "What are you talking about?"
Chris fell back down. "I don't wanna talk about it," he said softly, squeezing his eyes shut.
"Chris, honey... tell me what's wrong." She leaned over and wiped a tear from his face.
"I can't." He opened his eyes and tried to look at her, but it hurt too much so he shut them again. "I just can't."
She sat there and stared at him. He was obviously in pain. But why? "Did I do something to upset you?" she asked, lying down next to him.
Chris opened his eyes and found that her face was right in front of his. "I don't wanna talk about it," he mumbled again as he turning over.
"I did... didn't I?" Lori leaned over his back and looked down at him. "What did I do?"
He took a deep, shaky breath and tried to push her off of him. "I really don't want to talk about it," he repeated again. "Will you leave me alone?"
"No, I won't. You're upset and I'm not gonna leave you alone! I want to make you feel better!" She kissed his cheek and he moved away.
"Please, Lori!" he pleaded.
Lori was about to burst into tears. Why was he shutting her out like this? What had she done? She moved off of Chris and looked up at the ceiling. Suddenly it hit her. "Oh my God... You saw Lance kissing me, didn't you? That was you in the hall!"
When Chris didn't say anything, she knew that he had seen.
Lori pulled on his shoulder and turned him to face her. "Let me explain, Chris," she said grabbing his hands and holding them to her heart.
Chris looked at her as he let his tears fall to the pillow. This was hurting way too much.
"You know that you're the only man I'll ever love," she continued. "Lance is having a few problems with his girlfriend and I was talking to him about it. I don't know why he kissed me, but I didn't kiss him back. I told him not to ever do it again. That's the truth, Chris," she finished.
Chris continued to look at her, taking in what she said. Was it true? He was upset over nothing?
When he didn't say anything, she rolled on top of him and placed delicate kisses on his face until the tears were gone. "Chris, you know I love you," she whispered as his brown eyes stared up into her blue ones. "I'm sorry about what happened, honey. I wish I could take all your pain away."
"I'm okay now," he told her. "But to tell you the truth, I've never been that heartbroken before in my life."
"I'm sorry," she said again. "Where were you all day?"
"Well, I drove around for a while... I'm surprised I'm still alive. I wasn't even paying attention to where I was going. Then I-"
"Oh my God, sweetie! You need to be more careful!" she said, brushing a few braids off his forehead.
Chris chuckled softly. "Well, at the time I really didn't care..."
"Thank God you're okay," Lori whispered, kissing his lips lightly.
"If Justin didn't find me I don't know where I'd be right now..." He then laughed quietly.
"After you stopped driving, where did you end up?"
"In the park," he answered. "I don't know how long I sat there... And then Justin found me. He pulled me back to his car and forced me to come home."
"Is that when Justin called me?"
"No..." Chris smiled. "I sorta got away from him and ran down the street. Needless to say, he caught up with me. That's when he called. Then he finally got me to come home." Chris finished.
Lori smiled at him. "Well, I'm glad that you did."
"I just keep thinking, if I would have just talked to you, then I could have spared myself all that pain..." He wrapped his arms around Lori's waist and kissed her. "Today made me realize just how much I love you and that I could never live without you," he told her when their lips parted.
"I couldn't live without you either, sweetie," Lori replied. "I love you."
Lance sat alone in his room, staring at the ceiling. A few weeks ago, everything was perfect with him and Beth. Now it was a disaster. She was drifting farther and farther away.
Suddenly his cell phone rang and he picked it up. "Hello?"
"Hi, Lance."
"Beth! I'm so glad that you called! I miss you so much!"
"I can't talk long, Lance. I just want to let you know that I haven't forgotten about you. It's just that Steven really needs me now," Beth said, sounding really tired.
Lance's heart fell. There was that name again. Steven. "I understand, Beth," he lied. "When are you gonna come back?"
"A little after the funeral," she replied. "I just need to be here for a while longer and then I'm coming home. I promise."
Lance agreed and then they both hung up. He loved her and she didn't love him back. That was all there was to it.
Lance felt empty and unwanted. He got up and crept out of his room. Maybe someone was still up and he could talk to them. He really hoped that it wasn't Chris. Lance had always had problems lying, and he didn't want to get Lori in trouble. He walked down the hall and bumped right into Chris. Lance took in a breath, being grateful that Chris didn't have a clue that he had kissed Lori. Or did he?
Chris took one look at Lance and felt like knocking his lights out, but he controlled himself. "Hey, Lance," he said slowly, putting his hands behind his back so he wouldn't do anything stupid.
Lance looked at Chris and noticed the angry look in his eyes. Great. Lori must have told him. "Um..." he mumbled, backing off. "I've gotta go..."
Chris grabbed his arm. "Not so fast," he said as he pulled Lance back. "We need to talk..."
Lance shut his eyes and braced himself, not saying a word.
"What were you thinking, Lance? Do you know what I went through today?" Chris asked in a hurt voice.
Lance's muscles relaxed when he realized Chris wasn't gonna hurt him. "I'm sorry, Chris," he apologized. "I don't know what was going through my head. It was a stupid thing to do and I really wish that I hadn't... but..." Chris sighed. "But you can't change the past," he finished for Lance.
"I'll never touch her again. I promise."
Chris closed his eyes and took a breath. "It's okay. I know you didn't mean to cause trouble." He let go of Lance arm and took a step back. "Lori told me about you and Beth. Do you wanna talk about it?"
Lance felt tears well up in his eyes at the mention of Beth's name. "Yeah," he whispered.
Chris led him down the stairs and they sat at the kitchen table. "Now, why don't you think Beth loves you?"
"She's always with Steven," he admitted. "It seems like every time I get a chance to spend time with her, she can't because she's with him."
Chris noticed the tears in his eyes. "If she doesn't love you, then she doesn't deserve you," he told him.
Lance let his tears fall onto his cheeks. "But I love her!" he cried. "I want to be with her!"
"Lance, you don't even know that she doesn't love you. You can't just jump to conclusions."
Lance put his head on the table and didn't say anything.
"Lance..." Chris started.
"Then why does it hurt this much!" he yelled, lifting his head off the table.
"Shh!" Chris hushed as he leaned forward. "You're gonna wake everyone up!"
"I'm sorry," Lance muttered, looking away from Chris..
Just then, Lori walked into the kitchen and over to Chris. "What are you two doing in the kitchen so late at night?" she asked.
"Talking," Chris answered as Lance covered his face with his hands.
"Lance, are you all right?"
"No," he answered, getting up from the table and walking back to his room.
"I feel so bad for him," Chris said as Lori pulled him to his feet. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and smiled. "Lets go back to bed."
They walked slowly up the stairs and down the hallway. Right before they reached Chris' door, Lori heard something coming from JC's room.
"I'll be right there," she told Chris.
Chris gave her a funny look and then smiled. "Don't be long..." he said softly.
Lori gave him a quick kiss. "I won't," she promised.
"Please be REALLY quick!" he begged as he disappeared behind his door.
Lori turned to JC's door and knocked quietly.
After a moment of silence, she heard him say, "Come in."
She opened the door and saw JC sitting under the blankets on his bed. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" he asked as she sat down by his feet.
"Well," Lori started, looking at him. He was completely dressed under those covers and his hair was sticking up. "First of all, why aren't you in your pajamas? It's really late."
JC turned red and looked at her with guilty eyes.
"Where have you been?" Lori asked, examining his face.
"Nowhere," JC answered. When he looked up at her he could tell that he was caught. The look on her face said it all. Damn.
Lori looked back into JC's eyes. He was lying. "JC..." she started.
"Okay, okay," he said, throwing off the blankets and getting up. "Maybe I did go somewhere."
"Why did you feel like you needed to hide it from me?" Lori wondered.
JC sighed as he started to pick up various things off of his floor and set them in their right places. "Because I just felt that..." he trailed off.
"You felt that what?" Lori prompted, watching him throw a piece of paper into the trash. "Do you clean when you're nervous?"
JC turned around and looked at her. "What?"
"Do you clean when you're nervous?" she repeated.
"I don't know..."
"Wait, wait... I'm sorry that I changed the subject." Lori got up and pulled JC down next to her. "Why did you feel that you had to lie to me?"
JC sighed again. "I didn't want anyone to know who I was visiting."
"Why? Who were you visiting?"
JC fell back on his bed and closed his eyes. "Alicia," he said quickly.
"Alicia!" Lori almost yelled. "I thought it was over between you two!"
JC thought about it for a while and then said, "Well, it was... but she called earlier today and said that she wanted to see me. So I went over there... and..."
"And what?"
"And..."
"You didn't!"
"I couldn't help it! I've been so down lately that I didn't know what to do. I felt better at the time... but now I feel awful. Like, empty inside..." he finished.
"She shouldn't make you feel like that, JC," Lori said, looking down at him. "You shouldn't feel empty."
"I know... but I didn't know what else to do! I don't think I'll ever find the right girl."
"Don't say that. You will some day."
"I can't wait till some day. I need her now!"
Just then there was a knock at the door and Chris' head appeared. "Lori..." he whined.
"I'll be there in one minute, Chris," she told him.
Chris smiled and then disappeared.
"I have to go, JC. I just wanna tell you to be careful. I don't think that Alicia is the right girl for you..." she got up and walked towards the door.
"Don't tell Chris... please, Lori," JC pleaded.
Lori sighed. She hated keeping things from Chris but JC really didn't want anyone to know. "I won't, JC..." Lori promised. "Unless he tickles it out of me!" she added.
JC smiled as she shut the door. What a long night this was gonna be.
Lori opened Chris' door and smiled at him.
"Come here!" he demanded, holding out his arms. "I missed you!"
Lori walked over to him and he pulled her down on the bed. "I was only gone for ten minutes, Chris..."
"Every second we're not together I'm missin' you," Chris whispered in her ear, making her shiver.
He started to unbutton her pajama shirt but she stopped him. "Chris, I told you that I wasn't ready yet," Lori said, frowning at him.
Joey was all alone in his room thinking. He couldn't sleep. The only thing that was on his mind was Kelly. He had given her his number and he hoped that she would call him tomorrow. Joey couldn't wait to see her and be able to spend time with her again. He smiled just thinking about it.
"But that was last night," Chris argued.
"Ugh!" Lori groaned, pushing him away and rushing back to her own room. Why did he act so stupid sometimes? If she wasn't ready last night, what made him think that she was ready tonight?
She snuggled into her blankets and stared at the wall. For some reason she couldn't get to sleep. But then again, she had only been lying there for five minutes.
Lori was almost asleep when the door swung open and she jumped. It was Chris. He ran over to her and got on his knees by her bed. "I'm really sorry... I'm such an idiot! Please forgive me!" he begged. "I promise that I won't act like that again unless you want me to."
"Chris, I'm really tired," Lori told him. "Can't we talk about this in the morning?"
"No! I need you to forgive me now!"
"I forgive you. Now can I go to sleep?" She asked, lying her head back on the pillow and closing her eyes.
"Can I hold you?" he asked.
"Sure..." she mumbled and he got into bed with her.
They both fell asleep quickly in each other's arms.
At ten the next morning, everything was crazy. Everyone was rushing around, trying to get packed for their next tour. Tomorrow morning they were taking off to New York for the first concert.
"JC, where's my blue shirt?" Joey called down the hall. "You know, the one with the stripe across it..."
A shirt flew out of JC's room, hit the wall and then landed on the floor. Joey picked it up. "Thanks!" He walked back to his room and shoved the shirt into the suitcase. When his cell phone rang he jumped. "Hello?" he said, putting the phone to his ear.
"Joey!" he heard Kelly say.
"Oh God, I'm so glad that you called!" Joey smiled. "We're leaving for our next tour tomorrow so we HAVE to do something today."
"Tomorrow!" Kelly exclaimed. "I'm gonna miss you so much!"
"I'm gonna miss you too, but I'll call you ALL the time," he promised. "Why don't you come over here now and we can spend some time together. I'm almost done packing."
"Okay!" Kelly said, cheering up. "I'll be right there! Bye, Joey."
"Bye," Joey smiled and then hung up.
He sat on his suitcase and tried to shut it.
"Can I help you with that?" Justin asked from the door way.
Chapter 9
A Chance
Group {Fiction}
My Fiction
I'll Never Stop {Fiction}
Email me