“Lift up your leg,” I instructed as I put a pillow under Alex’s swollen ankle. “Advil?”
“Oh, yes please.”
I walked into the bathroom where she had piled all her toiletries and pulled out the medicine bottle. Sitting next to her things lied a silver bracelet Nate had given her for her birthday. I shook my head before filling up a glass of water and walking back to my friend.
“So, I couldn’t help but notice that things with you and Justin seem to be coming along well.”
She swallowed the pill and smiled. “Yup, they sure are.”
“What about Nate?”
“What about him?”
“Please don’t play oblivious. You and him have been doing pretty good these past couple of months.”
“You know what our relationship is like. It’s very loose and open. We do date other people.”
“You’ve only done that once and things were so weird for awhile after that.”
“Elizabeth, come here,” she sighed, patting her bed.
“What?”
“Don’t worry about me and Nate. He knows that I like Justin.”
“It was a celebrity crush, Alex. Infatuation, not an actual relationship.”
“Listen, I know you’re worried that things will go bad between us like they did with you and Scott, but it’s different.”
“Alex...”
“Concentrate on you and Lance.”
“I...”
“Lance.”
I was too afraid to think about Lance and me. Every time I did I was sent into a whirlwind of emotions that made up the last couple of days. There were conflicting emotions telling me to go for it and at the same time to wait for Scott.
“I think I’m just gonna take a nap.” I kicked off my shoes and climbed into my hotel bed, burying my head deep into my pillow.
-
The next morning I awoke to the sound of the Our Lady Peace song ’Car Crash’ playing. Alex stood over me on her crutches, smiling. “It works every time!” my friend laughed, knowing it was the only thing that would wake me up in the morning.
“What time is it?” I mumbled, shielding my eyes from the sun.
“It’s 9:30. And let me tell you, I have been up for ever. It has been so boring with you sleeping, so I finally got you up.”
“It’s too early,” I whined. The phone began to ring, and I glared at it. “Too early,” I repeated.
“I’ll get it.”
“No, I have it.” I reached over to the night stand that sat in between beds and picked up the noisy machine. “Hello?”
“Hi!” a voice answered cheerfully on the other end.
“Um, hi.”
“Is this Liz?”
“Yes, and this would be?”
“It’s Chris.”
“That explains a lot.”
“So... ya wanna go out to breakfast with us? Since Lance and Justin are so hung up on you two we thought...”
“Shut the hell up, man,” a voice yelled from the background. More noise came through the phone as the boys bickered amongst themselves.
“Hello?” a new voice asked a moment later.
“Hi.”
“Hey, it’s JC. Please excuse that moron. He downed a six pack of Surge this morning.”
“Are you serious?”
“No, but he acts like he did. Are you up for breakfast cause we’re almost to your hotel?”
“You are?” I yelped, jumping out of bed.
“Yeah, we should be there in five minutes.”
“Okay, sure. We may not be ready when you get here though. I just got out of bed.”
“No problem. Just don’t take too long. Joey’s super hungry.”
“We’ll see you in five then?”
“Yup.”
“Okay, bye.”
I hung up the phone and began to run around our hotel room like a madwoman.
“What?” Alex asked, slightly confused.
“They’re gonna be here in like four minutes to pick us up for breakfast.”
“No.”
“You might wanna hurry up.”
I was slipping my sandals over my feet when there was a knock on the door. I glanced to the clock that read 9:45. They were exactly on time.
“I’m coming!” After fumbling with the lock I opened the door to see a smiling Chris and Justin.
“Good morning,” Chris chirped as he came into the room and sat down on Alex’s bed.
“Morning Chris. Aren’t we bright and chipper?”
“I still haven’t figured how he does it,” Justin grumbled, leaning against the wall. “He’s the early bird of the group. Every day he’s up with all the energy of a kindergarten class. It’s irritating as all hell if you ask...” I watched as a light appeared in his tired eyes when he saw Alex emerging from the bathroom.
“Hey guys,” she smiled as she wobbled by. “I’m almost ready don’t worry.”
“How are you doing?” Justin asked, going to her.
“It is twenty times harder to do anything with these stupid crutches. I swear, it’s gonna take me an hour just to make it downstairs to the lobby.”
“Do you want me to carry you down?”
A hopeful smile slid across her face at his offer. “Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously.”
“You mind carrying these bad boys down for me, Liz?” she asked.
“No.”
“Good. Let’s go then.” Justin leaned down for her to climb onto his back and she wrapped her arms tightly around him. She was in complete Heaven.
The four of us made our way to the rest of the guys, and we eventually got settled in the van that took us to a little Mom and Pop restaurant called Angelo’s. It was the kind of place you would expect to see on a country road, not the bustling streets of New York City. Our group was seated at a long table towards the back.
“So how did you hurt your ankle, Alex?” Joey asked, digging into his plate full of eggs and bacon.
“Justin wouldn’t admit that hockey was better than basketball,” she stated simply.
A surprised Justin turned away from he plate of food to stare at the girl sitting next to him. “You’re gonna blame it on me?”
“Yup.”
“Whatever, Red. It wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t complained about your back being sore. You brought it all on yourself.”
“Like hell I did. If you hadn’t said anything about those two down there,” she nodded to Lance and me, “then I wouldn’t have had to lie about it.”
“You really should have come up with a better lie then. You wouldn’t have slipped if you had.”
“Oh, so you want me to be able to lie easily? Is that what you’re saying? I should be able to lie through my teeth at the drop of a hat?”
“Well, no, but...”
“That’s what I thought. It’s your fault.” She sat back in her chair triumphantly.
“Does anybody know what they’re talking about?” JC asked, an incredibly confused look across his face, similar to the ones that graced his friends’ features. Nobody was really able to follow the bantering of Justin and Alex, not even me.
“It’s nothing,” Justin answered.
“Yeah, J-dawg here just doesn’t know how to admit that he’s responsible for the pain that I am currently in.”
“It was not...”
“Don’t start again. Please, don’t start again,” Lance sighed.
“Where are you guys going to school?” Chris asked, attempting to broaden the conversation to something more than an argument.
“I’m going to Central Michigan...”
“Fire up Chips,” I smiled.
“Are you going there also?” JC questioned me.
“Nope, I’m going to a different Central, sunny University of Central Florida .”
“No kidding?” Lance smiled to me.
“Yup, come the end of August I’ll be a Floridian.”
“I’m surprised you guys aren’t going to the same school as tight as you two seem,” Joey commented.
“This girl has wanted to go to UCF for as long as I’ve known her, and that’s a long time. Me, on the other hand, I can just imagine what the humidity down there would do to my hair. It may end up lookin’ like Justin’s, and that’s scary.”
“What are you gonna study at CMU, Red? How to do the Irish jig and plant four leaf clovers?”
“Psychology actually. I’ll be able to pick apart your multiple personalities. So is it J-dawg or Justin Randall?”
“What are you studying, Elizabeth?” Lance said, turning he’s attention away from his friends and focusing his bright green eyes on me.
“I’m actually not decided yet. There’s so many things I would love to do. Architecture, teaching, culinary arts, writing... I would love to write children’s books one day,” I smiled.
“Really?”
“Absolutely.”
“Oh no,” he groaned. “They’re doing it again.” I followed his gaze over to my best friend who was looking back at us.
“I didn’t say anything,” Justin said, defensively holding up his hands in front of him.
“Shut up, Justin. They didn’t say you did.”
“Lance,” I whined. “Why do they keep doing that?”
“I don’t know,” he smiled, gently pushing a fallen strand of hair from my pony tail away from my face. “But I wouldn’t worry too much about what they’re saying. It’s probably not that big of a deal. It wasn’t yesterd...”
“You know what they said yesterday?” I moved to the edge of my chair.
“Um, yeah, I do.”
“And?”
“I-I don’t wanna say.” He turned his gaze down to the table as his face began to redden.
“Why not?”
“Cause.”
“You’re trying to get me to beg, aren’t you?”
“It wouldn’t be a bad thing,” he said slyly.
“Just tell me or I’ll... I’ll...”
“You’ll what?”
“I don’t know,” I sighed. “I can’t think of anything vicious to do.”
“You’re too nice.”
“I know. It’s a flaw I’ve always had to deal with. My best comeback has always been calling people loser. It’s a pathetic sight.”
“I see nothing pathetic,” he said, eyeing me carefully. His action caused my face to turn bright red. He smiled at being able to make me blush easily and leaned in closer to me. “Fine, I’ll tell you.”
“Thank you.”
“All Justin said was he could see me and you as an old married couple.”
I leaned back from him and let what was said sink in. “An old mar... I don’t think...”
“Like I said, it wasn’t that big of a deal. I think we’re a long way away from that.”
“Yeah, I think so.” I sat there as a daze settled over me. I knew I was taking it entirely too close to heart; it was no big deal as Lance had said, but as little as I wanted to admit it tugged at something deep inside me. The last person I had even daydreamed about being married to was Scott. I had always felt that the two of us were going to be in it for the long run...
“What are we going to do today?” Joey’s voice interrupted my thoughts.
“Shopping,” Justin smiled. “I’m definitely up for some shopping.”
-
It amazed me how much the guys bought while we were out. By the time we had reached FAO Swartz each had at least four huge bags full of everything you could imagine. I was curious to see what their money would be spent on at the toy store.
“I’ll see you guys in half an hour,” Lance smiled as we walked in. “I’m so gonna go play on that big piano from Big. I love that thing.”
“You always head straight for it whenever we come here,” JC pointed out.
“I know. I know. I’m addicted. ” He turned to look at me. “Do you want to come with?”
“Well...”
“It’ll be lots of fun. We can play chopsticks.” He gazed at me with two big puppy dog eyes. It was too adorable seeing him this excited. I was having a hard time turning him down. “Please.”
“Alex and I were actually gonna hit the dress up clothes. It’s kind of this weakness for the both of us.”
I could see the disappointment in his eyes though he tried to cover it. “That’s okay,” he said, unexpectedly reaching over and squeezing my hand. “Female bonding. I understand.”
“Come on, Liz. Let’s go!” Alex hit me in the leg with her crutch. “We don’t have all day.
“I’m coming. I’ll see you in a little bit, Lance.”
“Have fun.”
Alex leaned into me before whispering, “Stop staring at the boy and let’s go.”
A few minutes and a few floors later the two of us were surrounded by sequins, feathers, and lots and lots of pink.
“Look at that tiara,” Alex squealed as she head toward a silver and rhinestone crown and put it on her head. “Oh my God! Oh my God! I won!” She was waving her hands in front of her, doing her best Miss USA impression. I almost doubled over laughing.
“Dork.” I picked up a wand and began twirling around with it. “This is so cool.”
“It definitely screams Elizabeth Fairwood.”
“Are there any damsels in distress that need rescuing over here?” a voice said from behind me. I turned around to see a twenty two year old wearing a long red cape and what looked like underwear over his clothes.
“Joey,” I giggled. “What are you doing?”
“What are you laughing at? I’m Superman.”
“I’m sure you are.”
“If you’re Superman, then I just won the Miss Teen USA pageant.”
“Nah,” he smiled. “I’ve met those girls. They’re not nearly as cool as you.”
“Aw shucks, Joey. I feel so loved. If only it wasn’t coming from a guy with underwear over his shorts.”
“Usually we wear them underneath,” I whispered to him.
“It’s too bad you two aren’t following this trend. You have some very nice underwear on.”
“How would you know?”
“I have X-ray vision. I am Superman after all.”
“Oh my God. I’ve never felt so dirty in my life,” I shuddered in disgust.
“That’s so wrong,” Alex mumbled, wobbling away from him. “So very wrong.”
“It’s time to meet everybody anyways,” I laughed.
“I’ll see ya in a few minutes; Superman needs to turn back into Clark Kent.”
I caught up to Alex where she was shaking her head. “So so very wrong.”
-
“What is your wish, Justin?” I asked. He thought for a moment about what he wanted from his ‘fairy godmother’ as they called me because of the wand I just bought and Alex’s tiara. So far JC had asked for more wishes, and Chris had wished for Justin to stop stalking him. “He’s always right there everywhere I go,” he had complained. “It’s starting to creep me out.”
“My wish is...” He sat there thoughtfully staring at the ceiling of the van. “I wish I had more time with my little brothers.”
“You’re wish is my command,” I smiled at him, tapping his shoulder lightly with my wand.
Alex slid closer to him on the seat and slipped her hand into his. I watched how it relaxed him, and he leaned over to kiss her forehead gently. I felt a twinge of jealousy deep within me as I saw this, but tried to push it aside.
“Alex?”
“My turn?”
“Yup.”
“I wish for understanding from a friend back in Michigan, that he realizes that I know what I’m doing.”
She rose her gaze to meet mine, and her eyes silently begged me not to say anything. I knew she was talking about Nate in connection to her relationship with Justin. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for my friend who was in the dark about the things that were taking place in New York. I prayed that Alex really did know exactly what she was doing. I was just going to have to trust her that she was following her heart on this one.
“Granted.” She smiled at me as I lowered the wand to her. “Joey?”
“I wish I really did have X-ray vision.”
“NO!” all six passengers said at once.
“No good could come from that,” I sighed. “My powers will not be used for evil. Wish denied.”
“Joey just got hoed by the fairy godmother,” Chris laughed from the front seat.
“At least I’m not convinced that boy wonder over there is stalking me.”
“Can you really blame him? What’s not to want in this body?”
“You are one sexy bitch, Chris,” Justin said, licking his lips suggestively at him.
“And don’t you forget it, baby.”
I turned to the blond haired person sitting next to me, laughing at his friends. “Lance?”
“My wish is that even after you guys leave here and we leave here that we’ll still keep in touch.”
“I think that’s the best wish I’ve heard in all my career as a fairy godmother. It is definitely granted. Is that everybody?”
“Oh no, you’re not getting away that easily,” Lance smiled. “You still need to wish for something.”
“I can’t grant myself a wish. It’s against the rules.”
“Who said anything about you granting you own wish?” He gently lifter the tiara away from my hair and placed it on his head before wrapping his fingers around the wand, his hand brushing over mine. “Just call me your fairy godfather.”
“Lance is a fairy,” Joey laughed.
“Shut up, Joey, before I shove this wand where the sun don’t shine.”
“Damn, boy.”
“Now, what is your wish, my darlin’.”
“I wish that...” My memory fell onto a stuffed bear I had been playing with while we waited for everyone at the toy store. “I wish that I had one of those teddy bears from FAO Swartz. They were just the most adorable things I’ve ever seen. It reminded me so much of this one stuffed animal I had when I was little. I know you can’t really give me my wish but I’ll just have to go back and...”
“Your wish is my command,” he smiled, pressing the wand against my lips to silent my babble.
“How...” He reached under the seat into one of the many bags that cluttered the van and pulled out a fuzzy haired bear with a midnight blue ribbon around his neck. “Lance.”
“I saw how you completely fell in love with it at the store, so when you guys walked out I got it for you. I was going to give it to you later, but I am your fairy godfather, and my job is to grant your wish.”
“Thank you,” I smiled, taking the bear in my hands. “It’s so... Thank you.” I wrapped my arms around his neck in a quick hug.
“I’m glad you like it.”
“Damn you’re good,” Joey said from Lance’s other side. “You think you could do anything about my wish?”
“No!”
“I never imagined that a place called Big Bob’s Miniature Golf could be so nice,” JC said, picking his orange ball up from the tenth hole. “I expected it to be pretty cheesy.”
“Where did you find this place anyway, Joey?” I held my hand out to Elizabeth as we crossed over a wooden bridge covering a small river.
“I used to come here with Steve when I was little. Of course back then it was called Jon Jon’s, and it had this big pink elephant on the last hole. Actually it was pretty cheesy back then.”
The seven of us began walking over to the eleventh hole where Alex put her ball down on the green. There was a serious look of concentration on her face as she held her club. “I am beautiful,” she muttered under her breath as she hit the ball carefully, still being balanced on her crutches.
“What was that?” Justin asked her.
“Nothin’ J-dawg,” she smiled, watching it roll into the hole. “Nothin’ at all.”
“We used to take golf lessons when we were like 10,” Elizabeth whispered to me. “Our instructor always used to have us say that when we messed up or something. Fun stuff, huh?”
“You guys took golf lessons?” I laughed. “That’s funny.”
“Yeah, we’re big losers. I was even in the chess club.”
“Oh, I have stories that can top that,” I said, getting ready to take my turn. “I could top that easily.” I brought my club back to hit the ball when a streak of lightning lit up the sky.
“That can’t be good,” JC said. “I guess we should head back before it starts to pour.”
“What? You don’t think we should stand here amongst all this water holding these metal golf clubs? Why not?”
“Chris, if you wanna stay here and get electrocuted, I’m sure not too many people will be disappointed at your loss.”
“I’d miss you, Chris,” Elizabeth said, putting her hand on his shoulder. “Besides, I absolutely love the rain.”
As if on her command the sky opened up and a downpour began, soaking us almost instantly. We quickly ran to the small building to return our equipment and then to the car.
“Run!” Justin yelled to us, swinging the side door of the van open. We climbed in quickly, and JC started up the engine.
“Do we have everybody?”
“Where’s Elizabeth?” I asked, looking at the empty seat next to me.
“Oh no,” Alex sighed. She pointed out the window at the girl twirling around in circles in the parking lot, water dripping down her face and her clothes sticking to every curve of her body.
“What is she doing?” JC asked in disbelief.
“Um, did you hear her earlier? She loves the rain. More importantly she loves playing in the rain.”
“Liz!” Joey yelled. “Come on, let’s go.”
“I’m coming,” she yelled back, making no attempt to move in the direction of the waiting car.
“You’re going to get sick,” I called to her.
“No, I’m not.”
“Fairwood, you’re an idiot,” her friend sighed, shaking her head. “A complete idiot.”
“For the love of God,” I mumbled, climbing out of the car and running to her. “Do you want to get sick?”
“I’m not going to get sick. A little water never hurt anybody.” She reached up and wiped some of the rain off my face. I stared at her as the feeling of her fingertips lingered on my skin. “See, no harm done,” she whispered.
I shook off the unfamiliar feeling that was growing inside of me. “You are the most stubborn person I have ever met.”
“I’m not stubborn. I’m just having fun.” She laughed while twirling around again.
“Let’s go,” I smiled.
“But...” I leaned over and threw her over my shoulder before turning back to the car. “Lance! Put me down! Please, I hate being picked up.”
“We’re almost to the car, don’t worry.”
“Can’t a girl have any fun?”
“You won’t be having fun when you’re sick.” I set her down when we reached the van, and we climbed into our seats.
“I’m... not... going... to... get... sick!” she attempted to say when she sneezed. She looked at us all sheepishly and sunk down in her seat as we drove to our hotel. “That doesn’t prove a thing. Not a single thing.”
We made it to the hotel about twenty minutes later, and the rain had still not let up. The seven of us made it up to the tenth floor when Justin suggested hanging out in his room.
“You guys all have your own rooms?” Alex asked.
“God yes,” Chris said. “This is our vacation. I want to spend as little time with these guys as possible.”
“We love you too, Chris.”
“Hey, you are the ones who wanted to see me electrocuted. Only the sick one said she’d miss me.” He wrapped his arm around Elizabeth’s shoulders, but quickly took it back. “Damn you’re wet.”
“Huh?” she asked, snapping out of a daze.
“Nothing.”
Justin finally found his key card and opened the door to his room. “Um, wow, that’s messier than I remember. Just give me a second to clean this all up. Why don’t you guys go get some dry clothes on so ya’ll don’t get everything in here wet.”
“Um, what should we...” Alex began.
“Come with me, ladies,” JC said, leading them down the hall. “I’ll get you something to change into.”
A few minutes later we were all sitting around in Justin’s newly cleaned room. I could tell that he was a little embarrassed that his room was trashed the first time Alex had seen it.
I looked around the room at everybody talking and such. Justin and Alex were arguing, as usual. This time it was over which one would have won at golf if we had finished the game. To be honest I think it would have been Alex for this one. Joey and Chris were playing some new game on Playstation. JC was in the corner talking on his cell phone to his girlfriend, Bobbi, who was home in California. He had finally gotten a chance to see her before we left for New York, but she wasn’t very happy with him after he told her he had to leave again. From the look on his face, I think they had gotten over that little argument.
My eyes finally landed on the unusually quiet figure curled up next to me. Elizabeth’s eyes were glazed over and every few seconds I could hear a sniffle come from her. I reached over to the table and grabbed a Kleenex.
“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”
“What?” She turned to look up at me and took the tissue from my hand. “Oh, um, yeah, I’m fine. I’m just a little cold. You know, my hair’s still a bit wet.”
“Hey, Jay?” I called. “Do you have any sinus medicine?”
“Sure.” He jumped up from the bed and ran into the bathroom.
“I-I don’t need any, if that’s why you asked for it.” Elizabeth quickly sat up and looked at me through wide eyes.
“Yes, you do.”
“Why? I’m not sick.”
“Why are you being so stubborn?”
“Here ya go.” Justin came over with a bottle of water and two small blue pills.
“Are you authorized to be giving out medication?”
“Elizabeth, just take it. You’ll feel better.”
“Fine!” She grabbed the pills out of his outstretched hand roughly and eventually swallowed them. “Are you happy now?” she asked, glaring at me.
“I’m thrilled.”
“And I’m not stubborn.”
“Hey guys,” Joey said, looking away from the video game. “Let’s do something. I’m getting bored.”
“Yeah, he’s just sick of losing.”
“Whatever, old man. I can take you any day of the week.” Chris jumped up and began running around the room. Joey was close behind.
“I dare you to try.”
“You dare me?” Joey momentarily stopped chasing after his prey. “We could play that. Truth or Dare anybody?” We all exchanged glances and shrugged. It was better than nothing.
“I haven’t played this game since I was 13,” Justin said, sitting down on the floor in front of Chris’s chair. “This should be interesting.”
“Who wants to go first?” I asked.
“Joey, you suggested the game. You pick.”
“Okay...” I watched his gaze go around the circle and finally stop. A curious glimmer came into his eyes. “Liz, truth or dare?”
“Truth.”
“Good. I was hoping you would chose that. I know I’ve been wondering just what you and Lance did when you were in the bathroom.”
“Oh my God,” Alex sighed. “Such a waste of a good question.”
“Nothing. We just...” She covered her mouth as she yawned. “Damn, Justin. What did you give me?”
“It’s not my turn to answer the question.”
“We just talked.”
“About?” Joey prompted.
“Stuff,” I answered for her, shooting my friends a look of warning. For what reason they still didn’t believe that we just talked, I didn’t know, but the subject needed to be dropped.
“It’s my turn now, right?” Elizabeth asked, lifting her head off my shoulder.
“Sure is.”
“Chris, truth or dare?”
“Dare all the way baby.”
“I was afraid of that,” she sighed. “I’m terrible at coming up with dares.” She sat there and began to chew on her lower lip as she tried to come up with a suitable dare. “Um, okay. I dare you to keep your hands at your sides for the next 24 hours. You can’t take them away for any reason. Nothing.”
“What if I had to open a door?”
“Nope.”
“Brushing my teeth?”
“Uh-uh.”
“Going pee?”
“Nothing.”
Chris stared at her for a second in disbelief. “How am I supposed to...”
“Nothing.”
“Fine. I can do this. No problem.”
“You just caused him his death,” I whispered into Elizabeth’s ear. “He takes dares seriously, man. And he uses his hands for everything.”
She yawned again as she turned her head to look at me, not knowing how close to her I actually was. I met her gaze before allowing myself to lower it to her lips. She smiled when she saw this and giggled lightly. “I’m sure he’ll be able to handle it. Just make sure he doesn’t cheat.”
“Right,” I said, trying to turn my attention back to the game at hand, but I couldn’t help but be aware of how close she was to me right now or how good she smelled.
“JC?” Chris asked.
“Dare.”
“I dare you to kiss Alex on the lips for, oh, lets say a minute.” That got my full attention. This was going to get interesting.
“Hell no,” Justin began. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Dude, Justin, chill.”
“Um, I don’t know about this,” Alex said, shifting uncomfortably between the two guys on the floor.
“It’s just a dare, you guys,” Chris said. “It’s no big deal, just a little kiss.”
“Okay.” The two of them turned to each other and leaned into a pretty simple kiss. A few seconds later, however, they began to get a little more into it. JC rose his hand to Alex’s face and pulled her a little closer to him, deepening the pressure.
“Oh wow, look at that. It’s been a minute,” Justin said, his voice cracking.
“Shut up,” Joey said, watching his watch. “It’s only been 30 seconds.”
“Are you sure,” he asked, watching Alex bring her hand into JC’s hair.
“Yes.”
“Now?”
“45 seconds.”
“This is the longest minute of my life!”
“Seven...six...five...four...three...two...one.”
The two of them drew apart from each other a moment later, both looking fairly satisfied.
“Well, wasn’t that nice,” smiled Chris.
“Damn, Justin. You need to calm yourself down.”
“No, oh hell no. You just kissed her and, well, you looked like you enjoyed it.”
“Maybe I did.”
“What!”
“JC, man, you’re treading on some thin ice. Don’t,” I said, shaking my head. I knew exactly where Justin was coming from. If the situation would have been a little different, I’d be reacting the same way.
“It was just a simple kiss, Jay.”
“Justin, please don’t get upset. It was just a dare,” Alex said, moving closer to him.
“I so did not like seeing that,” he sighed. She leaned into him and whispered something into his ear and kissed his cheek. A smile spread across his face. “You promise?”
“Absolutely.”
“Hey, Lance. Your turn. Truth or dare.”
“Um, I think I’ll stick with the dare theme going right now.”
“Good deal.” JC paused, thinking of a dare. “I dare you and Liz to...”
“Before you finish that statement just remember she’s not feeling good.”
“I’m not sick,” she said.
“Right, of course not,” I laughed, rolling my eyes. “You’re in perfect health.” She looked up and stuck her tongue out at me.
“Let me think of something else then. Okay, I want ya’ll to switch clothes.”
“But she’s wearing your clothes,” I pointed out. “That doesn’t make very much sense.”
“That’s not the point.”
“It’s not?” she asked.
“No, it’s not the point.”
“Okay, so you want her to wear my clothes and me to wear yours, basically.”
“Basically.”
“JC, man, that’s one of the stupidest things you’ve ever come up with. Aren’t you supposed to be the intellectual of the group?”
“So you don’t want to do it?”
I looked over at Elizabeth to see if she was okay with the whole idea. She smiled meekly. “Fine, we’ll do it I guess.” I paused momentarily. “Um, where?”
“How bout in the bathroom? You two seem to like it in there.”
“Shut up, Chris.”
I took her hand and led her over to the bathroom and closed the door behind us. I took in all of Justin’s ‘beauty supplies’ lying all over the counter and let out a low chuckle. I looked over to where Elizabeth was standing awkwardly. She was beginning to look worse.
“Hey sweetie?” I said, stepping over to her. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay. You’re looking a little pale.”
She pushed a bottle of gel out of the way and lifted herself to the counter. “I’m always pale.” She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes.
“Is that medicine making you tired?”
“Uh-huh. I’m very sleepy.”
“Well,” I began, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, “let’s change clothes quickly then you can lay down on Justin’s bed, okay?”
“That sounds good.”
“Um, how should we do this?” I was suddenly unsure of what to do. I wanted to get this done quickly so she could rest. My protective side was coming out. I also wanted to be polite about how it was done.
“This is your dare, Lance. I don’t know.”
“Do you want me to go into the shower?”
“No, you don’t have to do that.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m just gonna turn around this way, okay?”
As she mumbled her response, I quickly slid off my sweatshirt and wife beater I had on and handed them to her. As I did I let my eyes wander down her. The only thing I could think of to say was beautiful. She pulled the shirts over her and turned her head to see me staring at her.
“Lance?”
“What?” I asked, my face turning red as I realized I had been caught.
“What were you doing?
“I-I was just, um, stretching my neck a little bit. It was get...”
“You were peeking.”
“No.”
“Yes, you were.”
I turned around after pulling JC’s old Hard Rock Cafe T-shirt on and smiled sheepishly at her. She looked fairly goofy, drowning in my clothes that were more than a few sized too big for her. “I’m really sorry. I couldn’t help it. You just look pretty funny right now.”
“Oh, thanks a lot.”
“No! I don’t mean it in a bad way, seriously. You look incredibly cute right now. I’m having a hard time staying over here.”
“Really?”
“Yup.”
“You know, you don’t have to stay over there.” There was a glimmer in her eye as she took a small step closer to me.
“I don’t?”
“No,” she smiled as I came up to her. “Cause I was just thinking that you looked really cute too.” She placed her palms flat against my stomach as I wrapped my arms around her waist.
“Thank you,” I said softly, pulling her closer to me. My eyes locked on hers as we stood there. I could feel her hands slowly slide up against my chest and wrap around my neck. We were a whisper apart from one another, and I found myself thanking God for JC’s less than ingenious dare. Our lips were finally about to touch when she turned her head quickly to sneeze.
“Oh God,” she said, turning away from me and grabbing tissues off the counter. “I’m sorry, Lance.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it. I told you that you were going to get sick from the rain, but you wouldn’t listen to me.”
“I wasn’t feeling well this morning actually. I guess the rain didn’t help it too much.”
“Let’s just finish this dare, so we can put you to bed. Does that sound good?”
“Yeah.”
We finished changing into each other’s clothes quickly. She leaned into me for a hug, and I wrapped my arms around her tightly.
“You know, you’re really good at taking care of me when I’m down. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me so far.”
I smiled down at her and quickly kissed her warm forehead. “You make it so easy to take care of you. It’s all I’ve been finding myself wanting to do. Now come on, you need to rest.”
I slipped my hand into hers and opened the door. It felt like deja vu to have these five people staring at us again.
“Geez, guys. That took you long enough.”
“But we got the job done,” she said, trying to smile.
“Hey, Jay. She’s really not doing good right now. Is it okay if she lies down in your bed for awhile?”
“No problem.”
I helped her climb into Justin’s bed, and she fell asleep instantly. I tucked the blankets in around her and smoothed her hair out over the pillow. “Sweet dreams, Elizabeth.”
I turned back to the circle and sat on the floor where Alex and Justin once sat because they took the couch. Before I could continue the game he leaned down to me.
“Did you kiss her?” he whispered.
I shook my head. “No, but that isn’t really that important. I’m happy exactly how things are.”
He smiled at me and squeezed my shoulder. I snuck one more glance at her sleeping form before focusing on the game. “Alex, truth or dare?”