Laurie sat at the desk in her office and gazed out the window. Craig was off on business again and JC was in Philadelphia with the others because they had a show at Veteran’s Stadium that night. Her feelings for JC were growing stronger and it was making her nervous.
She was supposed to see him the day after tomorrow. JC had arranged for her to fly in with Michelle before the FuMan promotional signing at the Chicago Nordstrom on Friday and he reserved a room on their hotel floor for her. When he had first suggested it, she nearly felt her heart stop and immediately began thinking about all the things that could go wrong.
JC had nothing to worry about, he was supposed to be in Chicago. Laurie was to mention the promotional signing to Michelle and ask to come along, using that as a cover. Then she was going to stay with them over the weekend and fly back with Michelle on Monday morning before the guys made their way to Toronto.
She was lucky, Craig didn’t suspect anything. But then he wasn’t home long enough to notice a change in Laurie’s personality. Because she could feel that she had changed. She was definitely happier now that JC was back in her life, she was just apprehensive about their affair. And she admitted to herself that that’s exactly what it was. An affair. She was cheating on her husband and JC was cheating on his wife.
Not that Alexandria had ever been much of a wife. Or a girlfriend, from what she had heard from Michelle. But they were still going against the vows they had taken two months earlier and that bothered Laurie immensely. She wasn’t the type of person to break a promise, no matter what.
She wasn’t sure what was going to happen between her and JC this weekend; they had yet to consumate their illicit relationship. As much as she cared for Craig, she didn’t want to hurt him by being unfaithful to him. But she knew she wasn’t in love with him and she never had been.
"And I don’t know how much longer I can keep telling Josh no," she sighed aloud and threw her pen across the room in frustration. "Because I want to be with him."
There was a brief knock on the door and Michelle entered Laurie’s office just as the pen landed on the floor.
"Umm..." She looked at the pen and then back at Laurie. "Rough day?"
"Sorry," Laurie apologized. "I’m just having issues with...something."
Michelle sat down in the chair opposite Laurie. She picked up a loose paperclip and began to fiddle with it.
"Anything I can help with?"
"No," she frowned and averted her eyes.
"It’s a good thing we’re leaving then," Michelle said sympathetically. "It looks like you could use some time away."
"I’ll be fine," Laurie tried to convince her. She thought to herself, "I just need to see Josh again."
"Ok, well, if you’re sure. I’m always around if you ever need to talk. Or just vent on someone."
"Thanks Michelle."
"Tell you what," Michelle grinned. "Let’s skip off work early today, do a little shopping and fly out to Chicago tomorrow and surprise them."
"I don’t know," she said hesitantly and looked at her computer. "I really need to finish getting this information entered into the computer."
"Laurie," Michelle walked around to the other side of the desk and started pulling her out of the chair. "As your boss and your friend, I am telling you that we are going shopping this afternoon and leaving early for Chicago. Maybe we’ll even beat the guys there."
"And maybe I can surprise Josh in more ways than one," Laurie thought and a smile crossed her face. "You know Michelle? I think you just may be right."
**********
Laurie and Michelle arrived at the hotel in Chicago shortly after lunchtime the following day. Laurie shot an apprehensive look in Michelle’s direction when she saw the mass of fans that had accumulated, in hopes of getting a glimpse of the group before they checked in. As they passed the fans, a few of them stopped the girls and asked Michelle for her autograph.
"Sure, what would you like me to sign?"
"I have a picture of you and Chris that was taken at an award show...is that ok?" The fan asked shyly.
"That’s perfect," Michelle winked at Laurie and scrawled her signature on the dress that she had worn that day before handing it back to the girl. "Who’s your favourite?"
"Joey," she blushed furiously. "Umm...could I get my picture taken with you too? Is that ok?"
"Not a problem." Michelle took the camera from the fan and passed it to Laurie, who snapped the picture.
"Thank you so much!" She gushed. "It was really nice meeting you Michelle, you’re even nicer than everyone says."
"Umm, thanks." It was Michelle’s turn to blush. "It was nice to meet you too."
Laurie and Michelle worked their way through the rest of the fans and stood at the front desk to check into their rooms. Michelle was avoiding Laurie’s intent stare. Finally, she turned to her.
"What?"
"Is it always like that?" Laurie gaped.
"That actually wasn’t that bad. Wait until tomorrow at the Nordstrom signing."
They took their room keys and as they head toward the elevators, Michelle saw a little store with flowers displayed in the front window. She gave Laurie a sheepish smile.
"I’m umm...going to get these for Chris. You can go up without me if you’d like."
"No way. This I have to see."
Michelle rolled her eyes and choose the best bouquet of flowers before purchasing them and walking back toward the elevators.
"That’s so sweet," Laurie grinned. "Hopefully it will embarrass him."
"Probably not," Michelle shrugged. "I just thought it would be a nice gesture. He’ll probably be too tired to enjoy them."
"Well, maybe. But I’m sure he’ll still appreciate them."
"He might. But Laurie, Chris is the epitome of the typical male. I’m sure he would rather receive a football than flowers."
Laurie laughed and the doors of the elevator opened on their floor.
"I’m just going to go and unpack and then I’ll meet you in your room," Laurie said. "It shouldn’t take too long."
"No problem...there’s no rush, I don’t think the guys are scheduled to arrive for another few hours. We can go for a swim or something while we wait. I just need to figure out where to put my stuff so that Chris doesn’t see it when he gets here." She laughed.
"And you actually think Chris is going to unpack his stuff?" Laurie questioned with a raised eyebrow."
"Well..." Michelle bit her bottom lip and gave Laurie a smile. "You’re probably right...he tends to live out of his suitcase. If it smells clean and looks clean...he’ll wear it."
"Sounds like most men I know," Laurie laughed. "I’m sure Craig does the same thing when he’s away. Anyway, we should unpack our stuff while we have time."
"Absolutely," she agreed. "I’ll meet you in fifteen minutes and we’ll go down to the pool."
"I can’t wait."
(Two hours later)
"Oh man, I’m exhausted!" Michelle exclaimed. "I’m never racing you again. Where did you learn to swim like that?"
"Shelle, I was practically born in the water," she laughed. "I used to swim competitively too."
"I can tell...you’re just nasty when you’re in the water."
"I try." Laurie grinned and they headed back up to their rooms. The screams outside were starting to get louder. "I guess it’s about that time."
"Yeah, I think we have about fifteen minutes before all hell breaks loose." Michelle grinned evilly. "I’ll race you upstairs. Last one there has to do Joey’s laundry!"
"Oh God…" Laurie groaned and made a beeline for the stairs. When they reached their floor, twenty-one flights of stairs later, gasping for breath, Laurie stuttered, "T-Tie?"
Too tired to talk, Michelle just nodded.
**********
"It’s about time," Justin grumbled as the bus pulled up out front of the hotel amidst the hundreds of girls who had begun to scream. "Don’t they ever lose their voices?"
"Doubt it," JC offered. "And if they do, it’s whenever we aren’t around. It amazes me that the fans find out where we’re staying before we do." He shook his head. His mind was elsewhere.
All day he had been trying to get ahold of Laurie to finalize her flight plans for tomorrow so that he could arrange to pick her up at the airport and her cell phone was off and he kept getting her answering machine at home. He had even called FuMan Skeeto, to no avail. He sighed and threw his bag over his shoulder, making sure his sharpie was in his pocket.
As JC, Chris and Justin exited their bus, the screams magnified and JC couldn’t help but wince a little, but made an effort to smile and stop to sign a few autographs. He wasn’t far from Chris and couldn’t help but overhear the conversation he was having with a particularly loud fan.
"This is a great pic," Chris said as he reached for it. "When did you get Michelle to sign it?"
"A couple of hours ago when she and her friend arrived," the fan gushed. "And she was so incredibly nice and her friend took a picture of us together."
"Michelle’s here?" JC thought. "And her friend? That’s gotta be Laurie..."
The thought of Laurie arriving early jarred JC’s concentration and he accidentally wrote his name wrong.
"Sorry," he apologized to the fan. "Would you like me to sign something else?"
"Hey, did you forget how to sign your name, C?" Chris joked and grinned while a few people took his picture.
JC just shot Chris a glare and signed a few more autographs. Once they were inside the hotel and completely checked in, JC pulled Chris aside.
"When did Michelle get here?"
"I have no idea," Chris shrugged. "She usually tells me if she’s going to fly out early...I guess she wanted to surprise me. What’s the big deal?"
"Umm...nothing...just surprised, that’s all." JC inwardly cursed himself for seeming so concerned. No one was supposed to know about him wanting Laurie there.
"...get her back though," Chris was saying.
JC shook his head and focused on what Chris was saying. He wanted to get Michelle back for flying in early and surprising him.
"So just tell her that we got delayed in Philly and you won’t be able to make it in time for the signing tomorrow...that will freak her out. Then just walk into your room."
"You know..." Chris said with a mischevious gleam in his eye. "That just might work. Can I call her from your room? It’s quieter."
"Be my guest," JC shrugged and slipped his keycard into the door, unlocking it. Chris already had his cell phone out.
(In Michelle’s room)
"Go fish," Michelle sighed when Laurie asked if she had any eight’s. Then she threw her cards down on the table. "I can’t believe we’re playing this stupid game." She glanced over at her phone after she heard the melodic ring. "Hang on. Hello?"
"Hey baby, how are ya?"
"Not too bad," she winked at Laurie. "I’m just packing up a few things so that I’m ready to fly out tomorrow morning."
Laurie covered her mouth to stifle a laugh.
"Umm...about that sweetie...I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to do the promotion at Nordstrom by yourself."
"What?" She exclaimed and her eyes flicked over to Laurie. "Chris, they aren’t coming to see me, they’re coming to see you! What’s so important that you can’t make it?"
Chris sighed. "Johnny has scheduled some radio interviews for us, including two for tomorrow morning."
"Johnny knows that you have prior commitments! Can’t the others do it without you?" Michelle was starting to panic.
"The stations want the whole group. They’re saying it’s been too long since we’ve done anything like this."
"And we can’t postpone..."
"No." He said adamently. "Come on Shelle, you know the drill. Just talk about the clothing line and make sure everyone is happy."
"Chris," Michelle put her head in her hand and changed the cell phone to the other ear. Laurie waved goodbye and went back to her own room. She got a piece of paper and a pen and immediately began to make notes on what would have to be changed for the following day. "We can’t do this."
"Why not?"
"Because the fans are coming to see you. And if they find out that you aren’t coming, we won’t get a very big turn out."
"You’re right," Chris grinned as he leaned against the wall, startling her. Michelle snapped her phone closed and wadded up the piece of paper she had been writing on.
"Fucker!" She half yelled, half laughed. "You knew I was here all along!"
"Yeah I did," he smirked and walked over to her. "I ran into a fan downstairs that you signed an autograph for. Apparently she was quite taken with you and how nice you were to her." "It wasn’t a big deal," she blushed and looked away.
"It was to her," he said. "Thank you." When she didn’t say anything, he looked around the room. "Who are the flowers for?"
"I bought them for you..." she glared at him. "But after the stunt you just pulled, I don’t think you deserve them."
"Aww come on...I wanted to get you back for surprising me."
"You’re not happy to see me?" She frowned.
"On the contrary..." he whispered and pressed his lower body against her hip. "I love it when you surprise me...can I have my flowers now?"
"In your dreams," she shrieked as he pushed her down on the bed. He held her there with one hand while he smelled the flowers.
"Thank you," he said and turned back to her. "I love them."
"You’re welcome. Can I get up now please?"
There was an evil gleam in Chris’ dark eyes as he responded.
"No."
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