Chris yawned and stretched, and quietly rolled out of his bunk. He ran quickly to the bathroom, when he emerged, he yawned again, and started crawling back into his bunk. He stopped short and cocked his head. He tiptoed to the living room, and found it empty. He tiptoed back down the narrow hall to the lounge area at the front of the bus, again, no one was there. Suitcases and ball gowns covered every available sitting area, as a matter of fact, he had to climb over bags to get to the bathroom.

He tiptoed back to the bunk area and cocked his head and counted bunks, on his side of the bus, there was only one, because two were converted for the dogs. He turned around and counted the bunks on the Lance’s side of the bus. He counted on the fingers of his left hand, “One, two three...and mine is four.” His head cocked again. On the fingers of his right hand he counted, “Me, Dani, Jess, Stasia, Lance.” He looked from one hand to the other...there was an extra finger on his right hand.

He knew Lance was in his bunk...so he quietly pulled back the curtain on the bunk below Lance. Jess was curled up on her side, breathing evenly in her sleep. He closed the curtain.

He pulled at the curtain on the bunk above Lance’s, and found Dani laying there. She looked beautiful when she slept, he loved watching her sleep. He wondered for a moment if she knew he watched her sleep, often. He closed her curtain with a gentle smile on his face.

However, he quickly realized that poor Stasia must be sleeping with three dogs in their bunk. “Oh we suck.” He turned thinking he would wake her and have her sleep in his bunk...he could crawl in bed with Dani, he wasn’t sure why they hadn’t done that in the first place, it was just that everyone was so tired, and all of the other buses had six bunks, and they would have been fine. As he pulled the curtain, he whispered, “Stay-a? Wake...” There were three dogs, and no Stasia.

He stood up quickly, and his head whipped around in every direction. “What the?” He looked around again, “NO WAY!” He ducked down and crept over to Lance’s bunk. He quietly lifted the corner of the curtain and looked in. He clamped his hand over his mouth and reached up to poke Dani.

She rolled on her side to face him, “Not now honey, I want to sleep longer.”

He held his index finger up to his lips and pointed at Lance’s bunk. She pulled the top half of her body out of the bunk to hang upside down and look into Lance’s bunk. She sat up quickly, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open, “NO WAY!” She whispered loudly. “JESS!” She hissed loudly.

Chris bent down, and shook Jess lightly, she opened one eye, “Wha...”

Chris slapped his hand down over her mouth, and she was mumbling against his palm, again, he held his index finger up to his lips. “Shhh.” He pointed to the bunk above her and she shrugged, but stepped out of the bunk, Dani was crouched, half in and half out of the top bunk, with her jaw gapping and her head shaking back and forth slowly.

Jess held up both hands and shrugged as she mouthed, “What?”

Chris and Dani both pointed to Lance’s bunk, she turned and peered in between the curtain. “OH! NO WAY!” She whispered. Dani and Chris were nodding in unison.

Jess stuck her head back under the curtain, where Stasia was sleeping soundly curled up on her side, facing the wall, Lance was pressed up against her back, with an arm thrown over her waist, her arm was laying on top of his, her hand resting gently on his and Lance’s face was nuzzled into her neck. They looked completely peaceful and comfortable.

“What the heck happened? She was trying to get Jake to settle down when I dozed off, now she’s sleeping with Lance?”

“Spooning with Lance.” Chris grinned evilly. Dani smacked the top of his head.

“I think we should all go back to sleep. They would both die if they knew we were watching them sleep.” Dani laid down and pulled her curtain shut, “Go to sleep Chris.” Her hand came out of the curtain, and slapped his face away from Lance’s curtain.

“Ouch.” He rubbed his cheek and climbed back up into his bunk. He settled in with a huge smile on his face, the three of them had forced Lance and Stasia together without even trying. He laughed to himself... ‘Lance owes me for this one!’

Jess was grinning to herself as she punched the pillow under her head. ‘Stasia, Dearie, I hope you realize what a great thing this is for you.’ She smacked her pillow once more and closed her eyes.

Dani hadn’t stopped smiling since Chris had woken her. ‘I hope they don’t regret this when they wake up, they shouldn’t, but these two are so stubborn!’ She rolled on to her back and prayed silently, ‘God, there are not two people on this planet that deserve this more than Stasia and Lance...can you give them a hand here?’

Lance yawned, he just couldn’t bring himself to open his eyes, he really didn’t want to be awake yet. He felt so warm and cozy, his bunk had never been his favorite place to sleep, but right now it felt heavenly, he didn’t remember falling a sleep hugging a pillow, but he decided he was going to start doing it every night, because it was very comfortable. His breath caught, when his pillow moved on its own. His eyes flew open.

He was practically laying on top of Stasia, his arm was pulling her tightly against his stomach. He very slowly started to move his arm from its delicate position, it was trapped between her side, and her arm. But her arm was getting heavier and heavier. He didn’t want to move, he was actually quite comfortable, but he knew he should. If she woke up with him draped over her, she would probably freak out. He took a deep breath and tried to slide his arm out again. Nothing would have prepared him for the shock of hearing her voice whisper to him right then. “Would you think any less of me if I asked you to leave your arm there?”

“Are you sure? Honestly, I’m very comfortable, but I don’t want to upset you.”

“Lean back.” He did, and she rolled over onto her left side, now they were laying face to face. “Hi.” She smiled, and picked up his arm placing it on her waist again. “Am I way out of line with that move?”

“NO! Not at all.” They both laughed. “Sleep well?”

“Very. You?”

“Like a baby. Millie...Do you want me to go sleep somewhere else?”

“No, I don’t, now stop asking. What are you all worked up about?”

What was he supposed to say to that? ‘I’m worked up, because seeing you here, laying next to me, all I can think of is how totally cute you look and how much I want to know what your lips feel like.’ He didn’t think that was the right thing to say, and certainly didn’t want to go the, ‘Nothing, I’m not thinking about anything.’ route, because there was no way she’d fall for that. Lance was well aware of the fact that he had to do or say something, and he had no clue what that something should be.

“Harry? Are you OK?” She placed her cool hand on his forehead. “You don’t feel warm, are you feeling OK?”

“I feel fine...too fine.”

“Huh?”

Her eyes locked with his and suddenly he couldn’t take it anymore, “This is so embarrassing, I am so sorry, but all I can think about right now, is how I want to kiss you.” He flopped on to his back and smacked both hands down on his face.

“So why don’t you?” She was smiling at him, she could tell this was driving him crazy.

He peered at her between his fingers. “Excuse me?”

“Do you honestly think I would stop you if you kissed me right now, Harry...I wish we could just skip the rest of this conversation, and get to the kiss, because we are both curious, and we both want to do it.”

Now he really didn’t know what to do. He knew what he wanted, but he also knew that what he wanted, could be a huge mistake. He was really wishing someone would give him the answer. That is when she licked her lips and smiled.

“You don’t have to kiss me, I was just trying to let you know that if you wanted to, I’m not about to slap you, or pretend that I don’t want you to. As a matter of fact, I’ll tell you what, you do whatever feels right...you know where to find me.” She closed her eyes and settled back down into the pillow.

“Millie?” He closed his eyes tightly.

“Hmm?”

“I ah...well, that is, we...um...” He pulled his hands away from his face and took a deep breath rolled back onto his side, whispered, “Screw it!”

He leaned down and his lips met hers. He was propped up, with his weight on his elbow, his other hand quickly moved to her cheek, where his thumb gently stroked her cheekbone. Her skin was soft and smooth, and he loved how it felt. He was a little tentative at first, but when one of her hands tangled in the hair at the back of his neck and the other ran up and down his back, Lance’s control snapped. The pace of the kiss built, his hand slid from her cheek, and smoothed back her hair, he couldn’t run his fingers through it, because of her ponytail, but he couldn’t seem to stop stroking her cheek and hair. Stasia reached back and pulled out the elastic holding her hair back, so she could lay flat on the pillow, but as soon as her hair was lose, both of his hands tangled into it. He ran the tip of his tongue along her lips, when they parted for him, he moaned against her mouth. The moment he moaned, she nibbled on his lower lip, and their tongues barely touched, and her hands clutched at him, she couldn’t pull him close enough. His weight shifted over and his left leg slid in between her legs, now it was Stasia who moaned into his mouth. She felt the corners of his mouth curl up in a smile. The kiss was deepening and neither one of them had any intention of slowing their pace.

Stasia felt like she had waited her entire life to be kissed this way. Lance was forceful and gentle at the same time. He was patient and eager. She had talked to him last night about fireworks and tingly feelings. Forget fireworks, Lance had taken her so far beyond fireworks, the Fourth of July was going to be a total bore after this kiss. In a matter of a few seconds, he had blown her world apart, her head was spinning out of control, her stomach was flipping over and over and she had never felt every nerve ending like she was at this point. The thoughts filing through her head were confused and excited. She was confused because Lance was pulling out emotions in her that she thought had been buried a long time ago. She was excited because Lance, was holding her to him, as if he wanted these feelings as much as she did.

Lance moved his lips to her neck, and she pulled in a jagged breath. It excited him beyond belief that she was as into this kiss as he was. His hand slid up her arm, and he gently laid her arm next to her head and laced his fingers through hers. Her fingers automatically tightened around his, and that simple act sent chills up and down his spine. A kiss had never taken over his entire body the way this kiss was. Stasia had the ability to make him laugh, or smile or to make his heart break with emotion, he knew that he was drawn to her before this, but he had no idea, that the second his lips touched hers that his brain would cease functioning. When she had talked about fireworks, he had laughed it off, thinking it was just a romantic ideal that women set out in front of themselves. He had no clue that, not only was she right, she hadn’t even come close in her description. He felt like a nuclear bomb had gone off in his nerve center. He felt dizzy, and like he wanted more.

She used her free hand to pull his lips back to hers and he smiled again. Her lips matched his perfectly, she seemed to be able to know how he was going to kiss her next, and complete the movement. The small bunk was getting warm, and neither one of them cared at all. The only thing they cared about at this point, was the way they were feeling. Lance pulled his head back a little, and opened his eyes to look at her.

Stasia was laying on her back, with her hair spread across his pillow. Their hands were intertwined next to her cheek, her fingers were gently massaging the muscles of his shoulders and neck. But nothing prepared him for the sight of her eyes fluttering open, and the liquid silver of her eyes meeting his. His breath caught, and she brought her hand around to his cheek and smiled up at him. “Hi.”

He rested his forehead on hers and smiled, “Hi there.” He smoothed her hair back away from her face, “Millie, I want to tell you...” He was interrupted when her phone rang. His head flopped down next to hers and he practically growled, “Damn it!” He reached under his stomach and pulled out her phone, then grinned, “I wonder how that got there.” He couldn’t see her very well in the dark bunk, but he could have sworn she blushed.

Lance rolled off of her as the phone rang a third time. “Get the phone! Chris’s sleepy voice came from across the aisle.

“Anastasia Blake.” Lance smile at the sound of her saying her own name, he had no idea why, but her voice suddenly brought a smile to his face. Her hand suddenly pushed against his chest, and he raised an eyebrow at her. “Hi Diane.” He suddenly felt like a thirteen year-old, who had been caught making out with the neighbor girl. “We were?...Oh thank you so much...I wish you could have seen him up close, he was very handsome.” She laughed, “Yes, even with blue hair.” Lance rolled his eyes and fell flat on his back. “You did? I can’t wait to see it. Sure, I can take a look at them as soon as I can check my e-mail...Thanks Diane...Oh, actually, don’t bother, he’s right here...Ok, hold on. Bye.” She handed the phone to Lance.

“Momma?...The girls bus broke down, they are riding with Chris and I...We were?...Live?...She was amazing...Audrey Hepburn...yeah, you’re right...Oh good...as soon as possible...What do you mean I sound funny?” He looked at Stasia with wide eyes. “Husky?...I don’t know, I was sleeping...no...Momma! All of us stayed up all night talking...so this is the first chance we’ve gotten to sleep...OK...I love you Momma. Say I love you to Daddy too, OK. Bye.” He flipped the phone shut. “Rumor has it, you not only looked perfect, but that you looked like Audrey Hepburn.” He grinned at her.

“RIGHT!” She rolled onto her side to look at him. “We were on Joan Rivers’ live broadcast.”

“Momma taped it, she’s sending it to us today. I’m supposed to tell you, to get some rest, she doesn’t want my crazy hours to get you sick...not worried about me getting sick....just you.”

Stasia laughed, “She knows you’re used to it. She is so sweet.”

“Before you go back to sleep, I really wanted to tell you...” He was interrupted by John’s voice.

“WAKE UP KIDDIES! DINNER TIME...YOU HAVE TO TAKE THOSE DOGS OUT TOO!” The driver yelled back.

“Damn it!” Lance looked at her pitifully.

“We can talk later. Don’t worry.” She ran her fingertip over his jaw.

They could hear everyone moving in the bunks around them. Lance was about to lean over and kiss her cheek, when the curtains on the bunk flew open, and Chris, Jess and Dani were all standing there grinning evilly at them. “Good morning children. May I ask how this happened?” Chris pointed at them laying in the bunk together.

“She wouldn’t let me give up my bunk, and I wasn’t about to let her sleep on this floor. So here we are, snug as two bugs in a rug.” Lance answered.

Jess stuck her head in the bunk leaning over Lance, and touching the tip of her nose to Stasia’s. “Hello sleepy head. Nice hair.” Stasia put her hand over Jess’s entire face and pushed her back.

Jess reached into her own bag and threw a hairbrush to Stasia, who brushed through her hair without questioning Jess. “Gotta hate bed head.”

“Yeah...RIGHT!” Jess shot back.

Lance climbed out of the bunk, then helped Stasia down, it was not lost on the rest of the group, the way his hands lingered on her waist a little longer than necessary, or the way her palms rested on his chest.

Stasia turned to Chris, “Shall we run the dogs a little?”

“I think we shall.” He bent and attached all three leashes, and handed Jake’s to her. They got off the bus and took off running. With those two it was always a race, to see who could get to a tree first, or who could name a song on the radio first, or who could tell a joke first. They were running full speed to a little clearing as Lance, Jess and Dani were getting off the bus.

Dani put her arm through one of Lance’s, Jess slid hers through the other, and the three of them walked toward the building linked together. Dani began laughing as she watched Chris running away from Stasia, “What did he say this time? I think I should worry about him leaving me for Stasia...I don’t think she’d have him...but you never know.”

Jess looked up at Lance’s flushed cheeks, “SO...did you sleep well Mr. Lance?” Dani seemed to choke on something on his other side.

“Swallowed my gum the wrong way.”

“You shouldn’t swallow gum at all. Anyway, yeah Jess, I slept well. Why do you ask?”

“OH, no reason, it’s just that those bunks are pretty small, for two people to share.”

Dani grinned evilly, “Not if you do it right, Jess.”

“Geeze Dani! We’re talking about Lance and Stasia here, not you and Mr. Freak Boy.” Jess’s grin matched Dani’s.

“Oh, that’s true. Sorry about that Lance.”

“No problem Dani.” He cleared his throat.

Chris and Stasia ran by with the dogs, to put them back on the bus. Lance and the girls were sitting down at the table, when Stasia came running through the door, and lapped the table with Chris right behind her. “Stay-a, I will get you.”

“Face it Christopher...your still ‘it’.” She shot him a toothy grin over JC’s head.

“Not for long Bay-be...not for long.” They sat at opposite ends of the table, glaring at one another.

They all finished eating, and Justin said he was picking up the tab. So as he was paying the bill, Chris and Stasia began to stare one another down again. Stasia smiled sweetly, and mouthed, “YOU’RE IT!” Then she shot out of her chair and out the door. Chris was right behind her. They were running all over the parking lot and the field at the end of the lot. Stasia was taunting Chris, every time he got close to her, she doubled her speed.

The rest of the group made their way out into the parking lot to watch the scene unfolding in front of them. Stasia ran by, giggling like a three year old. Chris ran after, huffing and puffing and screaming, “When I get my hands on you...you are SO going to be ‘it’!”

“Whatever old man! You have to catch me first.”

“I’ll let the young pups do my dirty work for me you fool!” Justin was walking out of the restaurant, slipping his wallet into his pocket, when Chris slapped him on the back of his head and screamed, “HA! CURLY’S ‘IT’!”

Justin took shrugged his shoulders, “OK, whatever.” He took off running in Stasia’s direction.

Stasia was laughing hard and ran to the group of people watching them run around. She stood behind JC and said, “He is WAY too mature to get involved in this mess! HA!” But as Justin started approaching JC laughed and stepped sideways. Stasia looked up at him with shocked eyes. She darted left, just as Justin was about to tag her, she stood behind Jess, who looked at her like she was crazy.

“I’m not going to help you here! I’d let him catch me...jail bait or not, have you taken a good look at this boy?”

“OH SHUT UP JESS!”

Stasia ran to Lance who smiled and scooped her up, threw her over his shoulder, and ran for the bus. “Sorry J, can’t let you tag her...looks like you’re still ‘it’!”

Justin stopped short, looked at the rest of the group and smiled broadly, “I think I’m tired now...guess I’m still it.” He put his arm around Dani’s shoulders. “I drove her right into his arms, not bad huh?”

“Not bad at all.” She patted his shoulder.

“I almost feel bad ganging up on them.”

“You know what Justin, I’m not sure we really need to, they may be going in the right direction, all by themselves.”

When they all got back on the bus, Stasia and Lance were both laying on their stomachs in his bunk, with her computer propped up on the pillow in front of them. They were looking at long columns of numbers, and quietly talking about whatever the numbers meant. Chris rolled his eyes, “Don’t you guys ever take a break?”

“This won’t take long, but with space as tight as it is on this bus right now, what would you suggest we do?” Lance eyed Chris, he didn’t like the look on the older man’s face.

“OK! Everyone in their bunk...I guess you two can share.” He smirked at Lance.

“Gee, thanks.” Lance rolled his eyes, “So what are we doing?”

“Truth or Dare.” Four people groaned.

“First you play tag, now you want to play Truth or Dare? Chris I think you are regressing.”

“Probably, but it’s too late to stop it now. Besides, what else are we going to do? We can’t watch movies or play video games because we can’t fit in the living room. If you guys try to work, we can’t talk, or it will bug you.”

“Fine...but NO ONE is taking off clothes...NO ONE has to kiss or touch anyone...NO ONE has to eat anything that is going to make them throw up...I still don’t think Joey has forgiven you for that.”

“Are you trying to make this as little fun as possible?” Chris whined.

“We don’t have to play at all.” Lance turned back to the computer.

“OK...no naked, no kissing, no touching, no eating nasty stuff. You are such a dud.”

“I know.”

“FINE! You go first, truth or dare Lance?”

“Truth.”

“Oh, I’m SHOCKED!” Chris’s voice was dripping with sarcasm. “OK, Lance, who was the first girl you REALLY kissed?”

“Jill...Freshman year in high school.”

“OK, now you ask someone.”

“Dani, truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“How many times did Chris ask you out before you said yes?”

“Twelve.” Stasia and Jess both snickered. “If I had it to do all over again, it would have only been five or six.” She smiled at Chris.

“OH THANKS A LOT BABE! Now you ask someone.”

“Stasia.”

“Truth.”

“Which one of the guys do you think you’re closest to?”

Without hesitation Stasia smiled, “Harry. Once he saw my bra, he took that honor.” Lance and Stasia smiled at one another.

Jess had been taking a drink of water, and it shot out of her mouth and into Busta’s face. Busta barked, shook his head. Jess fell out of the bunk and onto the floor where she laid on her back and stared up at Stasia and Lance, with total shock on her face, “WHAT?”

“Yeah, the black lace one I bought at Hudson’s...remember? You were with me.”

“NOT WHAT BRA YOU IDIOT! Although, I love that one. WHEN DID HE SEE YOU IN YOUR UNDERWEAR?”

“I never said I was in the bra.” She turned to Lance, “Did I say I was wearing the bra when you saw it?”

“Nope, you never said you were wearing it.” He grinned at her, she was in an evil mood and he loved it.

“I didn’t think so. No Jess, I was not in the bra.” She laughed, “We did our laundry together. That’s where we met Harold and Mildred.”

“Don’t you EVER do that to me again!” Jess crawled back up into her bunk, “And to think I took three days off to spend time with you. I hate you.”

“I know. Now it’s my turn. Chris, truth or dare?”

“DARE! DARE BAY-BE, DARE!”

“Oh geeze, dare? Let me think...I dare you to call Justin’s cell phone and tell him what you did with his favorite pair of Nikes.”

“OH COME ON STASIA! You can’t ask me to do that!”

“This game was your idea. I can ask you to do it...AND I DID!” She tossed her phone to Chris. “He’s on speed dial. Number eleven.”

“He’s on sped dial?”

“Yep...so are you.”

“What number?”

“Fourteen.”

Chris scrolled through the numbers saved in her phone’s memory...LANCE, JOEY, JUSTIN AND JC are all ahead of me? So are Jess, Dani, Brent some dude named Josh...the office, Diane, Stacy, Dani at home, Lance at home...THEN me? Lance and Dani are both on twice before me? That is so unfair.”

“Quit stalling and call Justin.”

He grinned sheepishly, “Caught on to that...ok...but I hate you for this.” Stasia smiled at him.

He dial Justin’s number, “Hey J...it’s Chris. Yeah how’s it going up there? Oh that’s cool. So, I was calling to ah...tell you something. Remember when you couldn’t find your new Nikes? Yeah...the ones you love...well J, this is funny...really...well, what happened was, a fan got on the floor in New York a few weeks ago, and well...I gave her your shoes. Now Justin...no she didn’t want my shoes, she wanted your shoes...well actually she wanted your boxers, but I wouldn’t give them to her...How much? Why would you pay that for a pair of shoes? It made her very happy...she was scary! Ok...ok...Next store we pass...I swear...ok...yeah...two pairs...ok...I won’t. Bye, J.” He threw her phone at her. “I’m dead.”

Lance was laughing so hard he could barely breath. “You gave his shoes to a fan? That’s classic!”

Stasia looked at him, with a completely straight face, “Um...have you noticed anything missing lately?”

“STAY-A SHUT UP!”

“Chris...what did you give to a fan...if you gave away anything important...I’ll kill you.” Lance glared at Chris, who pulled the curtain on his bunk closed. “CHRIS!”

Chris whispered something through the curtain, but no one could hear him.

“CHRIS!”

“I gave her your green sunglasses.”

“Oh man! I love those!” Lance turned to Stasia, “How’d you know about this?”

“I was getting off the elevator as she was getting on, carrying Justin’s shoes and your sunglasses, I didn’t know they were his shoes or your sunglasses, until I talked to Chris...I gave him a week to fess up...then I forgot about it.”

“When you are out buying Justin’s shoes...”

“New sunglasses...got it. OK, now I get to go...Jess, truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“What is the biggest thing you know about Stasia, that she doesn’t think you know?” He was going for, ‘Stasia is madly in love with Lance.’ but that is not at all what he got.

Jess took a deep breath, and quietly said, “When she is at her most frightened, most excited, most confused, or most angry...she goes to the cemetery to talk to her mom, Noah and Nicole.”

Everyone looked up to Stasia who slowly nodded her head, Lance took her hand in his, and his thumb stroked the back of her hand. “Jess? How did you know?”

Christmas Day, Brent and I went to take flowers for them, and you were there talking about leaving Michigan...and how you were scared, but somehow, you knew it was the right thing...then you asked them if they were the ones making you feel that way.”

“Why didn’t you guys tell me you were there?”

“We thought it might upset you, Stasia face it you are a VERY PRIVATE person. You are open with your thoughts, but your feelings, you keep to yourself. It’s like the not crying thing. I am your best friend, and I have never seen you cry...I don’t want you to be sad enough to cry...but I know you do...I just wish you would let someone be there for you, the way you are ALWAYS there for everyone else.” She looked from Lance, to Dani and then to Chris, “Let me guess, she has listened to a problem each of you has had, she has been there for each of you, no matter what time it was, no matter where you were? She dropped everything, and gave you her undivided attention, right?” All three of them nodded. “Stasia, you take care of people, and you do it well, but we wish we could take care of you once in a while. OK...enough lecturing, it’s just that, I love you, and I’m here, and I know you know that, but I thought I should say that. And I TOTALLY understand why you go there...they are there, but NEVER forget WE are HERE.” She stopped when her voice cracked.

Stasia leaned out of the bunk, Lance held her by the waist so she wouldn’t fall, and she pulled Jess into a tight hug, “I love you so much.” She kissed Jess’s cheek. “I don’t care that you were there. I wish I would have known.”

“OK...we have to stop this, we made Dani cry.” Dani sniffled, jumped out of her bunk and hugged Jess and Stasia tightly.

Lance pulled Stasia back into the bunk, his hand closed around hers again and his arm closed around her shoulders. He suddenly didn’t care that anyone else was there, Jess was right, he just wanted to take care of her. He was surprised when she leaned back into him. “Chris...are we done yet? I think we’ve all had quite enough Truth or Dare for one day. Is anyone else still tired?”

“Exhausted.” Jess groaned from below.

“I’m with ya!” Dani crawled back up into her bunk and closed the curtain.

The rest of the curtains closed, and Lance laid down on his back, holding Stasia tightly to his side, her cheek rested on his shoulder, and her palm rested on his chest. He kissed the top of her head. “Get some rest Millie.”

“I’m not sure if I can sleep.”

“Well what else are we going to do in here if we don’t sleep?” He tilted his head down, to look at her face.

She burst out laughing, and he covered her mouth with his hand. “Well there is that...”

“We could talk.” She mumbled against his palm.

“Oh, there’s that too.”

“Decisions...decisions.” She smiled at him. “Whatever will we do?”

“I just don’t know.” His head tilted, and gently kissed her lips. Then pulled back, looked her square in the eyes and said, “I think before we start that again, we better talk. Do we have any idea what we’re doing here?”

“No. Honestly, I wasn’t doing much thinking at all.”

“Me neither, that could be a problem. We may have crossed a major line...are we ready for that?”

“I don’t know, what are we talking about? OK...we kissed, which is a big deal for both of us. I wanted it...did you?” He nodded. “OK...we are both adults...well more or less.” He rolled his eyes. “Are we going to put a label on it right now? And if we do, what is that label going to be?”

“Millie, I just don’t know...we’ve talked about this so many times...but never talking about US. I don’t know what to think...”

“Neither do I. I seriously wasn’t expecting this at all. When we first met, I wasn’t sure we were going to speak, let alone...”

“Suck face in my bunk?”

“Oh, very helpful...thanks.”

“Anytime. Let’s put it this way, if either one of us, feels like things are changing, and we need to talk about it...we will, but for now, can we just go with it and see what happens?”

“That may be best, but can this be our thing? OK...that sounds stupid...it’s just that, if we don’t know what’s going on, I don’t want to have all of the guys watching us on top of it...that might add pressure to define what’s happening, and you know how nosey they can be.”

“I totally agree. I think that the key here is, taking thing slowly. When the time is right...IF the time is right, we’ll let them know. Sound OK to you?”

“Yeah.”

“OK...I’m done talking...how about you?” He didn’t wait for her to answer before his head lowered and he kissed her.

She had no clue what they had just decided to do, but at this point...she really did not care in the least, because his lips were moving against hers and here brain had short circuited again.