Michelle walked into the office of FuMan Skeeto on
Monday morning with a headache that was threatening to overtake her entire
body. She still wasn’t on the best of
terms with Chris and it had been almost a week since she last spoke to Laurie.
Laurie.
She flew into her office, dropped everything that
she had been carrying and immediately headed down the hall to Laurie’s office
to see if she was there. She had the
misfortune of running into Dave on her way there.
“I need to run something by you when you get a
minute, ok?” He said.
“Is it important?” She asked. She was tired and didn’t want to deal with
anything major.
“It depends,” Dave shrugged. “Just come and find me when you come back
from wherever you’re going.”
“Fine.” She agreed and rubbed her temples. It was going to be one of those days.
Michelle continued her way down the hallway until
she reached Laurie’s office. The door
was closed, so she knocked on it and hoped for the best.
“Come in.”
Michelle nearly collapsed with relief when she
heard Laurie’s voice and she practically charged through the door.
“Where the…” She began and then stopped. “You look like shit. Did you eat or sleep at all last week?”
“Not hardly.
I couldn’t keep anything down.
My nerves are completely shot.”
“Aww Laur,” Michelle frowned. “Why didn’t you call one of us to let us
know you were all right and just needed some time alone? We were all worried.”
“I doubt all of
you were worried.” Laurie put emphasis on the word ‘all’.
“We were,” she told Laurie softly.
“I’m sorry, I just… I needed some space, that’s
all.”
Michelle walked around to the other side of
Laurie’s desk and gave her a long, tight hug.
“I’m glad you’re back and I’m glad you’re safe. You know that I’m here if you need me,
right?”
Laurie nodded.
“And you aren’t going to take off without letting
anyone know where you’re going?”
“I’ll try.
How was the Basketball Tournament?” Laurie asked. It was obvious she wanted to change the
subject.
“It was pretty boring for the most part. The dunk tank was the best. I kept buying balls to throw at Justin and I
kept missing the target. He decided
that he was going to taunt me, so I just walked up to the board and pressed the
button.” Michelle grinned. “He wasn’t
too impressed.”
“I don’t doubt it.” Laurie laughed. “Did Chris participate in that?”
“He couldn’t because of his wrist… but after I
dunked Justin, he kept doing the same to everyone else.”
“It sounds like it was fun, I’m sorry I missed it.”
“I bet I know who you would have wanted to dunk…”
Michelle said slyly.
“I don’t think so.” Laurie shook her head. “It would have been too hard to face him,
let alone dunk him.” She looked at
Michelle and her eyes were shining with unshed tears. “How is he?”
Michelle sat down on the floor beside Laurie’s
chair. “He’s pretty miserable. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in such bad
shape.”
Laurie blinked.
“He really loves you.” Michelle told her quietly.
A few tears fell.
“I love him too… I don’t know what I’m going to do without him.”
“Well, if you want, I could kill Alexandria… that
would solve everyone’s problems.”
Laurie laughed despite herself. “I don’t think Chris would appreciate having
to visit you in prison. Even if he were
allowed conjugal visits.”
Michelle shrugged and grinned. “You never know.”
“This hurts so bad, Shelle.” She whispered. “Are
you umm… are you going to be seeing him soon?”
“I might see him on the fifth. Chris has a FuMan signing at the Army and
Air Force base in Lackland Texas before their show that night in San
Antonio. You’re welcome to come.”
“I don’t think so.
It would just be awkward.” Laurie reached into her purse for
something. “I bought this for him the
day all of us girls went shopping in San Francisco. It’s my birthday present to him.
If you could give it to him for me I would really appreciate it. There’s a card there too.”
“Sure, I can do that. I think the guys are taking him to Benihana’s on his actual
birthday and then hitting a movie afterward so I’m not going to that, but I’ll
give this to him next time I see him.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it.”
“Is there umm… any special message I should pass
along?”
“Just… just tell him that I miss him.” She turned away from Michelle as her phone
rang and Michelle quietly left Laurie’s office. “Laurie Williams speaking.”
“You’re alive!”
“Hi Lance.”
“Did you enjoy your little vacation?”
“Lance, please.
I just got the lecture from Michelle, I don’t need it from you too.”
“She gave you a lecture?”
“Well, not really.
She was just more concerned than anything else.”
“The rest of us were, too.” Lance told her
softly. “How are you feeling?”
Laurie felt the tears prick her eyelids again. “It’s hard Lance. I had gotten so used to being with him that it’s hard to believe
we’re apart.”
“I’d like to tell you that it will get easier, but
I don’t know that I can.”
“It’s all right Lance, this is something I’m going
to have to muddle through on my own.”
“You know I’m here if you need to talk. I left my cell phone number on every message
I left you last week.”
“So I noticed.”
“Listen, while I have you on the phone…” he
hesitated. “Hannah isn’t going to be able
to make it to the Teen Choice Awards, and I was wondering…”
“Wondering what?” Laurie had a bad feeling about
what Lance was going to ask.
“I was wondering if you would go with me. As my date.
Kind of.”
Laurie closed her eyes and sighed inwardly. There was a long silence on the line as her
thoughts ran wildly in her head. She
had absolutely no desire to attend an award show. She didn’t want the public attention. She didn’t want to read messages on the internet the next day
where the fans questioned who Lance’s new ‘girlfriend’ was. And that was the least of her worries.
If – and that was a big ‘if’ – she went to the Teen
Choice Awards with Lance, it meant she would have to face JC. She knew Lance would want to go to the after
party and that he would probably get so caught up with talking to people that
she would be left alone for the majority of the evening. Making her an easy target for JC to
access. There was no way she would be
able to avoid him.
“Are you there?” Lance asked.
“I’m here.” Laurie sighed. “Lance I’m sorry, but I really don’t want to
go. It will just be too hard with JC
there…”
“What if I promise to stay by your side all night?”
He asked. “I won’t leave you unless I
have to pee or something.”
“Thank you for that lovely image, Lance.” Laurie
laughed.
“Come on,” he pleaded. “Come with me. I don’t know if you’ll want to hang out with
Chris, but Michelle will be there and she can keep you company. Between the two of us, we can make sure that
the evil JC doesn’t come anywhere near you.”
“I don’t know…”
“Laurie,” Lance whined. “Don’t make me look like a loser who can’t get a date. Please?”
“You have no idea how happy I am that you aren’t
here right now.”
“Why?”
“Because you would give me that look and there’s no way I would be able to say no.”
“That can be arranged.” Lance said. “I can fly out to LA and hound you and give
you ‘that look’ as you put it until
you give in.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“I would.”
Dammit.
Laurie knew the little brat would keep his promise too. “All right, I’ll go.” She paused.
“But on one condition.”
“Anything.” Lance promised. “It’s yours.”
“You have to promise
that you will not leave my side under any circumstance.”
“I have to make one change to that.”
If Laurie could glare at him at that moment, she
would. Instead she glared at the
phone. “What?”
“If I have to go to the bathroom, Michelle can
protect you while I’m gone.”
“What if we can’t find her? What if Chris has her locked in a closet
somewhere?”
“Then you’ll just have to come into the bathroom
and wait for me.”
“What!” Laurie exclaimed. “Do you know how easy it would be for JC to come in there and
corner me? I don’t think so!”
Lance laughed.
“Well then I’ll lock you in the closet with Chris and Michelle. Which would be the lesser of two evils?”
“Well then you’ll just have to hold it.”
“I’m sure we can arrange something,” Lance was
still laughing. “But I’ve got to go
because I have a phone conference in about ten minutes that I have to get ready
for. If I don’t see you before the
twelfth, take care of yourself.”
“You too, Lance.” Laurie said softly. “Thanks for everything.”
“You’re welcome,” he replied. “Bye.”