Ashlee woke the next morning to the brightness of the sunshine shinning through her window and the warmth of Lance's arms around her. She vaguely remembered the events of last night, the nightmare and Lance's comforting words. He made her feel safe enough to fall asleep again, something that her Dad was only able to achieve in the past.
She didn't want to move out of his arms but she knew that she would have to eventually, so she slowly shifted her body away from his, causing him to protest in his sleep and draw her closer. Ashlee knew that she wouldn't be able to move away without awaking him further so she gave up, snuggled closer and closed her eyes and slept.
Lance awoke an hour later to the wonderful feeling of Ashlee in his arms; he looked down at her beautiful, peaceful face and knew that he would do anything within his power to make her feel safe again. Lance felt her shift and looked down to find her eyes open looking at him. "Good-morning Ashlee. How do you feel this morning?"
"I'm better... Thank you for being there for me last night Lance. You made me feel safe enough to sleep again, and I could never tell you how much that means to me. My Dad normally helps me with my dreams but when he is away I can't sleep, so thank you."
Lance saw the sadness in her eyes and drew her closer for a hug. "No thanks necessary, Ashlee. You needed someone to hold you last night, and I'm just glad you allowed that person to be me."
Lance looked behind her head at the clock. "It's 7am so we better get up so you can go to work, and I can get to the stadium to practice for our last show."
"Ok well I’ll meet you downstairs when you’re done," Ashlee said as she carefully moved away from his arms and out of bed.
"We have another Charity concert tonight, will you come?"
"I don't know, am I invited?" she cheekily asked.
This caused Lance to laugh. She was feisty this morning which was a good thing. "Of cause you're invited, no invitation necessary and bring Beth with you and we'll have some fun," he said with a parting wink.
Thirty minutes later Ashlee headed down to the kitchen where JC, Dani and Kelly were already seated. "I'm sorry if I startled you guys last night. I should have warned you about my habit of screaming in the middle of the night," she said trying to lighten the mood.
Joey, Chris, Lance and Justin chose that moment to come into the room. "So what did we miss," Joey questioned noticing the silence.
Ashlee shifted uncomfortably, "I was just apologizing for last nights entertainment."
Joey came over and gave her a huge hug, "Nothing to apologize for, Ashy. Don't be mad but Tim elaborated on your incident so we understand completely" he said with genuine warmth.
Lance came over and sat next to her, instantly giving her the strength to face the rest of the group. But there was nothing to be afraid of, all she saw was concern and understanding in everyone's eyes and she sighed in relief. "Well I guess that means that if it happens tonight there is no reason for you all to have heart attacks," Ashlee said with a cheeky smile.
Justin piped up after devouring a bowl of cereal. "So what's the plan for today?"
"We need to get to the stadium for our last rehearsal and Ash is going into work, and I'm sure the girls would like to go home to check on things," Lance explained.
"Why don't you guys head out now then and I will drop the girls off then pick them up after I have cleared some stuff up at work." Ashlee looked over at the girls. "Then maybe we could do some girlie stuff together, like shopping or something?"
Dani and Kelly smiled in agreement. "That sounds good to me, I need to pick up a new outfit for the concert tonight away," Kelly said with a smile.
JC clapped his hands in satisfaction. "Cool ok so that's the plan. We’ll meet you girls at the catering tent at 5.30."
They all stood up, collected their things and walked towards the cars, Kelly holding Joey's hand cautioned them all. "You all be careful today, remember the press are probably out to get you," Kelly kissed Joey good-bye and hugged everyone else.
Lance held onto Ashlee's hand. "Thank you again for letting us hide out here. Try and relax today if possible Ash, and don't forget to invite Beth."
JC's head popped up at this comment and his smile brightened. "Yeah bring Beth. That’ll be fun." Lance and Ashlee just looked at each other with knowing looks; they had obviously observed the same look between JC and Beth last night.
Ashlee looked back at Lance. "Thanks for your concern Lance but I will be fine today thanks to you, and I promise I'll have a nice relaxing day. I’ll see you tonight. Have fun at practice."
Ashlee leant over with the intention of kissing him on the cheek but he moved to kiss her as well and their lips touched. They both froze in shock with their lips still lightly touching, and Ashlee slowly drew back in embarrassment. "Sorry about that," she whispered not looking at his face.
Lance cupped her cheek lightly. "It's ok, nothing to be sorry about" he said while gently kissing her forehead. "I'll see you later" and with that he jumped into the limo and pulled away.
Lance sat quietly in the corner of the limo as he drove away, remembering how she had clung to him last night and how her soft lips felt against his. He sighed out loud attracting the attention of his friends. He felt them all looking at him and he raised his eyes in question. JC looked at him in concern. "Lance you know that we all like Ashlee but are you sure you know what you are dealing with here?"
Lance just looked at him in confusion.
"She has some huge problems to deal with. Are you sure you are prepared to deal with them? Are you sure you can even help?" JC elaborated.
"She let me help her last night Jace. That's something that her Dad can only do, but last night she let me hold her. That must mean something and I'm going to find out what," Lance said with determination.
"We're not asking you to give her up Lance. We’re just asking if you seriously think you can help her?" Justin pushed.
Lance sat in quietness for a few minutes as he pondered the question. "I don't know what it is about her, but I can't stop thinking about her. I have this need to help her. I feel like I have to protect her from anymore harm," he looked at his friends’ faces seeing understanding registered on all of them.
"I think you are falling for her man," Joey slyly suggested. "Yeah, I am Joe, and I'm falling hard," Lance stated looking Joey squarely in the eyes.
"WHAT?!" they all yelled in unison.
Lance looked at them strangely. "What? Right back at ya."
Chris laughed after he got over his shock. "Lance we know you’re falling for Ashlee. We just didn't expect you to know, and we certainly didn't expect you to admit to it if you did."
"Yeah, well I am so let's just leave it at that, ok?" Lance said feeling uncomfortable discussing his growing feelings when he had no idea how Ashlee felt about him.
JC held up his hands to calm him. "Ok Man we won't say a word more, but I do have to add that I'm happy for you. She's one hell of a lady!"
Lance's smile turned into a grin. "Yeah she is, isn't she?" He turned back towards the window to watch the passing scenery.
"Oh My God! Oh My God! I saw that Ash, you kissed, Oh My God!" Dani squealed, causing Ashlee to blush in embarrassment.
"It was an accident guys, we didn't plan it."
Dani just gave her a knowing look. "Yeah but you did kiss!"
Ashlee couldn't contain her excitement anymore and she smiled brightly. "Yeah we did... He has soft lips," she said quietly, unconsciously touching where his mouth had rested.
Dani and Kelly just laughed at Ashlee's dreamy look. "You are so gone Ash!" Kelly giggled.
This caused Ashlee to frown. "I could seriously fall in love with him... But that's the problem."
Dani frowned in confusion. "Oh. That's a problem?"
"Yeah, that's a problem," she sighed then mentally brightened her self up. "Let's not think about that right now. We better get going, the sooner I get to work the sooner I get to shop," she said with a smile.
Half an hour later Ashlee walked out of the elevator that carried her to her offices on the 31st floor in her Father’s building. Ashlee had only called through to her office during the ride over to alert her personal assistant that she would be coming in today, but the ever-efficient Vivian was waiting with a cup of coffee and the prospects that she needed for her meeting with Beth.
Vivian was only a few years older than herself but she had already learnt to school her features into a neutral expression, even though she knew that Ashlee was still supposed to be on holidays she showed no surprise.
"Good morning Ashlee, these are all the plans and profits that you will need for your meeting. Beth is waiting in your office, and just buzz me if you need anything else."
Ashlee smiled in thanks, "I don’t know what I would do without you Viv… I don’t imagine that we’ll be too long and then I’m leaving for the rest of my holidays."
Vivian sat back down at her desk. "Well you certainly deserve your time off… We'll keep a lid on any business while you’re away."
Ashlee smiled one last time before she walked into her office to meet Beth, they hugged in greeting but Ashlee quickly moved on to their business. "So the club is going well?" Ashlee asked while quickly scanning the marketing reports.
"Yeah it is a huge hit, we will end up bringing in two sets of profits this way. The cafe by day turned dance club by night; people find the idea engaging. And when the noise or people get to much they can go next door to enjoy a coffee without getting disturbed because of the sound proof glass...We have had great reviews and there is even interest in venturing to other states. This idea would go down well in LA," Beth explained as she had read the reports comprehensively.
"Um... Maybe," Ashlee replied distracted.
"So how did last night go," Beth asked dying to know about Lance. Ashlee sighed and Beth understood. "So you had a nightmare?"
"Yeah a bad one but Lance was next door and he helped me through it. He was really understanding, and he stayed with me the entire night until we both fell asleep... And when we woke up the rest of the group were great too."
Beth smiled at Ashlee's confused expression. "That's good that you had someone to get you through it. But isn't your Dad the only one who can calm you down?"
"Yeah that's what I'm confused about, I let Lance hold me. No, more accurately I wouldn't let him go, the poor guy didn't know what hit him. He made me feel safe and I was able to sleep again".
"But that's great!" Beth said with enthusiasm.
"I don't know. I don't want him to become involved in my mess, but I feel like I need him in my life but I can't do that to him. I'm too complicated" Ashlee said sadly.
"Oh honey, you’re wonderful person and I'm sure Lance recognizes that fact".
"Thanks Bethy, but it's too stressful to talk about now. Let's hurry up and get this done so we can meet up with Dani and Kelly and shop til we drop.”
"What are you shopping for?"
'You're shopping too... Because tonight we are all going to Nsync's last concert for the next two weeks until they go back on tour." Ashlee said while watching a smile appear on Beth's face.
"We are? Oh my, I get to see JC again. He is absolutely gorgeous," Beth said while blushing.
"It's funny you should mention him Beth because he specifically asked me to invite you".
"Oh My God. Well in that case I'm definitely going shopping with you".
An hour later Dani, Kelly, Beth and Ashlee were shopping and acting all girlie. She had forgotten what it was like to be in the company of more than one girlfriend and they were having a blast.
At that moment Dani, Kelly and Beth were waiting impatiently outside Ashlee's dressing room door. "Come on Ashlee show us what it looks like," Beth yelled loudly through the door.
"There is no way I’m coming out in this and there's definitely no way I am wearing this around Lance," Ashlee said in panic.
"If you don't come out right this instance I’m personally coming in and dragging your ass out young lady," Beth shot back.
Ashlee scoffed at this. "Yeah like you could!"
Beth grinned at Dani and Kelly. "Well if I can't I know this big guy named Tim who would gladly do it for me.”
Ashlee knew that Beth had her on that one so she slowly stepped out in her new outfit, glaring at Beth. "That was soooo low".
Beth just laughed at her expression. "Yeah but it worked.”
Ashlee just shifted uncomfortably in front of the mirror. "I can't wear this in front of Lance. What would he think?"
Dani came up and stood behind Ashlee, her presence reflected in the mirror. "He’ll think that you are gorgeous, like he already does. But most importantly he recognizes the beauty you have on the inside as well as on the outside," she said with conviction.
Ashlee felt tears forming in her eyes. "Thank you, Dani. I guess I just learned not to like myself. It's always much easier to recognize the negative than it is to recognize the positive.”
Dani gave her a hug and Kelly and Beth soon joined them. "From now on we have each other to make us see the good inside all of us," Kelly said with tears in her eyes also.
Tim just stood by and watched the girlie circle they had formed, and he was grateful that Ashlee had found so many understanding friends, friends who were willing the help each other through anything.