Breakfast had consisted of french toast and icy stares from Justin. Apparently he thought it was his right to know where Lance had been the night before and hadn’t taken it too well when Lance had informed him, in no uncertain terms, that it wasn’t any of his business.
Security had thought it wise to have each travel in a different van to the radio station. Under the circumstances Lance wholeheartedly agreed. He was fatigued and was sick and tired of Justin’s attitude when it came to Summer.
JC slipped into the seat beside Lance. “Hi,” he said gently, testing the waters.
“Hey.”
“So…you were out late last night.”
Lance sighed. “Not you as well. Jace, I’ve got enough with Justin on my case at the moment.”
JC held his hands up defensively. “I’m not getting at you, it was just an observation. Even Joe was back before you…that doesn’t happen very often.”
“So I went out, had fun, I’m allowed aren’t I? I’m over 21 and you guys are not my mother. Even though you like to think you are sometimes,” he scoffed.
“Were you with the girl from the restaurant?” He knew all too well that he was, he’d dragged it out of Joey when he’d stumbled in at 2 am a little worse for the wear.
“She has a name. Yes I was with Summer. You got a problem with that?” he asked forcibly. He was sick and tired of everyone questioning his behaviour.
“Jesus, Lance, calm down. Shit, what has gotten into you?”
“Nothing has gotten into me. I’m just sick of you guys trying to control my life. Do I tell you what to do, who to date? Because believe me, I haven’t liked half the people you guys have hooked up with, but I’m still courteous to them.” Maybe he was being a little harsh. Justin was the only one who had been outright rude to Summer the other night, and she had given as good as she got. The others had just been very quiet and wary around her. All except Joey that is, you could always count on Joey to make someone feel comfortable.
JC sighed. “You just don’t talk to us anymore.”
Lance didn’t respond. How could he tell them that he wasn’t happy? They’d think he was nuts, they had everything they could possibly want. Well they did. Lance didn’t. He didn’t have that special something…or someone.
“I thought you didn’t want to get involved with anyone because of our schedule,” JC reminded him carefully.
“Yeah well maybe I just hadn’t met the right person up until now.”
“What makes you so sure she’s the right one?”
“I don’t know, but what if she’s is and I let this go? I’m not going to look back in years to come and regret not giving it a chance.”
He couldn’t. He wouldn’t.
Summer’s mom led him through to the sitting room.
“Please, take a seat,” she told him, gesturing to a recliner in the corner of the room. “I’ll go tell Summer you’re here.”
Lance took a seat and immediately noticed 6 sets of eyes on him. Bodies were sprawled out on the floor, on the sofa; heads turned from where they’d been watching television, eyes now trained on him.
He smiled uneasily and prayed that Summer would hurry up. He felt like he was on trial.
“Hi Lance,” Vanessa greeted him.
He smiled gratefully at her, a semi-familiar face. “Hi Vanessa, how are you doing?”
“Okay,” she shrugged. “Have you met everyone?” she asked.
He glanced at the other occupants of the room. “No, can’t say I have.”
“Let me do the introductions then. On the floor we have Kym and Danny. On the sofa there is Billy, and that thing next to him is Drew, he’s not related thank God!”
“Love you too, Vanessa,” the boy, who looked to be about 17 to Lance, replied. “Hey, I heard you met my sister.” Before Lance could ask who his sister was he clued him in. “Celeste.”
Lance grinned. “Oh yeah, you could say that.”
“Celeste got the better genes of the family,” Vanessa interrupted. “She’s pretty cool, unlike her brother.”
“Whatever, Nessa.”
Lance looked on with amusement, as the others seem to take the bickering in their stride.
“And that there,” Vanessa pointed to the baby on the floor, looking at Lance curiously as he pushed a truck along the carpet, “is Scott. He’s Summer’s illegitimate lovechild from her last encounter with a rock star.”
Lance’s eyes grew wide. “Kidding,” Vanessa grinned.
She was way too much like her older sister, Lance couldn’t help but think.
“He’s actually my parents’ big mistake, even though they would never admit to that. Anyway, that’s everyone,” she concluded, finishing her introductions.
“You can just call us The Brady Bunch,” Summer said, appearing in the doorway.
“Or The Waltons,” Vanessa added.
“Or the Von Trapp’s,” Summer continued.
“Except we don’t sing,” Kym, the youngest daughter pointed out.
“Right,” Summer nodded. “We’ll leave that up to Lance.”
“Damn, you pretty much scared the guy away before you’ve even walked out the door,” Billy, the oldest son commented. He turned to Lance. “The girls in my family are a little strange to say the least. You’re crazy, man,” Billy shook his head, obvious sympathy for Lance.
“Can it, Billy. You ready to go?” Summer asked Lance.
“Sure,” he nodded, wiping his sweaty palms on his pants as he stood up. “Um-it was nice meeting you all.”
“Bye,” they chorused as the two of them left the room.
As they headed to the front door they were met by Summer’s dad, just returning from work.
“Lance, this is my dad, Bill. Dad, this is Lance,” Summer introduced them quickly.
“Nice to meet you Mr Walker,” Lance smiled, offering his hand to shake.
Summer watched as her dad looked surprised, but impressed, as he shook Lance’s hand. “Please, call me Bill.”
Summer rolled her eyes. She should have guessed Lance would be good with parents.
“See you later, dad, we’re gonna be late.”
“Okay, you two take care now. Nice to meet you, Lance.”
“You too, sir.”
“You’re welcome here anytime,” her mom informed him as she joined the group in the hall.
“Thank you.”
“Okay, bye,” Summer interrupted, quickly ushering them out the door.
Lance chuckled as she pulled the door closed behind them. “In a hurry much?”
“You’re such a suck up.”
“How?” he laughed
She groaned as she realised what had just happened. “Oh great, my parents love you.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“Yeah, they’re supposed to hate you, it’s like written in the rule book. And it totally goes against my plans to rebel.”
“Sorry.”
“So there you go, you met my dysfunctional family.”
“Dysfunctional?”
“Well you can either call us dysfunctional or weird. I prefer the first, it’s more dramatic.”
That was Summer all over – dramatic.
“Lance?”
“Yeah?” he asked, opening the car door.
“Did you have fun meeting my family?” she asked innocently.
He narrowed his eyes. “What are you getting at?”
“Oh nothing… Just I was ready like 15 minutes before you got here. I just felt like making you sweat it out.”
“You’re purely evil,” he sulked.
She grinned devilishly. “I know.”
From the moment they entered Bertorelli’s they were fighting back laughter. The first person they saw was Henry, her ex-boss. Apparently her reappearance the day after Lance had dragged her away just hadn’t been good enough. Damn man had just been waiting for an excuse to get shot of her. The look of surprise, then horror when he realised who his VIP customers were, had made her day.
First stop had been at the bar, where Ric had been beaming when she purposely ordered a cocktail, giving him a chance to practice his Tom Cruise impression. Of course it also managed to swipe at least 10 years off Henry’s life as Ric threw a bottle in the air, barely managing to catch it between the tips of his fingers.
“Excuse me…sir!” she called.
Henry, who had been trying to walk by unnoticed, turned and smiled tightly. “Yes?”
“This soup is cold,” she told him, face completely straight.
Henry sucked in a breath. “I’ll get that changed for you.”
“Don’t bother, I’ve had enough, just take it away.”
Henry took the bowl. “Sorry about that.”
“Just make sure it doesn’t end up on our bill.”
“Of course.”
“You’re mean,” Lance chuckled as he watched Henry go back into the kitchen.
“That man made my life hell for a year, it’s payback time.”
Their main course arrived and she made a big show of complaining that Lance’s chicken was not cooked properly. They drew several stares from other customers who could then be seen poking their own food, checking it.
Dessert was a large chocolate delight, which they decided to share, making a big show of feeding each other and being overly affectionate. Ric and several of the waitresses stood behind the bar, watching in amusement and trying to hold back laughter, while Henry had been ready to spit fire.
Soon after, they made a quick getaway before they were kicked out, but not before Summer turned to face the customers in the restaurant and announced, “The man in the corner, his name’s Henry.” The restaurant went quiet, all eating was halted, and heads turned to her. “Henry just let me into a little secret. He’s going to let you all have your meals on the house tonight. It’s a little apology to you all for forgetting to wash his hands before he served you your food. By the way, I hope you sort that diarrhoea problem out, Henry. Nasty, nasty thing.”
Laughter erupted from behind the bar as Summer tugged on Lance’s hand, pulling him towards the door.
"Wish I could stick around to watch him sort that one out," Summer whispered to Lance.
They stepped out of the restaurant holding hands and laughing. Only then did they notice the heavy downpour. While other couples sheltered under the canopy in front of the restaurant, Summer tugged on his hand and pulled him out into the rain.
They ran across the road and into one of the parks that was still open.
“Why when I’m with you do I always end up wet?” he chuckled.
She raised an eyebrow.
He covered his face and groaned, realising just how his words sounded. “Forget I said that.”
She grinned, leaning close to his ear and whispering, “Nice I can do that to you, babe.”
She giggled, slipping her shoes off when the heels began to sink into the grass. The feel of the cool, wet grass soothing on her feet.
He stood and watched as she twirled around, lifting her face to the shower from the heavens. She looked so carefree and for once he felt the same, except for one niggling thought – his imminent departure.
As if reading his thoughts, she stopped. “So what time do you leave?” she asked, meeting his stare.
“10 am,” he sighed. “Not too much of an early start.”
She began to wander towards him. She gave him a small smile. “You know I’m gonna miss you, Bass. You kinda grew on me.”
He reached out, his hand slipping around her hip, drawing her the rest of the way to him. “I’m gonna miss you too.”
She gave him a small smile.
He looked at her intently. “Stay with me tonight?” he asked boldly.
She stared deep into his eyes. “Okay,” she finally whispered.
Chapter 11
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