The party was still going strong when Marissa and Anika asked to go home. With great reluctance, Joey said good bye to Clara, eliciting a promise that she'd call him. Marissa and Anika insisted again that she email them, then Joey and JC took them home. Lance left just after that, and finally, Justin and Chris made their way out.
"So, Chris," Justin said as he drove them home.
"Hm?" He was half asleep, worn out from the whole evening, and Justin smirked a little to see him so vulnerable.
"When are you actually going to talk to Marissa?"
"I did talk to her," he mumbled, and shifted a little against the window. "I was even civil."
"Instead of taking her to the balcony and kissing her until her head spun?"
Chris straightened. "What?" he demanded, the sleep cleared from his head.
Justin laughed. "So, you are in there. I was wondering."
"Where did that come from, Justin?"
"Your own thoughts," Justin said. "You were worse than Lance tonight! What's with the staring? And since when did you just stare?"
"Didn't we go through this already?" Chris asked, turning to look at him.
"I'm not sure." There was a devilish gleam in his eye. "She thinks you're sulking."
"She thinks... You talked about me?"
Justin laughed. "Was that a hopeful or an outraged question? ‘Cause I didn't quite catch the tone."
Chris sighed. "Can the teasing wait until tomorrow?"
"They'll be gone tomorrow."
"Are you taking over Scoop's job? How do you know that?"
"Marissa told me."
Chris closed his eyes to gather his scattered wits. "I don't get it, Justin. I'm going to get teased, I know it, and I'll put up with it. But why does it matter if it waits until tomorrow?"
Justin shot him an incredulous look. "What do you do, study us?"
Chris laughed. "Oh, yeah, I'm gathering information for my master's thesis," he said sarcastically. "I just know you guys. I know you noticed everything I did - and didn't do - and I know I'll hear about it." He rolled his eyes heavenward. "Until my dying day I'll hear about it."
"As if it bothered you," Justin said. "For all I know, you encourage it so you can hear her name."
"Oh, for Pete's sake!" Chris slumped in his seat. "I'm not some hormonal teenager who goes insane over a girl!"
"No, you're around them all the time. Some of our habits have to rub off on you."
"No, they don't." Justin just grinned at him, and he sighed. "So, they're leaving tomorrow."
"Good or bad?"
"Indifferent."
Justin snorted. "Right. You don't care one way or the other." The sarcasm filled the car.
"Leave me alone, Justin. You guys can rip all you want tomorrow, but I don't have the patience tonight."
They pulled into the driveway, and Justin put the car in park. "Then I suggest going in the back and locking your door. I'm sure they're all waiting for you."
Chris' eyes narrowed. "How sure?"
"Oops, too late," Justin smirked as JC stepped onto the porch. Chris groaned and got out of the car.
"Welcome home," JC called, leaning casually against the railing.
"Thanks. What do you want."
"Why would I want something?"
"Because you don't wait up for nothing," Chris said as he walked up the steps. "You value your sleep too much."
Justin laughed. "He's got you pegged," he said to JC, and pushed Chris into the house. JC followed, a smile on his face.
Chris started for the stairs, only to have Justin grab his arm and pull him into the common room, closing the door behind them. Chris turned and stared at him. "Okay, what."
"Have a seat," Justin said. Chris stepped back warily, but didn't sit down. Justin gave him a shove, and he dropped into the chair. He started to get up, and someone leaned on his shoulders.
"Nope. Stay down," Lance said over his head. "We're curious."
A pit opened in Chris' stomach. "What about?" This wasn't teasing, this was interrogation.
"Marissa," Joey said. The pit deepened. He really should have known.
"What about her?" He tried to keep his voice neutral.
"What do you think about her?" JC asked. The pressure on Chris' shoulders eased a little, but he could still feel Lance's hands there.
Chris paused. "I refuse to answer that."
"Oh?" Joey asked. "Does that mean you do, or you don't."
"He does," Justin said. "He won't admit it yet, but he does."
Chris' eyes narrowed. "You are a dead man, just remember that."
"Oh, come on, Chris, you are as obvious as JC," Lance said. JC lifted an eyebrow at him, but didn't say anything. "You might as well admit it."
With a frustrated gesture, Chris knocked Lance's hands off his shoulders and got up. Justin pushed him back down. "Nope. Stay down."
"Why does it have to be now?" he demanded.
"Because we say so," Joey said, and Chris looked up at him. He definitely looked better than he had since getting the phone call from Steve about that girl. He took a deep, calming breath.
"All right, fine. Go for it."
"He's got that face, doesn't he," Lance said, grinning at the others.
Justin nodded. "Yep. He doesn't intend to give us anything." He sat down across from Chris. "You know, I have a lot of stuff I could tell," he said.
"You haven't yet?" Chris asked, half surprised.
"Nope." He grinned. "I left it for you."
Chris sighed. "I'm too tired for this."
"Why are you tired?" JC asked.
Chris' eyes opened wide. "Hello? it's 2:30!"
"Not a really good excuse," Lance said. "We've seen you go 24 hours before, without even slowing down."
"So something had to make you that tired," Joey agreed.
"You didn't dance that much," Justin observed.
"He did dance with Marissa once," Lance said, and they all stared at him.
"How'd we miss that?" Joey demanded.
"Well, JC was dancing with Anika, and you were with Clara," Lance grinned. "And Justin was dancing with...." he hesitated, "...someone else."
"She asked," Chris mumbled. Justin lifted his eyebrows, but didn't say anything.
"So, what do you do next?" Joey asked.
Chris sighed. "Why don't you tell me?"
"Come with us when they leave," JC said.
"What time are they leaving?" he asked warily.
"About three. We're not going to the airport," Lance added. "We'll see them off at the hotel."
"Oh, sense. More than I would have thought from you lot. Can I go to bed now?" Chris demanded.
"You going to email her?" Joey asked.
"Not tonight," he snapped and got up. No one moved to stop him as he left the room.
As soon as the door closed behind him, Lance chuckled and leaned on the chair. "I thought I was gonna get hit."
"It came close, didn't it," Joey said, and looked at Justin. "You know something."
Justin stood. "I might, but it's for him to tell." He chuckled. "He was mad, wasn't he."
They all nodded in silence.
"What made you suddenly decide to ask Marissa to dance?" JC asked Justin abruptly.
Justin shrugged a little uncomfortably. "Chris was glaring at her like he wanted to... take her apart." Or at least out of the room, he thought to himself with a slight grin. "I decided to get her out of the line of fire." He shrugged again, as if brushing off the bad vibes from the evening. "I'm going to bed. Night." He left the room.
"I want to listen at Chris' door," Joey said after a pause. JC and Lance stared at him. "What? He stayed down here long enough to let Chris calm down, and now he's gonna talk to him. Bet you."
"Done," JC said, and they left the room, slipping up the stairs. Lance followed, moving past them to his own room.
Justin changed into sweats, sighing in relief as he hung up his tuxedo. He really didn't like being in that thing, and he had no idea how Chris even stood it. They usually couldn't even get him to wear a tie. Justin left his room for Chris', and met Lance in the hallway, who grinned. "Hey, Justin. Not going to bed yet?"
Justin blinked. "Huh? Oh. Had a question for Chris, and I wanted to ask it before I forgot, unless he's asleep."
"Oh. Right." Lance nodded. "Night."
Justin rounded the corner, and almost ran into Joey; right behind him was JC. He looked at them narrowly, and stepped out of the way. "Good night, guys."
"Night, Justin," Joey said, and JC nodded. They rounded the corner, and Justin shook his head. Something was definitely up.
Chris opened his door to Justin's knock, and let him in. Justin closed the door as Chris collapsed onto the bed again. "What do you want?" he asked softly.
"She asked you to dance?" Justin asked, sitting in the chair by the desk.
A slow smile curved Chris' lips. "Yeah."
"That's wild." He shook his head. "She's brave."
Chris snorted. "You have no idea." He put his head down with a sigh. "I'm so confused."
"What about?"
"I don't know...."
Justin laughed. "Marissa? Your relationship?"
"Do we have one?" Chris tossed out. "I don't even know if she asked me to dance because she felt sorry for me, or if it was a message of some sort. Although she said originally that it was so she could apologize. I half expected her to vanish half way through the song once she'd said that."
"You apologized, Chris. She took you up on it." He paused. "Maybe you should just email her a few messages, try to build up a friendship with her."
"I want more than just a friendship," Chris mumbled into his pillow. Justin's eyebrows almost reached his curls.
"What?" he demanded softly.
"Are you saying ‘what' because you didn't hear me or because you can't believe I said that."
"I'm not sure," Justin said.
"Doesn't matter. I'm not saying it again," Chris told him flatly.
Justin sighed. "Look, Chris. You don't have to say it. But if JC has anything to say about it, she's going to be in our lives - if for no other reason than because she's a friend of Anika's."
"He's that stuck on her?" Chris asked, looking up.
"So far as I can tell, yeah. Why?"
Chris shrugged. "Dunno. Why does he get all the luck?" he muttered softly.
Justin grinned. "Because he knows what he wants and goes after it. You hide from it."
Chris sat up, grabbed his pillow, and threw it at Justin. "Out, kid, before I kill you."
Justin caught the pillow, stood up, and tossed it back. "I'm gone. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Not if I see you first," Chris muttered softly as Justin closed the door behind him. He hadn't really planned to let it out at all. So far, Justin was the only one who knew the whole story, and he hoped it would stay that way.
Unfortunately for Chris, what Joey and JC didn't overhear, they could guess. They'd managed to get out of the way before Justin came out of the room, grinning widely at each other. This was gonna get good.
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