Marissa was still questioning the wisdom of her decision two months later as she stepped off the plane in Chicago with Anika. She glanced at her friend, who was so excited she could barely stand still, and glanced around the waiting area. The instructions had been clear: stay there until someone met them, they'd get their bags later. With a sigh, Marissa sank down in the uncomfortable seat and rubbed her eyes. "Why am I doing this again?" she asked Anika.
"Because I asked you to," her friend said gently, calming down for an instant. "Because Chris needs to see you aren't a monster. And," she added musingly, "you need to see that he isn't."
"The people at work think I've completely lost my mind." She decided to completely ignore the comment about Chris.
Anika snickered. "You haven't?"
Marissa glared at her. "Don't even start with me," she muttered.
Anika grinned. "Would you just relax? This is going to be fun!"
Marissa took a deep breath. "Right. Fun." She started to dig into her bag, only to have Anika grab her arm. She straightened and stared at the vaguely familiar large man standing in front of them, holding a comical looking sign with their names on it in glitter, and writhing like snakes. "That would be us," Marissa said, and stood, shaking her head at the sign.
The man nodded. "I'm Matt. If you ladies would follow me, please." They did, following silently and a little fearfully behind him to the baggage claim. Marissa grabbed her suitcase and turned to see him looking at her in some approval; his eyebrows almost left his head when Anika arrived with her one. He smiled for the first time. "Someone finally made a good decision on you two," he said. "Even their guy friends come with more suitcases than you two did." Without visible effort, he lifted both suitcases and started through the crowd.
They were loaded into a van, which Matt drove. "How did you ladies meet the guys?" he asked once they'd gotten out of the airport.
"At a club in Portland," Marissa said. "Joey asked to sit down at my table. I went to dance and when I got back, JC, Lance and Justin were there, and Chris showed up after that."
He nodded. "Joey and a club. That's not so far fetched," he said. "And after that?"
"I gave him my email address, and he wrote, and so did everyone else. Thanksgiving, Chris called me and was interrogated by Anika." Marissa shrugged, deciding to leave out a couple of the other phone calls. "We went to Orlando a couple of months ago on vacation, spent some time with them, and they invited us to that Benefit thing."
Matt nodded. "Right. I remember that. That's how I recognized you so easily."
"That's mostly the story of it all," Marissa said.
"So, it's all Joey's fault." Matt chuckled. "That doesn't surprise me."
"How is Joey doing?" Anika asked.
"Great. He seems really happy."
"Good," Marissa said. "He deserves it."
Matt chuckled. "He does that."
The van pulled up to an arena, and the two girls found themselves in the backstage area, passes around their necks, and another very large man directed them to the green room.
Joey saw them first, turning away from the buffet table spread with food, and grinned widely. "Hello," he said. "Had dinner?"
"No," Marissa said, and was suddenly face to face with a grinning Chris.
"You're here," he said, and gave her a tentative hug. She couldn't ignore the grin that covered her face as she hugged him back.
"I said I'd come, right?" she laughed. "Did you think I wouldn't?"
"It crossed my mind," he said, and winked.
JC's arm fell across Anika's shoulders. "Hi. How was your flight?" he asked softly. She turned and smiled up at him.
"Not bad, actually. Are you sure you're ready for the next two weeks?" she teased gently.
He smiled. "Yes, I'm sure I'm ready for this. I've done it before. Are you ready for the chaos?"
"I guess we'll find out, won't we." He laughed and hugged her.
"We most definitely will."
"All right, guys, eat. You don't have much time." A small, nervous looking man stood in the doorway, his arms folded across his chest. Chris sighed.
"I'm gonna hurt him some day," he muttered, and Marissa grinned.
"Can I help? Or at least watch?" she whispered, and he laughed.
"I'll make sure you have a ring side seat," he told her, and they walked over to the table. When they reached it, Justin grabbed her around the waist and gave her a hug.
"Hey, girl, how you been?" he asked.
"Fine, Justin," she chuckled. "How about you?"
"Great. How long are you here for?"
"What, is Scoop slipping?" she asked, and pulled away from him. "Where is he, anyway?" She turned, trying to find Lance. She found him on a couch across the room, hunched over a plate, and went over to sit next to him. "Hey, you okay?"
He looked up at her, and smiled a little hesitantly. "I'm fine. Just tired."
She gave him a hug, and his smile became a little more real. "That's better. You need sleep, boyo."
He chuckled. "Sleep is a four letter word around here. We aren't allowed it."
"Your counting skills are slipping - or it's your spelling," she teased. He rolled his eyes and grinned. "I guess I'll find out about this ban on sleep, won't I?" she asked as Chris paused in front of her.
"You're going to have to get something before Joey clears the table," he said. Marissa got up, and Chris looked down at Lance. "You sure you're okay, Lance?"
Lance shrugged. "Fine. Why?"
"You're more quiet than usual."
"Got lots to think about," he said. "It's nothing, Chris. Really."
"It's rarely nothing with you, Lance," Chris told him, and sat down next to him.
"This is one of the rare times," Lance said, and went back to his dinner, pointedly ignoring Chris. Marissa joined them then, and sank down at Chris' feet on the floor.
"Hey, you don't have to sit there," Chris protested. "There's room everywhere!"
She laughed. "But nowhere with a table quite so handy." She set her plate down on the floor.
"Are you sure that's enough?"
"I'm not as hungry as I thought," she said, and grinned. "Don't worry, I'm not starving myself, look at me. I'll eat, I promise. But that stuff really isn't appetizing right now. Give me an hour and I'll be ravenous."
"You have so got the right idea," Anika said, settling on the floor next to Marissa.
"I have to agree," JC said, sinking down next to her. Marissa grinned smugly up at Chris.
"See? I do have good ideas every once in a while." She got to her feet and went back to the table. Half way there, someone grabbed her around the waist and stopped her.
"You think I don't know that?" Chris asked in her ear. She giggled and struggled away from him.
"Just making sure you did," she said, and grinned at him. Her eyes narrowed in thought, and he smiled slowly. Then she gave him a brilliant smile and turned back to the food. He caught her again.
"What exactly were you thinking just then?" he asked.
"Let her eat, Chris!" Joey called.
"Yeah, let me eat, Chris," she repeated, her eyes sparkling.
"You sure you want me to let you go?" he asked softly.
"Is that a trick question?" she asked. He just grinned without answering. She thought about his question, then nodded slowly. "Yes, I think so," she said. He released her gently and stepped away. She watched him go, wary, and as soon as he sat down, she turned back to the table.
All seven of them were huddled together when someone cleared their throat by the door. They all looked up to see the same little man who had been there before. "Let's go. You've got places to be, guys."
"What about Marissa and Anika?" Joey asked as he got to his feet and dumped the paper plate into the nearest trash can.
"They'll be fine here for a while."
"Don't forget about the ladies," Justin said with a grin. "It's not nice to do."
The man gave Justin a withering look; Justin ignored him, apparently used to it, but Chris and JC exchanged glances as they followed the man out of the room.
Marissa crashed on one of the couches. "Oh, man, what a trip!" she mumbled.
"Hey, we made it on time. We can't complain too loudly," Anika said, and crashed on the other couch.
"We almost missed the flight. I am never doing that again."
"Sure you are. Next time you're invited on tour," Anika told her, smiling slightly. Marissa didn't dignify the comment with an answer.
They had both dozed off when Matt came to get them, and they followed him groggily through the halls to the box where they got to see the show. "Stay here when it's finished, and I will come get you," he told them. They nodded and closed the door.
It woke them both up. First the screaming, then the show. Neither of them could keep their feet still, and soon they were dancing along with the crowd of girls. Waiting afterwards, they relaxed in the silence and watched as the stage came down. "Wow," Marissa finally said.
Anika grinned at her. "Yeah. Wow. They're good, aren't they."
Marissa took a deep breath and nodded. "The harmonies are good anyway, but I can't even imagine being able to sing, keep the harmonies that good, and do all that at the same time." She shook her head. "They're very talented, more that I thought they were. How many flips did Chris end up doing?"
Anika laughed. "Don't let them hear you say that." There was a knock on the door.
"I don't intend to," Marissa said, and opened it. "Hi, Matt."
"You ladies ready?" he asked.
Anika stood. "Yeah. Are they asleep yet?" she asked.
Matt gave her an amused look. "Not for three hours or so. Let's go." They followed him out and down to the van that held their suitcases, and soon arrived at the hotel. There, they checked in, then Matt lead them up to their room.
The hallway on the floor was sheer madness. Marissa saw Justin fly across the hall from one room to another, but none of the others made an appearance. "Your room has a connecting door to Lance's, I think. Will that be a problem?"
Both girls shook their heads as they entered the room and set their suitcases down. "I think I want a shower," Marissa muttered.
"Go ahead. I'll find out about the others," Anika said, and Marissa laughed.
"Only if they're with JC," she said, grabbed clothes to change into, and disappeared into the bathroom.
Anika knocked a little hesitantly on the connecting door. "Hello?" she called.
"Who's there?" Definitely Lance, she thought.
"Me, Anika."
He threw the door open and smiled. "Hi. We wondered when you ladies were going to show up."
"We just got here. Marissa's in the shower."
"Let's leave her alone. Wanna find JC?" he asked.
She nodded. "Please."
He lead the way out of his room and into the chaos in the hallway, and they made their way down to a room on the other side. Lance knocked, and the door flew open. "Scoop! Anika!" Justin announced, and pulled them both into the room.
"Where's Marissa?" Joey asked, and Chris mock-glared at him before looking to Anika for the answer.
"She's in the shower. What are you guys doing?"
"Trying to calm down," JC said, slipping an arm around her and pulling her gently over to sit on the bed. "It's not working."
She grinned at him. "Does it ever?"
"Sometimes, but never when we have guests." He hugged her. "It's good to see you again. You've been doing well?"
She chuckled. "Oh, come on, it's not like we haven't been talking at all."
"Talking is not the same as seeing you."
"He's right, you know," Justin said as he bounced onto the bed behind them, and Anika almost fell off. JC tightened his grip around her, laughing. Once she was stabilized, he grinned at her, then they both turned and tackled Justin. JC held him down while Anika tickled him; his protests drew the others, and soon they were all helping hold him down.
That's how Marissa found them a few minutes later, and she dove in, throwing people off and tickling people herself. Joey backed off way too quickly as soon as she touched his ribs, and Anika did the same, taking refuge with JC. Chris fell backwards off the bed, landing on his back, feet up in the air. Marissa was almost giggling too hard to finish, but Justin managed to get Lance away on his own.
"My hero!" Justin exclaimed, throwing his arms around her neck and hugging her close.
"Hi, Justin," she grinned, and hugged him back.
"Where did you come from?" Joey asked.
"My room." She turned away and sat next to Chris, who was staring up at the ceiling, looking like he were sitting on the side of the bed, his feet and shins on the top, his back on the floor. "Comfortable?" she asked him.
"Actually, yes," he said. "I didn't know you were on Justin's team."
She didn't like the mischievous look in his eyes. "I wouldn't say that. He rescued me last time the bunch of us were in the same place; I decided to pay him back." Rescued me from one of your killer looks, she added silently.
"And I'm glad she did," Justin said, leaning against the wall, still sitting on the bed and trying to catch his breath. "I was gonna die in a minute."
"Yeah, right," Lance muttered, and grinned at him.
"Are you lot done making noise?" The voice came from the little man in the doorway, who looked somewhat surprised about something.
"Tim, this is Anika and Marissa," Justin said, pointing them out as he said their names. "This is Tim, our tour manager."
"Not for long," Chris mumbled, and struggled into an upright position.
"We'll try to be quieter," JC said, glancing around the room. Everyone nodded, although Joey had his hand over his mouth, and his dark eyes were sparkling madly. Tim nodded, his eyes narrowed, and closed the door.
"Are you guys like this all the time?" Marissa asked, turning so she leaned against the bed next to Chris.
He leaned closer and seemed to be sniffing at her; she leaned away from him, startled and little confused. "Mint?" he asked.
She looked at him, definitely confused now. "Huh?"
"You smell like mint."
"Oh! It's the conditioner." She gathered her wet hair to the nape of her neck, then let it go again, smiling self consciously. Chris nodded and leaned back against the bed.
"I like it. Keep that one."
She laughed. "Yes, sir," she saluted. She noticed that no one answered her question, and decided that she'd find out soon enough anyway.
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