Chris had taken to surprising Marissa everywhere they met. She suspected that there were times he followed her, but she didn't mind, unless he was supposed to be somewhere else. It kept her on her toes, because she rarely saw him coming.
She was on her way out of one of the rooms when he grabbed her left wrist and twisted it behind her, using her arm to hold her against him. "Hi," he said.
She'd caught herself on his shoulder. "Hi, Chris. What is it with you?" she asked, grinning, and any bad feelings from the day fled. She'd had to spend time with Candy that morning, and that always made her mad. But Lance was improving.
He shrugged. "I felt like seeing you."
"Aren't you supposed to be somewhere?"
"Nope. On break for dinner." He grinned roguishly. "Hungry?"
She lifted her eyebrows. "Dunno. What's on?"
"Oh... you?" He kissed her then, finally, his free hand splayed against the wall he was leaning against to balance himself. The intensity of that kiss sent emotions and feelings rushing through her like she'd never felt, and she wondered, in a very distant corner of her mind, if he was going to do this to her every time. She didn't notice that she'd fisted his shirt until he let her go.
Her heart was pounding, her breath coming in gasps as she looked at him, wondering how he could look so calm. He opened his mouth to say something, and had to clear his throat. "Um. Where do you want to eat?" His voice was scratchy, almost strained. So he'd felt it too. She felt a little better.
"Somewhere with lots of people," she said breathlessly, and tried to pull away from him. His arm tightened around her waist, and he let her wrist go. Her freed hand rested on his arm, lending much needed balance and leverage, if that became necessary.
"What, you don't trust me?" he asked softly, far too close to her ear for comfort.
"No, I don't trust me right now," she whispered. "Chris, this is really unfair."
"Life's not fair," he told her, but his grip around her waist loosened a little.
"No," she said softly, and sighed, laying her head on his shoulder. He started playing with her hair and finally released it from the confining barrette, running his fingers through it.
"You know, we'd better go eat or I'm going back a grouch."
"Grumpy," she corrected him. "Grumpy half the time and Happy half the time. I don't think we ever decided if Justin was Dopey or not."
He laughed. "Oh, so now we're all dwarves?" he asked as she pulled away from him and straightened his shirt, grimacing a little when the shoulder where she'd gripped it didn't straighten.
"No, only Joe. He's scruffy."
"I'm scruffy."
"You, my dear, are a de-top-knotted Kinder half breed. The height - and the beard - must come from the giants also in your ancestry."
"De-top-knotted Kinder?" he asked in disbelief.
"Yeah. You know, Tasselhoff Burrfoot? I know you've read the DragonLance books, I read it somewhere they were your favorite. Something about liking Dragons and liking Lance, too." She rolled her eyes with a grin. "I figure the braids were the Kinder top-knot, and you cut them off for some weird reason."
He laughed. "Some girl told me I looked better without them," he protested.
"Yeah, and said girl only had her opinion. Look better, yes, but I knew who you were because of those things. Didn't know anyone else, although there was enough about Justin to ensure I knew him, or at least his name, but the other three were just... people. I knew ‘N Sync because of you. You stood out."
"I'm good at that," he said, took her hand, and started walking.
"That isn't your stage shirt, is it?" she asked.
He looked down, and grinned. "Well, I have to give Candy problems sometime, this is as good as any I could come up with on my own," he whispered to her. She giggled.
"Well, if you want to incorporate that, just let me know. I'll be glad to help any time. You did ask for help, after all."
He laughed and pulled her into a hug.
Chris walked into wardrobe, totally oblivious, until Candy stopped him. "What happened to your shirt?" she demanded. He blinked at her in surprise.
"What?"
Candy reached up and tried to smooth the wrinkles out of his shoulder. "What did you do to this? It's not meant to be crinkled like that!"
He tried to see what it was, and a smile crossed his face. "Oh. Sorry. I guess you could say I got careless."
"Take it off," she demanded as the others walked in.
"Um... strip teases now?" Justin asked with a wry grin. Lance flinched; JC gripped his shoulder, steadying him.
"He got it wrinkled. Although how you messed up the shoulder...." She took the shirt as soon as he had it off and lay it on the ironing board.
"Might have had something to do with the kiss," Joey said. Chris lifted an eyebrow.
"Kiss?" he asked innocently.
"Yeah. You, Marissa, the hallway...." Justin grinned. "We saw you and backed up. I'm not sure who else saw it." The others began to change.
"Anika was with us, and you should have seen her smile," JC grinned.
"Never mind the smirk on Clara's face," Joey added.
Chris folded his arms. "Hm... perhaps the hallway was not the best place for that." But a smile crossed his face. Justin's eyebrows went up in surprise.
"She said she didn't belong to anyone," Candy said, handing the shirt back to Chris. He put it on again.
"She doesn't," Chris said, focused on buttoning his shirt.
"Didn't?" Joey asked.
"Doesn't," Chris corrected him. "It was just a kiss."
"Could have started a fire, by the way she was gripping your shirt," JC teased.
"Is this going to be wet the whole time?" Chris asked suddenly. Joey snickered.
"You won't notice it five minutes after you get on stage," she assured him.
"Yeah, but until then, it's gonna drive me nuts," he muttered.
"Good," Candy muttered, twitching Justin's collar into place. "Now you understand how the rest of us feel."
"Feelin' the love," Chris muttered, brushing ineffectually at his shirt. "Ugh..." Suddenly he straightened and turned. "Hey, Business Spice, I got a question for you."
Lance looked at him, amused, and Justin groaned. "Oh, no. No questions. Chris, we're about to go on stage, and you're asking Lance a question about FuManSkeeto?"
"What? I'm gonna forget if I don't ask now!" Chris protested, and perched on the edge of the chair as Candy pulled Lance further into the room. Chris' eyes hardened.
"I'm so outa here," Justin mumbled, and Joey followed. Chris nodded at JC, who went after them.
"What?" Lance asked.
"You've been doing this longer than I have, and you've got one artist signed. What's the best approach to use with Unconventional Means?"
Lance blinked at him. "You're kidding me."
Chris looked surprised. "What?"
"Chris, they're awful. They even tried to get me to manage them. Who got them on at FuMan?"
"Steve, I think. How bad?"
Lance rolled his eyes. "Think.... Oh, man, I can't even come up with a comparison." He almost absently slapped Candy's hand away from his waist, then rubbed his chin thoughtfully, ignoring her narrowed eyes. "The best thing to do is drop them as nice as you can. The lead singer is worse than Sheryl Crow, as far as staying on key. The drummer has no sense of rhythm. Um... The bassist is worse than when Justin was learning for the "Ain't No Stoppin' Us" tour...."
Chris grimaced. "Okay, I get it... What if they've improved?"
Lance snorted. "Not a chance."
"Why not?"
Candy sighed and cast a furious look in Chris' direction. "All right. You're done."
Chris stood and followed Lance out the door. "Well, why not?" he asked again, then the door slammed shut behind them.
Lance took a deep breath. "Thank you." He sounded and even looked steadier than he had since the beginning of the tour. Then he paused and looked seriously at Chris. "You really don't have Unconventional Means, do you?" he asked, almost afraid.
Chris shook his head. "No. But I did end up with their demo tape. Danielle sent it to me to see if I agreed with her about how bad they were." He grinned lopsidedly. "You were actually painting a nice picture. It would have been nice if the bassist had sounded as good as Justin."
Lance winced. "Oh. They got worse, did they?"
Chris laughed.
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