For the seventh time during the coffee/date/getting to know each other thing Laura’s phone rang.

“Wow, if I didn’t know better I’d say you have your own business to run as well” Lance smiled at her and signaled for her to answer her phone.

Laura smiled her best fake smile; in sense Laura’s phoned calls did involve a sort of business.

“I promise the last call then I’ll just turn the phone off completely.” She stood up and walked towards the bathroom. After looking at the caller ID she answered the phone. “Took you long enough to call me back.”

“You know, you up and leave almost two months ago to move to California and not once have you called me to let me know you’re okay. And now that you have decided to call me you expect me to drop everything for you. Besides, you called me just this morning. So what did you call me for? You know, besides to tell me how much to miss me and my amazing sex.”

“John, shut up.”  Laura took a deep breath and continued. “Does the name Jamie Petroaly ring any bells?”

“Why? Is she saying that I am her baby’s daddy? Cause I most definitely do not know her.”

“In all seriousness John, does that name sound familiar to you?” Laura heard silence on the other side for a while.

“Petroaly. Petroaly. It does but I just can’t figure out why. I feel like I’ve heard that name before and I know something but it’s just not coming to me. Why do you want to know?”

“Just, I thought it rang a bell too but I couldn’t figure it out. Can you possibly do a search for me?”

“What kind of search? I’m kind of walking on glass here with the cops after what happened.”

Of course, Laura’s dad interfering did wonders for her old crowd, even though he did save HER ass. “Nothing crazy, just ask around if it sounds familiar. I think she may be linked to Dee and Yuvy.”

“Laura, you know I love you to death and all, but if this Jamie girl is linked to Dee and Yuvy, I suggest you stay away from her. The incident may have been almost a year ago but trust me when I say that they are not over it. Dee is basically lost without Yuvy giving him orders. And Yuvy is on house arrest while waiting trial. So how do you know this girl?”

“She works with me and has been giving me shit since I started.”

John sighed and his voice got lower. “I’ll do the search for you, but I only want me to be on this. But, knowing you, you probably already called a few people when you couldn’t get through to me.”

Laura didn’t answer him. She called four other people, including Mike.

“Of course you did. Okay, when they call you back to agree, tell them you changed your mind. Did you tell them the name?”

Again she didn’t answer.

“Why can’t you just be patient and wait a few hours. I’m not going to bother asking you this question cause I already know the answer, you called Tom.”

“Yeah.”

When it came down to choosing whose to side with after their group had gotten arrested, he choose Dee and Yuvy. Tom was basically a double agent, he played for both sides but when it came down to it he was with Yuvy.

“Okay, give me tonight to think things through. Who else did you ask that I should know about?”

Laura and John never officially broke up, it was one of those things that just went away, technically they where still a couple, technically.

“Mike, my boyfriend.”

“Oh, your boyfriend.” Johns words where a bit stuttered, he never did well with her being with other guys besides him. “Why did you ask him? What are his ties? Are you involved in some other shit out there?”

“He’s a journalist with me at Rolling Stone and I figured he may have some access to more information about her since she is his ex.”

“Laura, what did you get your self into this time? Okay I’ll give you a call back within the next few days. Until then please be patient and stop calling people.”

“Okay. Thanks John. Bye.”

“Bye”

Laura hung up the phone, turned it off completely and returned to Lance who was also on his phone.

”Look I have to go. Yes I understand the situation but at the moment my focus will be completely off of what you are trying to tell me so that means our conversation will be pointless. Thank you and goodnight.” Lance turned off his phone before the person on the other line had a chance to respond. “Okay are both of our phones completely off? No more interruptions?”

“Yes, no more interruptions.” Laura smiled at him.

“So what was your call about?” She picked up her cup of Chai Latte and took a sip.

“Same shit it’s about every time I get a call.” Lance looked down at his cup of coffee and sighed. “How I should just forget this N Sync thing and focus on my company since it’s not doing so great at the moment. We are currently in the process of losing our most profitable client that isn’t even bringing in any money. Which I take full responsibility for considering I haven’t done much to promote her.”

“Well isn’t this pretty much N Sync’s last run any way?” Laura twirled the straw around her cup, slightly mixing in the whipped cream.

“Yeah, it is, but this is one of those things that I have to handle as soon as possible.” Lance shook his head slightly and looked back to her. “But whatever, what was your call about? Better yet, your CALLS.”

“Right, just stupid shit back in Chicago with old friends and new problems. But fuck it cause I’m here with you guys, interning at Rolling Stone and preparing to attend Berkley so I don’t gave a damn at the moment.” If she were Pinocchio, her nose would be huge; of course she gave a damn, that is all that has been on her mind since yesterday morning.

“Liar.”

“Excuse me? I am so not a liar.”

“Maybe you’re not a liar but you are lying that the problems back home don’t bother you.” Lance laughed slightly when Laura gave him a “prove it to me” face. “See, you have a ‘tell’ when you lie.”

“No I don’t.

“Yes you do. I may have only known for about two weeks, but I’ve noticed you have a ‘lying face’. You look to your left with a rolling eye motion, smile a bit, and slightly shake your head.”

Laura gave him a shy glance with a small smile that quickly turned to a full out laugh, Lance soon joined. Once she caught her breath, she simply smiled at him and took a deep sigh. “I must say Lance, that is a little creepy.” Her smile didn’t falter, letting him know she was teasing him.

“Well what can I say? You’re interesting to study, plus there isn’t much else to do on that bus.”

“True.”

“So are you going to tell me what exactly the problem in Chicago is or am I going to have live the rest of my life wondering?” His smile dropped when he noticed her sudden vibe just fell. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to press, totally up to you.”

“No, it’s okay. I just rather not say at the moment, not until I get things settled in my head, if I don’t then I’ll just end up confusing you.”

“Okay."

A bit of an awkward silence fell over them until Lance took the initiative in the next conversation starter.

“So, is everything okay between you and Justin?”

Laura was taken back by his question, it took her a while to register what he asked and what she would respond. “Why… why would you ask?”

“You guys seem to have a tension between you two. I understand his hesitation towards you and you like wise towards him but it seems to be more than that lately.”

“Well, okay, I lied to you. The other day when you asked what happened between Justin and I after we left I said nothing did but-” Laura was cut off by Lance.

“Did you guys have sex?” He looked up from his cup with a shocked look.

“Wow, you and JC have a nice tendency to jump to conclusions, and apparently think of me as the type to sleep around. Nice.” Laura right hand slightly rubbed her right earlobe, and looked down; obviously offended.

“Damn, that was pretty shitty of me. I didn’t mean it like that. And I didn’t mean to say you sleep around. Actually, my assumption comes from what I know of Justin and his promiscuous ways.”

“Oh, well, no we didn’t sleep together or anything near that caliber. We simply told each other a lot of information and needless to say, I may have lead him on. But I didn’t mean to string him on like that. It’s just…” She didn’t even know what exactly she wanted to say or how she would say it.

“What?”

“I don’t know. I’m not even sure what I’m trying to get across here.” She brought her elbow on to the table and rested her chin on her hand.

“How about I just ask you questions.” Laura nodded and Lance continued onward with the questions. “Here’s a simple one. What exactly happed? We’ll deal with the emotion part after we uncover the actual event.”

“Right, good idea.” Laura stood up straight and crossed her arms on the table. “I left the club and I caught up with him out side. We shared a cab and during the cab ride he ousted me on having eavesdropped on a conversation he had on his cell phone. That sparked a fight and crap. Somehow we ended up in his room discussing me, what I’ve done in the past and tying to get him to trust me. Toward the end of our conversation, I asked him if he would object if I kissed him, if I didn’t have a boyfriend. We didn’t but it was pretty obvious I would have, we would have. A few minutes after that I decided to leave and he walked me to his door, he tried to kiss me but I left before he could.” She stopped, taking the opportunity to breath.

“Oh…well…yeah I see how that could cause problems. Did you guys ever talk about it?” There was something different in Lances voice, it sounded…sad, hurt, like he lost something.

“Every time we try, we get no where. The weird thing is that we didn’t even do anything, so I don’t understand why he’s making it a bigger deal than it is. It’s not like we did kiss or had sex or any thing like that. I’ve done stuff with guys far beyond ALMOST kissing and the next day they didn’t get all emotional and girly on me. And I’m sure he’s had his share of flings, friends with benefits, and shameless flirting. I bet all of you guys have done that. Why am I different? Why is it such a big deal if I just did that stuff with Justin? Is this a plan to get rid of me? Cause let me tell you, I think I just might work.” Laura took a deep breath and laid her forehead on the cold table in frustration.

“I don’t know what to say except I’m sorry. No we are not trying to get rid of you or anything like that. And yes, we’re all guilty of the things you listed, some more than others, but still guilty. None of us should make it our business or make it a big deal if you and Justin both agree to have…relations. It’s just that we’ve all seen Justin get hurt numerous amounts of times and we all try to watch out for him.” Lance watched her closely; she had a very expressive body language. From the way her face contoured from happy to frustrated to how her hand waved about when she was worked up about something. He simply smiled to him self, having her around was something he got used to very quickly.

“Am I someone that should be on a watch list around him?” There goes another one of her faces; he called it the distressed and angry one.

“Well, the only reason why you’d be on my watch list is because you have a boyfriend.”

“Yeah…Mike and I decided to have an open relationship, just for summer.” She went back to drinking her drink.

“Do you plan on taking full advantage of that?” Lance slightly blush and looked down into his cup when he asked her the question. It’s a little weird when you just asked some one if they plan on being a rabbit over the summer.

Laura noticed his blush before she answered. “If you mean; do I plan on having sex like crazy this summer? The answer is no. If you mean; do I plan on keeping my options open incase an opportunity where to arise? The answer is yes.” Lance finally looked up from inspecting his cup, she smiled at him and leaned closed to him from across the table. “If you mean; would I take advantage if that opportunity were you? The answer is, any day.” She smiled wider and laughed a bit when he choked on his coffee and kept a shock face for a good minute.

“Wow… ehem…ummm… good to know I guess.” Lance avoided eye contact by cleaning up the small mess he made with the coffee.

“Lance, don’t be like Justin and make a big deal. It’s called flirting, innocent flirting, something I do with all my guys friends and it means nothing other than you’re attractive and I feel comfortable around you.” Laura placed a hand on his when he still didn’t look at her. “Seriously, it’s who I am, I flirt. I’m the type of girl that hugs all her guy friends and gives them pecks on the lips. I sit on their laps and tackle them. I jump on their backs and dance with them at clubs. I’m pretty sure you all had girl friends like that?”

“We do, all of us, it just caught me of guard when you said that.” He looked up and smiled at her.

“So tell me Mr. Bass. Why don’t you have a girlfriend? Are the rumors true? Are you gay?” She raised an eyebrow and held a teasing smile.

He laughed at her antics and went on to answer her. “No I am not gay. And I do not have a girlfriend because at the moment I’m really not looking for a commitment thing. Right now I just want to have fun and chill.”

“Oh, I gotcha. Sort of playing the field.“ Laura laughed when he responded with a simple shrug

Their waitress came by to retrieve their cups; it was then that Laura noticed just how empty the café had become.

“Excuse me ma’am.” The waitress turned around to face Lance, with a bored look. “What time does your café close?” Apparently Lance noticed the same thing Laura did.

“We closed a half hour ago.” She left back towards the kitchen, obviously not happy that they are they reason she can’t go home.

Laura looked at her watch. “Wow, we’ve been here for three hours.” She looked back up at him and smiled. “How much do you want to bet that when we get back, Justin is gonna be on my ass about what we talked about and what happened?”

“Why would he do that?” Lance picked up the check before Laura was able to take and pulled out his wallet.

“Because he’s been on me about not ruining your careers and how I’m evil. He went on about what we where planning on doing tonight and stuff like that.” Laura was able to snatch the check from his hand and look at how much her half of the check was. She pulled out a ten-dollar bill from her purse.

“Well, he’s just as protective of us as we are of him.” Their waitress came by to pick up the check and Lance was able to give her his credit card before Laura could protest about paying her half. “But, I bet you that he will grill you about tonight, but not because of you possible hurting me, but because of him making sure that you and I are not heading any where else but friendship.”

Laura smiled and rolled her eyes. “We are obviously talking about different Justin’s” She stood up and put her jean jacket on when she saw Lance preparing to leave as well. “The Justin you speak of seems like he might have a crush on me. The Justin I speak of is one that has shown obvious dislike towards me since the mention of my occupation.”

The waitress returned with Lances credit card and his receipt to sign where he also added her tip to the total. He handed her the receipt and turned around to face Laura.

“You ready to go?” Lance held out his arm and she linked her arm with his.

“So, we head back to the hotel now?” They walked the few blocks to the hotel.

“Unless you have something else in mind. But there is nothing opened at this hour except for clubs and restaurants.”

“Oh, just wondering. They walked in comfortable silence for a few minutes, randomly smiling at each other. “Lance, I must say, I had fun tonight. Even though an hour of our time was spent on the phone, I still had fun with you.”

“Ditto.” Lance pulled away from her arm, he heisted for a moment before officially reaching for her hand.

“Wow.” Laura laughed and turned her head to look at him.

“What?” His reaction was one of slight fear and he was about to pull his hand away but Laura held it in place.

“We had such a middle school moment. For a second there I thought you where about to ask if you could hold my hand.” Laura stopped walking, leaving them standing in front of the hotel entrance, still holding hands.

“Actually, I was about to. Isn’t that sad?” 

“Yes, I must say that is.” She smiled at him when he blushed. “Yup, I still feel like we’re 14 years old here. Let’s go inside before this turns into an awkward date ending thing, which would be odd cause this wasn’t even a date.”

Lance laughed at her as she led them into the hotel and up to their floor. He walked Laura to her door where they stood laughing, at a random fan who followed them to the elevators and just as the doors where closing the random fan screamed in shock.

“Wow, I thought you guys didn’t deal with those crazy fans any more?” Laura said as she rummaged through her purse looking for her key.

Lance stood in front of her with his hands stuffed in his pockets. “We don’t have hordes of them going crazy and camping out, but we do still get the random few.”

“I don’t know how I’d be able to handle that.” Laura finally found her electronic key and looked up to Lance from her purse. “Well Mr. Bass, thank you for letting me rant on you and thank you for a lovely evening, we must do this again.”

“Of course.”

Laura gave him a hug and a kiss on the check. “See you tomorrow.”

Lance’s voices stopped her as she was entering her room. “We never set terms to our bet.”

“What?” She pulled away from the door and with her arms crossed and an amused smile.

“Our bet. The one about Justin and whether he’ll bug you about ruining the group or if you and I are headed any where.” He leaned against the wall next to her.

“Alright, set the terms.”

“If you win-“

Laura cut off Lance with what she wanted. “If I win, you have to tell me a story about you, be it embarrassing or what ever, but a good one that the public doesn’t know, that I can use in my article.” She held her crossed arms and jutted her hip out; there was a playful gleam in her eyes.

“Alright, but if I win, you owe me a real date and the first and last dance at the club of my choice. Both dates chosen by me.” He pushed him self off the wall and stood straight in front of her.

“Just as long as those days are not days when Mike is here. We may have an open relationship but I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t like it.”

“Fine, but only with that provision. Do we have a deal?” Lance held his hand out.

“Yes we do.” She shook his hand. Laura must admit, Lance had sneaky skills and he used them on her. “Once again, good night and I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

Lance reached for her hand again and held it for a second before he leaned down and kissed her cheek. He pulled away and laughed at her slightly stunned reaction. “Geez Laura, don’t freak out, it just simple innocent flirting.”

She glared at him and lightly hit his arm “Shut up jerk. Good night.”

“Good Night.” Lance said before he walked away and Laura stood there watching him for a second before entering her room.

For the first time tonight she realized how fast her heart was pounding and the silly mood she had going on. And that was just from a simple friendly date and friendly flirting with Lance. She walked into her bathroom, removed her makeup and changed into her p.j’s. After being settled into bed for five minutes there was a knock at her door.

“I swear Lance if that’s you the bet is off.” Laura reluctantly got out of bed and answered her door.

“What kind of bet do you guys have going on?” He sounded less upset and more intrigued, a shocker coming from him.

“Justin. Hi.” Laura stood at the doorway in a tight tank top and boy shorts. Her mind ran with reasons as to why he would be there, all that came to mind was what Lance told her in the café.