Chapter Six

 Andy was whining so bad Bobbie didn’t know what to do with her, let alone with herself. She loved kids and this one little girl in particular a lot more than others. She was the daughter of two wonderful, amazing, incredible people. That’s what she kept telling herself as she tried to ignore Andy’s whining.

“You heard your daddy sweetie. You know you can’t go down there.” she told the child once more.

 She had spent about three hours trying to calm the child down. Justin seemed to be in a pissy mood and Andy was too smart not to pick up on it. She wanted to be with her daddy and Bobbie knew for a fact that the child idolized her daddy.  Only God knows why!!!

“But sometimes mommy lets me sit on the stairs and listen.” Andy said trying to convince her aunt Bobbie. Bobbie knew that was a fib. Sitting on the stairs would be nothing. She knew how a soundproof room worked. But if the child wanted to keep trying to convince her, who was she to stop her game. So like her dad!!!

“You need to stop trying to con me.”

“What’s con?”

“What you have been trying to do all day, Andréa. Now go wash you hands so you can have dessert and go to bed. Okay?”

“Ohh Otay.” Andy looked disappointed that’s he hadn‘t been able to get over on Bobbie at all. Bobbie knew the only way she would stop whining about being downstairs with her daddy was to bribe her. It had worked but knew that by the time she washed her hands and came back, the bribe would have been expired.

 A few short minutes later Andy came back down. She walked to the kitchen table and climbed onto her chair. Bobbie watched her pick up a magazine from the stack on the table and admire it. Of course the person on the cover was no other than her father. She smiled. Bobbie was still amazed at how much the little girl looked like her father. The stance. The way her hair curled around her face. Her eyes identical to her fathers. But Bobbie had to admit that while she looked like her father physically she was her mother’s daughter. She wanted to make sure she was away on a job somewhere  when Andy was in her teen years. Imagining Andy at thirteen arguing with her mother was frightening. Juliana was going to know how everyone felt about her own attitude, a million times over.

“Here you go.” Bobbie said placing a bowl of chocolate ice cream, her bribe, in front of Andy.

“Yum. Thank you aunt Bobbieeee!!”

“You’re welcome babe.” Bobbie said giving Andy a kiss on the head before she sat down in front of her to eat her own ice cream cone.

***************************
 So it hadn’t turned out to be such a bad night after all. He was quite honestly having the time of his life. Being told he was annoying and noisy was new to him. And being on vacation was new to him also and he figured why not make it a complete new experience all together. Lance was on a mission. His mission was finding out all he could on Noemi. The tables had been switched on her and he could tell it had never happened to her. During dinner lance had nothing but smart remarks to things she said. During the movie he had nothing but questions. Questions that he not once got answers for.. She was hiding something and if it was the last thing, Lance Bass did, he would find out what it was Noemi was all about.

“Lance can I speak to you for a minute?” Trace asked stopping his walk towards the car with Kayla and Noemi.

“Sure.” Lance said a little too jolly for other three people.

“We’ll be by the car.” Kayla said annoyed. The entire date had been a disaster. Kayla was frustrated because she wanted to spend time with race and instead she got Noemi as the third wheel.

“Here take the keys.” race said snatching the keys off Lance’s hand.

“You know I’m really fucking pissed off with you right now. I can’t believe you’ve been such and ass tonight.” race said between clenched teeth so the girls wouldn’t hear.

“Chill out, Trace.”

“Chill out? You know I thought you better than this. At least a better friend.”

“Don’t be such a drama king, Ayala. She’s nothing but a girl you’ll fuck and leave like the rest of them. Don‘t try to put the blame on you not getting any tonight on me.”
“Fuck You, Lance!!”

“The truth hurts, don’t it Trace?” Lance said as Trace walked away from him and towards the car.

In the car

“I can’t wait to go home.” Noemi said to Kayla inside the car.

“Can tonight have gone any worse?” Kayla said out loud.

“I’m sorry your date sucked, Kayla.” Noemi said from the front seat.

“You should be.” Kayla mumbled.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Noemi said turning to face Kayla in the back seat.

“You do know it’s your fault tonight was shitty, don’t you?”

“How the hell is it my fault? It’s your boyfriend’s boy who is an asshole!!”

“He’s only and asshole because you’re such a bitch, Noemi.”

“Whatever, Kayla. Enjoy the rest of your fucking date, sweet cousin of mine. I’m taking a cab.” Noemi got out of the car and slammed the door. She saw Lance and race heading towards the car as she walked away.

“Where is she going?” Trace asked looking at Kayla.

“She’s taking a cab.” Kayla responded.

“Are you two coming?” Lance asked getting into the car.

“We’ll be taking a cab also.” Trace said grabbing Kayla’s hand and turning to walk the opposite direction Noemi had taken.

“It’s like that, Ayala?”

“Yeah it’s like that, Bass.” Trace said not even looking behind him.

********************

“What’s up your asses?” Justin asked from inside the recording booth.

“What do you mean, Justin?” Jc asked from the control booth where he sat.

“You two haven’t said one word to each other all night,” Justin looked at his watch. “well morning I should say.”

“Funny you use those words, Justin. No one has said a single thing to me either.”

“Let is go, Jenn.” Jc said finishing up turning the sound controls off.

“Sure, darling. I will be perfect little, who doesn’t need to know anything you do, for the rest of my wonderful, happy, amazing life.” Jenn gave  Jc a sarcastic fake smile.

“Okayyyyy….” Justin said turning the lights off in the sound booth before he came out. “You guys want breakfast?”

“No.” Jc and Jenn responded together.

“Good to know you guys are still connected at the brain.” Justin said as he headed out of the room.

“Speaking of brains, when is Juls coming home?” Jenn asked once they made it into the kitchen.

“She’ll be back this afternoon sometime.” Justin took a deep breath. “Can you believe she thinks she’s going on tour with me? She thinks she can pick up Andy and go across the country with me. Did you put her up to that, Jenn?”

“Why would I do that? That’s crazy and I told her you wouldn’t have gone with it.” Jenn said sitting by the kitchen island.

“Why is that crazy? I know how Juliana feels. She, unlike others, likes to spend time with the ones she loves.” Jc added.

“What?” Justin asked confused. “You think It’s a good idea for me to take the ten percent of normal life away from my daughter? Are you on crack? You know how hectic tour life is. I am not about to expose her to that madness. Juliana knows how it is on tour I can’t even fathom the thought.”

“Juliana knows how it is on tour. But I also understand how she would want to spend time with you. I would be trying to do the same, but I wouldn’t if I had a kid.“ Jenn said massaging her temples.

“IF you had one.” Jc said sarcastically.

“Are we talking about my dilemma or yours?” Justin asked confused. He grabbed the carton of orange juice and drank.

“It’s not three o’clock in the afternoon, you know!!” Bobbie said coming into the kitchen rubbing her sleepy eyes. “you guys are soo loud.”

“Sorry.” they all said in unison.

“I’m glad I dropped that habit. It really is creepy.” Bobbie said with a chuckle. “You okay, Jenn?”

“Yeah I’m fine. It was nice seeing you again, Bobbie.” Jenn got up from the stool, gave Bobbie a quick hug and Justin a peck on the cheek. “I’ll be in the car. See you later tonight, Justin.”

“Bye, Jenn.” Justin said eyeing Jc.

“Trouble in paradise?” Bobbie asked Jc with raised eyebrows.

“We aren’t in trouble.” Jc simply stated before he headed towards the front door and left.

“Yikes!!” Bobbie said before readjusting her ponytail.

“Yeah, I know. They were weird all night.”

“You mean morning too, timberflake. You should be happy I don’t charge by the hour, buddy.”

“Ha!! I’m not paying you a god damned dime. You should be paying me to spend time with my angel.”

“She’s an angel alright!!”

“She is.” Justin said offended.

“Whatever. Are my duties over for the night? Or day? Or whatever? I have a very warm bed and a even warmer man waiting for me at home.”

“Too much information, Psycho. Thank you again for watching Andy.”

“It was my pleasure. I’ll see you guys next week.” Bobbie said kissing her palm and smacking Justin on the cheek. Hard.

“Ouch!! Love you too. Tell Joel I said ‘wassssuuuupp’”

“I will. And don’t worry about Jc and Jenn. They are still crazy about each other. You can still see it in their eyes after all these years.”

“Yeah I know, but that’s not what is really my dilemma right now.”

“I know but you and Juliana are still crazy for each other also. You’ll work it out. Love ya my brotha from another motha.” Bobbie said giving Justin a thuggish peace sign with her finger. It had been a continuing joke since Justin had been on the cover of Vibe.

“Funny!! Ha ha ha!!!”

 After taking s gulp of orange juice from the carton he set the alarm and headed upstairs. On his wife inspired large bed lay his beautiful daughter. She was peacefully sleeping with her hinny sticking up in the air. God, he loved her more than anything in the world. Justin realized that while he argued with Juliana about going on tour he’d left out a small thought. He was going to miss his girls terribly. Sacrifice was his middle name. It had been since he was fifteen years old. If missing them for a couple of months was what it took to give his daughter a normal life. Then that was what he must do.

 He took a quick shower and after putting on a t-shirt and sweats he laid on the bed.. He grabbed her close to his chest and within seconds he was joining Andy in her dreams.

*********************************************
 

 He found himself staring at the ceiling once again. Four hours. It had been four hours since he last remembered closing his eyes. This wasn’t a vacation. Staying up all night thinking about a woman. Wasn’t a vacation. The fact that he felt horrible about the way he’d acted the night before wasn’t helping his sleep either. He knew he’d have to call an apologize. First he had to call Trace and truly apologize for being such a prick. And second he had to apologize to Kayla fur ruining her first date.

Flashback

“So where did you live before moving to L.A? or have you lived here all your life?” the movie started.

“That’s none of you business.”

“How old are you?”

“Shut up.”

“What college did you go to?”

“Shut up.”

“How come Justin knows you?”

“Shut up!!!” she had finally yelled out causing the movie goers to grunt and shh them.

End of flashback

 So maybe he’d gone about finding her out the wrong way. Maybe he needed to go about it another way. And the only way he would do that was to get on her good side. He was sure she had a good side. He’d never been on that side of that he was sure of. But she was beautiful and intriguing. Something told him that she was a lot deeper than that front se put on all the time.

 He decided he might as well get out of bed and get ready for the ass kissing day he was sure he was going to have.

“Might as well.” he picked up his phone and dialed race’s number. After a few rings he heard Trace. “You’re awake.”

“Clearly if I’m talking.” Trace said coldly.

“Look man. I’m sorry I was such a dick last night.” he’d done his part. He’d apologized.

“That’s an understatement.”

“Alright I know I was being rude. But I’m apologizing right now. You know I don’t do many things I later have to apologize for. So take it or leave it.”

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to, Lance.”

“I know but I’m apologizing anyway.”

“Make another phone call, Bass. I’ll see you around. I gotta go I’m working out with J.”

“How am I supposed to apologize without a number.”

“You’re a smart man with connections, Lance. Figure it out.” with that he hung up the phone.

***********

“So I take it the date wasn’t much fun last night.”

“Nope. Your friend was a complete asshole to Noemi. Which meant Noemi was on a date with Kayla and I.”

“So what’s the problem? You’ve never once minded spending time with two beautiful women.”

“Noemi is cute but I much rather spend my time with Kayla. She’s the one I like.”

“Like?”

“That’s what I said. Like.”

“You’re really digging this girl, huh?”

“What do you mean?”

“You said you liked her.”

“And?”

“race you never like. You want. You desire. You crave. You never like. I’ve never in all my life have heard you say you like a girl.”

“So?”

“So? So you do know what ‘like’ turns to, right?”

“Are you going to spot me or are you going to talk shit all day?”

“How about I do both?” Justin said lifting the weights to hands to Trace. “You know I started ‘liking’ Juliana too.”

“Shut up, Justin.”

“Oh. Trace is falling in love….” Justin sang.

“Ohh forget this.” Trace said setting the weights down and walking out of the room with a smirk that would turn into a smile if he’d stayed in the room.

****************************

 He had gotten to that spot about half an hour ago. He’d parked his car at an angle to be able to look inside the diner. He’d seen Kayla come out of the kitchen swinging door. No sign of her cousin though. So he’d sat there and watched Kayla instead. She looked a bit upset and frustrated. Clearly her cousin was supposed to be there but for some unknown reason she was not. Lance could see Kayla practically running back and forth from table to table. Clearly he lunch crowd. He could tell she wasn’t herself. She normally had that natural glow the times he’d been around her. He realized what Trace must have liked about her. And her glow was probably due to the fact that Trace had been around those times when she had been glowing. Lance felt really bad about ruining her date. Lance wasn’t one to be on people’s bad side. He was the nice one. Always had been. Always have been. So maybe he was a bit bitter. After all he was the only one that wasn’t married. He was the only one who didn’t have anyone. The lonely one.

“Are you staying in the car all day?”

 Lance was so dazed in his own misery that he didn’t see Justin approaching his car.

“What are you doing here?” Lance asked.

“Umm…let me think. Food maybe?”

“Right.” Lance said getting out of the car. “Where is Andy?”

“She’s inside with Trace.” Justin said pointing behind him. “You coming in, stalker?”

“I’m not a stalker.” lance stated as he started walking with Justin towards the diner’s door.

“I understand you were a complete asshole last night.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” he said walking into the diner ahead of Justin.

“Okay then.”

“Daddy!!” Andy said excited to see her daddy. As if she hadn’t seen him in days. “Hi uncle Lance.”

“Hey sweetness. How’s my girl?” Lance asked picking her up from the stool she sat on to hug her.

“Daddy is letting me have pie with ice cream.” Andy said when Lance set her down.

“Really? Cool!!” Lance said using an excited tone also. “Can I sit next to you?”

“Sure, daddy won’t mind. Right daddy?”

“I breaks my heart to pieces but I guess.” Justin said kissing Andy on her head. “I’ll sit next to Trace. He needs guidance on how to sit on a stool just like you.”

“Hilarious. Just simply hilarious.” race said giving Justin the finger without Andy noticing.

“What’s up, Trace.” Lance said facing the three of them.

“Bass.” Trace simply stated as he tried to get Kayla’s attention.

“Whatever.” Lance mumbled.

“Hi guys.” Kayla approached the counter a few minutes later. “And pretty little girl. What can I get you?”

“I want. I want a piece of apple pie with banilla and choclatte ice cream.” Andy said before anyone had a chance to say anything.

“Coming right up!!” Kayla said just as jolly as her customer. “Do you want that apple pie warm, sweetie?”

“Yup.” Andy answered.

“Andy, manners!!” Justin rushed to correct.

“Yes ma’am, please.”

“She’s adorable.”

“Thank you.” all four guys said in unison making Kayla laugh.

“What can I get you guys?” Kayla asked but looking directly at Trace.

“I’ll have the same as my daughter.” Justin volunteered. He cleared his throat in hopes that Trace would snap out of it.

“Me too.”

“And how about you, Lance?”

“I’ll have the same minus the chocolate ice cream.” Lance said looking around the diner. “Where’s your cousin?”

“Why?” Kayla asked.

“I just wanted to apologize to her about last night. And to you too as a matter of fact. So I’m sorry.”

“Apology accepted. But I don’t think it’s such a good idea for you to keep pursuing my cousin.” Kayla walked away from them and lance followed from the other side of the counter.

“I wasn’t really pursuing your cousin. Trace set us up, remember? Anyway that doesn’t matter, I would like to apologize to her in person. Because I truly am sorry for being an ass last night. I wasn’t being myself at all.”

“I know you weren’t yourself either. My cousin tends to bring out the worst on people sometimes. I’m sure she knows you are sorry.”

“What do you mean?”

“Noemi is who she is. I can’t change her. You can’t change her. Her father can’t change her. Just forget about last night I’m sure she’s over it too.” Kayla was now refilling a customer’s coffee cup on the other side completely of the diner.

“Either way I won’t feel better until I get to apologize. Can you get her for me?”

“She’s not here. She left to go pick up her…” Kayla looked at lance and stopped her sentence. “She had to go do something.”

“Where at?”

“I’m not sure. Just let it go, Lance. Noemi attracts two kinds of guys but always has the same result. The nice ones that she walks all over and dumps within the week. Then there are the assholes who try to straighten her out but never get to because she dumps them within the week also. So again as a friend that I hope to be to you, just let it go.”

“You don’t seem too appreciative of you cousin.”

“I’m not very fond of my cousin today. But I would of told you the same thing four months ago.” Kayla walked behind the counter again and place the four slices of pie on the counter.

“Where’s my ice cream?” Andy asked in a panic.

“Andrea!!” Justin said a bit embarrassed.

“It’s coming, sweetie. Vanilla and chocolate, right?”

“Yu…yes ma’am.” Andy corrected herself while looking at her daddy who in returned winked at her. After Kayla had scooped up the ice cream magically from under the counter Andy smiled. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, hunny.” Kayla said. “On the house.”

“Oh you don’t have to do that.” Trace protested.

“I know I don’t have to. But I want to. Enjoy your dessert.” Kayla said smiling at all of them. “I’m really sorry I can’t be a chatty hostess but I’m here on my own today.”

“Oh it’s alright. We just came in for a half hour or so before heading to the airport. Don’t feel bad.” Trace said giving her a wink.

“You do mean stopping on the other side of the airport completely, don’t you?” Justin mumbled only to get Trace’s elbow on his right rib.

“You didn’t have to do that. You’ll see me tonight.” Kayla said with a blush that lasted a good two seconds before it disappeared and the confident attitude was back. Justin noticed.

“I have to get moving. Bye Andy.” Kayla said with a soft tug of Andy’s pigtails.