“Are you almost ready?” I asked Chris through the bathroom door in his hotel room.
“One second,” he said for the sixth time.
After the concert, Chris asked me if I would like to go out to dinner with him. I pointed out that it was kind of late and almost anywhere we tried would be closed. He pointed out that he was Chris Kirkpatrick and left it at that. I began pacing and I looked down at my outfit again. I’d gone for a simple, classy look. Long, black halter dress and black heels. Can’t get any more basic than that.
Finally, the door to the bathroom opened and Chris emerged looking rather well put together. I must say, I was impressed. His goatee was neatly trimmed for once and he was wearing black pants and a black vest with an orange, collared, long sleeved shirt underneath. And oh, my, LORD had his glasses on. If there was one thing that turned me on it was a man in a nice pair of glasses. He even had one if those silver ball necklaces that I like so much on him.
“I remember those pants,” I said and pinched at them. “They let you keep them?”
“Why not?” Chris pressed the button for the lobby and we rode down the elevator in silence. “You look beautiful,” he said once we were both inside the limo.
“Thank you,” I said and flushed a bit. I looked to the front of the limo at where the driver sat. “Hey MIKE!” I exclaimed. I’d remembered meeting him a few years back.
His eyes widened. “Abby!” I leaned through the small window and pecked him on the cheek. “You want purple, like before?”
I nodded and smiled. The lights that lined the limousine gradually changed from yellow, to green, to blue and then finally to purple.
“Nice. Thanks Mike.” He nodded as Chris closed the divider and put up the glass. “Aww. Why are we blocking Mike out?”
“He doesn’t mind.”
“Sure he doesn’t.” Chris scooted closer to me. “So where are we going?” I asked.
“The Hard Rock Café at Universal Studios.”
I gave him a look. “Citywalk? We’re going to Citywalk? What are we fourteen?”
“Hush.”
“Was this my surprise?”
“Part of it.”
“Is this a good surprise or a bad surprise?” I wanted to know.
Chris sighed. “I know this may seem foolish of me to say but I wish you’d forget about the prank.”
“You want me to forget about it?”
“I’d love for you to forget about I know it’s not gonna happen. I wouldn’t trust me if I were you so I appreciate you coming out to dinner with me tonight.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Chris grinned weakly and rubbed my hand. “Soo…what’s going on with you and Christian?”
I sighed. “I don’t know Chris. Earlier when I was looking for Steve I ran into Christian and we talked about it.”
“What’d he say?”
“I don’t know exactly. He mentioned how he still has feelings for me and… it was weird. I can’t…”
“It’s okay. I know what you’re trying to say.”
“I’m sorry…”
“Don’t be so quick to apologize, we’ll see if there’s anything to be sorry about at the end of the night.”
I wasn’t too sure what he meant by that but I was sure I’d find out sooner more than later. The rest of the ride we talked about the tour, London, and damn near everything else until the limo pulled up behind the Hard Rock where we were ushered in the back. So far, so good.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris hung up the phone and took both of my hands in his. “The second part of your surprise is here.”
I smiled, “Oh really?”
“Mmmmhum.” Chris motioned to our waiter to bring it in. To my amazement, Sheryl Crow strolled in the door, complete with guitar. I couldn’t utter much more than a few broken syllables and high pitched tones. Chris stood up and hugged his old friend. “How are you Sheryl?” he asked.
“I’m just fine…” she went on with the conversation but I was too star stricken to concentrate. “So..” Sheryl said after a few more minutes, “Abby is it?”
“Yes.”
“Abby, what would you like to hear? I’m here at your disposal. What’s your favorite song?”
“Every Day Is A Winding Road?” I asked.
“Is…that a statement or a question?”
“A, statement.” Ugh!
“Every Day Is A Winding Road huh? Oldie but goodie.” She tuned up her guitar and began plunking away at the strings. Chris and I sat there for the four minutes just listening to her, captivated until her very last cord has finished reverberating in the tepid night air. Okay, well, I was captivated but I fear that Chris was a bit depleted by the time she finished ‘All I Wanna Do’ which was the third of the 7 songs I had her play. After talking to us for an hour or so, she announced that she was sorry but she must leave. We did too a couple minutes later and it was back to the limo.
“So, what did you think of Sheryl?” Chris asked on our way back to the hotel.
I turned my body to face his. “Oh my gosh, she was wonderful. I love Sheryl so much. I mean, ever since I was a little girl I used to just put her CD…well back then it was cassettes so I used to put her cassette in my Walkman and just fall sleep listening to it when I was feeling depressed or anything. It was my own form of therapy you know?”
Chris nodded. “Well, all I’m trying to say is that it was great. I…I don’t even know what to say.”
“I’m glad you liked it…least someone did.”
I punched him in the arm. “Sheryl Crow is, thee best.”
“I agree,” he said sarcastically.
“Shut up. I hate you.”
“No you don’t.”
We both laughed. “How did you know she was my favorite?”
“I asked Regina.” Okay, made sense. “I’m glad you liked it.”
There was silence as the intro to NSYNC’s newest sonnet came floating into the limo through the back speakers, quickly followed by Justin’s common song opener rifting and smooth Oooo’s. Chris pressed the intercom button to talk to our driver. “Hey Mike?”
“Yup.”
“Can you turn off the radio?”
“You can do it back there.”
“Yeah I know but it’s kinda dark.”
“Okay, you got it.”
“Hi Mike!” I exclaimed before Chris could let go of the button.
“Hi sweetie,” he radioed back.
I giggled. “ I love him.”
“I love you,” Chris said and looked longingly into my eyes.
“Chris…”
“No Abby, you just don’t understand. When I’m with you, I..”
I held a finger up to his lips. “Chris please. Listen. I like you , very, very much. I have to admit. The thing is, Christian and I…I love Christian.”
“But does Christian love you?”
“Yes.”
“How are you so sure? If he really loved you he would have forgiven you already.”
“I hurt him. He’s hurting and he hasn’t forgiven me because of that. If he didn’t love me then what I did wouldn’t have hurt him so much.”
“Well. Do you think that you two are going to be getting back together?”
“I have no clue. Sometimes I feel as though this partial break up has been good for us. I think we needed some time apart.”
“But you still think you two will make it?”
“Well, yeah. Honestly now Chris. Be really honest with me. Tell me the truth. Do you see us not getting back together?”
“Truthfully, I can see you two getting back together but not right now. Six months, a year or so, if you’re still feeling each other I can see you two rekindling your flame.”
“Has Christian said anything to you about this?”
Chris bit is bottom lip. “You know how easy it would be for me to lie to your right now don’t you?” Actually, I hadn’t even thought of that but I nodded. He sighed. “No, he hasn’t.”
“I see.”
“So what do you say? Will you give me a chance?”
I hadn’t noticed it while this was happening but now we were practically on top of each other. His hot, sultry breath tickled my skin while inciting my senses. “Please,” he begged. “Let me show you what love is.”
With that he leaned forward and covered my mouth with his. “Please,” he whispered in between kisses. “I love you.”
This. It was this that had gotten me into hot water with Christian in the first place. This was what was causing all of my turmoil yet, I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t say no, I couldn’t push him away. Instead I grabbed two fistfuls of his shirt and pulled him closer, making the kiss deeper and longer. Our breathing picked up as well. The limo stopped in front of the hotel and before we knew it, Mike was holding the door open for us, trying hard not to stare at what was unfolding before him. I opened my eyes and for the first time in five minutes, broke the kiss with Chris.
“Babe, we gotta go.”
I attempted to get out but he only pulled me back in. “You never answered me,” he said and kissed me again. “Are you going to give me a chance?”
“Can we talk about this when we get inside?”
“Only if you promise you’ll tell me what I want to hear.”
I grabbed his hand and led him out of the limo, into the hotel and to my room. The door quietly clicked shut. “Well…” he asked, grinning from ear to ear.
“Well…I was thinking about it..”
“And..”
“And, I think you’re right. I don’t think now is the time to force myself on Christian. I think we need some time apart and maybe a little later on in life we can…”
Chris cut me off with a forceful kiss, one that sent us tumbling backward onto the bed. “Just say it Abby. Say what you know I’m waiting to hear. Are you going to give me a chance?”
I smiled and nibbled on his bottom lip. “Only if you’ll do the same for me.”
Chris broke in to one of the biggest smiles I’d ever seen in my entire life and petted my hair. “I knew my dream would come true one day,” he whispered to me. His lips were barely touching mine. “Let’s never wake up.”
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