Chapter 29

( 2 days later ~ Norfolk International Airport, Virginia )

Kerrigan stepped off the plane and made her way down the short tunnel that would lead to her gate terminal.  She wasn’t sure who was supposed to be there to pick her up.  All Justin had said was that someone would be there, he wasn’t sure who because he didn’t know how long they’d be in the studio that day.  But that someone would be there to get her.

All she was sure of, was that she was happy to finally be there.  It had been a long two days since her argument with Cody the other night.  And then trying to put all of her plan into effect had really worn on her nerves.  More than she thought it should have.  And then when she had gotten to the airport that morning she found out that her flight had been delayed for two hours.  Some technical problems with the airplane, so they had to wait on a new one.  So far her trip was turning out to be a big pain in the ass.  So she was just happy to be there.

She couldn’t wait to see Justin and Trace.  She missed them so much and she just really needed to see a friendly face right about then.

Once she reached the gate area, Kerrigan scanned the surrounding area for any familiar faces.  She didn’t see anyone.  Not even one of Justin’s bodyguards.

Sighing she figured maybe whoever had been sent to get her would be down at baggage claim, so she scanned for the signs that would lead her in the right direction and then headed that way.

As she was walking down the long corridor of the airport Kerrigan got the distinct feeling that she was being followed.  You know how you just seem to know when someone’s watching you or following you?  This weird feeling just comes over you.  Well, that’s what she was experiencing.

Turning to look over her shoulder Kerrigan saw a man quickly duck into a shop upon noticing him.  That struck her as odd and made her a little nervous.  It was all too obvious that he was following her.  Or at least following someone.  No one ducks into a shop that quick for no reason.

Hoping that he’d been deterred upon realizing she had noticed him Kerrigan continued on her way.  Picking up her pace a bit, hoping to find the baggage claim area a little faster.  She wasn’t big on being in strange places by herself in the first place.  But to know that someone was following her just added to that anxiety.

She had only gotten a good fifty feet when she felt the presence following her again.  This time it made her even more nervous and somewhat fearful.  She had no idea who the man was.  He was wearing a hat and was walking with his head down, hiding his face.  It could just be a photographer that had recognized her and was trying to get a picture of her.  Or it could be some deranged fan of Justin’s that had recognized her.  There was no telling who he was or what his purpose was for following her.

So Kerrigan picked up her pace even more.  She just wanted to get to baggage claim, find whoever was supposed to be waiting for her and get the hell out of there.

But then she noticed that the man had also picked up the pace.  Glancing off to the side so she could see where he was behind her she realized that he was quickly closing in on her and was only a mere twenty feet behind her.  So again Kerrigan began to walk faster, but so did he.

Fear taking over her, Kerrigan ignored where she was at and what people would think of her and took off into a full on sprint.  Determined to get to the baggage claim, where in her mind she would be safe.

Kerrigan’s heart was racing in her chest as she ran down the corridor.  She was completely consumed by fear, oblivious to the fact that the man was now running after her and was right on her heals.  Oblivious of course until he caught up with her, grabbing her from behind.

Kerrigan screamed at the top of her lungs as she was engulfed in the man’s arms.  Struggling to get free.  “LET ME GO!  SOMEONE HELP!” she yelled.

“Kerrigan!  STOP!  It’s Justin!” Justin tried to calm her.  He thought she knew it was him and that’s why she had started running.  He thought she was playing some sort of game with him, like he’d been playing with her.  But he could clearly see by the expression her face and the panic in her voice that she had no clue.

Hearing his voice, Kerrigan immediately relaxed and turned to look at him.  “Oh my God, Justin!  You scared the shit out of me!” she said throwing her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.

Justin squeezed her to his chest, confused by her reaction.  “Who the hell did you think it was?  Who would be grabbing you in an airport?” he questioned.

“I don’t know.  I didn’t recognize you and you were following me.  And I just thought that maybe you was some deranged fan or something.  I don’t know!”  Kerrigan sighed.  “It’s been a long day, I’m tired.”

“I’d say so.  Must be why you’re so jumpy.” he commented as Kerrigan finally pulled away from him.

“I’m sorry, J.  Like I said it’s just been a long day and I’m tired.”

“And it’s going to be an even longer day if you keep screaming like that.” Mike said as he and Trace walked up to the two.  “You’re drawing all kinds of attention that we really don’t need.”

“Leave her alone, Mike.  I scared her.” Justin scolded his bodyguard.

“How did he scare you?  We’ve only pulled that same game with you a million times.” Trace stated.

And it suddenly struck Kerrigan that Trace was right.  Every other time Justin or Trace had picked her up at the airport they’d done the same thing.  It was like some running game with them.  A tradition so to speak.  But Kerrigan hadn’t even thought of that.  Her mind had been elsewhere.

“I wasn’t thinking.  Sorry.” she shrugged.

Trace studied her tired expression and became concerned.  “Kerr, are you ok?  You don’t look so hot.”

“Dude, I just scared the shit out of her.  Of course she doesn’t look so hot.” Justin chimed in.  He too could tell something was troubling his friend but he also knew that if Trace started this argument they’d be in the airport forever.  And they had already drawn enough unwanted attention.

“I’m fine, Trace.  Just tired.  But Mike’s right.  I drew too much attention already so let’s get out of here.”

“Ok.” Trace agreed.  “Hey, give me your baggage ticket and I’ll go get it for you and you guys can just go ahead to the car.” he offered.

“I can get it.” Kerrigan objected.

“Just give it to him.” Justin told her.  He could see Trace was offering because he was concerned.

Kerrigan huffed and handed her baggage ticket over to Trace.  “You know what it looks like right?” she asked.

“Of course.” Trace smiled and then trotted off in the direction of baggage claim.

“Let’s go you two.” Mike said leading the way.

( Back at the hotel )

Kerrigan entered the suite behind Justin, Trace following her in with her bags.  “You’re room is over here.” Justin said, leading her towards the room she would be occupying during her stay.

Kerrigan headed directly for the bed, flopping herself face down in the middle of it, while Justin and Trace stood off to the side of the room watching her.

“That musta been some flight.” Trace commented as he walked over to a chair and sat down.

“It wasn’t so much the flight as it was sitting in the airport forever this morning.  They could have at least called me and told me the flight had been delayed.” she muttered.

“Well, you see that would be too easy.” Justin joked, as he sat down beside Kerrigan on the bed and patted her back.  “Do you want to sleep for a bit?  Or did you want to go grab something to eat with us?”

Kerrigan groaned.  She was mentally and physically exhausted but she wasn’t going to let that stop her from spending time with her friends.  They were after all the reason she was putting her relationship on the line to be there.  And she had missed them and had been looking forward to spending time with them.

“I could eat.” she muttered, her face still buried in the bed spread.

Justin chuckled at her.  “You’re going to smother yourself if you don’t pull your face out of the bed.”

“I don’t have the strength.” she retorted.

“Why are you so tired, Kerr?  What exactly have you been doing lately?” Trace inquired.

“Nothing much.  Just been….”

Kerrigan was cut off by the ringing of her cell phone.  Justin being closet to her bag jumped up to get it for her so she wouldn’t have to get up.  But Kerrigan sprung off the bed and quickly yanked the phone out of his hands before he could answer it.  “You guys be really quiet ok.  Please don’t say ANYTHING!” she said emphatically before clicking on the phone to answer it.  “Hello?”

Justin and Trace shared a perplexed look over her behavior.  They couldn’t understand why she didn’t want them to say anything.  The girl was acting weird.  First the whole scene at the airport.  Then her exhausted state.  And now this.  They were both thrown.

They turned to watch her as she paced the other side of the room, clutching the phone to her ear.

“Hey, Cody…..I’m fine……how’s things on the road……that’s good……no I’m just sitting here watching TV, or rather trying.  There’s not really much on…..it’s ok, I understand.  You’re busy and I know how tour life goes……just call me later tonight when you have more time to talk….yeah that’s fine, I’ll be up……ok I’ll talk to you then……love you too….bye.”

Kerrigan clicked off her phone and then turned to see both Justin and Trace staring at her oddly.  “It was Cody.” she stated, walking back over to the bed to sit down.

“Yeah, we kinda figured that out.  But why couldn’t we talk?” Trace questioned.

“Oh, that.” Kerrigan said, looking down to her hands.  She hadn’t had any intentions of telling Trace and Justin about what was going on.  She knew they’d both flip out about it and make some huge deal about it.  But she really hadn’t left much room for anything other than an explanation, reacting the way she did.

“Yeah, that.” Justin said.  “What was THAT all about?”

Kerrigan sighed.  “I don’t want this to turn into some big deal so promise me now that you two will just leave this alone if I tell you.  If not then I’m not telling you.”

“Why do we have to leave it alone?  Leave what alone?” Trace persisted.

“Promise me first that you won't make a big deal out of it.”

“If you’re telling us to promise not to make a big deal out of it, then obviously we SHOULD make a big deal out of it.” Justin stated.

“Just promise, ok?  I don’t need any more hassles right now.  If you wanna know then promise.  If you don’t wanna know then fine I won't tell you.” she said, flinging herself backwards on the bed.

“Fine we promise.” Trace said reluctantly.

When Kerrigan didn’t say anything Justin persisted.  “Well, tell us.”

“You didn’t promise, Justin.  I know better.  You need to promise me too, because if you don’t then you’ll pull this whole stunt about how Trace promised but you didn’t.  I know how that goes, so you need to promise to not make a big deal out of it too.”

Justin groaned, she knew him too well.  “Fine.  Fine.  I promise too.  Now tell us what’s going on?  Is something wrong?”

“Not really wrong per say.  It’s just that Cody doesn’t know I’m here.” she shrugged, staring up at the ceiling.

“He doesn’t know you’re here?  How’s that possible?” Trace asked.

“Well, he thinks I’m still in Florida.  I didn’t tell him I was coming.”

“But he knew you was planning on coming out after he left.  How can he not know?” Justin asked, totally confused.  They had been planning this since he had left, there was no way Cody couldn’t know she was coming or that she was there.

“Well, he changed his mind a few days ago and decided he didn’t want me to go.  And I promised you I’d be here so I’m here.”

“So are you telling me that you’re lying to him?” Justin asked.

“I had to ok, J.  He was bitching about me coming over here.  He’s still stuck on that whole dare kiss thing and seems to think I’m after you in some way.  He said he didn’t want me coming over here and staying with you and Trace.  And to keep from arguing about it with him I told him I wouldn’t come, but I’m here so it doesn’t matter.  Just don’t answer my cell phone.  And don’t be too loud in the background when he calls.”

“Kerr, you shouldn’t have to lie about it.  You’re grown, you can do what you want.  Since when did you start letting him tell you what to do?” Trace questioned.  He really didn’t like the of sound Cody bossing her around at all.

“Obviously I didn’t listen to him, I’m here aren’t I?” she retorted.

“Yeah, you’re here.  But he doesn’t know that you’re here.  You shouldn’t have to lie.  You shoulda just told him and went on with your business.  If he doesn’t like it then he doesn’t like it.  Who gives a fuck.” Trace stated.

Meanwhile, Justin just sat there absorbing everything.  He knew if he said anything it would come out the wrong way.  And he also knew that if he spoke up further on the subject he would get angry and probably end up saying a bunch of things he didn’t want to say.  So he just remained quiet while Trace carried on about it.

“Trace, you promised not to make a big deal out of it.” Kerrigan objected.

“That was before I knew what IT was.”

“You still promised!”

“Whatever, Kerrigan.  If you’re going to let him boss you around that’s your business.” Trace said getting up and storming out of the room.

Kerrigan looked over at Justin, expecting some rant from him as well but he merely shrugged his shoulders.  “You’re not going to add your two cents worth?” she questioned him.

Justin shrugged again.  “I promised.” he said as he got up and left the room, leaving a stunned Kerrigan behind.