Chapter 49

Kerrigan was hesitant for a moment as Justin’s lips captured hers.  She was too shocked to respond.  He was kissing her.  Justin was kissing her.

And it wasn’t a passionate kiss.  It felt more desperate and urgent to her.  She wasn’t sure what he was doing, perhaps he’d had a little too much to drink and had her confused with someone else.  Hell, at this point Kerrigan thought anything was possible, because Justin did not just kiss her like that.

Justin pulled back when he realized Kerrigan wasn’t responding and it suddenly struck him what he was actually doing.  He couldn’t believe he had just done that.  After all the metal wars he’d had within himself, deciding he wouldn’t pursue her or make any advances towards her and now he was kissing her.  And worst of all she wasn’t responding.  Not at all.  God, he felt like a complete and total ass.

Slowly looking up to meet her eyes, Justin was quiet, waiting to see what Kerrigan would say about what he had just done.  He looked away however when he saw the studded expression on her face and quickly began trying to come up with an excuse inside his head on how he could explain away such actions.

Kerrigan studied Justin’s face.  He looked somewhat embarrassed and extremely nervous.  “Justin?” she spoke his name, trying to get him to look at her again.

“Yeah?” he asked, meeting her eyes.

“You just kissed me.” she stated.

Justin sighed, closing his eyes, while he pulled further away from her.  “I’m sorry, Kerr.  I don’t know what I was thinking.  You were crying and I just wanted to distract you.  I shouldn’t have kissed you, I’m sorry.” he said, cautiously meeting her eyes again.

“Well…” Kerrigan began, with a funny expression on her face that eventually turned into a slight grin.  “You certainly surprised me.  And I’d have to say you distracted me as well.”

Justin bit his lip.  “You’re not pissed?” he questioned, still concerned that he’d upset her.

“No, I’m not pissed.” she smiled.  “I honestly shoulda expected something like that from you.” she said.

And with that statement Justin’s heartbeat raced.  Did she know?  Had she figured him out?  “What do you mean you shoulda expected that from me?”

Kerrigan shrugged.  “You and Trace are known for your crazy way of doing things.  It doesn’t surprise me that you’d do something like that to distract me.  It’s actually kinda sweet, although I don’t think it was very appropriate.  Pharrell and Chad are staring at us like we’ve grown second heads or something.”

Justin turned to see that in fact Pharrell and Chad were staring at them oddly.  He turned his attention back to Kerrigan.  “I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t have done that.  It won’t happen again.  And I’ll explain to them what happened.” he said quickly.

“It’s ok Justin.  You were just worried and trying to help.  It’s not a big deal.” Kerrigan waved him off with a smile.

Justin’s eyebrows scrunched in confusion.  He was positive she would have a different reaction than this to him kissing her.  Maybe she’d had too much to drink and that was the reason she was being so cool about it.  Whatever the reason may be he decided not to push it any further.  If she wasn’t upset, he wasn’t going to give her a reason to be upset.

“Ok, I just wanted to make sure.” he said, looking back over at Pharrell and Chad who seemed to be waiting on some kind of hint that it was ok for them to come back to the table.  Justin waved them over and the two immediately rejoined Justin and Kerrigan at the table.  Not saying a word about what they had seen, but giving Justin a look that was clearly questioning what the hell was going on.

Chad asked Kerrigan if she was feeling better and she smiled telling him she was fine, just had a moment of temporary insanity, which they all laughed at.

They sat there talking for a few minutes about anything and everything before Kerrigan excused herself to go to the restroom.  Once she was securely out of earshot, Pharrell quickly jumped on the topic that had been running through his mind.

“Ok, what was that all about?  You kissed her man.” he said staring at Justin expectantly.

“It was nothing.” Justin waved him off, taking a drink of his beer.  Silently praying that Pharrell would leave it at that.  Too bad Justin wasn’t that lucky.

“Didn’t look like nothing to me.” Pharrell stated.

“Me either.” Chad followed.

“I mean from where we were at, it looked pretty I don’t know, hot?” Pharrell said, still staring at Justin expectantly.

“Hot?” Justin questioned, giving him an annoyed look.  “Dude, she didn’t even kiss me back, how is that hot?  You’ve had too much to drink.”

“So you admit that you kissed her?” Pharrell questioned, ignoring Justin’s statement.

“I wasn’t denying it.” he retorted.

“You said it was nothing.” Chad countered.

“It was nothing.  She was upset and rambling and crying and I was trying to distract her.  It was nothing.  Like I said she didn’t even kiss me back, so that’s not exactly something I would call hot or anything at all really.”

“But you kissed her.” Pharrell argued.

“So what.  I kiss her all the time.” Justin objected.

“When do you kiss her all the time?  I’ve never seen you kiss her other than on the cheek or something.  Never on her lips.” Pharrell continued to argue.  He wasn’t buying Justin’s lame excuses.

“I’ve kissed her on the lips before.” Justin said, giving him a dirty look that he was pushing the mater.

“When?” Pharrell stared at him.

“During a game of truth or dare.  It was the reason her and Cody broke up the first time.  The time my dumbass got them back together.” Justin stated, looking off towards the rest rooms to see Kerrigan coming out the door.

“But J….” Pharrell started to argue the matter further.

“Look, drop it.  She’s coming.  It’s not what you’re thinking, so just let it go man.” Justin told him, getting up as Kerrigan got closer and let her slide back into the booth, before he sat back down.

Pharrell eyed Justin closely.  He didn’t believe any of that for a second.  Well, at least the part about the kiss meaning nothing.  He’d noticed the way Justin had been watching Kerrigan lately.  The way he’d been so protective of her.  And he hadn’t failed to notice the jealousy that was seeping from every morsel of Justin’s body when he noticed her dancing with that other guy earlier.  He was into Kerrigan and it was so damn obvious that Pharrell was baffled Kerrigan hadn’t picked up on it.

But it wasn’t his place to say anything so he’d just go along with whatever Justin said, even though he didn’t believe it for a minute.

( The following evening )

Justin and Kerrigan walked into the house.  It was oddly very quiet and they knew that Trace was supposed to be there and Trace and quiet just didn’t mix, so they knew something was up.

Justin set down his and Kerrigan’s suitcases and then motioned for her to set down their carry on bags.  Holding a finger to his mouth for Kerrigan to be quiet, Justin crept down the entry all towards the living room.  Kerrigan, following quietly behind him, fighting off the urge to laugh.

As they neared the living room their ears started to pick up on the faintest of sounds.  Sounds Kerrigan quickly recognized as kissing and slight moans.  She immediately grabbed Justin by his arm pulling him backwards.

Justin gave her an odd look.  “What are you doing?” he whispered.

“We shouldn’t interrupt them.  That’s wrong, Justin.” she softly scolded him.

A wicked grin appeared on Justin’s face.  “But so much fun.” he winked, then turning to proceed with his plans.

Kerrigan sighed and followed him, although she had no intentions of being a part of what he was doing.  She liked Becca and she didn’t want to embarrass the girl for fear they’d scare her off.  And she really liked this girlfriend of Trace’s and that just wouldn’t be acceptable.  But she knew there was nothing she could do to stop Justin, so she’d just let him take the heat on his own, while she stood back and watched.  That would be more interesting anyways, she smirked at the thought.

Justin crept into the living room as quietly as possible, looking back at Kerrigan giving her a questioning look when she stopped and didn’t follow him any further.  Shrugging he decided he didn’t need her to go through with his plan, so he carried on.

He silently approached the sofa and peeked over the back of it seeing the couple completely wrapped up in each other.  They had no clue anyone else was even around.  And since they were both fully dressed, Justin decided it was ok for him to proceed with scaring the shit out of them.  Had they been otherwise engaged he would have discreetly left them to their moment, but this was just too good to pass up.

Slinking around the sofa, Justin perched himself on the coffee table in front of them and still they hadn’t noticed him.  He sat there for a moment watching them, just waiting on them to look up and see him sitting there but still nothing.  And he couldn’t take it anymore so he leaned forward, resting his elbow on his knee and his chin in his palm and spoke up.

“You know that looks really fun.  Think I could join in?” he asked.

Becca’s eyes flew open at the sound of Justin’s voice and she immediately shoved Trace up off her, straightening her clothing in the process.

Trace glared over at Justin, wanting to reach out and strangle him.  “What the hell are you doing here?” he asked.

“What do you mean what am I doing here?” Justin asked between laughs.  “It’s my house.”

Kerrigan shook her head and silently laughed from the doorway.

“Where’s Kerrigan?” Becca asked, trying to regain her composure and ignore the fact that Justin had just been sitting there watching her and Trace make out.

Justin looked up and seen Kerrigan still hovering in the doorway.  Pointing to her he said.  “She’s right there.”

Kerrigan took that as her queue when Becca and Trace turned to look at her and she made her way into the room with an apologetic look on her face.  “I tried to stop him.” she said as she walked over and sat down on the other sofa.

“Sure you did.” Trace muttered.

“I did!  I told him not to interrupt.” she argued, giving Trace a dirty look.

“Whatever.” Trace grumbled, thoroughly annoyed with his friends.

“Hey, don’t blame her.  It was my idea.  Besides, you knew we were coming home, so you asked for it.” Justin stated.

“I knew you’d be here this evening.” Trace glared at him.

“It is evening, Trace.  What?  Did you lose track of time?” Justin smirked.

Becca watched the exchange between the two guys and she found it extremely amusing but she wasn’t going to let Justin see that.  It would only encourage him further, so instead she looked over at Kerrigan.  “I’m glad you’re home.  I wanted to hang out with you tonight.”

“HEY!” Trace called out disapprovingly.  “What about me?”

“I’ve spent the last few days with you.  I wanna hang with, Kerr for a bit.  Do some girl stuff.” she said, waving him off, which she received a disgruntled groan from Trace in return.  “So you up for a movie or something?” she asked, focusing on Kerrigan.

Kerrigan shrugged.  “Sounds good to me.  I need to get away from all this macho bullshit.”

Trace snorted.  “Justin macho?  Now that’s funny!”

“Shut up, Trace.” Justin glared at him.

“Hey, you started it man.  You just HAD to come up in here and mess up my game.” Trace retorted.

“You’re game?” Becca questioned him.

“You know what I mean.” Trace clarified.

“No, maybe I don’t.” she said, pretending to be offended.

“Becca, I didn’t mean it like that.  I was just….” Trace attempted to explain thinking she was seriously upset with him.  Until of course she started laughing in his face.  “You’re not right.” he groaned, throwing himself back in the sofa.

Kerrigan laughed at Trace, he pouted like such a little kid at times.  Come to think of it, him and Justin both pouted like little kids.  “So what movie did you wanna see?” she asked Becca, getting to her feet.

Becca followed Kerrigan’s lead and stood up.  “I don’t know.  Definitely a chic flick.  All I’ve gotten to see the last few days with him is stupid macho bullshit movies where they’re killing everyone and all that jazz.” she said as she followed Kerrigan towards the hallway.

“You’re not even going to invite us?” Justin called after them, feeling completely ignored.  He’d been hoping to get a bigger reaction out of Becca, but she was totally blowing it off.

“Why would we invite you guys.  I said I wanted to hang with Kerrigan.  Is either of your names Kerrigan?”  Becca turned and looked at them.

“My name can be whatever you want it to be, baby.” Justin said seductively, which earned him a pillow upside his head from Trace.

Kerrigan and Becca laughed at the two men as they bickered back an forth, playfully shoving the other like they were about to fight.

Kerrigan turned her attention to Becca and silently spoke.  “I’m surprised you didn’t ream Justin out.  I was hoping you’d do something.”

An evil grin spread across Becca’s face.  “Oh trust me, I’ll get even with him.  When he least expects it.”