Kiki was walking cheerily back to her hotel room after snagging the last Snickers from the vending machine when someone called out to her.

“Hey Kiki! Wait up.” She turned around to see the green eyed brunette coming down the hall towards her.

“Hi Sean. How are you?” Sean was one of the Stripped dancers and they had talked and hung out from time to time in the halls at a venue or during the after parties.

“I’m good. You?” She told him she was good, just tired. “Well if you’re not too tired. I was wondering if you’d like to go out to dinner with me tonight.”

Going out for a nice casual dinner would be a welcomed change of pace in comparison to the normal club hopping or hanging out in either hers or one of her friend’s rooms for the night. Besides Sean was a nice guy and he was cute.

“Why not?” She agreed.

“Great. How about we meet in the lobby around 8? There’s a nice Italian restaurant a few blocks from here.”

“Sounds good.”

“Okay. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

He rubbed her arm in parting and jogged down the hall to catch up with his friends.

Kiki walked away with a smile, wondering what she was going to wear tonight.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

A half an hour before her date, she was getting ready while Alex and Tori were lounging around the room waiting to see the final results. Color them surprised when she told them she was going out with some guy that wasn’t Justin. They had to witness this.

“Guys. Should I wear my hair up or down?” She came out of the bathroom in her bra and panties, holding her hair up in a pseudo up do to demonstrate for them. She got the shock of her life when she found Justin, Trace and Marty sitting around the room. “Holy shit!” She cried and ran back into the bathroom.

Justin’s eyes widened and he straightened up in his seat, Trace whistled and Marty said. “Hey, hey come back. I didn’t get a good look.”

“Too damn bad.” She yelled from behind the door. “Tori, Alex? Can one of you bring me my clothes please?”

Being the closest Alex gathered her dress that she had laid out and handed it to her through the crack she opened in the doorway.

“Damn.” Justin mumbled to himself and grinned as the now permanent picture of a half naked Kiki danced in his head.

“Ey, Tori.” Trace called from across the room. “It’s your turn for a little show and tell.” He flirted and not looking up from the book she was reading, she gave him the finger for his trouble.

A few moments later, Kiki came out of the bathroom in a simple black spaghetti strapped dress. “How do I look?”

She got “beautiful”, “great” or in Trace and Marty’s case, “hot” as responses, but Justin asked. “Where exactly are you going dressed like that?”

The jealous tone in his voice was unmistakable, but Kiki chose to ignore it, too occupied with putting on her shoes and jewelry.

“She’s got a date.” Tori offered the answer even thought it was basically a lie. Kiki had said that it wasn’t a date, just dinner. She told Justin the opposite just to see how he would react and he didn't disappoint.

This time his voice raised slight when he asked. “With who?”

Trace clearly heard the anger in his best friend’s voice and looked over to see the scowl on his face. He grinned when he remembered how attached to Kiki Justin had become and the obvious jealousy he was showing at the prospect of her being interested in someone else. “J’s eyes are looking a little green aren’t they?” He leaned over to ask Marty and they both snickered at their friend’s expense.

“None of your business.” Kiki answered this time with a smirk on her face. She wasn’t blind to his reaction either, but what right did he have getting all bent out of shape about her night out with Sean? How many girls did she see him with at parties and eventually take back to his hotel room?

Her outfit was now complete, so she addressed only Tori and Alex for a useful final critique.

“You look perfect, babe.” Alex said and Tori agreed.

“Alright then I gotta go. We’re meeting down in the lobby in about 5 minutes.” She grabbed her purse off the dresser and her key card. “See ya guys later.” She yelled over her shoulder as she dashed out of the room.

“So will there not be a second date because she’d rather be with Justin, whose hip she’s usually attached to or because the green eyed monster over there will kill him?” Tori whispered to Alex and the two giggled. They had been waiting for Justin’s reaction since he and the guys showed up while Kiki was in the bathroom. In the end his obvious jealousy proved yet again that he and Kiki were moving pass friendship into something more. The fuse on those fireworks between them was just getting shorter and shorter.

They all went back to chatting and watching TV, except for Justin. He was lost in his own world worrying over what might happen between Kiki and this guy on their date.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Coming back a few hours later, Kiki found that Justin was still in her room, reclining on her bed watching Nick at Nite.

“Are you the only one still here?”

“Yeah.” He replied, glancing at her to see if there was some remnants of a goodnight kiss on her face. Only a small amount of relief washed over him when he saw no signs of smudged lipstick or deshoveled clothing. Maybe nothing physical happened, but that didn't mean they hadn't connected on another level. Somehow he had to find out or it would drive him crazy.

Kiki braced herself on the wall and bent down to take off her shoes as she asked. “Where’s Tori?”

“She and Alex went out to some club with Trace and Marty.”

Digging through her duffle for some pjs, she asked. “Why didn’t you go with them?”

He shrugged. “Didn’t feel like it.”

“Hmm.” Thinking nothing of it, she took the t-shirt and shorts she found into the bathroom to get ready for bed.

“How was your date?” He finally asked while managing to sound pretty casual.

“I wouldn’t call it a date per say, but it was okay. I had a good time and he was really sweet, but we didn’t click like that at all.” She said through the cracked door. “I think he felt the same way. Neither one of us mentioned going out again so it doesn’t look like it’ll be going anywhere. I didn’t really want it to, to be honest.” By the end of dinner, she found that she just wasn’t interested in him like that.

Justin could barely hide his elation at hearing that the date was a bust and she wouldn’t be going out on a second one. He felt like jumping up and down on the bed for joy.

He was a paranoid wreck the whole time that she was gone. Thinking about what they were doing and if this guy was hitting on her or making a lasting impression. He knew it was a little weird, him sitting alone in her hotel room while she was out on a date, but he couldn’t leave. Even the sickening thought of her returning with her date couldn’t make him move. But thankfully she came in alone and didn’t seem to mind that he was still here.

Justin was even happier he stayed when she came out of the bathroom and cuddled up next to him on the bed. A big smile spread on his face and he wrapped an arm around her.

Totally oblivious to the happiness she was causing him, Kiki swiped the remote from off his stomach and started flipping through channels to see what else was on. They decided to order a movie and half way through they were both asleep.

The next morning they woke up to hearing someone banging on the front door. They both just rolled over at the sound, but Tori eventually got up to answer it and found that it was Lonnie causing all the noise.

“Hey is Kiki here? Does she know where Justin is?” He asked with a flicker of panic his voice.

Jerking her thumb back towards the room, she yawned “they’re both asleep” and went back to bed leaving the door open for him to follow.

Upon seeing his charge laid out on one of the double beds with Kiki tucked against his side, he felt relief flood through him and then growled in annoyance. “Justin, get up. We’ve been looking for you all over.”

The knocking had barely brought him to the surface of consciousness, but Lonnie’s booming voice had him wide awake now. He reluctantly sat up and yawned loudly with a stretch of his body. “You knew where I was last night.”

“It doesn’t matter. You know you’re supposed to check in.” Lonnie said as he made himself comfortable in one of the lounge chairs. “It's done now, but we gotta go. You got that radio shit to do this morning.”

“Fuck.” He groaned as he remembered what his schedule was like today. “What time is it? And what time is the interview?”

“Its almost 6 now. You gotta be at the station by 8.”

Nodding, he reached over Kiki’s sleeping form for his cell on the bedside table to see if he had any missed calls. Yawning once again, he asked. “Johnny called you or anything?”

“Nah, but I’m pretty sure-“

Tori’s tired and irritated voice cut in. “Is it possible for the two of you to take this conversation elsewhere? Some people are trying to go back to sleep.”

“Thank. You.” Came from Kiki who they all assumed was still asleep.

Trying to see her face that was buried in the pillow, Justin leaned over her body on his elbow. “Good morning.”

She rolled over to face him and cracking her eyes open slightly, she mumbled. “Morning.”

“Have lunch with me today.” He sat up again and started rubbed her hip.

“Ok.” She groaned as she stretched and then curled back up, snuggling down into the mattress. “Call me when you’re done with whatever you got going on this morning.”

“Ok.” Seeing her bare leg peeking out of the covers he began stroking it, from her knee down to her toes where he tickled her.

“Stop it.” She ordered and tried to hide her leg back under the covers, but Justin held on tight. “Stop Justin. Get out of here before you’re late and you get in trouble.” She kicked at him.

He stopped tickling her, but kept a hold of her leg, stroking it again. “Alright.” He lifted her leg and kissed her ankle, sending a chill through her body. “Bye babe.”

“Bye.” She practically purred from his kiss.

“Bye Tori.” Justin whispered as he and Lonnie moved towards the door and she threw up a hand, waving goodbye.

“Bye ladies.” Lonnie’s smooth base voice sounding through the otherwise silent room made the girls giggle.

“Bye Lonnie.” They both said in unison with sugar sweet voices.

He chuckled as he closed the door behind them and it didn’t take long before they fell back to sleep.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Both Justin and Lonnie were silent as they walked to the elevator, but once the doors shut Justin spoke up.

“What man?” He could feel Lonnie shooting looks at him all the way down the hall.

Lonnie started chuckling. “Nothing. Its just Kiki’s was the last room I came to looking for you. You looked pretty comfortable in bed with her and I’m just wondering if I should bother looking for you anywhere else from now on.”

Watching the floor indicator lights climbed higher, Justin smirked. “Maybe Lon. Maybe.”