Justin’s birthday weekend may have been over, but it had a lasting effect on him and Kiki. He couldn’t stop thinking about what his friends had to say about her and the way he’d been treating her. Trace was right, but at the same time he was wrong. Yes he did like her, but it was because she stood up to him. He liked that about her. It meant she had a backbone and was confidence in her self. She was sassy, hot as hell and listening to her talk with his friends at his party “ she was down to earth and had a great sense of humor. He liked her. He liked her a lot and there lay the problem.
Was he ready to seriously start getting involved with another woman again? Should he even be thinking about Kiki in that respect considering his treatment of her? She’d probably laugh in his face if he asked her out. What he needed to do was start from scratch, just be nice to her because she didn’t deserve to pay for his hang ups. And at this point they weren’t even friends so why should he worry about getting involved with her. He did want them to get along at least, but it would be nice if they could become friends by the end of the tour. Point blank he needed to swallow his pride and fix his mess.
“Hey.” He approached her at the beginning of rehearsal and she almost spit her out POWERade from the shock.
“Um, hi?” This was beyond a shock since she was just thinking about her plan to follow Tami’s advice to ignore Justin and now he actually speaking to her like a normal person. She never saw this coming.
“Can you stay after rehearsal today? There’s a new variation in one of the routines just for us that I want to try out.” This is new, Kiki thought. Usually Marty was the one to tell her when she and Justin needed to do some one on one work. “It’s nothing too complicated, especially for you. You pick up on things quickly.”
What the hell is going on? Have I stepped into the Twilight Zone? Not only is he being nice, but did he actually just compliment me? “Um. Okay. Sure.”
“Thanks.” He smiled and went back to the other side of the room. He knew he had just shocked the hell out of her, he had actually hoped for that reaction. After months of being a jerk, he was expecting her to say or do a lot worse. He liked to think her stuttered reaction meant she wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss his honest attempt to extend the olive branch.
Kiki could not believe the one-eighty he had just pulled on her. She was completely thrown by it. As soon as he walked away she dashed over to Alex and Tori. They’d been watching the exchange thinking another fight was going to break out, but were just as surprised when nothing happened.
“Oh my gawh. Did you guys see that?”
“Uh yeah. What was that all about?” Alex questioned.
“I have no clue, but he was actually nice to me and he smiled. At me.”
“Well his birthday did just pass. Maybe he thought back on his life to date and had a moment of self realization.” Alex gave Tori a “what the fuck” look after that comment. No wonder she’d been a psych major, she was always coming up with some psychological explanation for shit.
“Whatever it is, it would be nice if it was real and not just a fluke.” Kiki said to herself, watching him kid around with Gina and Sarah. The shock had worn off and she couldn’t help but think about how nice it was to have Justin be pleasant towards her for that one moment. It would only be wishful thinking if she believed he had changed, so she decided to just shrug it off. Tomorrow she would start ignoring him.
Tomorrow came and again Justin greeted her kindly and engaged her in some small talk. Ignoring him went out the window then as the “fluke” turned into a normal routine between them. It was impossible for her to turn away when he was finally being nice and laying on the charm that had her swooning despite herself.
Justin was thrilled with the response he was getting from Kiki. It amazed him that she was so nice to him despite his past behavior. It took a big heart to look past that. He was glad he had finally pulled his head out of his ass.
Things only got better between Justin and Kiki as the first day of the tour grew near. It was strange, but slowly a tentative friendship was developing between them. Small talk and joking around lead into full out conversation without a hint of hostility involved.
Kiki could see that deep down Justin wasn’t really inconsiderate, rude or disrespectful. He was a pretty okay guy once he got back down to earth and chilled out from the pressure of his first solo endeavor. He had put his guard down and Kiki was glad to finally see the nice guy that lay underneath that tough exterior. His nasty attitude still popped up from time to time, but she proved she had a knack for putting him in his place and shutting him up. Potential friendship or not, she never hesitated to correct him if he got out of line. And he never retaliated when she called him out now-a-days because he did have an attitude problem. He found it refreshing that he couldn’t get away with being an egomaniac with Kiki. It kept him level headed and over time he developed a weird attraction to being told off by her. She was hot when she got all irate with him, hands on that tight little waist of hers, rolling her neck every which way.
As they learned more about each other and found that they had a lot in common, their first impressions of each other faded to the background and enemies became friends.
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“Ok everyone, let’s break for lunch. You have an hour, be back here at 2 o’clock on the dot so we can wrap things up for today.” Marty announced and everyone start to break off to most likely go and nap before they ate. Kick off for the tour was in less than two weeks and rehearsal had been moved to a warehouse where an actual stage was built so they could get used to performing on one. The atmosphere among the crew was growing more tense and anxious by the day. Everyone was exhausted from working so hard and they really needed a break right now.
Kiki walked over to the side of the stage to pick up her hoodie she’d put aside earlier. Just as she was about to walk backstage her cell phone started ringing and she looked down at the LCD screen to see it was Kevin calling. She had been waiting for his phone call all day because the end of the month was approaching and she knew there would be some paperwork that she had to handle. Approving the budget each month was the only work that she had to do for the club while on the road so her laptop was definitely ridin’ with her.
“Hey Kevin.”
Justin had heard her cell ringing and being the nosey person that he was, instead of leaving, he stood by to listen in on her conversation.
“I’m not leaving till the end of next week so I’ll just swing by and pick up the budget spreadsheets before then. I’ll use the hotel’s fax machine to send them back with my signature when we get to Portland.” She assure him. “How’s everyone doing?....That’s great!.…Yeah everything is going good, I’m having a great time…Thanks Kev. Tell everyone I said hi and I’ll talk to you later….Okay. Bye.”
Kiki stuck her phone back into the pouch and, still looking down, she turned to walk off stage. When she finally raised her head she saw Justin standing by to the side all alone acting like he hadn’t been eavesdropping.
Walking over to him, she used the towel she had wrapped around neck and smacked him with it. “Nosey.” He laughed as he gave up the rouse of checking his cell for missed calls.
“Yeah you got me.” He offered her one of the bottles of water he was holding.
“Mmhmm. Thank you.” She opened the water and took a long swallow.
“Sounds like you’re gonna be a busy girl before we leave.”
“Not really. Its tedious work but I’ll do it on the road and faxed it away once we get to the hotel. I need to be focused on just the show once we’re in Portland. It’s the first one so my nerves are going to be shot.” He definitely agreed with her on that. Her anxious expression turned to an excited grin when she added. “Plus how am I going to go to the after party if I have homework to do?”
“You’re more excited about the after party than the show?”
“No. I am excited about the show, but it’s a nervous excited.” She scrunched up her face. “Plus I keep picturing myself tripping over your big feet and then the two of us busting our asses in front of everyone.”
“Hey! Don’t jinx us!”
“Okay, okay. I’m sorry.” She held up her hands in surrender. “How about we not talk about opening night, it’ll just make us even more anxious. And we are on break right now. I don’t know about you but my body and my nerves need one.” She groaned as she plopped down on the stage to do some stretching.
He sat down next to her and agreeing with her, he changed the subject. “So do I get a free membership to your spot when this is over?” He grinned at her and she teased.
“You do know it’s outside of Hollywood, right?”
“Whatever. I go to places outside of Hollywood.” He pouted.
She grabbed his cheeks and talked to him in a baby voice. “Aww I was just playing with you. You don’t have to cry about it.” He scowled at her and pulled out of her grip while she laughed at him. “You’re more than welcomed at Key, but with the amount of money you make, you will not be getting anything free.”
“Way to treat a friend.” He scoffed. She just shrugged and he pushed her over, making her giggle into the bottle she was about to take a sip from.
When Kiki didn’t refute his referral to himself as her friend, Justin was happy to think she saw them as friends now. But he had one thing to say before he felt he deserved that friendship.
The comfortable silence that fell over them was broken when he said it. “I’m sorry Kiki.”
“For what?” She knew what for, but she wanted to hear him say it aloud.
“For the way I’ve treated you. I was rude and disrespectful and you didn’t deserve it at all. I was a jerk and I’m truly sorry.”
“More like a spoiled brat.”
He chuckled. “OH! I see how it is.”
“Well you were, you still are but its ok. You’re forgiven. I’ll just keep putting your ass in check and we’ll be all good.” She gave him a cheeky grin.
“You happen to be good at that, so I’ll let it slide.”
“Whatever. Just admit it you got punk’d…Again!” She giggled hysterically while he scowled at her. “Aah!!” He had lunged at her, but missed, giving her the chance to get up and run away.
She ran off the stage, down the hallway with him hot on her tail and he caught her right before she reached the ladies’ dressing room.
“You think you’re funny, huh?” He said as he held her hostage against his chest.
“No. I know I am.” She giggled.
With his arms still wrapped around her, they stood there catching their breath and staring at each other. In that moment, something ignited between Kiki and Justin, sending a chill through both of them.
“Would you, uh… Do you wanna have lunch with me?” Justin broke the poignant stare first and reluctantly let go of her.
She smiled at him brushing off the feelings that his nearness and his gaze stirred inside her. “Yeah. That’d be nice.”
“I had some takeout from Friday’s ordered. I’m sure there’s plenty to go around. You ok with Friday’s?” They started walking down the hall.
“That’s fine. I’m so hungry right now I really don’t care what I eat.” Together they walked past the ladies' dressing room and made their way to his. “Thanks for sharing your lunch with me.” She said in a little girl’s voice.
He laughed at her and draped an arm over her shoulder. “You’re welcome.”
