Chapter Twenty-Five
Lance had no idea how long he'd been gone as he travelled back to the table he and Rachael had been sitting at. When he'd left to go to the restroom he'd been planning to come back immediately, but on his way back he'd, literally, run into a girl who looked incredibly distraught. Concerned, he'd asked her what was wrong and while it was hard to make out some of the words through the heaving sobs, he thought she'd said something about her boyfriend making out with another girl and that she felt extremely out of place here with all these beautiful people when she was so ugly. Lance had immediately assured her she wasn't ugly - she was short and curvy, with beautiful long blonde hair - and had ended up spending about twenty minutes talking to her and calming her down. She had seemed like a really sweet girl and Lance couldn't imagine why her boyfriend would want to ditch her the way he apparently had. It was a while before he realized how long he'd been gone and he finally excused himself to return to his date and told her he hoped her night got better.
As he approached the table, he found that Rachael's drink was still there, but Rachael herself seemed to have disappeared. Frowning, he scanned the crowd for her as he sat down. He finally spotted her in the middle of the room dancing with Justin. Apparently they had made up in his absence, as they were both grinning broadly as they danced. Lance sighed as he watched them move together. Their dancing wasn't nearly as dirty as those around them, but he was actually thinking may have preferred seeing that. Somehow, watching the way they pretty much moved as one, like each knew exactly what the other was going to do before they did it, was far more excruciating for him than the uncoordinated, emotionless grinding of their colleagues would have been. The song ended and Lance saw Rachael turn to leave the dance floor, but Justin grabbed her arm and pulled her back. It was a slow song this time - Britney's "Everytime" to be exact - and they placed their arms around each other in an uncharacteriscally awkward fashion as the lyrics filled the room.
Notice me
Take my hand
Why are we
Strangers when
Our love is strong
Why carry on without me?
Justin was beginning to suspect he was a glutton for punishment as he stood in the middle of the dance floor, swaying slowly back and forth with Rachael. As always, she felt so perfect in his arms and his senses were on overload, taking in the feeling of her bare shoulders, the beauty of her eyes and hair and everything else, and the intoxicating way she smelled. She was wearing perfume - she never wore perfume - and it was all he could do to keep himself from openly sniffing her neck. He was back in that place somewhere between heaven and hell and having a hard time figuring out how he was going to tear himself away from her when the song ended.
He was actually a little surprised that she had agreed to stay and slow dance with him. Come to think of it, he was also a bit surprised he'd even asked her to. He knew when he'd done it that it would be a completely torturous experience, but he'd done it anyway. Yes, he definitely seemed to have a thing for torturing himself.
Everytime I try to fly
I fall without my wings
I feel so small
I guess I need you baby
And everytime I see you in my dreams
I see your face, you're haunting me
I guess I need you baby
"Hey Lance, have you seen Justin?" Britney asked cheerily as she approached the table where Lance still sat watching Justin and Rachael. He just nodded, his eyes not moving and she looked at him quizzically as she followed his gaze. "Oh no," she groaned when she realized what he was looking at. There was her date dancing to her song - the song she'd written about him - and he was with the one woman she had been trying to keep him away from all night. It would have been bad enough if they were just dancing at a respectable distance as they had when the song started, but now they were much closer together and were hardly moving at all. Rachael's shoes had given her enough height that she could comfortably rest her head on Justin's shoulder and that's exactly what she was doing as she stood with her arms wrapped tightly around him and looking suspiciously like she never wanted to let go. Justin's head was leaning against hers and his arms rested around her shoulders as he buried a hand in her hair. Three years he had been her boyfriend and Britney was pretty sure he'd never touched her like that or looked that happy to be close to her in the entire time they'd been together.
"What are you two looking so gloomy about?" JC's voice interrupted her thoughts as he eyed the two blondes staring and looked unhappy. There was no response and he frowned, turning to see what they were looking at. When he saw the couple in the middle of the dance floor a look of understanding crossed his face and he shook his head. "I think you both knew this was gonna happen eventually," he told them gently before he walked away.
I make believe
That you are here
It's the only way
I see clear
What have I done
You seem to move on easy
Rachael could not recall a time in her life when she'd felt so overwrought with emotion. She was standing there in Justin's arms, her head on his shoulder and his hand in her hair, trying very hard to fight the fact that it all felt so right. Not that she had a problem with being in a situation that felt right and as though it was meant to be, but when such a situation involved the one person she was not supposed to be feeling love, lust, and all around good, romantic feelings towards, it was a bit disconcerting. Add to that the fact that the song playing was hitting a little too close to home and the fact that everytime she felt a strand of her hair slide through Justin's fingers she found it increasingly difficult to ignore the voice in her head saying, "You want him, you need him, you love him," and she was basically an emotional wreck. It was all completely wonderful and completely horrible at the same time. She wasn't supposed to be letting this happen, but she was finding herself caring less and less about "supposed to" and more about making sure this feeling never went away.
"Rach?" Justin's voice interrupted her thoughts and her head lifted off his shoulder so she could look at him.
"Yeah?" she responded softly, beginning to feel a bit panicked as he removed one of her arms from his shoulder and took her hand into his. The last time he'd done that it had gotten her into a lot of trouble.
"You're probably going to hate me for saying this, but I just have to tell you that you look really beautiful tonight," he told her softly, staring intently into her deep brown eyes. She smiled weakly at him.
"Oh, sure I do. Aside from the stupid idea I had of exposing my ugly feet." She tried to play the whole thing off as a joke, hoping it would deter him and his horribly sweet ways. He smiled at her, not one of the big goofy grins he got on his face when he'd just gotten his way in an argument or the perfect, charming smile he used in interviews, but a small, genuine, barely there smile that made her want to hug him and kiss him and do a bunch of other things she couldn't do. He averted his gaze to her hand as he caressed it lightly with his thumb before speaking again.
"You don't have an ugly bone in your body," he stated far too sincerely for comfort. Rachael was positive her heart stopped beating completely at this moment, which was a shocking contrast to the hyperactive beating out of her chest it had been doing previously, and she was getting the very uncomfortable feeling that she couldn't breathe. Panic overtook all other feelings and she pulled away from him abruptly.
"I-I have to get some air," she stammered, then turned and dashed away before Justin had a chance to respond.
Everytime I try to fly
I fall without my wings
I feel so small
I guess I need you baby
And everytime I see you in my dreams
I see your face, you're haunting me
I guess I need you baby
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