Chapter Eight
“Laur, I’m home!” Rachael called, performing the familiar task of tossing her keys on the table as she walked in the front door. “What are you watching?” she added when she saw that Laura was seated on the couch, her eyes glued to the television set.
“ ‘Never Been Kissed,’” Laura replied as her roommate sat down next to her. “There’s some popcorn on the table there if you want it.” Rachael took a handful and shoved it in her mouth. She hadn’t eaten on the plane because she’d never been able to stomach airline food, although she admired anyone who could. “How was your trip?”
“Good,” Rachael said with a nod. “I think things are finally normal between Justin and I now. I mean I know keep saying that and then things get weird again, but I think we’re really okay this time.”
Laura nodded, popping a few kernels of popcorn into her mouth. “Good, I’m glad. Brian keeps complaining to me about how you keep complaining to him about Justin, so now I won’t have to listen to that any more.”
“Brian’s a wuss. I only complained to him once.”
“Don’t I know it,” her roommate replied with a resigned sigh. “He should try living with you.”
“Hey!” Rachael protested, smacking Laura with one of the pillows that sat on the couch. “I am not that bad. It’s not my fault my life is full of drama. It’s all the men’s fault.”
Laura laughed. “Everything’s the men’s fault.”
“Damn straight.”
“So, um…speaking of men, I kind of ought to tell you something,” Laura ventured, biting down on her lip slightly. She was beginning to think that her matchmaking tendencies were about to get her in trouble. Just imagining Rachael’s reaction when she told her what she was about to tell her was almost enough to make her wish she hadn’t meddled. Almost. Rachael narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
“What?” she questioned slowly. She knew the brunette was up to something.
“Well, you see Lance called earlier. He’s in town again visiting friends.”
Rachael frowned. “I thought he wasn’t coming until the end of the week?”
“I don’t know, he got in earlier than he expected for some reason. He gave me some big long explanation, but you know me, I never pay attention to long ramblings unless they’re about chocolate. Anyway, so he said he’d just called to talk to you and that he’d kind of been hoping you guys could go out to dinner tonight or something, so I kind of told him that you’d meet him down at Fisherman’s Wharf at 6:30.” Laura let all this out in one rush of breath, then covered her ears instinctively.
“What?!” Rachael shrieked. “Laura! What is wrong with you? That’s…it’s already…Gah! That’s in an hour! And did you even think that maybe I don’t want to see anyone tonight? Especially boys who make my life confusing? And did you know that I despise you?”
“Ummm…I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I know it’s in an hour, yes, yes and yes.” Laura stopped for a minute to be sure she’d covered all of Rachael’s questions. “Sorry, Rach. If you don’t want to go, you should call him. Wouldn’t want him to be waiting around for you forever.”
Rachael sighed and stood up. “No, I’ll go,” she said, still fuming. “I’ll just run and take a quick shower then head down there.” She headed out of the room, then stopped and looked back at her friend. “Where on Fisherman’s Wharf?”
Laura’s face screwed up in concentration. “Um…some restaurant on the opposite end from Ghirardelli Square. I can’t remember what it’s called.”
“Laura,” Rachael groaned in frustration. Her roommate was constantly forgetting important information like this.
“Sorry! Um…oh I know! You remember that place we went to for Brian’s birthday last year? That one!” Laura nodded hopefully and Rachael bit her lip, then also nodded.
“Yeah, okay. I know where that is.”
“Good! Now go make yourself beautiful. Godspeed!”
***
Justin gazed out at the Los Angeles skyline and let out a sigh. The sun was beginning to set and it would probably have been really beautiful if it weren’t for the smog that tainted the sky and the exhaustion he was feeling. It was around 6 o’clock in the evening and he’d been in rehearsal all day to make up for the days they’d missed over the Thanksgiving weekend. He was taking a short break and would be heading back in for at least another couple of hours before he’d get the chance to go home. As much as he loved his job, there were times when it was so tiring that he just felt like walking out of the dance studio and never coming back. Well, maybe not never. Maybe just for a day or two. “Hey you,” a voice greeted him. He turned around and saw Britney smiling down at him.
“Hey!” he greeted her with a smile, genuinely happy to see her. “You here rehearsing late too?”
“Yep,” she replied simply, joining him where he sat on the curb. “Going back out on the road soon.”
Justin nodded. “Cool. Who’s choreographing for you?”
“Wade,” Britney informed him, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and lighting up.
“Since when do you smoke?” Justin questioned as she took a puff.
“For a few months now. And I’m guessing you haven’t been keeping up with the tabloids,” she added with a small laugh, knowing full well that her ex-boyfriend had never been one to read those things.
Justin shook his head. “That shit’ll kill you, you know.”
“Yeah, thanks Mom,” she joked.
“Just speakin’ the truth.”
Britney nodded, taking another puff and breaking eye contact with him. “So how was your Thanksgiving? Did you get to go home and see your family?” she questioned, casually stamping her cigarette out, though it was not even half smoked.
“Yeah, it was nice. We had a big dinner with Rachael and her extended family, so I got to hang out with her too, which was cool. We don’t get to see each other much anymore, since she insisted on going back to school after the tour.”
“Right…Rachael,” Britney muttered quietly. “So what ever happened with you two, then? I mean, I know you said the other day that you’re just friends now. Did you ever end up dating at all? If you don’t mind me asking.”
Justin shook his head. “Nah, it’s cool. I dunno, I guess we just sort of decided that our feelings for each other didn’t really extend beyond friendship. She’s more like my sister, you know? Nothing romantic.” If he was completely honest with himself, he would have admitted that not a word of what he’d just spoken had an ounce of truth to it. Well, maybe if he changed the words “we decided” to “she decided,” but other than that it was pretty much bullshit. But then, when had being honest with himself ever gotten him anywhere?
“Yeah, I understand,” Britney stated, a hopeful quality in her voice.
“Hey, Brit, Wade’s ready to go back to work!” a voice came from behind them. “Hey Justin!” Justin turned to see one of N Sync’s former dancers, Jen Wright, standing behind them.
“Hey, Jenny, how’s it going?” he greeted her with a small wave.
“Pretty good. Yourself?”
“Good.”
“Glad to hear it. Brit, you coming?” Jen glanced at the blonde still sitting on the curb.
“Yeah, I’ll be there in a minute, Jen,” Britney replied with a smile.
“Okay.” And Jen disappeared back into the building.
“She and Wade a couple now?” Justin inquired of Britney.
“Yeah, for a while now. They’re really good together, really happy.”
Justin nodded. “Good.”
“So J, um, I was kind of wondering maybe if you’re not too busy…maybe sometime this week you could, I mean we could, you know, hang out,” Britney stammered, looking at her feet. Anyone watching her at this moment would have probably had trouble believing she was the same girl that was normally seen confidently strutting across a stage in front of thousands of people. Justin smiled.
“Yeah, I’d like that. It’d be good to catch up. How about Thursday around 8? You busy?”
Britney shook her head, a smile spreading across her face. “Nope, not busy, shockingly enough. That would be great.”
“Great.”
“I’d better get back in there now. See you Thursday, Justin.”
“Okay. Bye, Brit.”
***
“Lancey, I am beginning to think that you and I are crazy, you know that? Crazy,” Rachael stated, shivering as she downed a spoonful of ice cream.
Lance laughed. “Why would you think that?”
“Well, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re sitting in the middle of Ghirardelli Square and eating ice cream in November. It’s like we want to freeze to death. Not that I mind entirely, of course. I’ve always said death by ice cream is the way to go.”
“It was your idea,” Lance reminded her with another laugh.
“Oh, sure. Always blame things on the woman. I see how you are.” Rachael grinned at him and took another bite of her ice cream. Despite her initial irritation with Laura, she was actually quite glad she’d come. After showering and quickly blow-drying her hair straight, she’d thrown on a pair of jeans and a sweater and hauled ass down to Fisherman’s Wharf to meet Lance. They’d eaten dinner in a restaurant and then taken a walk down the Wharf, ending up in Ghirardelli Square where they were now sitting eating ice cream and freezing their respective butts off. But the ice cream was good and the conversation was good and she was happy to be there.
“So you’re over Justin completely then?” Lance questioned, continuing a conversation they’d just been having regarding her Thanksgiving with Justin. “You really don’t have feelings for him anymore?”
Rachael shrugged. “Yeah, I suppose. I don’t think it was ever that I really needed to get over feelings I had for him so much as I needed to get over feeling weird for ever having those feelings, you know? And I think he needed to do the same thing, and he has, so we’re good now and all is right with the world. God, I love ice cream.”
Lance nodded, fingering his spoon thoughtfully. He’d been waiting all night to bring up a certain subject with her and now seemed as good a time as any. He was slightly worried that she’d find his timing inappropriate, but if he didn’t ask her now, he’d probably lose his nerve and all would be lost. “Rach, I have to tell you something,” he blurted out suddenly.
“Tell away!” she replied cheerfully, barely taking her focus away from her ice cream.
“Okay. This is really hard for me and I hope you don’t hate me,” Lance began, taking a deep breath. This got Rachael’s attention and she broke her gaze away from her beloved ice cream to look at him with concern.
“I’d never hate you, Lancey. Don’t even think that.”
He just nodded and continued, afraid that he wouldn’t be able to finish if he didn’t start now. “You know how I’ve been coming here to San Francisco to see friends really often?” She nodded. “Well, there are no friends.”
Rachael frowned. “I…don’t understand.”
“I-I’ve been coming because I wanted to see you. I’ve been saying I’m coming to see other people because I didn’t want to freak you out by coming so much, but I just had to see you. It’s just that I really like you, Rach. A lot.”
Rachael had now abandoned her ice cream completely and was staring at him, her eyes wide. She’d been expecting something like this for a while now, but somehow she still wasn’t prepared for it. “Oh,” she finally muttered.
“So, um,” Lance continued. “I was just wondering if maybe you’d like to go out with me on an actual date sometime.”
A million thoughts rushed through Rachael’s head as she looked at him, trying to find the words to answer him. Why did her tongue always have to freeze at times like this? Finally, she found the words she was so desperately searching for. “Yeah, I’d like that.”
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