Laura shrugged. "I don't know, what are you talking about?"
"I just heard you, you said, 'This'll be fun.' "
"No I didn't.."
"Yes you did."
JC shook his head. "No she didn't."
Wade raised one of his eyebrows curiously. "Uh huh, you're in on it too, eh?"
"Yah, sure am, mate..."
Laura coughed to cover up the laugh. "Ahem, hah, ahem..."
Wade took Laura's hand and smiled. "Why don't we dance on, my dear..."
"I was dancing with JC, Wade!"
Wade shrugged and pulled Laura to him as they began to dance. "Well, I guess JC will just have to get over it, now won't he..."
"I was allowed to dance with Chris..."
Wade spun her around and then held her closely to make sure she wouldn't fall or lose balance from the vigorous spin. "I told you, he's no harm...and no competition, didn't I say that earlier?"
"Yah, you did..."
"So what were you two talking about?"
"Nothing.."
JC shook his head slightly and walked back up to Wade and Laura to tell them he was going back to the table. "I'm going to go back to the table..." Then he looked straight at Laura. "We'll talk about the bet later, alright?"
When JC walked away, Wade stared straight into Laura's eyes. "Bet?"
"Uh, he doesn't know what he's talking about."
"I'm so sure of that, what bet?"
Laura bit her lip and lifted a hand from Wade's shoulder to smack her forehead slightly because of JC's stupidity. "Um, it's nothing really, no big deal about it, no one's really involved, it's just--"
"Just tell me."
"We made a bet that Natalie was going to hook up with someone on the tour..."
"And..."
"I said Justin, he said Lance..."
"Oh, well, that's not so smart, what are the consequences?"
Laura shrugged in confusion. "We haven't decided yet, that's what he wanted to talk about.."
"Maybe you shouldn't do this."
"That's what I'm thinking, I wouldn't exactly be getting Natalie's good side when she finds out that I'm trying to set her and Justin up all just because of a bet I made with JC, no big deal.."
Wade sighed and spun Laura around once again before bringing her back in even closer. "Just don't do it, I didn't plan on bringing you here to cause a problem."
"I'm innocent!"
"Maybe in your sleep."
Laura yawned tiredly. "Speaking of sleep."
"You're ready to go home now?"
Laura nodded and looked around as the room gradually began to decrease in the amount of people it was holding. "Kind of... I want to stay for a little longer, but I would like to go home sometime soon."
"Alright... I should've let you drive yourself here."
"Why, you want to stay?"
Wade shrugged slightly and looked around the room that was beginning to get smaller in its population of people. "Well, not really now that I think about it."
"Where are you staying, with the guys?"
"I don't know, probably..."
Laura nodded her head. "You do know you can stay with my parents anytime you need to right? Although, I don’t think they would exactly look forward to your destructive stay of most likely breaking everything..."
Wade sighed. “I wouldn’t do anything like that.”
"I'm just playing." Laura crossed her fingers on Wade's shoulder.
When they were dancing, they maneuvered slightly, which gave Laura a perfect view of Natalie. She rested her head on Lance's shoulder, and she was staring at something. Laura looked and tried to see what and where she was looking, but Wade turned them again so she couldn't see. "Wade, turn back."
"Why?"
"Natalie, she's staring at something..."
Wade shook his head. "Fine, let's move towards them."
They continued to dance and Wade sort of pulled Laura along to get closer to Natalie. When he stopped in his spot he looked down at Laura. "Good enough."
"Just like one or two more inches..."
Wade shook his head. "Just get closer, there are people all around us now, I can't move..."
"Once I move, I won't be able to move back."
Wade rolled his eyes and just pulled Laura closer to him. "Too bad, it'll be fine, people are leaving anyways..."
"Your squishing me like a fly."
"Oh darn. Please wait for me to cry for you."
Laura shook her head and just ignored Wade.
"Just look for what you're looking for. Can you see?"
Laura moved her head around to look and then she looked up at Wade and shook her head. "Can you move to the left a little."
Wade sighed and moved where she wanted and all of a sudden she busted out. "PERFECT!"
Wade's eyes widened at her. "Could you be louder?"
Laura shrugged and nodded. "I don't know, well, probably, but you know that."
"What are you seeing."
Laura looked closer and shook her head. She looked away and just ignored it. "Nothing really."
"What did you see?"
Laura shook her head again. "Nothing."
"Lolo?"
Laura sighed and pulled her head away from his shoulder and looked up at him. "Well, a lot of staring...Natalie is now dancing with Lance instead of Joey, and her head is on his shoulder and she was staring at something. That's why I wanted you to move, so I could see what she was staring at. Then I looked and there was Justin with some girl and he was staring at her."
"Oh no."
"What?"
"Nothing."
Laura sighed and laid her head on Wade's chest, listening to his heart beat as they continued to dance.
Natalie continued to stare at Justin not realizing what she was doing. She wanted to dance with him, just to see if he'd keep his promise. After the song was over, Natalie tore away from staring at Justin.
In the middle of the next song, someone bumped into her back. Natalie turned around to see Justin and his dance partner. Justin blushed slightly. "Sorry Natalie..."
"Yah, that's alright."
Justin looked at Natalie and looked at her dress. When he bumped into her, something got on her outfit, so he reached over and picked it off. "Sorry, you had something on you."
"Oh, thanks."
They stared into each other's eyes for a brief moment and they both shook out of it at the same time and returned to the people they were dancing with.
Lance shook his head. "Signature move."
Natalie looked at Lance curious to what he meant. "What?"
"The whole bump in thing, something on you whole deal, yah, that's all Justin, I shouldn't have told you, but oh well."
"Um, right, and Justin would do this because...?"
"I have no clue... honestly."
A few minutes later when the dance floor was almost empty, and it was almost ten , Justin smiled at the lady he was dancing with. "I have to get going, I made a promise to someone."
The tall, young girl smiled and stepped away. "Well, thank you for dancing with me tonight Justin, I'll be talking to you later."
"Sure."
After the girl was out of his sight, Justin went to the table that all of the guys and himself were resting at every once in a while to find everyone sitting down except for Natalie and Lance. Justin sat down and sighed. "So, how was everything tonight?"
Laura slapped a card down on the table and grinned at JC. "I win, you lose, do you give up yet?"
JC sighed loudly and sat back. "No, we'll take care of this later."
He then looked over at Justin who was now sitting. "Oh, you’re here, I didn’t even notice you walking over here, when did you decide to come join us wonderful people?"
"Not to long ago, I said hi, everyone ignored me."
Laura looked at the wall and mumbled to herself quietly. "Maybe no one wants to hear you talk."
Wade looked at Laura and raised one of his eyebrows. "What was that?"
Laura shot a fake smile at Wade and the rest of the guys before smiling wider at Justin. "Nothing at all."
Justin shook his head. "Figures."
Laura took a napkin that was on the table and balled it up. She then aimed it to hit Chris right in the head, who was sleeping peacefully for about an hour. Chris whipped his head around to look at everyone's similar grins. Then he glared at Laura who had a straight face on. "Laura..."
"Chris?"
"Oh forget it, I'm not going to start."
"Not worth your time, you'll just get hurt."
Chris stood up and pushed himself away from the table. "Oh, and you're so sure about that sweetie?"
Laura shook her head. "I'm not stupid, don't mess with me, and no one will get hurt."
Chris looked at JC, Justin, and then Wade before looking back at Laura. "Isn't that what everyone says?"
Everyone nodded and agreed but Laura. "No, that's not what they say, they say, you better sit your pansy ass self back down before I jump over the table and pull your nasty hair out!"
Various ooh's and ahh's came from everyone at the table. Chris sat down and folded his arms with a pouty look on his face. "Fine, no one wants to play with me."
Wade grabbed Laura's arm and pulled her in so he could tell her something. "I thought you wanted to go home a while ago."
Laura shrugged. "Oh yah, I forgot, well, we could go now I guess."
Laura and Wade stood up and Laura waved to everyone but Chris. "Bye everyone."
Just before she was going to walk away, she glared at Chris. "The tour is going to be fun for all, isn't it Chris? Man, I think I'll just write everything I could do to make your life miserable. Ever been to the top of the Empire State building? Oh that's right, you HAVE A PHOBIA OF HEIGHTS, HAH, sorry, forgot!"
Chris glared at Laura as Wade pulled her away. "We'll see you guys later."
Chris continued to glare at Laura after saying his goodbye to Wade. "See ya tomorrow man."
When Justin spotted Natalie and Lance talking, he immediately went over to Natalie and tapped her shoulder. "It's ten o'clock..."
Natalie smiled and then looked back at Lance. "I'll talk to you later."
"Alright, have fun, behave."
Justin and Natalie walked to the middle of the dance floor where only 5 other couples were dancing, and they were all people who had to do with Jive or the tour in general, no guests were out. Justin smiled and tried to find a place to set his hands on Natalie's back.
His hands came to her lower back where they felt just fine and he looked up at Natalie. "Is this alright?"
"Sure, I don’t' care.."
Natalie set her hands on Justin's chest and smiled up at him. "Is this alright?"
"Yah, that's just fine."
They danced a while before getting comfortable with no words to each other, for both of them were being silent and just trying to adjust to each other's dancing habits.
After both were feeling somewhat comfortable, Justin spun Natalie around, but when he brought her back in, his one foot moved out of place and they both stumbled, with Natalie just falling into his arms. Justin set her up straight and smiled. "Sorry about that, I'm kind of a clumsy person at times."
"I forgive you, not that big of a deal."
"Wanna try again?"
Justin spun her around again and then brought her in, but this time even closer. "That time I didn't screw up."
"Nope, you didn't."
Justin stared into her eyes. They had a beautiful green to them. He had never been one to admire green eyes, but hers were an exception.
Natalie was then distracted to stare into Justin's very dark eyes. They were magnetic, ones that she wouldn't be able to tear herself apart from for a while.
The two continued to dance to the song which just ended up in a swaying more than a dance.
After both came back to reality, no one was on the dance floor besides them, and the music was now gone. Natalie smiled softly. "Well, thanks for the dance."
"Thank you."
"Well, I'll see you tomorrow, most likely."
Justin nodded his head as they parted. "I'll look forward."
When Natalie left, Justin scruffed his hair. "What am I doing? I can't even think about being with her, this is just not going to work out, come on Justin, snap out of it."
Justin walked over the rest of the guys who were waiting for him. "Man, I don't know what I'm getting myself into."
JC shook his head. "You better not do anything, remember, she's working on the tour, for us, as rude as it may sound. I really just don't want to see anyone hurt, you remember the last time someone on tour got hurt like that..."
"Don't remind me, I should just calm myself down."
"That would be smart."
Chris jumped up and down for a second and whined. "Come on, I wanna go home!"
Justin rolled his eyes. "Alright, baby."
"You're the baby, remember that, I'm the oldest; respect your elders."
"There are exceptions to that rule, there has to be when it comes to you that is."
JC and Justin walked out first. "Just behave, she's a pretty girl, but not a good one to mess around with, trust me, she seems delicate almost, but she's a strong person also, it's kind of hard to explain what I've seen for the little I talked to her."
"I'll behave."
Justin walked to his car because he decided to drive himself to and from the party. He was actually worried about the tour with Natalie around. His insecurities and morals were all being questioned. He didn't know what to do, but all he knew was that he didn't want to screw anything up majorly, because someone could get seriously hurt, and he didn't want it to be Natalie.
Justin sprawled out onto the large bed he'd been appointed to sleep in. His stuff was lazily strewn throughout the expensive hotel room and he'd fluffed the pillows up so he could rest his head up and watch TV, although he knew there was no way he'd be able to concentrate on the television. His attention was totally on Natalie.
Ever since he'd danced with her, he'd been going crazy. The way her hands had so easily found their way to his chest, and soon wrapped around his neck after she became comfortable replayed in his mind over and over. The softness of her words, and the tenderness in her eyes made him want to sit her down and just stare at her and let her talk to him for hours.
He sighed loudly, placing his hands behind his head. He couldn't believe he was falling for Natalie. He shook his head. There was no way he was falling for her. He reminded himself that she was just a pretty girl and he'd had crushes like this before. But he knew he was only fooling himself. He'd never felt so strongly about a girl he'd only known a day.
He remembered the angelic sound of her laughter when he'd messed up on his first spin, and he remembered how delicate her hands were as he'd taken them and lead her onto the dance floor. He remembered the way she looked at him with such admiration in her eyes.
Again, he found himself sighing. He couldn't believe he was letting himself get this worked up over a girl. He NEVER let girls do this to him. He'd only ever had one serious relationship, but it wasn't the type that he wanted. What he wanted was someone he could hold, and someone he could talk to, and someone he could kiss passionately, and someone he could say 'I love you' to and have it said back to him. He longed for the relationships he'd always seen on TV and in movies, and he knew it wasn't possible.
But when he'd seen Natalie, for some reason she made everything seem possible.
None of this made sense to him. He couldn't put it together or figure out why he felt so strongly about someone he barely knew. He didn't know if she had any brothers or sisters, he didn't know if her parents were married or divorced, he didn't know if she'd had boyfriends in her past or... If she had a boyfriend now. The thought had never crossed his mind but now it was making his heart race.
Knowing Natalie was just three rooms down was driving him crazy. He wanted to talk to her, and for some strange reason, he knew she wanted to talk to him too. He needed a reason--an excuse to go to her room.
Before he'd even given himself time to think, he was off the bed and on his feet. He scrambled toward the mirror beside the television and ran his hand quickly through his hair. His white tank top showed off the ripples on his stomach and he quickly pulled his blue sweatpants over his boxers and tied them at the front.
Not giving himself time to think about it any longer, he ran out the door and down the hallway to Natalie's room. He paced in front of the door momentarily and jumped suddenly when he heard a voice behind him.
"Justin?"
He turned at the sound of the familiar voice, the one he'd been thinking about since he'd left her last.
"Natalie... Hi."
She looked at him curiously, shifting the bucket of ice she held to her other hand. "Hey.."
He shook his head, suddenly feeling stupid. She looked so cute in her lavender bathrobe, and her hair lazily thrown up on top of her head in a sloppy ponytail. He nodded his head at her and smiled. "Hi."
She looked up at him, her face questionable. "Can I help you with something?"
He paused for a moment, looking down at the ground and then looked up at her, shaking his head. "Um yeah.. Well, um, well.." He stuttered. "Blah, I can't talk today. Do you happen to know what time the practice tomorrow morning is?"
She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Justin, I have no clue. I don't even have to be at the practice."
Justin's face reddened in embarrassment. "Oh, I'm sorry then."
Her small hand was cold against the skin his tank top revealed and she smiled at him, her eyes twinkling like they had been since he'd first looked into them. "Maybe you should try Wade's room."
He grinned. "You ARE really, really short. Laura was right."
Her arm dropped and she stomped her foot. "Ugh. See if I get you a birthday present."
He stuck his tongue out. "I didn't want one anyways." For a minute, he stopped, thinking and then suddenly began smiling. “Do you know when my birthday is?”
“January 31st”
“And how did you know that?” "
"Yeah um.. well, I read a lot of magazines." She switched the ice bucket to her other hand. "Maybe you should go talk to Wade now before he goes to bed, I’m sure he’d know when you guys have to get up."
"Oh.." Justin looked down at the ground. "Sure. I'll talk to you later?"
The door to her room opened and she smiled, standing in the doorway. "Yeah definitely. We have a date, remember?"
"Huh?"
She giggled, winking at him. "I have to do your hair silly. I'll see you in the morning." And with a click of the door, she disappeared.
Justin just stood in his place for a moment, reliving what had just happened in his mind. Had Natalie just flirted with him? He was upset that his plan hadn't worked out and she hadn't invited him in to talk or anything, but all things happened in time.
Finding himself bored and with no company, he decided to go to Wade's room to see what he was doing. He knocked loudly, hoping someone would answer.
Wade's smiling face met Justin's as the door swung open. "Yo J. What up?"
"Nothing." Justin noticed Laura jumping on the bed in the background. "I was curious. What time does practice start? I was just down in Natalie's room and--"
Laura suddenly appeared in the doorway, her eyes big. "Wait wait wait! You were in Natalie's room?" She interrupted.
"Well, not exactly, but--"
"You were just talking to Natalie, though, right?"
Justin gave her a strange look. "Where are you getting at with this?"
Laura smiled at Wade and then at Justin. "I have to go talk to Jc. Excuse me fellas."
Wade pulled her arm so she was looking at him and looked at her sternly. "Why are you going to talk to Jc?"
She smiled sheepishly, her laugh slowing slightly. "Heh heh.. About my singing lessons." She quickly ripped her arm away from him.
"You don't even take singing lessons."
She flashed a smile at him before she calmly began running out the room screaming. "I do now." behind her.
Justin shook his head. "She's YOUR best friend."
"I worry about her sanity sometimes."
"I worry about your sanity sometimes. YOU are the one that wants to bring her on tour."
Wade leaned his tall body against the frame of the door. "She'll be fun, come on!"
Justin nudged his side, grinning evilly. "I'll bet she'll be fun."
"I swear.. You can be so immature sometimes."
Suddenly, Laura re-entered the room, squealing as she leaped toward the television to turn it on. She grabbed the remote and turned it to MTV, getting strange looks from both Wade and Justin.
"Looky Wade. It's you TV!"
Wade's face immediately turned red when he saw the "Meaty Cheesy Boys" performance from the Billboards playing on MTV. "I am going to kill everybody at MTV."
Laura stood up, wrapping her arm around his shoulder. "You look cute."
"I look like a freak. I can't believe I even did that.." After watching it for a few more short moments he shrugged. "At least my dancing was awesome."
"Egooooo.." Laura whistled. Her attention moved to Justin who seemed to be in another world. "Oh Justy-poo. Come back to us."
Justin sighed, leaning forward to hug Laura. "I'm here, sorry. I'm gonna go back to my room though. I need to think about some stuff."
Laura pulled away from his hug with a knowing look on her face. Judging by the way he had been acting, Natalie was starting to get to him. Laura needed to talk to Natalie, and she needed to find some things out about her before going forward with her plan. It wasn't so much about the bet, but it was more for fun. Laura loved seeing people she knew get together, and she especially liked it when she knew she was a big help in it.
With that thought, she waved to Justin. "I guess I'll see you in the morning then. Bright and early."
"Yep. Bright and early." He groaned. "See ya later Wade. Be easy on Laura. You know sometimes she gets too fun."
Grinning, Wade waved a hand at him. "Yep. I'll remember that. Later man."
As the door closed, Laura jumped in front of Wade who was watching cartoons on Nickelodeon. "Whatcha wanna do?"
Wade yawned from where he was laying on the bed. "I want to go to sleep."
Gasping in fake shock, she turned to look at the clock and then looked back at him. "Wade. It's nine o’clock. What happened to the Wade who used to stay up all night with me?"
Yawning again, Wade gave her a sympathetic smile. "He got a job."
"So? What does that have to do with staying up late?"
Wade already knew he was in for a pout session and he growled quietly. "It has to do with the fact that I have to wake up at 7 in the morning to work with these guys for long hours of the day and I'm going to be exhausted if I don't go to sleep soon."
Laura's eyes lowered to the floor and her body became limp as her shoulders lowered also. "Okay. I'll just go sit in the corner then I guess."
Wade groaned, knowing he was going to have to baby her. Standing up from his position on the bed, he walked over to where Laura was sulking and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. He placed his chin on her shoulder, kissing the side of her neck. "Come on. I'm sorry that I can't be the old fun Wade all the time. I just have a really demanding job and sometimes it's just going to interfere with our fun, but I promise as soon as I get a day off, we'll stay up all night."
Laura turned toward him, her eyes twinkling. "No sleep at all."
Wade smiled his special smile, and winked. "No sleep at all."
"Movies?"
"Definitely."
"Video games?"
Wade put a hand to his heart, dramatically. "What do you take me for? Of course!"
Giggling, Laura wrapped her arms around Wade's neck to hug him. Wade rested his chin on the top of her head, and swung his arms around her tiny waist. "So.. Are you gonna come lay with me?" He asked.
Pulling away, Laura looked up at him in confusion. "Well, I told you that I'd sleep on the floor. There are plenty of blankets and--"
"But, the bed is big enough for both of us, and why should you sleep on the floor?"
"Wade, we've gone over this already."
"Yeah, when our parents yelled at us for sleeping together on the floor when we were 15. We're best friends Laura, and I think we're old enough to--"
"Wade, that doesn't matter. I just don't need you feeling uncomfortable, because I know you probably will and--"
Again, Wade interrupted her. "Lolo.." He paused, putting his hand under her chin, lifting her face so she was looking up at him. "We're mature, and I think we can handle sleeping in the same bed."
Laura pulled away from his intense stare, shaking her head. "I'll take the floor."
Defeated, Wade grabbed the blanket off the bed. "No, I'll take the floor."
Laura pulled the blanket from his grasp. "No, I'll take the floor."
Pulling the blanket back from Laura, Wade gave her a stern look. "I said I'll take the floor. There is no reason why you can't take the bed."
"Wade, this room is being paid for by Jive for YOU, not me. You take the bed."
"Yeah, and I'm saying that I don't want the bed. I think it would be nonsense for both of us to sleep on the floor." Wade fought back, getting obviously annoyed.
"Well then, sleep on the bed. I'm not fighting with you about this anymore." Walking over to the closet, she grabbed a blanket and a pillow and curled up on the floor as far away from Wade as she could possibly get.
Sighing in frustration, Wade pulled the blanket onto the bed with him, and wrapped it around him, shutting his eyes.
Neither said anything for two hours, and after fifteen minutes, Wade had fallen asleep. Laura, though, stayed awake and listened to the rhythmic sound of Wade's breathing.
After thinking about how stupid she had been about the whole thing, she grabbed her pillow from the floor, and began walking toward the large bed. Careful not to wake him, she pulled the blanket slowly back and crawled in under it.
Wade's body immediately shifted and turned toward her. Without opening his eyes, his arms wrapped around her waist and his body cuddled up to her.
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