Old Friends (Janet and Toni Fanfic)

Chapter 25

I hugged her from behind. "No, Toni! Please! I promise I won't--I don't like to sleep alone."

She tried to pry my arms off of her, but had no such luck.

  "You can even put pillows in between us, if that's what it takes. But I don't want to be in there by myself."

  "You make me sick."

  "Please?" I whined.

  "Fine, just stop squeezing me so hard. That wine is running right through me."

I let her go and thanked her over and over. She waved me off and refilled her glass. "You just lucky I like you."

  "The luckiest in the world." I hugged one of her pillows and waited for her to come lay with me. I really just wanted to get tomorrow over with. I was tired of her holding out on me like this. We both knew what we wanted, but a little thing called morals kept getting in the way.

I felt the bed sink as Toni sat down carefully with her glass. We finished the first bottle she brought up, and she moved on to the second one.

  "Aren't you starting to feel that yet? We, well you, basically finished a whole bottle by yourself."

   "Just a little." She squeezed her fingers together to show how little it was. "Wine doesn't hit me until I literally drink a whole bottle by myself."

  "You have a problem."

  "It's a great problem to have."

  "Suit yourself. To each his own."

  "So tomorrow--oh, shit." She snapped her fingers.

  "What happened?"

  "I can't go with you, I have rehearsals. I'm just gonna see you off. And you can call me if you need me after a verdict has been reached."

  "Oh, okay. When is the first show?"

  "Not for about 3 months. In Vancouver."

  "I'll be in Europe by then," I sulked. The thought of us both being away and not being able to see each other for months at a time literally hurt my spirit. I'm not sure how we ever went ten years.

  "Oh, man. When is the last show? You've been doing this one for a minute, haven't you?"

  "Some time in mid-September."

  "You're... kind of almost done."

  "It seems so far away. It's only April."

  "Just take it a day at a time, Jan. Don't worry about it. It's not your first rodeo."

"Yeah, yeah."

"What time is it?" She looked at the clock on the wall.

  "Past midnight already? There is no way." I checked my phone just to make sure it was right. Yep: 12:36.

  "Well, in the great words of Janet Jackson, funny how time flies when you're having fun," she sang and snapped her fingers. I rolled my eyes. "Such a wise woman, she is."

  "That's the most logical thing you've said all night," I muttered.

  "Aren't you tired? Don't you want to go to sleep yet? Damn."

  "Nope." I smiled cheekily.

The rest of the night we talked about any and everything, and I didn't even think about what I would say to Wissam once I saw him. So I guess she did take my mind off of it. I'm sure the words would come to me when the time arose.