Idol Love : After Hours

Chapter 9

Lance stands there for a beat before following Keith inside. Keith storms through the bedroom, Lance in toe. The moment Keith reaches the door to the hall, Lance catches up with him.

"Keith, wait."

Keith takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. He grounds himself before giving Lance an ounce of his attention, "What?"

"I- I'm really sorry. I-"

"Save it for someone who wants to hear it," Keith opens the door and slips out, closing the door quietly and quietly.

Lance leans his head against the door and sighs. He's pissed off at himself and disappointed. The moment Lance found his life long partner, he messed up. Keith is right. Lance didn't emotionally prepare himself for the consequences of his actions.

Keith creeps down the steps, stopping at the mirror beside the door to check his appearance. He shakes his head to move his hair, ruffling it into place to cover his eyes. With one last quick check, Keith confirms that he's good enough and presentable. Walking into the living room where Lance's family resides, Keith looks around for his phone.

Cecile notices this first and pipes up, "Whatcha looking for, Tío Keith?"

"My phone," Keith moves some papers, "Have you seen it?"

"I gave it to Lance," Veronica replies, "I thought he went to find you?"

"Yeah," Rachel looks around for Lance, "Where is he?"

"Oh, he's upstairs..." Keith begins to trail off as he turns to go back upstairs.

Veronica looks Keith up and down and notices the ring is gone, "Pump your brakes, Keith. Where's the ring?"

Keith whines. He stops and studies the floor, "I uh.. took it off."

"Why?" Veronica asks. Keith shrugs and walks towards the stairs. She raises a brow and asks, "Did something happen between you and Lance?"

Keith reaches the bottom of the stairs, "No, nothing happened. Now if you'll excuse me."

Keith jogs up the stairs. Reaching the landing, Keith stops and stares at the door to Lance's room. He knows that's where Lance is hiding. Taking a deep breath and holding it in for a moment, Keith huffs out the air to release some of the tension in his body. He moves towards the door and opens it slowly.

Lance stumbles back as the door opens. Falling on his butt, Lance looks up at Keith who isn't happy to see him. He smiles weakly and jumps to his feet, "Hey, you change your mind?"

"No," Keith props a hand on his hip, "Just here for my phone."

Keith reaches his free hand out and waits for Lance to hand over the device. Lance pulls the phone out of his pocket and hands it over, "Sorry I-"

"Shut up," Keith orders, snatching the device, "When your family leaves, I'm sleeping on the couch."

"Really?"

"Yes, really," Keith pushes past Lance and grabs his phone charger and pajamas.

"So, you're serious about this whole breaking up thing?"

Keith nods as his heart pounds. He doesn't want to break up but it's the last resort and he's been pushed to it, "Yes."

Lance's heart shatters. He goes silent, tears welling up in his eyes. He wipes them away with his shirts sleeve and sniffles. As he pushes back the pain, Keith turns around and see's his lover's face. Closing his eyes and shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Keith pushes past Lance and out the door.

Keith trudges halfway down the steps and just gives up. He sits on the step behind him and breaks down. Head in hands, he quietly sobs. He tries not to bring attention to himself.

The Serrano-McClain family starts to get suspicious of what's happening so they send the best bait up, Liliana. She comes skipping over to the steps calling out her Uncle's names, "Lance? Keith?"

Keith dries his tears and tries to calm himself upon hearing the little girl's voice. He forces a smile as Liliana approaches him. He clears his throat and croaks out, "Hey Lily."

"Hey! Where's Lance?" She asks, looking around.

"He's in his room."

"Okay!" She skips past Keith and up the stairs. Reaching the top she skips to the door and knocks, "Tío Lance?"

Keith looks back at the door and realizes that he'll have to face Lance again if he doesn't get up now. He stands and walks down a few steps before the door swings open.

"Yes, Lily?" Lance, eyes already a bit puffy,  looks down at his niece, "What do you need?"

"Everyone wants to know where you and Keith went!" She chirps, "I found you guys so can you come downstairs please?"

Lance looks above Liliana's head and sees Keith on the stairs, eavesdropping. He sighs and shakes his head, "I'm not sure if we-"

"Pleeeaasssseeee???" She whines.

"I don't think Keith or I want-"

"Please?"

"No," Lance responds, tired of trying to make excuses.

"Why?"

"Ask Keith if you're so hell-bent on knowing."

Lance shuts the door and locks it. He doesn't have the energy to put up the facade of being 'okay' or even 'fine'. He digs in his pocket and pulls out the ring. Trudging over to his bed, Lance flops down on the comfortable surface and examines the piece of jewelry.  His thoughts run wild. All the good memories of his time with Keith when he didn't think about the public's opinion and was just there in the moment hits him like a truck. He feels a tear slide down his cheek and quickly wipes it away.

His gaze slowly shifts from the ring in his hand to the watch he adorns every day. It's the one Keith gave him- well bought for him when they went shopping on Rodeo Drive. He always thought of it as his version of an engagement ring. After all, they did get engaged only a handful of months later.

Lance turns his wrist to see what time it is.

10:01 pm.

He silently hopes his family will leave soon and he won't have to tell them to, but that rarely happens. He shoves the ring back in his pocket and sits up. Staring out the window at the lit-up light-polluted skyline, he wonders why he got himself into this mess. Why are everyone's opinions so important to him? Why did he let that come above his relationship? Why didn't he answer Keith anyway?

Did Lance regret proposing? No. Did he regret proposing on stage? Partially.

Keith was right. Lance didn't prepare himself for the consequences of his actions. He didn't do it in the slightest. He just did something without thinking (like usual).