It was 115°F when we finally arrived in Phoenix, and I started to wonder if maybe all of its citizens were a few fries short of a happy meal. I mean seriously, who would willingly live in a place that it was considered normal for it to be in the triple digits during a summer that went on for the majority of the year? I imagine air conditioning companies made a killing here. Just during the short transition from leaving the trailer and entering the small office building next to the amphitheater, the back of my shirt started to stick to me from my perspiration. Not to be negative, but I could already tell that tomorrow's concert was going to suck. I wasn't even taking into account the stage lights and the hundreds of bodies that would emulate little furnaces as far as the eye could see.
After confirming our accommodations with the amphitheater management, we rushed back to our respective trailers to reduce our exposure to the harsh rays of the Phoenix sun. Sam had tried to convince me to go and hang out with him this evening, but with Chris coming to tomorrow's concert, I wasn't really in the mood. I felt a little queasy and confused as all of my questions regarding Chris' sudden bail out came flooding back along with additional questions regarding Sam.
I really wanted to sort out my feelings since how I felt about Sam now extended beyond the physical. I had spent practically every moment for the past week with him, and after Vegas I felt like I knew things about him that made him more... just more. He wasn't just the sexy temptation he'd been prior to the tour. He was the small town boy that came from a family of seven that loved to take risks, and travel, and experience life. I had been so sure that Chris would always be my choice hands down, but now? Now, I wasn't so sure.
Unfortunately, I didn't have any more time to mull over my problems, because I heard "Breathe into Me" by Red blasting from my pocket, which signified that my friend Cynthia was calling me.
"Yellow!" I said with forced cheer. I really didn't want my internal battle to be known since I knew Chris was with them. The last thing I wanted was for her to ask me what was wrong.
"Your wolf pack has arrived! We're checking into the hotel right now, tell Crystal and Gabe to come over too. I don't feel like making three phone calls."
She gave me the name and address of the hotel and the three of us piled into a cab to head to the hotel.
"There's Bob!" Crystal cried as the cab pulled into the hotel parking lot.
Bob was the name of Cynthia's car. Yes, she named it. Don't knock it though; my laptop's name is Bob2. [a/n true story. No relation though. Bob1 was outdated so an upgrade was required and Bob2 came into existence]. I looked at poor Bob and grimaced at the crappy paint job. Seven words: Never get a paint job in Mexico. That is unless you know for a fact that the detailer does good work prior to handing your car and your money to them. I shook my head in consternation; she got so defensive when you talked about the paint job saying, "Hey, it was my friend's dad! He did a good job on her car so I thought he'd do the same on mine."
Yeah well, obviously not.
As we made our way through the lobby toward the elevator, I whispered to Gabe, "Why did Chris come with the gang?"
Gabe shrugged nonchalantly, "I guess Chris and Powell go way back. Powell must've mentioned their travel plans to Chris and invited him along for the ride. I wouldn't be surprised if he was trying to counteract the estrogen levels." Gabe snickered after the last part and I hit his arm jokingly.
"Ha. Ha. Such a comedian Gabe! Maybe you can tell jokes at our next concert instead of singing and playing the drums."
The elevator doors opened and Chris was standing right there with his hand on the elevator button.
It felt like someone had knocked the wind out of me. I knew I'd be seeing him sooner versus later, but I kind of thought I'd have the opportunity to psych myself up right before. I heard the sound of my blood rushing through my ears as we locked gazes, a similar expression of surprise plastered on his face.
I noticed Gabe and Crystal had already gotten out of the elevator and were waiting at a discreet distance most likely trying to give us a false sense of privacy.
"Uh, hey." I said stupidly.
"Hey." He replied. Well I guess the upside was his response was no better than mine so I didn't feel so much like a bumbling idiot. Realizing I was still in the elevator, I tried to hurry up and get out. Gravity combined with nervousness and the resulting two left feet, caused me to trip and I would have ate it had it not been for Chris and his lightning fast reflexes.
I closed my eyes as the familiar smell of his cologne and aftershave assaulted me. My heart was officially breaking records for the most beats per minute; I could lie and say it was because I almost fell, but I knew that it was because of who caught me. He made to move to throw me off of him, so that was a good thing, but embarrassment was creeping in and I quickly jumped from his hold and put myself to rights.
"Sorry," I mumbled as I backed away. My surroundings had never been so interesting to me as I tried my darnedest to avoid eye contact. It was a newly developed nervous habit I'd developed since meeting Chris. I knew that once we made real eye contact, he would be able to see into me like he'd always been able.
"We'll I guess I'll see you later. The gang is expecting us and I don't want to keep them waiting." I turned on my heel and rushed to catch up to Gabe and Crystal.
"Yeah. Later." I heard him say as the elevator doors dinged shut.
Gabe was frowning at me when I finally looked up from the floor so I quickly looked to Crystal. She gave me a look that clearly said, "We'll take about this later." I gave her an almost imperceptible nod in affirmation before I knocked on the door that said 207.
It was Powell that answered the door.
"Come on in guys. Long time no see."
"No kidding! We haven't hung out for like two months! How was your 4th of July?"
"Good, I guess. Worked."
"Yuck. If it makes you feel any better, I did too." I said thinking of one of my last days at the bar before the tour.
"Hey ju-ju faces!" Cynthia called out.
"Luck face!" I called back. That was our new greeting whenever we saw or spoke to each other. People always looked at us funny, but it was an inside joke.
Dama started laughing at our stupidity, which was a common occurrence when you put us in the same room as each other.
"Hey Dama!" The three of us greeted simultaneously.
"Hi guys!"
"Shut. The. F---------ront Door!" Cynthia exclaimed.
"When were you planning to tell us that Crystal and Gabe got together?!?" She looked pointedly at Crys and Gabe joined hands.
I, for one, burst out laughing. "You watched 'Bad Teacher' didn't you?"
"Guilty."
"Dude, that movie blowed. The only thing that made that movie even halfway bearable was looking at Justin Timberlake and hearing Jason Segel make sarcastic comments."
"What?!? That movie was awesome. I'm going to buy it when it comes out on DVD."
I shook my head in disgust before changing the subject. "So guys what's the game plan for tonight?"
"Let's go out for some drinks!" Cynthia suggested.
I heard snickering coming from Crystal's general direction and so I narrowed my eyes at her in response. She tried her best to feign seriousness, but Crystal was terrible at masking her emotions so she ended up with a look somewhere between happy surprise and disapproval. She looked ridiculous.
"How about we pick something, anything else?"
Just then Chris walked in and the entire room got silent. I hadn't told the gang about our relationship and the subsequent lack thereof a few months later, so I wasn't quite sure what the deal was. Glancing around the room I noticed Powell, Dama and Cynthia all had mischievous looks on their faces. That's when I realized that although I hadn't told them about us before I had told them about my crush on him in high school. They thought they were doing a good thing. Gabe looked pained and if I had to take a guess at why, it'd be because of what he had witnessed between me and Sam earlier today. Crystal was no longer laughing, but looking at me with eyes that said, "So what are you going to do now?"
"Nothing." My eyes replied.
"You don't have to." Chris said aloud.
My brow furrowed as I mentally slapped myself. I had totally forgotten his ability to understand the eye conversations Crystal and I had frequently.
"You don't have to do what?" Gabe asked.
"Nothing." Chris responded while looking at me. It was like he was answering Gabe, but confirming that he had understood the silent conversation that had taken place with everyone except him none the wiser.
"Let's go to that steak house in the plaza right down the street." Dama suggested.
The general consensus was in favor of her suggestion so called a cab and raced down the stairs like children so we could wait in the lobby for our ride.
We split into two groups and wouldn't you know that Chris chose to ride in the same cab as me. It was jam packed and I was practically sitting on his lap on the car ride there. I tried my best to be compact so we'd come in contact as little as possible, but the cab driver drove haphazardly around corners and eventually I just gave up.
I'd never been so grateful to get out of a car in my life and I rushed ahead into the steak house claiming that I was hungry and wanted to get on the list sooner versus later. We were seated 20 minutes later and I found myself next to Chris. Crystal, Gabe and Cynthia sat across from me while Powell and Dama sat on the other side of Chris.
Everyone started conversing about the tour but my thoughts were otherwise occupied with thoughts of Chris and Sam.
"So Liz," Chris began interrupting my thoughts, "how's the tour going? Is it everything you dreamed it would be? Sam taking good care of you?"
I raised my eyebrow at his choice of words but responded anyway.
"The tour is amazing so far. I love traveling. It's everything I dreamed of and more. As for Sam..." I trailed off thinking of how to respond. "He's made sure that I stayed out of trouble." I chuckled a little at my response remembering Vegas.
Chris was observing me carefully throughout my response, for what, I'm not sure.
"Sooooo..." I began awkwardly trying to come up with an appropriate line of questioning. "What have you been up to lately? How are Mr. and Mrs. Thorne?"
At the mention of his aunt and uncle, Chris immediately loosened up. I pretty sure they would always be a source of easy conversation between the two of us no matter how awkward our uneasy our relationship was at the moment.
He gushed about how Kate had made the best chicken pasta he'd ever tasted and how Mike and eaten so much that they'd had to take him to the hospital. I was momentarily worried, but Chris quickly added on that the doctor had laughed and said that the excruciating pain he was experience was not caused by overeating, though that had certainly made it worse, but from gas. The doctor prescribed an over the counter medication and sent them on their merry way.
We were just starting to fall back into our old routine when I heard a familiarly annoying, breathy voice.
"Chris!"
Chris winced slightly before turning in his chair just in time for Bitcherella to wrap her arms around him in an almost seductive hug.
"Mikaela! What an unexpected...surprise." Chris sounded uncomfortable to the max, but I didn't care at the moment. How the hell did Chris know this skank? Said skank suddenly locked gazes with me and I felt a small sense of satisfaction as I saw her eyes widen in surprise. She was probably surprised by how small the world was; that and my change in appearance since we had last met.
"Ch-ch-ch-chocolate soufflé girl?"
I smirked. I guess we both had nicknames for each other, though truth be told, I rather liked mine.
"Well, well, well. Look what we have here."
My satisfaction turned to dread and I felt a massive headache coming on at the sound of the voice. With a big exhalation of breath, I turned and came face to face with none other than Nate. What the hell is Nate of all people doing in Phoenix?
"Lizzie! Gabe! Crystal!" came two more female voices.
Holy effing shit.
"Mrs. Lane? Mom?"
**I had THE worst case of writer's block in the history of mankind. I hope you guys liked this chapter! I hope I didn't disappoint you guys with this chappie. Vote, comment and fan if you haven't already, so you can get my updates!