Chris knocked on the door a little louder than he had the first time. He heard someone stumble towards the door. "Good morning, Sunshine," he smiled as the door opened. A frown immediately replaced his smile.
"Nice to see you too, Chris," JC mumbled while he ran his fingers through his bed head. "What's up?"
"Uh, nothing. Just checking to see if Jess wanted to grab some breakfast with me."
"Oh, come on in. She's not here, but I'm sure she left a note."
JC held the door open for Chris to walk in. Chris looked at his friend who was dressed only in boxers and a t shirt. "You spend the night here?" he asked, immediately regretting it because he knew how jealous he sounded.
JC chuckled, "Yeah, but you have nothing to worry about. It's tradition for us to dish with each other after a date. She talked about you so long I fell asleep. Must have been a good date, huh?"
Chris smiled, "Yeah. It was."
"Here's the note. It's addressed to you. If you don't mind, I'm going to go crash in my own bed for a while." JC opened the door between the two rooms and promptly fell onto his bed.
Chris opened the note.
"Good morning, Chris. I'm writing to you because I know how coherent Josh is first thing in the morning. He probably stayed awake long enough to open the door for you." Chris laughed. It was insane how well these two friends knew each other. "Anyway, I thought you might come around this morning and wanted to let you know that I went out for a walk. I'll be back in time to get ready to go wherever it is we're going next. I'll see you later! Jess."
Chris was disappointed, but he didn't let it get him down. The bus trip would take at least six hours, and he was sure they could find some time to talk then. He headed down to get breakfast.
Jess once again slowed her pace so she could dig out the map the concierge at the hotel had made for her. She consulted the map, shoved it in her pocket, grabbed a water bottle out of her waist pack, took a long drink, put the bottle away and turned down the road that would lead her to the hotel. She had a pretty good pace going, and arrived at the hotel shortly. She went in through the back entrance and took the elevator up to her room. She didn't want to be caught in the hallways all sweaty and gross.
Just as she was approaching her room, she heard her name called. She looked up to see Joey coming towards her.
He put his arm around her shoulder, but recoiled when he realized how sweaty she was. "Hey girl, what have you been doing?"
She giggled. "I wouldn't get too close if I were you, Joe. I've been walking. It's my new ‘thing'."
"New thing, huh?" he smirked. "I thought Chris was your new thang, especially with the way you two were going at it last night!"
"Very funny, Joe. We were not ‘going at it'," she replied, making air quotations, "We were merely saying goodnight. And, yes, walking is my thing. It helps me keep my stress down and keeps me in shape. I really enjoy it."
"That's cool," he gave her a light punch to her shoulder. "You're lookin' good, so it must be working."
Jess laughed. "Joe, you are such a schmoozer!"
"What's this, your battery pack?" he asked as he reached out to tug on the strap fastened around her waist.
"Don't I wish? No, it's my walking pack." She turned it around to show him. "See, Gatorade and water, and a pouch for my keys and stuff."
Joey shook his head. "What will they think of next?"
"Joe, don't you have somewhere to be?"
Joey stopped to think. "Yeah, I was supposed to get something for Kelly. What was it now?"
"You'd better think fast, Joe." Jess laughed at him. "How much time do I have before I have to be on the bus?"
Joey consulted his watch, "Uh, forty minutes. Chris is doing a radio interview this morning, and we're picking him up on our way through town."
"Cool, I'd better get motoring then, I'll catch you later!" Jess opened her door and tried to collect her thoughts. She had a quick shower, got dressed in comfy travelling clothes (she had learned the importance of travelling comfortably from her previous time working on tour) and got her stuff all packed.
Thirty minutes later, she was checking over her room one more time to be sure that she had everything. When the phone rang, she expected it to be Josh calling to check up on her and urge her to hurry out to the bus. Instead, it was the front desk informing her that she had a package to pick up. She grabbed her bags and banged on the door separating her room from JC's.
"Josh! I'm going downstairs. I'll meet you on the bus!" she called through the closed door, hoping he heard her.
Jess rushed to the front desk knowing that she didn't have much time if she was going to get on the bus before the cut off time and avoid a lecture from the guys and security.
The clerk handed her a parcel and Jess bolted to the bus. She sank into a seat between Lance and Justin as the bus driver started up the engine.
"Cuttin' it close again, huh Jess?" Lance smiled teasingly at her.
"Not my fault. Got a call from the front desk just before I left," she responded.
"Whatchya got?" Justin asked. "Open it up!"
Jess opened the bag and pulled out some tissue paper. She reached in and pulled out a wrapped bunch of flowers. "Daisies!" She smiled. "Someone knows me well!"
Under the daisies was a box which she pulled out. She opened the box to reveal a teddy bear which she recognized as the one Chris had been making the day before.
"No way!" Justin exclaimed. "How did he ever find a bear that looks like himself?"
Jess smiled, taking in the bear's clothing which was obviously chosen with purpose; it wore a black visor with red flames around the brim, a red and black sports jersey, dragon flamed shorts and black sneakers. The bear even had his own surfboard and cool sunglasses. It really did look like a miniature version of Chris, albeit more bearish.
Lance laughed. "He made it. Chris told me all about Build-a-Bear. Sounds like fun!"
Jess smiled. "It was fun. I made one for him too."
Justin reached into the bag. "Hey, Jess, there's something else in here." He pulled out an envelope with her name on it. "Ooo! A love letter. Let's see," he started to open the envelope.
"Like you would know a love letter if it bit you in the butt," Lance teased.
Jess was too busy trying to retrieve the envelope from Justin to laugh. "Hey! That would be mine, young man." She reached for it, but he just stood up and held it above her head.
"Come and get it," he taunted.
"Justin, don't make me climb up there and beat the snot out of you, ‘cause you know I will!"
"Tell you what, Jess. I'll make you a deal. Promise to go on dates with the rest of us, and I'll give it back."
She laughed. "Very funny, JT. Now just give it to me."
"I'm not kidding, Missy! You should know by now how close we all are. If you date one of us, you date all of us."
"What?" Jess shot a look at Lance. "Is this a new rule? I've never heard of it before."
"Hey, don't ask me, you know Justin makes up his own rules," Lance laughed, "But I would like to go out with you sometime-don't get me wrong, I know you and Chris have something special, and I wouldn't want to jeopardize that at all, but you know, we're good friends, and I'd love to spend time with you without the other guys."
Justin grinned. "See! I know Joey and JC will go for it too, so what do you say?"
She sighed, trying to make it look like a huge imposition. "Fine, Justin, I'll spend time with each of you, OK? Now can I have my letter?"
"Nope," he grinned smugly. "Not good enough. You have to go on a date with each of us."
Her shoulders heaved up in frustration. "Fine. Date. OK."
Lance smacked Justin's arm, "Look, she agreed, now give it to her, Man!"
Justin rolled his eyes. "Oh, all right!" and handed her the envelope and hovered nearby, hoping to get a chance to read over her shoulder.
Jess turned to Lance. "Where could a girl get some privacy around here?"
"Uh, Joe and Kelly are in the living room. JC's in one of the bunks. Take any of the others."
Jess picked up her knapsack, teddy bear and flowers. She looked down at the flowers in her hand. What was she going to do with them?
"Let me take those for you, Jess," Lance reached out for the flowers. "I'll cut the stems and then put them in with your roses. Go find a bunk and crash. I mean this in the nicest way possible, but honey, you look like you haven't slept for about a week."
She shrugged. "I haven't. Thanks, Lance." She gave him a hug and went back to the bunks. Jess knew she didn't have the energy to climb into one of the top bunks that she normally preferred. She dropped her bag, kicked off her shoes and crawled into the first lower bunk that she came to. Curled up on the bed, she held the envelope in her hands, debating about reading it now. She was too tired. It would have to wait until later.
Chris hopped up the steps of the bus about twenty minutes later. His interview had gone well and he was looking forward to seeing Jess. He looked around the bus nonchalantly. Lance was over by the sink trimming back the stems on the daisies.
"She's in the bunks, Chris," Lance smiled over at him.
Chris smirked. "I'm that obvious, am I?" Lance just nodded.
The bus started up. Chris struggled to maintain his balance as he moved towards the bunks. He stopped as soon as he saw Jess. He just stood and stared at her.
Kelly came through the sleeping area, headed to the kitchen, "Chris, are you OK?"
"Huh?" Chris was startled out of his reverie. "Oh yeah, hey, Kelly. I'm fine." He sighed deeply.
"Are you sure? You seem a little spaced out." Kelly was concerned.
Chris smiled, "I'm good, Kel, really. It's just, she's so beautiful when she's awake. I forgot how angelic she looks while she sleeps. She looks so sweet and peaceful." Chris met Kelly's eyes, and she smiled too. She squeezed his arm and continued towards the front of the bus. Chris sighed deeply once more.
He jumped when something smacked him in the head. He turned around and saw that JC had opened his curtain. "Here man, write that stuff down. Those are some good lyrics if I ever heard them!" JC passed Chris a notebook and a pen and then closed the curtain again.
Chris moved to sit on the edge of Jess's bunk. Actually, it was his own bunk. He saw that she had his bear tucked in her arms, cradled closely to her. His letter was held tightly in her fist, and had not been opened yet. Chris picked up the quilt from the bottom of his bed and spread it over Jess. She wiggled a bit as she felt the warmth envelope her.
"Chris?" she murmured, her eyes only partially open.
"Go back to sleep, Sweetheart," he whispered as he placed a kiss on her forehead.
A slow smile crept across Jess's face as she snuggled deeper into the blankets.
Story Tags: celebritysync jc chris
