Lance and Jess went to the lunch buffet together. Before they found a place to eat, Lance looked down at her plate, "Jess, you have got to be kidding me. You are eating more than that." He took the plate out of her hand and added some more food to the half sandwich and carrot sticks she had.
"Lance," she whined, "I'm just not very hungry."
"First you're not sleeping, now you're not eating, what the heck is up with you?" Lance looked her squarely in the eyes.
Jess squirmed under his close scrutiny. "Who told you I wasn't sleeping?"
"You did, this morning. I said you looked like you hadn't slept in a week and you said you hadn't. Seriously, what is going on?"
"Nothing, Lance. I'm fine." She followed Lance down a corridor.
"You are not fine. Don't lie to me." He led her out into the arena and they found a couple of seats near the stage.
She sighed. "Lance, it's nothing, OK? I'm not sleeping well, that's it and if you don't mind, I'd really rather not talk about it."
In the meantime, Justin, Chris and JC got their food and sat at a table together. There was a little bit of tension between them, well, mostly between JC and Chris.
JC looked at him. "Chris, we're cool. I heard what you told her, and you're right and she knows it too. Give her some time, man."
Chris looked up with a sad expression on his face. "Thanks, man. You know I don't want to hurt her, right? I really...really-Jace, man, I love her." Chris's admission had surprised him, but it totally shocked JC and Justin. Their jaws dropped in tandem.
They certainly hadn't been expecting him to say that, not so soon anyway.
Chris saw their expressions and answered their questions before they could ask them. "No, I didn't tell her! I know she's not ready to hear it, but that's how I feel about her." He sat back with a slight smile on his face, lost in his dreams of Jess and their future together.
Jess and Lance talked about other things while they ate their lunch. She asked him about the current tour and what he was doing with his business and he asked her about her writing and getting her own place. They didn't talk about Chris, and Jess was thankful for that. All too soon it was time for Lance to report in for sound checks. He stood and held out his hand to Jess. She took it and allowed herself to be pulled into his hug. Lance brought his forehead down and touched it to hers.
"I'll see you later, Babe," he smiled.
"Yeah. Thanks for lunch, Lance."
"Anytime. You know I love spending time with my other big sis."
She watched him go and then went off in search of the person in charge of travel arrangements. She needed to get a flight out of here and back home tonight.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Just a short chapter tonight. More to come soon.
Story Tags: celebritysync jc chris
