| Chapter Seven Natalie fell on her hotel bed, arms spread across the width, exhausted. She sighed. It had been such a long, long night. She had no idea how hectic these shows could get. Even though she truly had no idea what she was doing, she put her heart into everything and got everything down as well as she could. Natalie reluctantly rolled over, her body was aching so horribly, and flipped on the radio. They were still in Seattle and staying there the night, leaving early at the butt crack of dawn the next day. She really wanted to go see Nathan and Anna, though, that was highly unlikely now that she was a popstar and everything. �Hey, everybody!� The DJ�s voice was kind of distant. Natalie wasn�t sure if it was the radio or the fact that she was closer to sleeping than awake at the moment, but she tried as best as she could to listen. It was her favorite punk and rock station; the pop music was beginning to give her migraines. The only un-pop music she�d heard that day was Michelle�s performance before hers and even that wasn�t good enough. The girl hated her. With a passion and a reason. She was practically asleep when all of a sudden, the name �Crest� was delivered from the DJ�s voice box. Natalie sprung up, listening intently, her ear near to the radio. �And on a sadder note,� the DJ announced, �Natalie Harris, one of the lucky five performers to play at the new Crest Theater�s opening night, died last night in a car accident. Natalie was dead on arrival, and they have yet to find anyone to replace her as the last act of the night.� It sounded like he turned his head to a cohosting DJ. �Man, isn�t that sad? Have you ever heard her play before?� �Yeah, she was good,� the other DJ replied, �Only eighteen, you know. She was like Fiona Apple with a guitar, but way, way cuter.� Natalie grinned. �It�s too bad,� the first one sighed. �It�s sad. That�s a lot of talent gone to waste.� �Yeah. But on the brighter side�� �Oh my God!� Natalie gasped to no one in her dark hotel room. �I have to finish my song!� She jumped off the bed and wobbled a little bit before searching around the room for a guitar. It took her about ten minutes to realize this was Britney Spears� place and not Natalie Harris�, meaning there would be no guitar waiting to be played. Natalie frowned and plopped back onto the bed. �I�ll find a guitar tomorrow and finish the song,� she yawned. �I�ll finish it. I�m going to play at the Crest next Friday. I have to�� She was in the pre-sleeping stage again when a knock on her door awoke her. �What now?� she groaned and padded her way to the door. She opened it a crack to reveal a shock of blonde hair, bright green eyes, and an inviting smile. �Hey sleepy head.� Natalie blinked a few times and opened the door all the way. The hallway lights blinded her so she quickly shut the door behind Lance and then flipped on the lights inside, which were even brighter. �Ahhh,� she groaned, covering her eyes and moving her slippered feet to the bed. �Brought you hot chocolate,� Lance said, swishing around a thermos. �What is this? A slumber party?� Natalie groaned. Lance shrugged and left to the kitchenette. He returned with two steaming mugs and handed one to Natalie, as he sat on the edge of the bed next to her. She was sitting Indian-style on her pillow and she sipped the warm creamy drink with her eyes shut comfortably. She opened them suddenly. �What is this?� she asked, �This isn�t hot chocolate!� He laughed. �It is. It�s just spiked with a little vodka, compliments of Joey. We all thought you needed a little peppy boost on stage tonight.� Natalie frowned and put the mug down on her nightstand. She stood, leaving Lance still sitting on the edge of the bed, and sat in the thick leather chair behind the big dark oak desk that was near the windows. She figured hotel management had some temporary mental difficulties and switched her room with someone else�s, but she didn�t complain. It was very executive; very corner office-y. Reminded her of her dad� Natalie grinned widely and propped her feet up on the desk, leaning the chair back and crossed her legs at the ankles. She pretended to blow out a puff of smoke from her imaginary stogie. Lance laughed and lay fully on her bed with his head resting on his palms. �Man, I don�t know it about you. You are so different. The old Britney never would have let me in her hotel room at this hour. The old Britney would still be sitting on this bed and wouldn�t be pretending to smoke a cigar. The old Britney-� �Isn�t me,� she smiled, �This is the new and improved Britney. The old Britney is long gone.� Hey, she wasn�t lying. �You have no idea how right you are when you say new and improved,� Lance mumbled to himself. He didn�t think Britney had heard, but she had. �You know,� Natalie said, letting the chair fall back into place. She leaned forward and folded her hands, as if she was making an important business deal. �I don�t care if you criticize the way I used to be. It�s like, I�m looking at the world from a different perspective. I�m seeing myself as a new person. Because I am a new person.� Lance shrugged and disappeared into the kitchenette again. He left Natalie alone with her thoughts for a few minutes before returning with a big bag of freshly popped popcorn. �Man, this is a full blown slumber party now,� Natalie laughed. Lance laughed with her and sat back down on the bed, where he was earlier. He opened the bag and a blast of steam puffed in his face. Natalie laughed at the surprised look on his face, but he just opened it all the way and dug his hand inside. He continued to eat his popcorn contentedly until Natalie interrupted. �Hey!� she whined. �Aren�t you gonna give me any? This is my hotel room, after all.� Lance shrugged, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth. �I �on�t know, Bwitney,� he said, his mouth stuffed to capacity with popcorn, �I gueff �oo�ll jus� haff to come ofur �ere and get thumb.� Natalie frowned. �No! You come over here.� �Doh.� �Yes.� �Doh.� �Yes!� �Doh!� �Yeth!� Natalie imitated. �Now give me some!� Lance grinned and arched an eyebrow suggestively. �Give you some what, Britney?" Natalie narrowed her eyes. �Don�t you mess with me, Lance. I�ll kick your ass and you know it.� �You�ll kiss my ass before you ever kick it,� Lance retorted, smoothly. He flicked a single popcorn kernel at her. It landed in her lap and she glared at it, disgustedly. �I meant a fully popped piece,� she ordered, flicking it back. Lance grabbed a handful and tossed it at her. Her eyes went wide. �Ohhhh, now you�re getting it.� Natalie pulled a flying-squirrel move and hopped onto the desk and pushed off for power, tackling him off the bed. After minutes of popcorn filled wrestling, Natalie managed to get just about the entire bag of popcorn crumbled into her hair, which was a terrible mess even without the popcorn, and Lance remained untouched. Natalie pulled herself weakly up back onto the bed and tried to run her fingers through her unbelievably tangled hair. Lance stood up, too, and brushed off the few crumbs that had landed on him. �I best be leavin� now, little lady,� he laughed. She glared evilly at him and he leaned down and pecked her on the cheek, a laugh on his lips the entire time. Natalie looked up at him shocked. She wasn�t sure what urged her to do it, but just as Lance began to pull his head away, she yanked him back down and returned his kiss, but on the mouth instead. He seemed shocked at first, but loosened up, and began gently pushing her back onto the bed. Natalie followed through, and wasn�t sure what was pushing her to do this. Her eyes flew open suddenly, to see Lance staring at her strangely. Oh, she thought, that never happened. Yes, my imagination had gone wild again. Oops. I did it again. Natalie mentally slapped herself for thinking such a corny pun. She realized Lance had leaned down, for real this time, to peck her on the cheek, like she had just so recently daydreamed. But instead of a whole passionate soap opera scene, Natalie lightly shoved him back with a foot to his stomach before his lips touched her cheek. He frowned at her, straightening up. �No?� She folded her arms across her chest. �You ruined my hair.� Lance rustled her hair some more and walked away, letting himself out of her hotel room. �Now that�s the Britney I know!� he called to her. And he closed the door. * * * Lance laughed to himself, and then rubbed the back of his neck, confusedly and tiredly. He�d always had that little crush on Britney. But it was the unspoken rule. She was Justin�s girl, so she was a definite hands-off. He probably would have made a move in her room tonight if both him and Justin were both on equal grounds and she was boyfriend-less. But like Justin had said before Britney had left to eat, she was �all his�. Man, it sucked that Justin and Britney had decided to get so open about their relationship all of a sudden. And right when she was beginning to change and Lance was really starting to like her� Lance walked back down the empty hallway to his hotel room to see another figure walking in the opposite direction. �What are you doin� up this late, man?� It was Justin. Wonderful. �What are you doin� up this late?� Lance asked back. They had reached each other and were just standing idly in the middle of the corridor, chatting. �I�m up to visit my girl,� Justin grinned. Lance wanted to punch him. �Aw, well I knocked her up pretty good already so I don�t know if she�s up to messing around with a little boy like you,� Lance replied, smiling. Justin rolled his eyes and punched Lance�s arm, continuing his walk to Britney�s room. �Whatever, dawg. Good night.� ��Night, J,� Lance called over his shoulder. |