three bedroom apartment. Sometimes work was so completely stressful that she
wished she could quit that very day. She smiled slightly as her favorite
song came on the radio. Humming it absentmindedly, she fed her cat, Albino,
and pulled her hair down out of her ponytail. Sighing softly, she trudged Luc
down the hallway to the bathroom, forgetting to check her machiene as the
little red light continued to flash.
--
Lance stared at his cell phone willing it to ring. He hadn't heard
rom her in almost a week. He knew she was busy photographing for the
magazine she was just hired for. She hadn't checked her email, or she would
have been swamped with the million messages he must have sent already. He
knew that they were strictly friends...at least he thought. The night before
the tour packed up and left had been so confusing for him...
**
Tami smiled around at the room full of people. She groaned inwardly
at everyone's perception of the guys...Lance burped horribly...and
Justin...he had the worst gas on the planet. They weren't gods, and everyone
that knew them knew their shit stunk like everyone else's. She swirled her
drink with the little umbrella shaped decoration that Joey insisted they have
put in the mixed drinks. Tami hated these parties...it was another going
away party for five of her best friends. They'd be gone for the next three
to four months. Tami was glad she was strictly friends with the guys. God
forbid she fell in love like Justin and Britney. It would kill her if she
had to go through what they do...
Before she got lost in too much thought, Tami looked up and around
Justin's house. She smirked when her eyes fell upon a certin distressed Mr.
Bass. Joey's friend from Brooklyn was in town, and she was obviously not
catching the hint that Lance prefered his woman home grown and corn fed.
Lance caught eyes with Tami for the first time that night. His faked look of
interest suddenly turned into the eye-poppin', jaw-droppin', tongue rollin'
out onto the floor look in...four seconds flat. Wow...an all time high for
him. Tami giggled as Lance excused himself from the loud-mouthed Italian
girl and quickly came to her, pulling her in closer than ever before.
Tami groaned on the inside for almost the tenth time that night. She
knew she probably looked like a little white girl looking to get lucky. Her
mind began going into overdrive when she realized he wasn't pulling away.
"Lance?" she whispered softly, her voice sounding innocent and honest.
"Make her go away..." came Lance's muffled reply. Tami had to giggled
at his hiding his face in her hair.
"Well, I can't do that...but I can get you out of here..." she said
reaching into her purse and pulling out her truck keys.
"Thank God," Lance said, quickly taking her hand in his and pulling
her out the front door, waving a goodbye to JC. As the door shut, JC looked
over at the sexy, seducing Brooklyner heading his way. "Bobbi, Bobbi,
Bobbi..." he began repeating over and over silently... "Hi..."
--
Lance smiled as they pulled up at their favorite place...he hadn't
been here in so long.
"Two quarter-pounders with fries and Dr. Peppers..." Tami said through
the window. She better take advantage of Lance while he was still in town.
She knew in two weeks, when she was having a horrible day, she was going to
break down, and he wasn't going to be able to be there. She hated being away
from her best friend.
Lance popped open the lid and took a piece of ice into his mouth
chewing on it mindlessly. Tami had drove to the lake and rolled all the
windows down in her 4-Runner. She was so comfortable she could have leaned
her seat back and gone to sleep. If she pretended like she was okay with the
tour, he wouldn't ask...
"Tami..." Lance started softly watching two ducks float across the
water. "I'm gonna miss you..." he said honestly. Tami wiped her mouth with
her napkin and looked at him.
"We always miss each other...You're my best friend, Lance..." she said
quietly. Where was this sudden declaration coming from...his heart?
Lance bit his lip and looked down. 'What are you doing?' he asked
himself. 'Don't risk losing this girl...' he thought again shifting
slightly. Tami groaned looking at her watch. "I should get you
home...You've got an early start tomorrow," she trailed off reminding him of
his four a.m. departure in Orlando.
"Thanks..." Lance said softly. Why did he have to be such a girl when
it came to her?
The rest of the drive held silence. Tami was too afraid to turn the
radio on and Lance had become too lost in his thought to ask a coherent
question. Fifteen minutes later, Tami entered the four digit code to his
gate, and proceeded to idle up his driveway trying to preserve their time
together. Lance looked her in the eye as her truck came to a slow stop.
"Stay..." he whispered. 'No..No..No..' Tami thought as her body betrayed her
and she turned the ignition off, opening her door and then following him
inside.