"You were great tonight, Pace." Andie clapped her hands together once as she entered the green room, which was, oddly enough, painted pink.

He glanced up at her through the mirror and gave her his classic half smile. "Thanks, McPhee." Cupping water in his hand, he lifted it to his face, attempting to scrub away the lingering stage make-up. He ignored his cast mates as they bustled around him, washing their faces, changing out of the costumes, and in general being happy and loud. Two things he most definitely wasn't at the moment. For the second night in a row, Joey hadn't been there.

She waited until everyone had begun to clear out before she entered. "So am I allowed to tell you how great you were or do my people have to call your people, first?"

His eyes shot to the doorway where Joey was smiling over at him. "You came," he went back to tying his boots.

"I told you I was."

"I didn't see you," he stood up and rubbed his palms on his pant legs.

"I was a little late." She shrugged embarrassedly. "The truck kept on stalling."

"Did you miss much?" He wondered, hanging up his costume and gathering his coat.

She shook her head. "No."

"So what'd you think?" He bit his lip and gestured to the door.

She smiled. "You were great."

"Must have been a shock."

"I'm sure your chances with Heather Graham have greatly improved now."

Color tinged his cheeks, "Why, was she in the audience?"

"The whole acting thing is a step in the right direction." She smirked.

"Someday...who knows?"

She nodded, shifting her coat in her arms. "Right, and hell might freeze over."

"She's not that hot anyway."

"I'm sure it won't be long before some other blonde catches your attention."

"Maybe," he shrugged noncommitally, walking through the hallway to the parking lot.

She bit her lip, raising her eyebrows. "So this morning must have been a big disappointment for you, huh?"

He shot her a confused look, "What?"

She smiled. "Me instead of Heather."

He chuckled dryly, "You were pretty disgusted by it, weren't you?"

She smiled faintly. "Completely."

"Wouldn't expect anything less," He held open the door for her, not meeting her eyes.

"But I'll admit, your skill has greatly improved."

"Really? You even remember the first time I kissed you?"

"A girl doesn't forget a thing like that."

"That bad?"

"It's not like I have a line of boys waiting to kiss me."

"If only you knew," he murmured to himself, and then looked up at her. "Didn't answer my question."

She shook her head. "No. Not bad."

He shrugged a shoulder, "Well, I thought it was horrible."

"Oh."

"Usually, for a kiss to be good, it has to be reciprocated." He shot her a look, "None of ours ever were."

"Well, I never have time to prepare." She sighed, an amused smile on her face.

He licked his lips and shook the possibilities from his head, "Prepare to punch me, you mean."

"There's that..."

"Joey, you can't possibly tell me that if I gave you some warning, that you'd kiss me back. That's just--You wouldn't--"

She shrugged. "Maybe I would."

"Let's test that theory." He pulled her to a stop in the parking lot. "But if you decide to punch me, try not to aim for any vital organs."

She arched an eyebrow. "What do you consider vital?"

"There's only one thing I'm all that concerned about, so just stay above the waist and we should be fine." He moved so he was standing in front of her, looking down into her face, wondering if he was dreaming now.

She nodded. "Alright, anything above the waist is fair game."

His eyes flickered down to her lips, "You sure you wanna try this?"

She bit the inside of her cheek. "It might be weird."

He lifted his hand, catching a few strands of her hair with his fingers, "Might not be."

She glanced around awkwardly. "And the school parking lot might not be the ideal place."

"And where would the ideal place be?"

"Where there are no witnesses."

He settled his hand in the curve of her hip and he glanced around them, the tail lights of the last car to leave disappeared from the parking lot. "Do you see any witnesses?"

She gazed up at him curiously. "Do you want to kiss me?"

Uh oh. "Well...uh...just for the sake of...um, experimentation. I still think you're going to hit me."

She smiled softly. "I probably will."

He licked his lower lip, "Okay, here goes nothing."

Before he could lean forward, Joey quickly broke the distance between them, and pressed her lips against his. It took him a moment to get over the sheer shock of her kissing him. Of her making the first move. But once that had passed, he was pulling her against him, both arms wrapped around her waist as he kissed her back.

She pulled away licking her lips. "Okay...Done."

"Are you sure we're done?" He murmured, his eyes heavylidded, "I don't think we're done."

She nodded slowly. "Yeah...we�re done."

He let go of her, his eyes falling to the cement below them. "Yeah--" he had to clear his throat. "Well, you proved me wrong."

Her smile widened. "Told you."

"So now the question is--" he looked into her eyes. "Did you kiss me because you wanted to, or because you wanted to prove me wrong?"

"To prove you wrong."

Inhaling deeply, he took a big step back, needing to put space between them, hoping the darkness would hide the hurt in his eyes. "Well, then, mission accomplished." He turned away from her and started to head for his car. "I'll see you Monday."

"Okay."

"Night, Potter."

"Night." She bit her lip, watching him walk away, a smile slowly gracing her face.

� Previous / Next �

Please send feedback to [email protected] and [email protected]