AN: OH MY GOD, YOU GUYS. I absolutely LOVED writing this chapter and I can't wait to know what you think about it! Here it is, chapter 3. Thank you for your amazing reviews and feedback, keep 'em coming C. x
The actors were put into two separate cars, the girls left first, driving away from the hotel with a slight advance. Ashley and Shantel hadn't stopped cackling since they sat down.
Joy gave them a stern look and Sophia tried to pretend the whole situation wasn't extremely amusing .
Thinking about it, she didn't remember ever seeing James that flustered, and she had known him for years. What had gotten into him? He looked damn good in a suit, though. He looked good in almost anything, if she were honest.
"Poor James. I could've sworn his heart stopped beating for a second." Ashley concluded, once she managed to calm down.
"Even I had to get it together after I took a look at Joy's boobs in that dress. Damn, momma!" Shantel agreed.
"You're all very funny, I get it. Can you stop making fun of the poor guy now? He's hurting and you're being mean spirited."
"What do you mean, «mean spirited»? Haven't you ever heard of the saying «the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else», or something like that?"
"You did not just say that, VanSanten."
"Oh but she did, Lenz." Sophia chuckled, not even flinching at the sight of the death glare Joy sent her way.
Inside the convention center, the fans were already filling up their seats at the different tables, waiting for the cast to arrive.
James was the first one to climb out of the car, unbuttoning his blazer and taking a minute to get over the embarrassing moment he had just experienced back in the hotel.
Walking through the convention center's door, he was yet again left stunned by the way she looked. The vivid image he still had on his brain did not do her justice. She walked up to him, a worried look on her face.
"Are you okay?" Joy inquired, her beautiful brown eyes filled with genuine concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry." he waved it off, quickly changing the subject. " Didn't I tell you you would look great?"
"Thank you, you look great yourself." she replied, blushing slightly.
"Look at them, they're acting like a couple of middle school kids. I don't get it." Robert huffed, watching the two interact.
"They're good friends, Rob. She has a daughter and he just got out of a relationship. You can't really expect them to jump into something new all of a sudden. The undeniable spark is there, everyone can tell, but if anything happens, it's going to be on their terms." Chad chimed in.
"When did you become Dr. Phil?"
"When you've got a small baby that keeps you up every night and all that's on at 4am are reruns of Oprah and Dr. Phil you tend to pick up a thing or two." he shrugged.
"J-man!" Rob called out all of a sudden, jogging to them and bursting their little bubble. "You are both cordially invited to the midnight ice cream run, tonight at...well, you know...midnight."
They looked at each other, remembering the conversation they had earlier at the hotel.
"I think I'm going to pass, sorry. Very early flight, long hours on a plane, dying to get some rest." Joy politely declined.
"Guess that's just you, me and Shantel then, buddy!"
"Did you consider the fact that I might actually want to sleep during the night?"
"What are you, 90?" Rob stuck his tongue out, entering the room the dinner was being held in.
"Sometimes I wonder why I surround myself with a bunch of five-year-olds." James mumbled, letting Joy lead the way.
"Tell me about it."
As Joy walked in, the fans clapped avidly, some even whistling. She smiled and blew a couple of kisses, moving to find her table.
James' entrance got a similar response and he waved, quickly getting to his table, greeting his dinner dates and making small conversation.
"Joy, we found some pictures of the cast as babies and we wanted to know if you could figure out who they are." one of the fans requested.
"Sure, it could be fun." she agreed to it, taking the phone the girl had handed to her. "Oh, this one's Sophia, for sure! Look at that smile!"
"You're right!" the fan cheered. "You can swipe left now."
"Aw that's me! Really big brown eyes. Mmm... Is this Lee?"
Meanwhile, at James' table, on the extreme opposite side of the room, the fans looked at him expectantly, as if they were waiting for him to tell them something they already knew. He stopped chewing, raising his eyebrow.
"Do I have something on my face?"
They instantly shook their heads, a few giggles escaping their mouths.
"We're waiting for you to rave about the highly anticipated Naley reunion." one of them, a pretty redhead, explained.
"Oh." he cleared his throat, straightening up in his chair. "Always lovely to see the wifey." he winked. "It's good to be back in this amazing place with wonderful people such as yourselves."
The fans swooned over his ever growing charm and playful smile.
"Oh, I know this little face! It's sweet baby James!" Joy gasped as she took one single glance at the picture. "Wait... James! James! Yo, Lafferty!"
His head snapped to where he heard his name being called from, seeing Joy waving at him excitedly.
"If you'll excuse me, I think the wife wants to have a word with me. I'll be right back." James said, standing up and walking up to her table. "What's up?" he asked, trying to divert his eyes from her plunging neckline.
"Look at this! You look so cute in your little suit! Wasn't this your cameo on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman?"
"You remember that?" he replied, surprised.
"Of course I do, you adorable nerd, have you seen your face?" she cooed, her smile only widening more as she looked at the picture again.
"That's a really embarrassing photo." he blushed, scratching the back of his head.
"Don't forget you posted pictures of you as a tank-top-loving child on Instagram." Rob pointed out from the table next to Joy's.
"Dude, seriously?" James grumbled.
The whole table laughed at their interaction, one of the girls speaking up before James turned his back to get back to his dates. "We didn't bring those pictures but we do have a rather interesting photo of you as a newborn, we were just about to show it to Joy."
"Oh god, please don't." he begged. The girls nodded, not wanting to go against the handsome man's wishes.
"Hey! I wanted to see that picture!" Joy pouted, standing up to face him, crossing her arms over her chest, accidentaly making her breasts stand out even more.
"Pouting isn't going to cut it, sweetheart." he sang, turning his back on her to avoid letting his eyes rake down her body again.
"Party pooper!" She called out, earning a few amused looks from her cast mates and the fans.
He chuckled, sitting back down at his table. "So, where were we?"
The dinner gala went by smoothly. The fans were happy and that made the whole thing worthwhile. Joy sat down next to James as they waited for their ride back to the hotel. Without putting much thought into it, she let her head rest on his shoulder. Somehow, it felt like the most natural thing to do. If felt right.
He tensed up at her proximity, but quickly relaxed when he noticed how content she seemed to be doing it, like she had many times before.
"I still want to see the picture, you know..." she teased, looking up at him with puppy eyes.
"It's awful."
"I have some pretty embarrassing pictures myself... Come on..."
"You're not giving up, are you?"
"Nope." she grinned sheepishly.
"Promise you won't laugh." James requested, dead serious.
"I won't!" Joy crossed her heart, turning on her seat , waiting curiously for him to show her the dreaded photograph.
"Well...here it is. A newborn James Martin Lafferty."
"Oh... Wow." she didn't know what else to say.
"I wasn't turning heads back then, no sir." he solemnly declared, his words laced with humor.
"That's a terrible thing to say about a baby!" Joy swatted his arm, struggling to keep a straight face. "Even if the baby..."
"Looks like an elderly alien?"
They both burst into laughter, not being able to hold it in.
"We're terrible people." Joy joked, gently placing her hand on his shoulder as she used her other hand to wipe a single tear that had escaped her eyes and struggling to catch her breath.
Just then, Antwon walked past them, wearing a white suit with a huge red stain on the crotch area. James looked at Joy and they completely lost it again.
Their friend stopped to look at the pair, bewildered by their sudden amusement.
"Dorks" he muttered, leaving them alone.
They made it to the hotel in twenty minutes, every single one of them going straight to their suites after saying "good night" to each other.
Joy managed to unzip her dress herself, after numerous attempts, and hung it up in the closet, taking another quick shower to relax and get ready to bed, putting on an old Rolling Stones t-shirt and a pair of plaid pajama pants. She brushed her teeth and let her hair down, running her hands through it, before texting her mother to kiss Maria good night for her and climbing in bed.
As comfortable as the bed was, she struggled to fall asleep. She tossed and turned for at least two hours and a half, eventually deciding to just wait, staring at the ceiling with her arm over her head.
She used to suffer from a really bad case of insomnia when they first started filming in Wilmington and it seems like she was doomed to have yet another sleepless night in North Carolina.
Annoyed and sleep deprived, she did the only thing that she could think of: getting up, picking up her room key and walking down the hall, mindlessly roaming around hoping her eyes eventually grew heavy. At least that used to work back in the early 2000's.
As she was turning around for yet another lap around the quiet floor, she bumped into someone. "I'm sorry!" she whispered, not trying to make a commotion. "James?"
He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, nodding in response.
"What are you doing out here at three o'clock in the morning?"
"I could ask you the exact same thing, Ms. Lenz."
"Wilmington induced insomnia." Joy explained.
"Well, same here. Feels like we're back in 2002 when we first shot the pilot."
"Yeah, we were the crazy insomniacs that stayed up walking around the halls of the hotel. Albeit this accommodation is certainly an upgrade."
"I remember that was the first time I actually had a full-on conversation with you." he stated.
"Sleep deprivation sure did make great friends out of us." she nudged his side, continuing to walk barefoot with him by her side.
"This isn't working, is it?" he sighed, desperate for a few hours of sleep.
"I don't think so..." she half-smiled, stopping by her door.
"Well... good night Joy."
"You can come in if you want, if we're not getting any sleep at least we can be miserable together." Joy offered. "It's okay, come on in, baby J."
She opened the door and stepped aside, letting him in. His tall frame towered over her as he walked past her. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts that attracted attention to his (very) nice butt. Joy averted her eyes, shaking the thought of his sculpted body out of her mind.
"I'll turn on the TV, Shantel told me they have Netflix." She climbed back in bed after doing so and pointed to the the other side of the it, noticing James awkwardly standing in the middle of the suite. "You can lay there, the bed's big enough for the both of us. Hell, we could possibly even squeeze Rob in here with us if we wanted to." She teased, a playful glint in her eyes.
James looked at her, the woman who could pull off a sensual red dress and a Rolling Stones tee and no make-up in the same night without losing an ounce of her incredible sex-appeal, wondering what the Universe was trying to do to him. Like he had been multiple times in the past, he was now, once more, in bed with her. Only this time there were no cameras or dozens of crew members surrounding them.
"So, «How I Met Your Mother»?" her voice brought him back to reality.
"Mmm...yeah."
They remained quiet for a while, watching the episode and occasionally letting out a chuckle or two. James finally felt like he could relax around her. It was Joy after all. There was no reason for him to act like a seventeen-year-old with a crush.
"Barney's pick-up lines would never work on anyone in real life." Joy stated. "They only work in theory. And in really corny romantic comedies."
"I'm afraid I have to disagree with you."
"Excuse me?" she pretended to be offended.
"I've got a good one and it kinda works." James shrugged, not taking his eyes off the flat screen on the wall.
"It worked on who?" she snickered, crossing her arms over her chest.
"My last two girlfriends."
"Mm... Let's hear it then." Joy taunted, muting the TV and turning to her side in order to look at him.
"Be careful, you might fall in love with me after I use it on you." he warned, raising his eyebrow.
"I'll take my chances."
"Don't say I didn't warn you... Okay, here it goes... How much does a polar bear weigh?"
"I have no idea." she replied, amused by the excited look on his face.
"Enough to break the ice. Hi, I'm James." he finished his line, extending his hand out for her to shake, with a huge smirk on his face.
Joy took his hand, struggling to hold in the laughter.
"You're such a dork, Lafferty."
"C'mon, it's a good one!" he had the cutest grin on his face, the one she loved to see decorating his features.
"We're definitely done with «How I Met Your Mother» for the night, I'm not taking any risks on having to suffer through another one of those."
Joy switched to MTV, turning up the volume. Prince's "Kiss" was playing and, as soon as she realised it, her eyes widened and she slapped his arm in excitement. "Oh my god, this is our karaoke song!"
James smiled at the memory of the both of them singing that exact same song at season one's wrap party, happy and carefree.
"Get up, we're doing this." she urged, jumping out of the bed. "Want to be your fantasy, maybe you could be mine...You just leave it all up to me, we could have a good time." Joy sang, pointing at him. "Sing with me!" she pleaded, taking James' hands in hers and making him dance with her.
"You don't have to be rich to be my girl, you don't have to be cool to rule my world." he followed her lead, in a high pitched voice, which made her giggle uncontrollably while he made her twirl. "Ain't no particular sign I'm more compatible with, I just want your extra time and your..." James paused, realising he was unbelievably close to her. "Kiss."
