Her phone rang at 7:03 am. Isabel considered pretending she couldn't hear it but Chris groaned loudly, "Make it stoooooooop."
"Don't want to move." She buried her face deeper into his neck never even opening her eyes.
Chris flung his arm blindly knocking the phone off the nightstand. "Ugh. Okay, they gave up."
She smiled against his skin and sighed. This was nice. She was 100 percent certain that if she moved her head would explode and her stomach would turn inside out and the reality of the situation would slam down on her like a thousand pound anvil but in this exact position everything was comfortable and safe and sweet and perfect.
Her voice mail beeped. No.
Two minutes later her phone rang again. They ignored it. Voice mail beep. One minute later her phone rang. At first she thought it must be Darren but then realized it wasn't the ringtone she had set for him.
Adam Lambert's "Whataya Want From Me" started up for the fifth time in less than 15 minutes and she started to wonder who she set that as a ring tone for. The sixth time Adam filled the room she sat straight up.
"Chris, CHRIS, get the phone!"
"What? No, c'mere. We're ignoring. Ignoring is good."
"No, it's not. Phone, get it."
He rolled to his side and reached blindly off the bed, searching the floor with his fingertips.
Despite her panic about ignoring the calls she couldn't help staring at his naked back where the sheets slipped away. Milky white skin over lean muscle, she couldn't help but think of the marble skin of Anne Rice vampires. Except when you dug your nails into Lestat's skin it didn't leave red streaks, Chris's back on the other hand was covered in light scratches. She leaned over and kissed the brightest mark.
"Your lips are hot." He handed her the phone, playing the song again.
"Shush you."
"No, like, warm hot, temperature hot. Fevered."
"Shhhhhhhhhhh….you're not here."
"I'm not…"
"Hey Ryan. I'm so sorry, I was in the shower. What's up?"
Chris giggled and poked her in the ribs, "Liar, if you were wearing pants they'd be on fire."
She widened her eyes at him and put her hand over his mouth to keep him quiet.
"I want to meet with you and Zach to talk about some notes I have from last night's show. I'm sending a car for the two of you, breakfast at Chateau Marmont."
The entire time he was talking Chris was doing lewd things to her palm with his tongue. She mouthed at him to stop it and dropped her hand only to have him continue on her neck.
"Sh…sure…what time?"
"Half hour. Zach was still asleep. Still sounds drunk to me. You people need to learn to pace yourselves. Anybody make sure the birthday boy didn't do anything that'll end up a pr nightmare last night?"
"Chris? He's fine, was fine. Last night. He was…"
Chris stopped to raise an eyebrow at her.
"…just singing, dancing. Drinking obviously, but no, nothing the press can get hold of."
Chris collapsed back onto the pillows whispering headlines, "Famous gay guy caught in clutches of tv boyfriend's girlfriend….Murdered by Darren Criss, the Chris Colfer story."
She kicked him in the knee and then gasped when she really looked at him for the first time.
"Problem?" Ryan asked.
"No, sorry, stubbed my toe. Half hour. See you then." She disconnected.
"Oh Chris."
He made grabby hands as he opened his arms for her to lie back down with him.
"I can't, I have to go meet Ryan…but Chris, tell me you have a scarf or a turtleneck or something."
"It's like you just met me. I take it I'll be explaining a hickey to makeup tonight?"
"Several. Crap. Why didn't you stop me?"
"You might want to consult a mirror before you ask that."
"NO! You didn't."
He reached up and ran a finger along her collarbone. "That one's my favorite."
"Jesus, we're animals. You should see your back."
"I can feel it. We better get in the shower if you're going to meet Ryan in a half hour." He sat up and kissed her shoulder before resting his cheek on it.
"I'll be showering alone; I have to actually get clean in there, not dirty."
"Boring."
"Go back to sleep for awhile, I'll send up some juice, water and aspirin on my way out."
Issey stood under the spray of water and felt herself sober up slightly. She'd checked the mirror and found bruises and bite marks. Most were in places that made her blush but were hidden naturally by every day clothes, two would require some work to hide, one on her neck just under her ear and the other on her right wrist.
She knew she should feel badly about what happened, should be panicked about how she was going to explain this to Darren and worried about breaking all of her rules. Maybe all of that would come with time, when there was less alcohol in her system, but at the moment all she felt was content. She hummed a little to herself as she ran over the memory of it in her mind.
It took an effort to shake her reverie and get ready to head out. When she was dressed she went to retrieve her phone from the bed. Chris was on his back, the sheets low at his hips, the room still mostly dark but one shaft of light from the open edge of the drape illuminated a stripe of skin at his stomach.
Allowing her hair to fall on his exposed skin she half crawled over him to get pick up the phone. His fingers were tangled in hair at the nape of her neck before she could straighten up. He used the hold to pull her in for a kiss. Not much had changed from the first time only hours ago; it still sent a sizzle to all the right places. Now there was a small layer of guilt somewhere underneath but she pushed that away. She had nothing to feel guilty about after all. She and Darren were nothing. He had a girlfriend and they'd left things last night quite clear they were not going to fight for each other.
When Chris pulled away his eyes remained closed and he whispered, "Regrets?"
She pressed her lips lightly against his and spoke the word into his mouth, "None."
Now he met her gaze, "Me either. I feel like I should be freaked out but I'm just …happy."
"Me too. Uh…I wish I could stay."
"Call him back, tell him I'm sick and need you to sit with me."
"Sick huh?"
"Love sick." He laughed a little to show he wasn't serious, but his eyes gave him away.
"I think he'd tell me to have someone watch you. Ryan doesn't strike me as the type who takes excuses well."
He gave in, "Guess not. Okay, go ahead, appease the master, I'll be here waiting when you're done."
Zach met her in the lobby; he already had his sunglasses on and wasn't moving his head when he walked.
"I hate him. He knows we got in a few hours ago. He's doing this to make a point."
Issey chugged a half a bottle of water from her bag and handed one to Zach, "Of course he is, but I say never let him know he gets under your skin. It's fun for him but if he doesn't see you ruffled he'll stop."
"Spoken like someone new to dealing with Ryan. How's Chris?"
"He's gonna be sick when he sober's up."
"Still out of it?"
"Sorta."
Being the cruel type Ryan of course had a table outside in bright sunshine and wouldn't hear of it when both Zach and Is tried to beg off eating. Issey went with dry toast and berries, Zach a plain bagel and coffee and Ryan ordered Huevos Rancheros.
Ryan gave his notes, Zach and Issey tried to stay awake while he talked. They pushed their food around their plates and nodded along to Ryan's list of things that he'd like to see worked on. When he suggested a full dress rehearsal that afternoon Zach put his foot down. He spoke to Ryan as if her were a child, explaining that he was certain the changes Ryan wanted could be worked on without a full rehearsal and that doing anything of the sort the day after Chris's 21st birthday would be nothing more than punishment. He let Ryan know that he would be wearing out the actors and while he was aware that Ryan didn't care about that when they were shooting it was different on the road. Issey popped in that the more tired everyone got the more likely they would end up sick and without voices.
Even a small win over Ryan was huge so they took their victory seriously when he agreed to go without a full rehearsal. Zack and Issey got up to make a quick exit before Ryan changed his mind but he stopped them. "Okay, no full rehearsal but Isabel I'd like to sit in on a voice lesson with you and Lea today and with Darren as well. I'll meet you at 2, Lea first. You've done something to her voice and I don't like it. "
She wanted to rant that what she did with Lea's voice was save it but there was no point to that. She just stood and groaned inwardly at the thought of having to face Darren with Ryan in the room.
In the car on the way back to the hotel Zach pulled down his sunglasses, looked at Issey and laughed, "I don't know who you think you're kidding with that scarf but you can see the hickey right through it. I guess Darren showed back up last night after all, huh?"
It was going to be a very long day.
