CHAPTER TWO: Reassurance

"John, are you ok?" Stephanie asked, taking a bite out of her salad.

"I'm just peachy, Steph," John replied, not looking at her. "Why do you ask?"

"You just seem distracted lately," she said, putting her salad fork down. She leaned her elbows on the table and looked across at him. "Is there something wrong?"

"What could possibly be wrong?" he asked, forcing himself to look at her. "Everything is just perfect."

"Liar," she said shortly. "I know you, John, and something's bothering you. What is it?"

"I'd rather not ruin our lunch," he countered. "Let's just drop it... It's not exactly something I feel that we could talk about."

"Well, that's too bad, John. We're best friends, and as your best friend, I demand that you tell me what's wrong," she said, reaching across the small table to take his hand.

Her hands are so soft, he thought, and instantly he was reminded of the way she had touched him in his dream, of her soft hands caressing his skin...

"Well?" she said expectantly, still holding his hand. "I'm waiting."

"Really, it's nothing. I can han..." His voice trailed off as she started running her thumb lightly over his hand. He gulped at the tingling sensations just that simple contact was giving him and wondered why he hadn't felt this way around her before she had gotten engaged to Chris.

"What were you saying?" she asked.

He shook his head and cleared his throat. "I said it's nothing. I can handle it myself," he said, gently pulling his hand away from hers and standing up. "I'm about ready to head back over to the arena. You?"

"Ok, Johnny boy," she teased, standing up. "But I'll get the truth out of you one way or another."

"I'd like to see you try," he said. He paid for their lunch and held the door for her as they walked out.

"I know where your sensitive spots are," she said suddenly. "And I know that you happen to be extremely ticklish."

"You wouldn't tickle me in public," he said, putting his hands in his pockets as they started the short walk back to the arena.

"Of course not," she agreed. "I'd wait until we were alone so I could make you scream."

"Make me scream?" he scoffed. His mind filled with images of exactly how she could make him scream... "There's nothing you could do to make me scream."

"Right. Like a low blow wouldn't make any man scream," she teased.

A low blow... Time to change the subject, he told himself. "So, um, how are things going with Chris?"

"Everything is going perfectly with him," she said excitedly, linking her arm with his as they walked. "I'm so excited. Can you believe that in less than two weeks, I'm going to be a married woman?"

"Yeah, I can believe it," he said dully.

She looked at him, frowning. "You don't sound very excited."

"What? No, I'm excited," he said, smiling. His smile slowly faded and was replaced with a look of concern. "But, uh, don't you think you guys are rushing the wedding? You've only been engaged for four months."

"But we've been in love for years. If there's one lesson everyone needs to learn, it's that you should never wait when you're in love," she said. "I'm not, like, saying that you shouldn't wait if you're not ready. But if you're ready like Chris and I are, why wait? Why wait for love to pass you by?"

"I don't know, Steph," he said as they started to cross the street, still arm-in-arm. "It's just... I don't want to lose you."

She stopped walking in the middle of the street. "Is that what's bothering you?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Among other things," he admitted, looking down at her. "You're my best friend, Steph... I don't ever want that to change."

"It won't change. Just because I'm getting married... That doesn't mean you're going to lose me," she assured me. "As far as best friends go, I'm yours."

"So I'm not going to lose you?" he asked, needing to hear her say it once more for clarification.

"You're not going to get that lucky," she assured him with a laugh. A car whizzed around them and the driver honked his horn angrily. "But you will lose me if we don't get out of this street."

He smiled, reassured for the moment, then picked her up in his arms and jogged the rest of the way across the street...

A/N: I'm going to be updating some of my other stories soon. I'm working on a new chapter of "Sometimes It Comes True", some other Chris/Steph stories, and my Taker stories, too. It's just taking me forever and a day to finish a new chapter!