Chapter 6: Take a shot in the dark to be where you are
I stepped out of the airport, the wind hitting my face and the sun in my eyes. I glanced around quickly for James, but didn't see him. I followed the guys to our cabs, but didn't get in right away. Instead, I stood by the door and waited to see if James would come running out, excuses ready. As the minutes passed, I got angrier. How could he do this to me? I felt my eyes tear up out of frustration and I ducked into the cab, not wanting anyone to see me.
After about 5 minutes, everyone else climbed in, and the door shut. One of the guys told the driver where to take us, and we were off. I rested my head against the window, staring at the scenery passing us by. I tuned out the mindless chatter that filled the cab, not bothering to participate. I closed my eyes, trying not to think of James, when I heard his name spoken by one of the guys. I listened more carefully to what they were saying.
"Yeah, and I wonder who he's going to give them to. They look expensive as hell," Kendall said.
"Some random girl at the show? He's thoughtful like that." Logan added.
I sat up, and looked at them. "Who?" I asked. They seemed slightly shocked by my sudden enthusiasm.
"James," Kendall said after a moment of silence. "He has a whole bunch of white roses."
"You saw James? When?" I demanded.
"Just before we took off. He ran to the last cab and got in with Dustin."
I sat back, stunned. James spent all that time getting roses? I felt ashamed by my anger at him. Somehow, I knew he wouldn't lie to me. Even if it were for my own good. As Logan and Kendall complained about my weirdness, I stared out the window smiling, waiting anxiously to see and talk to James.
Thankfully I didn't have long to wait; we pulled up to the venue a couple minutes later, driving down a long stretch of road. As soon as the car stopped moving, I was opening the door and running to James' cab. He took his time getting out, while I waited, hopping up and down. He walked to the back of the car before raising his eyes and seeing me. A large smile lit up his face, and I couldn't help but smile back. I started to say something, but someone slapped me on the back, stopping me.
Kendall came into view, his hand still on my shoulder. "James! Good to see you. Carlos here apparently couldn't wait to see you, either. It was quite strange," he mused, raising a bushy eyebrow at me.
"Shut up, Kendall-" I started to say, but James cut me off.
"Actually, he was just waiting to receive these beautiful flowers from me." He said. I looked at him, wary. Where was he going with this?
"For him? From you?" Kendall asked, clearly confused.
"Well, yeah. Who else would I give them to?" James replied.
"I don't know, a girl?" Kendall said. "Since when does Carlos like roses?"
"Since when have I not liked roses?" I replied, smiling up at him.
He glanced at both our faces before backing up and turning away. I looked back at James, but he was still watching Kendall. I cleared my throat, but he held up his pointer finger at me, signaling me to wait. I sighed, and started tapping my foot, impatient. I looked at Kendall to see what was so interesting, but all I saw was him leaning down to talk to Logan.
"What?" I finally asked James. He looked at me, smiling slightly.
"I'll tell you about it later," he said. "Now, I believe I have something to give you." He extended his arm and handed me the roses. I let him slide them into my arms and I picked up the little piece of paper attached to the bundle.
Carlos, it read. These are for you. Keep the fake one for you, and give the real ones to every guy fan you see at our concerts/meet and greets. Xoxo, JM.
I smiled up at him, and then looked down at the roses. I pulled out the fake one and placed it on top of the others. Little did he know, I planned on keeping this forever. No matter what.
I stepped toward him and wrapped my arms around his waist. He chuckled and put his arms around my shoulders, pushing my head into his chest. We stayed like that for a moment, and I closed my eyes to the steady drum of his heartbeat.
"Why guy fans?" I asked him when our hug was over.
"Because, they never get any credit, it always goes to the girls." He told me.
"That's so true." I replied. He gestured to the door of the venue. "Shall we?" he asked.
"We shall." I replied, grabbing my bag and leading the way. We entered the building and caught up to the rest of the crew, who were being given a tour by a guide.
"What we're in right now is the main lobby. The stage is through those double doors, and those doors on the right," she said, pointing to the wall behind us, "is where you'll be having your meet and greets. You can enter backstage by following our security guards. Enjoy and have fun!"
Everyone started talking but we were interrupted by our manager. "Now, you guys are going to be doing the VIP meet and greet in an hour right before the concert. You'll have approximately 3-5 minutes with each fan, and you'll only have one hour to do all of them. I know you guys like to linger, but we'll need to speed this one up. After the concert, you'll have as much time as you want for the remaining meet and greets. Any questions?" she asked. We all shook our heads, so we followed the security guards backstage.
After being instructed to do our vocal warm-ups and get changed, we all went to the dressing rooms. I pulled James into mine and shut the door. I turned around and saw him frowning at his phone.
"What's wrong?" I asked, walking over to look at the screen. I saw a text message but couldn't make it out before he exited the screen. I looked up at him, but his face was guarded. "James?"
He didn't answer me. I wrapped my arms around his waist and put my head on his chest, like before. "Please tell me," I whispered. "You should know that you can tell me anything. And everything. I wish that you did…" I trailed off, listening to his steady breathing. He sighed and finally put his arms around me. He placed his cheek on my head. "It's just girl troubles." He told me.
"Brooke?" I asked him, pulling my head away to look at his face.
"No," he assured me. "We're done with her. It's another one of my exes, making me look bad by saying that I promised to send her a free copy of our CD, when I didn't."
"Oh," I said, surprised. "Well why didn't you just tell me?" I asked him.
"Because, it seems pointless. You shouldn't have to worry about stupid crap like that." He told me.
"But I want to. I want to be there for you. I can help you get through it and all that sappy stuff," I said, smiling up at him. He smiled back and kissed me briefly. I grabbed his head, lengthening the kiss by not letting him pull away. He started to tickle me, which secretly turned me on, but I just giggled and tried to escape, but he was holding me back now.
I smiled to myself, taking a minute to appreciate these moments between us. Then, all too soon, someone knocked on the door. I stayed where I was while James walked over and opened it. It was our manager, telling us to hurry up and change so that we could do soundcheck.
"And how come both of you are in here? There's more than enough dressing rooms." She said.
James smiled at her and said, "We know." She stared at him, then turned and walked away. I laughed as James closed the door again. We both got changed and hurried to get to the stage.
We rehearsed and soundchecked for 40 minutes, then we had to get to the meet and greet room. I ran to the dressing room and grabbed the roses, arriving just before they let the fans in.
There were about 20 VIP fans, and only 2 of them were guys. I gave them each a rose, and they were a little confused but accepted it graciously.
"I don't think I'll be able to give all these roses away," I told James as we went backstage to get ready for the concert.
"That's okay, just keep the ones that are left over." He replied.
After the concert and meet and greet, I had 3 roses left and a date with James to look forward to. At least I think I did. He told me in the dressing room after the concert that I should clear my schedule for tonight, so I'm guessing he has something planned. Damn you James for being so romantic.
We decided to stay at a hotel close by, much to James' enthusiasm. I wondered what the hell was so special about that certain hotel, but it was probably something weird.
We arrived at the hotel and James announced that he would book the rooms. No doubt he would "accidentally" book us together in the same room. I thought about James and I, and what everyone else would think if we told them about us. But what would we say? That we're experimenting? I honestly had no idea.
James walked over and handed everyone their room keys. It was late, so they all went right to their rooms. "Want to watch a movie?" I asked James as he picked up his suitcase and started toward the stairs. "Sure. But afterwards, I have something a little more fun in mind." I looked at him, confused, but he didn't say anymore on the topic.
We walked into the room and put our bags down. I noticed that it was a very nice room, with petals on the bed and champagne on a table. I raised my eyebrows at James.
"What?" he asked, laughing at my face.
"Is this the honeymoon suite?" I asked him. He didn't respond, just smiled and slowly walked toward me. I smiled at him and reached up for a kiss. He wrapped his arms around my waist, working them under my shirt and then slowly up. I put my arms around his shoulders, running my fingers through his hair. We kissed slowly, dragging out the movements of our lips. He pulled my hips against him, and I squeezed him tighter to me. He moved his lips to my jaw line, kissing everywhere and working down my neck. I grasped his hair tighter and pushed his head onto me more. He chuckled and pulled away. I frowned at him, wanting more.
"James…I- I think I want to try out some other things." I told, refusing to meet his gaze.
"Like what?" he asked. I sighed, not wanting to answer the question directly. Instead, I grabbed his belt buckle, slowly undoing it. I didn't look up at his face as I continued, unbuttoning his pants and slowly sliding the zipper down. I tugged his pants down a little, then touched the waistband of his boxers. He touched my hand, pausing to take off his shirt. I finally looked at his face and he winked at me, then reached over and slid my shirt off as well.
I continued where I left off, stroking him through his boxers. I looked at his face and he had his head turned up, an expression of pleasure on his face. I continued for a little, not wanting to rush things this time, but not wanting to torture him either.
He suddenly grabbed my waist and started pulling me toward the bed. He sat down, and I straddled him. His arms automatically went around my waist, and mine around his shoulders. I massaged them as we started kissing, but stopped and wound my fingers through his hair again as he pushed me into him. I started to grind him, as our kisses got sloppier and more heated. He pulled away and started to undo my pants. I watched as he pulled my cock out and slowly stroked it. I moaned, loving the feeling of him pumping me. I reached around his arms and pulled down his boxers, exposing his hard-on. I started to pump him, and he was moaning along with me. He both came at the same time, moaning out each other's names, and making a mess on our clothes.
He went into the bathroom and cleaned up. Then James smiled at me and I knew something was up.
"What?" I asked him.
"Put on your swim trunks and shoes and come with me." He replied. I was confused as hell, but decided to go along with it. When we were ready, he grabbed the room key and lead the way out.
We walked quietly through the halls, leaving the hotel through a back door that I didn't even know existed. Behind the hotel was a pool and a hot tub, but James ignored them and kept walking. It looked like he was headed for the woods behind the tall gate that enclosed the pool area, and I started to get worried. I grabbed James' hand and he smiled down at me. That reassured me a little.
He scanned the room key and opened the gate, closing it gently behind us when we were through. I finally decided to break the silence.
"James? How come we're in the woods? I didn't even know Jersey had woods. And why did the gate need a room key?" I asked him.
"We're in the woods for a surprise," he said, pausing to turn toward me. "And don't worry about anything, the hotel owns this part of the woods. That's why we needed the room key to get through the gate."
I nodded, and kept his hand in mine as we walked deeper into the woods. We entered a clearing, and in front of us was a dark pool of water. It was an actual pool, with lights dim and jets slowly churning the water. James and I got ready and stepped in slowly. To my surprise, the water was warm. I walked in more, pulling James along with me. We stopped in the middle of the pool, and I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and my legs around his waist. He smiled at me and kissed my lips. I closed my eyes and kissed his neck. "This is wonderful," I whispered to him.
We spent a while in that pool, our private little piece of paradise. Our making out got steamy and we both ended up naked. I was glad that I finally got to live my dream of skinny dipping with James, though.
When we were both tired and worn out, we dried off and headed back to the hotel. We entered the room and changed quickly. I climbed into bed, shivering. James got in soon after, and I hugged him tight.
"Today was perfect," I told him. "Thank you so much."
He smiled and said, "You're welcome. I…I really like spending time with you."
I smiled back and placed my head on his chest. I closed my eyes and was asleep almost instantly, listening to James' heartbeat.