A booming voice shook the room. "Looks like the Florida State offense is
really starting to tire out..."
"See I told you!" Justin yelled.
"BeeDee, my ear!" Meredith protested.
"Sorry Bear," he replied leaning to kiss the side of her face quickly.
"Great pick Justin." Chris laughed uncontrollably.
"Anyone want another one?" Farzana asked pushing herself up.
The group nodded that they were ok so she moved from the room slowly and
carefully trying to keep her balance.
"FSU's defense really needs to take a stand here..."
ESPN played at full volume in the other room mixing with the shouts of Justin
and Chris who were yelling at the teams on the screen to score and placing
bets with the other people in the room as to who would win the game that
was now in its final minutes of play. As she tried to move away from the
harsh sound she found that there was no escape. A stereo was on in the room
with the pool table and Joey and a half dozen or so of his friends were laughing
and shooting pool.
"Zana-dooon!"
Her foot caught on the carpet in the hall as she walked by so she turned
and looked over at him. "What do you need Joey?" she asked pausing for a
moment to put a hand on her forehead. She normally wasn't a drinker, but
being in the party atmosphere and with the thirty or so people that had shown
up all with drinks in their hands she'd given in and had indulged in her
share of the margaritas that had been made.
"Zana-dooon!" Joey yelled, "Like the musical."
"Jose...That's Brigadoon," one of his female friends yelled at him laughing
her head off.
"Same difference Lennie," Joey said and tipped his beer at her.
Farzana rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath trying to steady herself on
feet. "Do you want another one big guy?" She pointed at the bottle in his
hand.
"No thanks sweetheart," he said with a wink, "Maybe next time around."
"You got it," she said and tried to wink back. She was too drunk and stumbled
when she closed her eyes.
The kitchen wasn't that hard to find, but she found self having to stop every
so often to make sure that she was going the right way. She'd been sitting
with Meredith laughing at the boys yell at the basketball game, but when
she noticed JC had disappeared she thought she'd go look for him. She hadn't
seen Melinda in a while and the alcohol in her system had caused jealousy
to be her first reaction.
Once she got to the kitchen she found JC leaned back against the counter
with a beer in his hand and his eyes closed. When she came around the side
of him she saw that his other hand that had looked as if it had been leaned
against the side of his head was actually holding the phone to his ear. "Hi,"
she said softly and fanned her face. The rain had started again and it was
hot in the building due to everyone being inside. She lifted the bottom of
her shirt and fanned air against her stomach and smiled when she saw JC's
eyes fall from where he'd been looking at her face towards where her shirt
was lifting up a little.
"Hey Alex, I'm gonna go," he said never taking his eyes off her, "But you'll
be out here tomorrow night to record?" He paused for a moment and nodded.
"Ok. I'll see you then. I'll pick you up."
Farzana leaned against the counter for a moment then decided she needed water.
Her head was begining to ache and although she didn't feel sick to her stomach
she had a feeling that she was going to feel it in the morning.
"You ok?" JC asked a moment later.
She smiled at him and leaned passed him, touching his shoulder to search
for a cup to get water in. She downed half a cup of water.
"You sure?" he asked.
She nodded and stumbled with the movement of her head. His arms caught her
and she slid her arms around his neck, "You know what?"
"What?" he asked widening his eyes looking at her with a slightly mocking
expression on her face.
"I have something to tell you," she slurred at him.
"And what would that be?" he asked moving a little so that he could put his
beer bottle on the counter.
Her hand went to his chest and she patted his pectoral muscle with a smile.
"You and I make a good team."
He laughed a little and hugged her against him. "We do...do we?"
"Yes," she said and leaned towards him. She wasn't nearly as drunk as she
was letting him think, but it worked to her advantage. She could easily have
sobered up and let him know that she was thinking clearly, but instead she
leaned towards him and kissed his cheek. "I like kissing you...I liked that
we kissed earlier."
"Shhh," he said with a smile, "Keep your voice down."
"Am I yelling?" she asked then thought for a moment. "You know it's really
strange how that happens. You drink a beer and some margaritas and you lose
your hearing...isn't there some old tale that if you masterbate you go blind
or something?"
"Whoa," he said, "Whoa...you need some water Zana...you're starting to get
a little crazy on me."
"Noooooo," she said and took a breath before she moved to kiss him. She thought
that he would have moved away from where her mouth came down on his, but
he didn't. He moved his arms and pulled her forwards against him, moving
his legs a little so she could stand between them while he moved his other
hand up to rest on the back of her neck.
Her tongue meshed and mixed with his in a kiss deeper than she'd shared with
anyone in a long time. She finally began to lose her breath so she started
to pull back. "We have to..." she panted, "We have to come up for air sometime."
Having her pull away from him like that was torture on the mind and the body.
Physically he could feel himself leaning against her, fully aroused while
mentally he was waiting for common sense to kick in and tell him to leave
her alone. It never came. Not only was it hard for him to be kissing her
because she wasn't Bobbie, but it was hard for him to kiss her because she
was her. They'd been so great together that he wasn't sure if he trusted
himself enough to keep his heart out of things. He needed to stay calm about
things, keep a level head, but he couldn't with her. It was too easy to get
lost in the moment.
"We should get out of here," he said then coughed when he realised that he'd
said. He hadn't meant for it to be that obviously seen as a sexual comment,
but it had come out that way. "I mean we should get out of the kitchen and
find somewhere more out of the way to hang out and talk."
"Ya think?" she asked innocently.
"Yeah," he sighed with a nod moving his arms around her. He wasn't sure yet
if he wanted to take her away from everyone so that they could talk or if
he wanted to take her away so that he could kiss her like he'd been wanting
to kiss her all day.
"You can't drive," she said, "We're too drunk and I don't wanna go home yet."
JC looked around for a moment to see if anyone was coming in then lowered
his voice. "Let's go down to the studio," he said.
"I don't want to work," she whined then giggled at her. "You know I don't
want to get my record deal because I want to do this myself ya know? I want
to be the one to go up there to all those big old suits and tell them to
go screw off ya know?
"Oh really?" JC laughed taking a look in her eyes. He was pretty buzzed himself,
but she seemed to be way over the top, or at least she was acting like it.
He'd never seen her this relaxed before. She neede more of this joking spirit.
"I wanna spend time with you," she said.
JC leaned and moved her hair off her neck then leaned and kissed her check,
"We won't work Zana. We're both too messed up to do that. And I wanna spend
time with you so do you want to go down to the studio."
"Will you sing to me?" she asked, "Please?"
"You know I can't," he said.
"But JC the doctor didn't sound like--"
"Shhh," he said, "Don't worry your little head over this. I'll sing to you
soon."
"Ok," she said with a nod. "I love to hear you sing. On tour I always used
to want to hear you sing."
"Hmmm," he said, "Well I'm sure you heard a lot of me then."
Her head dipped towards his and she spoke in a whisper. "I could never hear
enough of you."
"Hey guys."
He paused where he was leaning towards kissing her again and looked over
her shoulder to see Meredith standing in the doorway. "Hey Mere," he said.
"What are you guys up to?" she asked with a smile then moved passed them
and reached into the refridgerator.
"I was thinking about heading out sooner or later," JC answered.
Meredith laughed, "You can't drive in that condition."
"I'll call a cab or something," he siad, "I'm just getting tired.
"Who's getting tired?" Melinda asked coming in.
"Joshy is getting tired," Farzana said trying to joke around with them.
"Joshy?" Melinda asked rolling her eyes.
"Yeah," JC jumped in with when he realized that this might cause a fight,
"I'm getting kind of tired."
"Just crash here," she said, "You know that there is enough room for everyone
around here on the couches and the floor."
"Are you sure?" JC asked.
"Yeah," Melinda said, "Since you guys are tired first you should hop up to
Johnny's office and claim the couches."
"Those aren't the most comfortable things," JC said.
"Look in the closed behind Johnny's desk. There's some blankets and stuff
for you."
"You sure?" he asked.
"Yeah," Melinda said.
"You want to go up with me?" He turned to Farzana. He wasn't going to force
her to do anything against her will, but being able to sit with her in silence
and without an audience watching.
"Sure," she said looking a bit scared.
He pointed the way and followed her to the stairs. She was a bit unsteady
on her feet and as they climbed the stairs up to the second floor he had
a hand close to her back, not touching her, but there in case she needed
the extra balance.