JUST ME 19-21

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[[Nineteen]]
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When Lance approached the bed EJ pulled back the covers and motioned for him to get back in with her. She'd been pretty weary of him earlier, but had tried to get comfortable in his arms hoping that things would just follow the natural course of events. She thought that if the two of them were laying there together that things would go to the next step, but so far that hadn't happened so she'd vowed, while he was in the bathroom to step it up a notch. This had been her reason for turning off the light and turning down the sound on the movie. With fewer distractions and the comfort of the dark she thought things might go a little easier.

"Will you sleep with me tonight?" Her voice came out sounding raspy and sexy, but she hadn't really meant it to. It was due to the fact that she had been lying down and relaxing that had caused her voice to be that way.

"What?" Lance asked sounding as if the wind had been knocked out of his lungs.

EJ laughed at him. She knew she was blushing when she realized what her request had sounded like, especially since her voice had sounded that way. "I meant will you sleep-sleep with me tonight, not have sex with me," she said.

In the back of her mind she prayed that things would go that direction, but she wasn't about to tell him that outright. That would be a little too forward for her. She knew he'd figure it out sooner or later. Sooner being the better choice in her mind.

"Uh…yeah," he said still sounding a little nervous.

"I just thought I'd ask cuz I haven't slept really well since I spent the night at your house."

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said moving closer to where he was settling himself in. She pulled his arm up and situated herself next to him. "You make a good pillow."

"Thanks," he said with a laugh then made a face, "I think."

She curled her arms around him and settled back into the position she'd been in before, this time though she slid her leg over his immediately and slid her hand just under the hem of the pajama bottoms he had on.

Lance hugged her to him, but still seemed nervous.

She leaned up and kissed his neck where her head was laying against his chest and shoulder. "Lance?" she asked.

She looked up and could see that his eyes were on the television. He didn't move, but answered with a slight noise, "Hmm?"

"Lance?" she said again and he finally looked at her.

"Are you cold?" he asked looking down at her. He reached and pulled the blanket up around her more.

"No I'm not cold. Why are you acting so nervous around me?"

"Nervous?" he repeated as if he had no clue what she was talking about.

"Yes nervous," she said, "You were more comfortable with me before you even knew me than now that you know me."

"EJ," he sighed, "I don't know--"

EJ instantly pulled away from him. "I'm making a fool of myself aren't I?" she said quickly. "I'm lying here--"

"EJ--" Lance started to interrupt but she wouldn't let him.

"I mean I'm throwing myself at you and you're probably sitting there laughing at me or something."

"EJ!"

She finally stopped and looked at him when his voice boomed out and echoed into the room. "What?"

Lance took a deep breath and looked at her. "EJ lets just get it all out on the floor ok?" he said, "I'm totally in love with you--"

"You are?"

"Yes," he said, "But that's not the easiest thing to deal with you know?"

EJ sat Indian-style on the bed next to him and watched him as he tried to pull the words out of his mouth to tell her what was going on.

"I've never been in love with someone before and I don't know how to deal with that. I mean I've liked people before and all that, but I've never had feelings like the feelings I have for you."

"Really?"

Lance nodded and took her hand. "You have this attitude with me that no one ever has had with me. You care about me deeply, wanting to make sure that I'm protected from things, but at the same time you want me to come out of my little protective shell. Like when we went grocery shopping without security. A few months ago I wouldn't have attempted that, but you've made me realize that there are a lot of things that I'm missing out on…a lot of things that I can do despite my fame."

"Whoa," she said and leaned back. She had expected to talk to him that night, but he was sitting there pouring his heart out to her and she wasn't sure how to react to it.

"I know that I messed up the other night hanging with Alayna," he paused and took a breath. He leaned back a little then sat up again. "I know that confused you and hurt you and you hated me, but now I'm the one who is confused because a few days ago you were telling me that you hated me. Now we're lying in bed together and I know that this damn movie Clue isn't what is on your mind."

"I'm a complete slut," she mumbled.

"No," he said, "You're not at all. I mean I'm thinking the same thing, but at the same time I'm not sure where you're coming from and I don't want to have things go farther than they need to go if you're not going to be here in the morning."

"It's my room," she said, "I don't plan on leaving."

"That’s not what I meant," he said, "I think we need to know where this is going before we go and do something…." He paused and looked at her, "…drastic."

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Waiting for an answer from her was almost as bad as waiting for the judge to rule on the court case they'd been in a few years before. He remembered back then almost not wanting to breathe for fear that the sound of his breath coming out of his nose and mouth would change the judge's mind. Now he was so nervous to hear what she had to say about it

"Where this is going?" she asked.

He nodded, "My life isn't the easiest to deal with and I want things to be clear between us so we don't have to worry about it. I want it to be clear about this because I'm going to be heading on tour sooner or later and you're not going to see me very much and I want you to know that it's not because I don't want to see you…it's because I can't see you."

"That's fine," she said, "I'm not going to sit home and pine after you."

"Pine after me?" he said with a laugh.

"You know what I mean. I have a life without you and I'm sure you have a life without me and I don't expect that to change."

Lance looked at her closely. "Then you're willing to try this out?"

She nodded, "Yeah. I don't think that it'll be that hard. I mean my phone bill might go up a little, but that doesn't really--"

"I'll pay for the calls," he said.

"You don't have to do that."

"Yeah, believe me. I do."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because you an my answering machine are going to have an affair on me," he said. "As much as I would like to answer all my calls, my voice mail probably picks up most of the time. Since we do press stuff and everything we have to keep our phones off."

"Oh." She frowned.

"I'll call you lots though," he said, "At Pops or where ever you are. You don't have a cell phone do you?"

"I do, but I barely use it," she said.

He stopped trying to plan things when he saw her looking at him strangely. "We'll plan all of that stuff before I leave on tour again. You and I have some catching up to do," he smiled and her and pulled her over to him gently.

"So now that we have a plan can we kiss a little?" she asked when their faces were close to each other.

"Of course," he said with a smile and licked his lips before he kissed her.

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[[Twenty]]
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Before EJ could stop him Lance had somehow flipped her so that she was lying on her back. He propped himself above her after moving so that he way lying between her legs and was above her kissing her like he couldn't get enough of her. She'd admit it wasn't the best position to be in considering that it was hard for her to breathe with the weight of his body on her chest, but she also knew that it felt good to be kissed by him so passionately. The feeling good part was blocking out any other thought that she might have about her placement on the bed.

Her arms were around him, palms flat on his back near his shoulderblades and pulling him closer. SHe moved her mouth and head as he kissed her and tried to breathe through her nose as much as she could while his hands snaked under her. He tugged at the material of her pajama bottoms and rocked against her as his hand slinked first to her hip then down her leg and slipping under her thigh he brought it up to curl around him. His hand lingered on her bare skin for a moment before his hand moved back up to her waist.

With that motion there was no doubt in her mind that he wanted her. There wasn't enough clothing between them to keep that a secret. It wasn't that she hadn't ever had a man in his present aroused state lying up against her, but it had been a while so she was shocked to feel him there like that. Somehow she had this very clean cut version of Lance in her mind from what she knew of him and now he was blowing every version of him she'd ever thought of in just the few moments that he'd had his hands on her.

"I'm not squishing you am I?" Lance finally asked in a whisper pulling back a little. He moved his hands from her and pushed up so he could look down at her face. His expression was serious and there was a strange look there that she could catch in the low light of the room.

Batting her eyelashes a little EJ smiled up at him coyly then carefully slid her other leg around him basically pulling him locking him there in that position against her.

"I don't care," she said and leaned up to kiss him, "It feels too good to be like this with you so don't move ok?"

"You sure?" he asked. This time his voice was at a normal level. It was raspy and she could see his lips were wet from their kisses which was driving her insane. SHe still felt like she could feel them against her.

She nodded.

Lance laughed a little and leaned down and kissed her neck. She felt a smile on his lips as he placed his lips there for a moment then moved back. "You're a little porn star aren't you?" he asked with another laugh kissing her chin.

Being a little bold EJ rocked her hips against his. "You tell me."

Lance made a face that EJ wasn't sure to make of. On the one hand it seemed like he was in pain, but then this smile came over his face and he knew that it wasn't pain at all that he was feeling. "Let's not talk," he said.

"I can do that," she said and rocked against him again, just to tease him.

"Be careful," he said, "You're playing with fire there Emma."

"You called me by my name...that's a first," she said with a surprised tone.

"You have to be serious sometimes," he said.

"If you want I can sleep over here on this side of the bed." Her legs dropped away from him and started to move out from under him. Her leg was still stuck under him, but she'd made it across the bed a bit.

The next moments of movement were silent and quick. Lance let her move then instantly reached out and grabbed her around the middle and brought her back to him this time somehow he flipped them over and he had her now on top of him.

EJ sat, straddling his waist looking down at him with a smile on her face. "I really wasn't going to--" She pushed her hair out of her face a little and tucked it behind her ears. "I wasn't going to sleep over there."

"I wouldn't have let you even if you had been over on that side of the bed," he said. His hands rested on her thighs, his fingers playing with the hem of her shorts.

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said, "You have to finish what we started and you couldn't have done that from way over there."

"Well what did we start?" she asked. She put her hands down on his stomach and picked at the waistband of his pajama bottoms.

Lance was about to speak when someone knocked on the door. Letting out a groan Lance looked up at her. "You'd better get that," he said, "It's gotta be important because I know everyone else is out at the club."

"Ok, don't move," she said and leaned and kissed him, "This conversation is not over yet."

"So that's what they call it these days?" he asked as she moved away from him and went towards the door. "Coversation?"

She laughed at his comment and flipped on a lamp on her way to the door.

Pulling it open she never expected to see Nick standing there with a cup of coffee in his hand and one lifted to his lips.

"Hey," he said, "I thought that I'd bring you this. Word was that you weren't feeling good." His voice rambled on for a moment then she heard him say. "You really must be sick. You look red all over."

EJ stepped back a little and leaned against the doorway. She was probably red, but it wasn't really a fever, unless you counted the heat that had been between her and Lance earlier.

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When Lance heard his voice at the door he rolled onto his stomach with a small groan. He loved the guy, but lately he hated Cubby with a passion. Nick had always been a help to him, but during the Hawaii trip he'd become a pest. He always seemed to be around when Lance didn't want him to be.

Finally getting his bodily response to their make-out session Lance pushed himself off the bed and went to the door. He stood behind EJ and wrapped and arm around her middle, resting his chin on her shoulder and said, "Hey Jacobs."

Lance loved the shocked look on his face. He couldn’t have planned it better. The whole chin dropping and the surprise in the guys’ eyes was priceless.

"Hey Lance," he said.

"Did you need something Cubby?" Lance asked leaning to press a kiss to EJ’s neck.

"I just brought EJ a coffee i promised her a while ago."

"Oh, well we were just about to go to bed so why don’t you put it in the mini-fridge and you can have iced coffee for breakfast."

"Lance?" EJ said.

"Hmm?" Lance asked.

"Go back and pause the movie for me. I’ll be there in a minute ok?" She asked.

He looked at her for a moment and could see that he’d done something to make her mad. He’d only been trying to stake his claim on her a little more visibly and if that made her mad that it made her mad, but he needed Nick to know that she was offlimits now.

"Ok," he said and leaned and kissed her cheek then went back into the room. He still listened to the conversation, but stayed out of sight as she had asked.

A minute later EJ left Nick in the hallway and came back into the room. Lance was lying on the bed and when she came back over to sit next to him he looked up at her. "What was that all about?" He asked.

"Why were you acting all macho camacho over there?" She asked.

"Macho Camacho?" He asked.

"You poor little thing," she said softening, "You’re jealous that another boy likes me. How fifth grade of you."

Lance reached out and pulled her over to him. "Why are you stressing me out like that? I really thought you were mad at me for a minute," he said.

"I am."

"Really?" He asked.

"I don’t want you to fight with your friends over me. If I date you--"

"If?" He asked, "You’ve changed your mind already?"

"No," she said, "Let a girl finish her sentence ok?"

"Ok. Sorry," he said and cuddled her against him so that she could talk. If they’d been outside he thought that they would have been staring up at the sky and talking. Back home in Florida he was going to have to remember to take her out and look at the stars one night.

"Anyway, as I was saying," she said, "If I date you and become a bigger part in your life I don’t want the tension there. Ok?"

"That’s fine," he said, "I’ll play nice with the other kids."

"Thank you honey," she said and moved so that she could kiss him.

"You’re welcome," he said.

Pushing up from where she’d been lying against him she resumed the postion she’d been in before Nick had knocked on the door. She straddled his waist and looked down at him. "So are we going to sleep or are you going to kiss me?"

He faked a yawn. "I think sleep is in order."

Her shoulders slumped, "Really?"

"No," he said. He pulled her down onto his chest and said in a sly voice, "How you doin’?"

She kissed him then pulled back, "You tell me."

"Oh...so it’s like that?" He asked, "I get to rate you?"

"That makes it sound kinda cheap," she said.

Lance stopped and looked at her. "I didn’t mean it like that. I didn’t--"

EJ put a finger to his lips. "I know you didn’t," she said, "You don’t have to treat me like a little kid or something. Just don’t let me catch you with any other girls and we’ll be just fine."

"But of course," he said with a smile, "I only have eyes for you."

"Sure, sure," she said with a laugh and kissed him. "Just kiss me and stay here with me tonight and we’ll be all good."

"Sounds like a plan to me," he said with a laugh and kissed her.

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[[Twenty-One]]
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According to the schedule she'd been given in the airport, rehearsals were in full swing the next morning when EJ finally got down to the first floor. There had been guards up on their floor making sure that people didn't get onto their floor. She'd stopped to ask them if they knew where everyone was since the floor seemed to be empty and they had said that the group was down by the stage. That didn't help her much now. She couldn't see past the people in front of her so that didn't help her. It seemed as if the amount of people staying in the hotel where they were had tripled, but basically it was mostly fans that had come to see the show that night, milling around trying to find their favorite celebrity to get autographs. EJ watched them all with a half scared look on her face when she came off the elevator. She'd woken up alone that morning and hadn't been able to find anyone to ask about the schedule so after stopping in the coffee shop for a bagel and an iced mocha she walked around and tried to find someone from the group.

Melinda had told her that name, whatever it was that she was supposed to tell security if they got away from each other, but she couldn't even find security to find them. a chaotic, giggling and screaming group filled the lobby. It was like watching ants or something. people were walking all around and it seemed like every few minutes or so someone would tell another person how they'd seen one of the guys or Britney walking by the elevator or past the pool or had seen them drinking coffee in the coffee shop.

"Hello there stranger," a voice said from behind her. She didn't know how he'd found her, but Nick was standing there behind her. He wore Hawaiian print swim shorts and a tank top and looked completely at ease in the middle of the chaos around them as if he was the only person in the lobby. "We really need to stop meeting like this," he commented with a smile then pointed off to the left. "That way is the pool and to the right is the group. Which way?"

"To the right," she said and tugged on her tank top a little nervously knowing that she was going to see Lance in a few minutes after the strangest night she'd had in a while. She held her breath as Nick slid an arm around her and walked her towards the guys the way he'd walked her through the crowd in the club a few nights before. It wasn't the way she'd wanted to be hugged that morning, but having him pressed up against her was going to get her to where she wanted to be.

When his hand touched where her shirt and her shorts came together she twisted a little. "Be careful."

Nick looked a little shocked.

"No, not that I thought you were trying--I'm ticklish," she said.

"Really?" he said and tickled her a little on her side making her laugh really hard and causing kind of a scene.

"Come on, stop it," she said with a laugh as they pushed through the crowd.

EJ stayed at Nick's side until they spotted the group and the girls sitting off to the side in plastic lawn chairs chatting with some other MMC people. Nick quickly made his way over and jumped in the middle of the group with a shout, "Found her!"

Everyone turned in EJ's direction and she couldn't help but to feel a little embarrassed being the center of attention.

Lance motioned for her to come over and when she stood next to his chair he patted his knee and she sat there as he introduced her to everyone. The shocking thing about the whole process was the scream that came out of Dani and Bobbie's mouths when he called her his girlfriend. It was so third-grade to be that giggly about it, but almost instantly Dani and Bobbie then Kelly and Britney all seemed to be high-fiving each other like their plan had been the thing that had pushed the couple together.

"What did I say?" Lance asked bouncing his knee once to get EJ's attention.

"Nothing," she said with a giggle as she leaned and kissed him, "Just a little inside joke." She looked around and saw everyone staring.

When she seemed to fade away from being in the spotlight of the conversation, EJ leaned against his chest and listened to everyone talk. While his mind and his voice seemed to be dominated by the conversation around them Lance's body was completely connected to hers. He slid his arms around her and held her there while he talked to a guy next to him.

It was a strange little gathering. Everyone around them was consumed by conversation and it seemed that only EJ seemed to notice finally that people were watching them from a fenced off area near the back deck of the hotel. Feeling suddenly out in the open EJ got up from her seat on Lance's lap and left everyone where they were quietly telling them that she was going to get a drink.

She noticed that people were watching her when she made her way to the tent that contained the catering tables for the reunion guests. She grabbed out a soda and had just opened it when Lance appeared in front of her and almost scared her half to death.

"What's wrong?" he asked. He pushed some of her hair out of her face as she looked at the cement near his feet then moved his hand to bring her head up. "You ran away."

EJ moved her eyes toward the group of people standing watching them. "I just realized that I'm going to have to be a little careful about the way I act around you from now on."

Lance looked over and the crowd got loud for a minute as people moved to get a better look at him and snapped pictures. He turned and looked back towards her. "You don't have to run away."

"Yeah well I just forgot where I was for a second," she said and tried to get by him but he caught her arm. She frowned at him. "I need to be more careful."

"Oh no…we're not going through this again. If you and I are going to be together then we need to show off a little. It's true that stuff is going to be said, but we might as well start off on a good note."

"On a good note?" she asked looking at him.

Lance pulled her around to stand in front of him, took the drink out of her hand and set it on the table next to them then pulled in a hug. He glanced over at the crowd for a moment and then looked back. "Say Cheese," he said and leaned and kissed her.

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Lance could tell she was uncomfortable in the social situation that they were in. No one could blame her for that. She pulled away from the kiss he'd given her and had instantly turned red when someone let out a whistle towards them. He pulled her into a hug and spoke softly to her. "Act like this doesn't mean a thing and you won't get harrassed about it. Take it like it's something way dramatic and you'll only get drama from them."

She nodded and walked casually back over to everyone else plopping down in the chair he'd been in. He played a long and sat in her lap until she hit him on the back to let her up then they switched positions and settled back into conversation.

When he went with the others to do the autograph signing session he had to beg her to come with them. As they started walking one way she went the other and only him having grabbed hold of her hand had kept her with them.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm bringing you along with us," he said simply and moved to put an arm around her.

"I wanna go back up to the room." She backed away from him and looked around a little checking to see who was watching them. "You guys don't need me down here. What am I going to do…sign autographs?"

"Just sit down here with us. You can go get an ice cream or something with Bobbie and Dani but don't head back upstairs," he pleaded, but before she could give her answer Lance was being gently pushed towards the stage area.

Since she thought that she'd go back up to the room when they went off to work it took her a minute to decide what to do. She finally made her way up to where they were sitting she only briefly tapped him on the shoulder before taking a seat behind them chatting with Bobbie and Dani. She was only a foot away but she acted as if they were a million miles apart.

When he heard them laughing at one point he turned around and thought that she'd make a face at him or something, but she didn't. She just kept her eyes on Dani and Bobbie and away from him while Bobbie and Dani both made a point of telling him to mind his own business. It unnerved him because he'd thought that the night before had changed things between them, but he saw that it hadn't gotten them anywhere.

"What are you looking at Lance?" Dani teased, " She’s still here. Go sign your autographs. We aren’t stealing her away just yet. Although I did hear that there is a sale today so we might have to sneak away and go shopping, but for the moment your shadow hasn’t run away from home."

"Love you too Dani," Lance said and rolled his eyes and turned to find the next person in line.

"Awe...poor baby got his feelings hurt..." Bobbie teased.

EJ finally stuck up for him. "Oh come on guys leave him alone. He’s working."

He could tell she’d made a face at him with that comment and although it probably was a joke there was some truth to the fact of him being a little less than friendly when he worked. He loved the fans and loved the work, but when he met people sometimes it was just plain strange. It was hard to be normal in a setting where people were screaming, giggling, and crying over him.

He felt dumb for having Dani make comments to him. He hoped that the people in line hadn’t heard her comments. He was glad that he and EJ were going to try and pull of a relationship, but he wasn’t sure that his fans would understand just yet that he needed a personal life.
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