Chapter 6

 

            I fixed my hair and put on my make-up quickly.  I chose a simple, dark green sheath dress to wear.  One last look in the mirror and I went downstairs to join Lance.  He was in the den having a drink.  He sensed me behind him and turned around in his chair.

            “You look wonderful dear.  Ready to go?”  He asked with a smile on his face.

            “I sure am.”  I replied.

            He got up, finishing off his drink on the way through the house and put the glass in the sink.  We went out to the garage and he opened the door of the BMW for me.  I got in and he did the same, opening the garage door and shutting it after he’d backed the car out.  We drove to the restaurant and the maitre’d led us to a secluded table that was already set, complete with a bouquet of roses as a centerpiece.  I looked at Lance and he smiled, telling me that he had requested this whole set-up.  That was one of the things I loved about him, he was so romantic.  I smiled to myself, remembering that I had taught him most of it when we were growing up.  I was always helping him think of a way to impress some girl that he liked.

 

**Flashback**

I was sitting on my bed doing homework when Lance burst through the door.

“Damn Lance!  You scared the hell out of me.  What are you doing here this late?”  I asked him, noticing his flushed face and rumpled clothes.  He looked like he had jumped out of bed and ran the 4 blocks to my house.

“You have to help me.”  He said.  I patted the bed beside me and he sat down.  “I want to ask Allison to the Homecoming dance, but I don’t know how.”

I sighed.  This wasn’t the first time Lance had come to me for help with a girl.  He was really shy and always afraid of  being rejected.  “Good grief boy, do I have to tell you everything?”

He stuck his bottom lip out and tried to make a puppy dog face.  “Please?”

I made him suffer for a minute, looking at his gorgeous green eyes.  “Oh, okay.  You know I can’t resist when you look at me like that.”

He smiled and gave me a hug, almost crushing me in the process. 

“Jeez Lance, I can’t breathe!  Let go already.”  I managed to gasp.

He turned me loose and sat there waiting for me to tell him what to do.

“Doesn’t Allison live a couple houses down from you?”  I asked, my mind already working.

“Yep.”

“Okay.  Here’s what you do.  You go to her house tomorrow night and ask her to go for a walk.  But before you do that, you have to set up a little picnic scene.  Blanket, basket, candles, the whole bit.  Then you take her there and after a little bit of small talk you ask her to the dance.  Got it?”  I made sure he was listening.

“How do you think of all this stuff Melly?” 

I shrugged it off and told him to get out of my room before my parents had a cow.  He kissed me on the cheek and left.

**End Flashback**

 

“Melloria!!”  Lance reached across the table and waved his hand in front of my face.

“Huh?  What?”  I looked at him like he was crazy.

“I’ve been talking to you for five minutes and you’re off in la-la land, that’s what.”

“Oh sorry.  I was just remembering that time I helped you figure out how to ask Allison to the Homecoming dance.  You remember that?”  I asked.

He laughed a little.  “Yeah.  That was pretty funny.  I’m surprised your parents didn’t just give me my own key to your house because I was always popping up too late.”

“Oh I know.  If they didn’t like you so much, my dad would have probably killed you.”  I told him, still a little caught up in the memory.

We ordered our food and got up to dance while we waited on the appetizer.  A slow song was playing and we were one on the dance floor.  We moved perfectly with each other to the soft music.  We’d always been this way.  Even in high school, we had discovered how well we danced together.  It was like we could read each other’s minds.  The song ended and we walked back to the table holding hands.  We had our meal mostly in silence, just enjoying each other’s company.

 

Chapter 7

 

            After dinner, we decided to go dancing because we hadn’t been in a long time.  We found a nice looking little club and went inside.  To our relief, the crowd was our age and older.  At least we wouldn’t have to worry about Lance getting mobbed by screaming teenagers.  We found a table in the corner and I sat down while Lance went to get us some drinks.  There was a mixture of music genres being played over the speakers.  They were playing mostly pop, but there was some country and older music scattered in every once in a while.  I took a chance and went to see if the DJ had our song, “Love of a Lifetime.”  We had both liked the song when we were in school, and after Lance had came back from Europe, it had seemed to fit us perfectly when we finally got together.  He had the song and promised to play it, so I hurried back to the table where Lance and I were sitting.  He was there waiting for me.

            “Where did you go?”  He asked.

            “I went to request something from the DJ.”  I told him and sat down with a smile on my face.  We sipped our drinks and talked.  A few songs later, ours came on.  Lance looked at me and smiled.  He got up from his seat, and held out his hand.  I took it and we went out onto the dance floor.  He spun me around and I laughed, already feeling the effects of the alcohol.  I stepped into his arms and we held each other tightly throughout the song.  Even after 4 years, the song still had the same effect on us, causing a deep stirring of emotions.  After a few more dances and more than a few drinks, we decided to head home.  Lance determined that he was able to drive and we left. 

            We made it home safely by some great miracle.  It had turned out that Lance wasn’t as fine as he thought he was and had swerved all over the road on the way home.  We were just lucky that we hadn’t gotten pulled over or been in a wreck.  We helped each other up the stairs and into the bedroom.  The drinks I’d had only added to stirring of passion I always felt for him.  As soon as we got into the bedroom, I started taking his clothes off.  First I took his leather vest off.  Then I slowly undid each of the buttons on his dark green silk shirt.  I kneeled down to undo his pants, then ran my tongue back up his chest.  He sucked in his breath and I felt his erection growing against my leg.  I moved my mouth to his ear, knowing that drove him crazy and began caressing it with my tongue.  Not able to take it anymore, he scooped me up in his arms and carried me to the bed.  He put me down in front of the bed and unzipped my dress, his lips following the zipper down my back.  I shuddered at the sensations he was causing.  He slipped the straps down my arms and let the dress slide off my body onto the floor.  When I was standing before him in my bra and panties, he gently pushed me back on the bed.  I gave no resistance and he followed after he took of his pants, placing kisses from my knee to my neck. 

            “Lance.”  I whispered while his lips were wreaking havoc on my neck and ears.

            “Yes dear?”  His voice was just as soft.

            “Stop torturing me.  I need you know.”  I told him and caressed him with the palm of my hand to make my point.

            He smiled letting me know that I wasn’t going to get exactly what I wanted and flipped me over so that he could undo my bra strap.  That done, he trailed light kisses all over my back causing me to shudder again.  I turned back over to face him and he attacked my  mouth with his.  I pulled him to me, savoring the feel of his bare skin against mine.  He kneaded my breast with one hand and I moaned into his mouth.  I moved my hands down his back and slipped his boxers down.  He returned the favor, removing my panties and entering me with one smooth movement.  Once fully inside me he paused, letting the feeling of our bodies melding together take full effect.  He began moving slowly and I rose my hips to meet his with each stroke.  We made love for hours, changing positions more than once.  Finally, getting our fill of each other for the time being, we reached our peaks together.  Lance collapsed on top of me.  His weight was heavy against me, but I held him until our breathing slowed.  He withdrew and laid beside me and we feel asleep in each other’s arms.

 

Chapter 8

 

            I woke before he did the next morning.  He looked so peaceful sleeping beside me, I didn’t want to move and wake him up.  I lay there staring at the ceiling, thinking about the first time we were together years ago.

 

**

I sat on my bed, tears pouring down my face.  It was two weeks til senior prom, and the guy I’d been going out with for 6 months just dumped me over the phone.  He wanted to go out with some cheerleader, he’d said.  He was mad because I wouldn’t have sex with him.  I had wanted to wait until I was in love with someone.  I liked him a lot, but I didn’t think I was in love.  I started to cry even harder, then heard a knock at my door.  I mumbled  ‘go away’ through a kleenex, but the door opened anyways and Lance came into my room.

            Seeing the condition I was in, he walked straight to my bed and took me in his arms.  “What’s the matter baby doll?”  He asked.  He’d called me that since we were in middle school.

            “Mark dumped me.”  I managed to get out in between sobs.

            “He’s a stupid asshole.  You want me to kick his ass?”

            I smiled a little then.  Lance was always very protective of me.  “Yes.  No.  I don’t know.”  I stuttered and kept crying on his shoulder.

            “Will you go to the prom with me?”  He asked out of the blue.

            “Sure…no wait…didn’t you want to ask Alecia?”  He’d liked her for months, but had yet to get up the nerve to ask her out.

            “That doesn’t matter.  I’d rather go with you anyways.  Then I wouldn’t have to worry about being nervous and making a fool out of myself.”  He replied.

            I just nodded my head and let him hold me til I was done crying.  After 20 minutes of convincing him I was okay, he finally headed back to his house.

 

The night of the prom…

            Lance picked me up the night of the prom in a limo.  I started jumping around like a little kid with a new toy til I almost fell in my high heels.  My parents had paid for half my dress that year, allowing me to get a really nice one.  It was dark green with an iridescent  covering of the same color.  I was just above my knees and had spaghetti straps.  I’d gotten matching 3 inch heels.  I wanted to get higher ones, but they would’ve made me taller than Lance.  He was in a black tux with a vest to match my dress.  He’d presented me with a beautiful while orchid corsage as soon as I came down the stairs.  My parents took what seemed like a billion pictures before they let us leave.  When we got to the place the prom was being held, our friends greeted us as we got out of the limo.  We went inside and took pictures.  I pushed the hurt out of my brain and enjoyed myself with my best friend, who happened to look very dashing in his tux.  We were voted best dressed couple and stayed through the whole prom.  Finally, the last dance was played.  It was “Forever Yours, Faithfully” by Journey.  We held each other tightly on the dance floor, not even realizing we were the only ones out there.  After the song was over, we went out to eat at an all night café.  We looked so out of place in our formal clothes, but no one seemed to notice and we didn’t care anyways.  When we were finished eating, Lance had the limo driver take us to a nearby lake.  He helped me out and made me close my eyes.  We walked a little way and then he let me open my eyes.  My hand flew to mouth at what he had done.  We were at a camp site.  There was a tent set up and the stone picnic table was covered with a table cloth.  I also saw two duffel bags sitting on the table benches and was sure they held changes of clothes for the both of us.

            I turned to him with tears in my eyes.  “You didn’t have to do all this Lance.”

            He was smiling at me.  “I know I didn’t, but we’re best friends and this IS our senior prom after all.  I wanted it to be special.  My mom even got us some champagne so we don’t have to go to one of those stupid parties.  We have our own party right here.”

            I gave him a big hug and went into the tent to change clothes.  My dear Lance had thought of everything, obviously with my mom’s help.  He’d brought me sweatpants, a t-shirt, my tennis shoes, and socks.  I smiled to myself and took off my dress, folding it carefully before putting it in the bag.  When I was finished changing, I went back out so that Lance could have his turn.  But I saw him standing by the table already changed.  He also had on sweats, a t-shirt, and tennis shoes.  He heard me laughing and turned around, offering me a glass of champagne.  I noticed that there was a portable radio sitting on the table too and he turned it on, tuning it to a local station.  We sat and talked and drank our champagne.  He grabbed an extra blanket he’d brought and walked towards the edge of the water, pulling me along with him. 

 

Chapter 9

 

*still in flashback mode*

 

            When we reached the sandy area, he stopped and spread the blanket out.  We sat down and Lance put his arm around my shoulders.  We stared up at the stars in silence, neither one of us feeling a need to say anything.  We were perfectly comfortable with each other.  After a while, we started talking about our past and present love interest.  I noticed a shooting star and nudged Lance in the ribs so that he wouldn’t miss it.  We both wished at the same time.  I felt him staring at me and turned my face towards his.  We froze like that, our eyes locked.  Then we began to drift closer and closer together.  When his lips finally touched mine, I felt an electrifying spark shoot through my body.  Tentatively, I opened my mouth under the pressure of his lips and his tongue touched mine.  We scooted closer to each other without breaking the kiss and wrapped our arms around each other.  I leaned further back and he had to put his hand down on the blanket to keep us upright.  I pulled on him harder and he had to let us down onto the blanket.

            He pulled away then.  “This isn’t what I brought you out here for Melly.”

            “Sshh.  I know.”  I told him and pulled him back to me for another kiss.  We were both unsure of ourselves and took things really slowly.  After making out for awhile, I took hold of the bottom of his shirt and slipped it over his head.

            “Are you sure this is what you want?”  He asked me.

            “Yes.”  I replied surely.  “But it’s..you know..my first time.  And only if you want to.”  I could feel my face redden.

            He smiled at me then and his green eyes lit up.  “Mine too Melly.”

            We cautiously removed the rest of our clothes and lay naked under the stars, caressing each other’s bodies with our hands and our lips.  This is the way your first time is supposed to be, I thought to myself.  Everything Lance did felt wonderful, and right.  I flinched during a brief moment of pain in the beginning, but everything after that was heaven on earth.  Afterwards, we laid side by side on the blanket, still naked and holding hands.  We eventually got up to get dressed and went back to the tent to go to sleep.

*end flashback*

 

            Lance stirred beside me, bringing me out of my memories.  I got up to go take a shower, kissing him on the forehead and laughing at his mumbling.  I had just gotten in and started to let the water run over my body when he opened the door and stepped in behind me. 

            “Ugh, I’ve got a headache.”  He mumbled. 

            I smiled to myself.  “Aww.  You poor baby.”

            He laid his head on my chest and we stood like that for awhile, letting the water run over us.   Then we washed each other and got out.  I dried him off with a towel and helped him put his robe on.  He went and laid back down and I got dressed.  I grabbed some tylenol out of the medicine cabinet and went in the bedroom.

            “Are you hungry?”  I asked, walking to the edge of the bed.  I handed him the pills and a glass of water.

            He took the tylenol and shook his head.

            “Okay.  I’m going downstairs to watch TV.  I’ll come back up in a little while to check on you.”

            “Okay.”  He mumbled.

            I went downstairs and planted myself on the couch.  I turned on the TV and flipped through the channels.  My mind drifted again to where it had left off in the memories.

 

~flashback~

The morning after the prom we had woke up in each other’s arms.  I looked at Lance and he smiled at me.  I had started feeling a little awkward, but his smile melted that away.  There was an unspoken understanding between us that last night hadn’t changed anything.  We were simply closer than we had been before.   We got up and gathered our stuff.

“Lance.  How are we gonna get home?”  I asked, remembering that the limo had brought us to the lake and then left.

“I’m gonna call my mom.  She said she’d come get us this morning.”  He told me.

He stepped out and got his cell phone off the picnic table and called his mom.  When he was finished, he helped me finish packing things up.  We’d just gotten done when his mom pulled up.  She helped us load all the stuff and we headed back to town.  She dropped me off at my house.  I walked in my house and found my parents sitting at the table having breakfast.

“Did you have fun honey?”  My mom asked.

“Yes mom I did.”  I replied and went up to my room.  I plopped down on the bed, thinking about last night.

~end flashback~

 

            The phone rang, bringing out of my revelry.  I got up and got the cordless of the charger.

            “Hello?”

            “Hey girl, whatcha doin?  I heard that Lance is home.”  My friend Kate said from her end.

            “Yeah.  He’s upstairs with a headache.  We had a lot to drink last night.”  I laughed and sat back down on the couch.  “Have you talked to JC yet?”

            “Yup.  He came over last night.  So did Star and Justin.  We had a little party of our own.”  She replied.

            “Ah, I see.”  I smiled to myself.  I was happy that Kate and JC were dating.  I thought she was just the person to settle him down.  Same thing went for Star and Justin.  I thought the guys were still way too wild and that it was time they found themselves some women and grew up.  I could see Kate and JC getting married and starting a family.  They had a lot of things in common and would make a good couple. 

            Kate and I talked for a little while.  We planned a dinner that night for 6 of us.  I thought about inviting Chris and Joey, but I knew that they probably wanted to spend time with their families.  I didn’t rule out the possibility though, I’d leave that part up to Lance.  After we’d worked out all the details, I hung up the phone and went in the kitchen to make a list for the grocery store.  Kate was going to call Star and they were meeting me there in an hour.  When I had my list made, I went upstairs to tell Lance I was leaving.  He was sleeping so I just left a note on the nightstand.

 

Chapter 10

 

            When I got to the grocery story, Kate and Star were waiting for me in the parking lot.  We went in and wandered around, shopping for the things we needed and gossiping.  Kate told Star and I that she was expecting a proposal from JC soon.

            I stopped in the middle of the isle we were in.  “Really?  I didn’t know that you guys had gotten that serious!”  I was happy for her though.  I could tell she really loved him.

            “Yeah, well if you weren’t such a hermit, you’d know!”  She exclaimed playfully.  “We HAVE been going out for over a year, and he moved into my place about a month ago.”

            “Wow.  I didn’t realize I was that clueless.  How come you never said anything about it when we talked on the phone?”  I asked.

            “Oh, I don’t know.  You always seem so busy with the kids and everything.  I don’t blame you for keeping away from everything because of them.”  Kate told me as we started walking again.  

            “So, Star.  Is there anything I need to know about you and Justin?”  I asked.  She was the youngest out of us three and her and Justin had only been dating for about 6 months.  He was 22 now and Star was 20.

            Star laughed and shook her head.  “Nah, we’re still having fun at this point, and not worrying about the serious side of things.”

            I returned the laugh.  “That’s Justin for ya.”  Star nodded her head in agreement.  I’d always thought of all the guys as my little brothers.  Even though Chris was older than me by four years, he acted so boyish.  And JC was only 4 months younger than me.  I couldn’t believe I was 27 already.  My life seemed to be leaving me behind.

            “Hey you guys.  Can I ask you a question and it never go further than the three of us?”  I said a little hesitantly.

            “Sure.”  Kate and Star replied.

            “Do you ever wish….that the group was, I don’t know…not together anymore?”  I cringed a little, afraid of what they’d say.

            Kate was the first to speak up.  “Sometimes.  Sorta.  But I know that JC loves what he’s doing and I respect that.  Though none of us are going through what you are, having a family and all.  I do get tired of hardly being able to see him.”

            Star had basically the same response.  “I do a little, but in a different way.  I actually wouldn’t mind if Justin started a solo career.  They have been together a long time, but the response from the fans is still pretty much the same.”

            We continued our little discussion as we finished grabbing the things we needed for dinner that night.  Kate and Star took the stuff for the dishes they were going to bring, and I took the rest with me.  I also stopped on the way home and picked up a few bottles of really good wine.  I pulled into the driveway and noticed that Lance’s vehicle was still there.  I got out and went into the house to see if he was still sleeping.  He was sitting on the couch in the living room watching TV.

            He looked up when I came in the door leading to the garage.  “Hey babe.  You back from the store already?” 

            I smiled at him.  He looked so cute, sitting there in his boxers.  “Sure nuff.  How ya feeling sexy?”  I asked referring to his mild hangover.

            “My head’s much better thanks to those tylenol you gave me.  You need some help bringing stuff in?”

            I was glad that he had offered, seeing as how I’d bought enough food to feed an army.  “I’d love some, if you don’t mind.”  He shook his head and rose from the couch.  We went back out the garage.  We managed to get everything in a couple of trips between the two of us.  I shooed him back in the living room while I put everything up and snuck a glance at his butt as he walked away.  When I was done in the kitchen, I joined him on the couch.  I curled up in his lap and laid my head on his shoulder.  We sat like that watching TV until I had to get up and start cooking.




parts 11-15
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