Chapter Nine: ** Locked In **

Debelah sat cross legged on the tour bus seat, tapping her pencil to the notebook on her lap and nodding her head to a beat only she could hear.  Every few seconds, she would touch the tip of the pencil to the paper and scrawl out the next line of lyrics or make a correction or notation in the margin.  Dave sat next to her, annoyed. “What are you writing?”

 “Something,” Debelah said absently, her mind still on the lyrics. Dave craned his neck to see them.

 “Let me see them.”

 “No,” she said stubbornly, scooting away a few spaces to prevent him from reading them. Kevin watched them both carefully from his spot across the aisle, looking up from his book. Ever since they had gotten on the bus, there had always been at least person watching them, making sure Dave didn’t do anything. And most of the time, one of the people would be AJ, who lay on the other couch, pretending to be asleep, but with his mirrored sunglasses, he could watch them with open eyes and not be caught.

 Dave looked at her annoyed, and opened his mouth to say something and then closed it, glancing over at Kevin and AJ across from them and the rest of the guys up in the kitchen area. He didn’t like being on the bus with these guys. He wanted Debelah alone. Not sharing her with them.

 AJ watched as Debelah made a final line and then scanned it with her eyes, the pencil moving the different beats. Finally, a grin spread across her face and she shut the notebook and went to put it down in front of her but with a look of distrust at Dave, put it underneath her and sat on it, a smirk on her face that made AJ want to blow his cover and laugh. He thought back to this morning, to waking up next to her with her leaning against him and his arms around her. The very thought made him go absolute still for a second. And then…when they’d kissed…everything just seemed so RIGHT. Like, no matter whatever terrible things were happening around them, when they kissed it all seemed to melt away, making his aware of her and his growing feeling for her.

 *              *              *

 “Debelah, you go for choreography in the dance room down the hall and to the right and then to studio number 27 to lay down tracks for the new single.  Lunch is at  12 and then back to studio until two. Sound check for the concert is at five and makeup at hair at seven. You go on at 7:30 sharp,” Mike told her, staring down at the piece of paper the whole time he talked to her.

 “Gotcha,” Debelah responded, taking a drink of her water, in the back of her mind wandering what Dave was gonna do while she was busy.

 Danna told the guys what they were doing for that day, which was almost the same as Debelah’s except they would be dancing until twelve, then lunch, and their soundcheck and stage time was different. When she was done, Debelah took a step forward to give the guys a hug goodbye but paused looking at Dave. Dave flipped shut his cell phone he had been talking on the whole time and turn towards her.

 “I’ve gotta run,” he stated and a rush of relief spread through her but then he added with a smile,” I’ll be back in a couple of hours, though. See you then, hun.” He moved towards her and she took a small step back as the guys took a cautionary step towards them. Dave leaned in towards her, wrapping his arms around her slim waist tightly and whispering in her ear,” They won’t always be there to protect you, Deb.” He pecked her on the cheek and she flinched.  He was gone in a second with only a cursory look at the guys. Debelah stared after him in disgust, wiping her cheek with her sleeve.

 She turned to the guys, sighing with relief that Dave was gone. “What did he say to you,” Kevin frowned. Debelah just shook her head and stepped forward, giving the guys a hug, AJ’s seeming a bit closer then the rest of them. “Empty threats,” Debelah said when she had stepped back. “But hey, he gone for a few hours so it doesn’t matter.” She smiled at Dave being gone and then they all went their separate way to where they had to go.

 After, Debelah had taken a quick shower and dried her hair after sweating a lot from dancing, she made her way towards the studio. She wore black exercise pants that accentuated her hip line and a bright blue sports bra that showed off her abs.  Throwing her hair up in a quick ponytail and putting an open gray sweater jacket over her, she opened the door and cheerfully greeted the sound people. They talked for a few minutes over what she would be doing that day and Debelah showed him the new song she had just written and he looked it over, nodding his head.  She then  made her way in the sound booth.

 *              *              *

 Hey, AJ,” Howie said breathlessly as they danced.

 “Yeah?” AJ watched his footing on the next move.

 “We meeting Debelah for lunch?”

 “Yeah, we got lunch at twelve, right?”

 “Yep,” Kevin said, not looking over.

 “I’ll go tell her at the next break to meet us,” Just when AJ said that, the song ended and Fatima clapped her hands, “K, guys, ten minute break! Get a drink.”

 “Be right back!” AJ called, running from the room.

 *              *              *

 Debelah closed her eyes  as the beat of the sound came pulsating through the headphones. With only one thought in her mind, she began to sing.

 When I was in love
My baby broke my heart
I had a hard time letting go
So I promised myself
There would be no one else
I'd never love again
Then you came along
You gave me
Back my smile
And you said you'd
Never leave my side
When I wake up at night
You're there
Holding me tight
No more tears for me

 Debelah smiled a bit at that realizing how much that hit home. She opened her eyes still tapping out the beat on the side of her leg, her eyes widened when she saw AJ standing behind the sound guys who were bent over the sound board, staring back at her through the glass. Debelah stared back, unable and not wanting to look away, and sang from her heart to him.

 You make me wanna
Fall in love again
I never thought I'd feel
This way again
But you came and
Made me fall in love again
Never thought I'd feel
This way inside
I never thought
I'd give love a try
But you came
And made me
Fall in love again

 Her heart beat wildly, knowing she was admitting in her song and her voice and the look in her eyes what she really felt. That, even though she had only mat him a few days before, she felt like she was falling in love with him, something that excited her, warmed her and scared her all at the same time. Funny, but it seemed like AJ was staring at her with eyes that felt the same.

When we hold hands
I got the world in the
Palm of my hand
I think you got
The Midas touch
Touch me again ooh baby
Touch me again
I can't seem to get enough

You make me wanna
Fall in love again
I never thought I'd feel
This way again
But you came and
Made me fall in love again
Never thought I'd feel
This way inside
I never thought
I'd give love a try
But you came
And made me
Fall in love again

Baby when
You're touching me
And making love to me
Baby when
You're kissing me
You set me free
I don't know what you did
But I'm so glad you did it
You make me wanna
Fall in love again

She took a deep breath when the song ended and broke eye contact with AJ, looking down at her feet. Scott, of the sound guys, spoke over the intercom. “Debelah, I don’t know how you did it, but you got that one in ONE take. Whatever is making you do that hold on to that. That sounded awesome.” Debelah registered what he said but merely shook her head and then looked back up at Alex. Scott turned around to talk to AJ for a minute and then spoke into the intercom again, "I’m sending AJ back for a second to speak with you. Says he has something to tell you.” Debelah just nodded, a nervous flutter in her stomach.

AJ shut the door behind him and Debelah quickly switched off the microphone, not feeling like letting everyone hear their conversation. Slowly turning towards AJ, she hooked her thumbs on the back waistband of her pants and rocked back on the heels of her shoes. AJ scratched the top of his head before he spoke.  

“The guys and I wanna know if you wanna meet up for lunch,” he said.

 Debelah nodded, "Yeah, sounds good.”

“How’s you side doing?” AJ asked suddenly. She stared at him confused.

“My side. What about my – oh, that. It feels better, doesn’t hurt that much. She pulled back the gray jacket to show him the bruise on her hip bone, having to pull the waistband down a couple inches. AJ winced when he saw it, taking a step towards her and he ran a finger lightly over, not causing any pain. He looked up at her,” I am SO sorry. I should have been there.”

 “Don’t you go blaming yourself,” Debelah said, her heartbeat still racing from his hand on her hip. “It’s all Dave’s fault. Besides, he would have been angrier if he saw you there with me.”

 “I guess….” He trailed off and then quickly changed the subject,” You sounded good on that last song.” He nodded his head towards the mic.

 “Thanks,” Debelah answered, staring at his mouth.

 “You have anyone in mind for it?” he said lowly, inching even closer towards her.

 “Actually, I –“

 She jumped when there was loud rap on the glass. She turned to see Mike staring at them. She hadn’t even seen him come in. His voice came over the intercom, "K, Debelah, you need to get back to work here. You can talk after you’re done.” Debelah and AJ both muttered some not so kind words towards Mike under their breath before AJ cleared his throat.

 “Well, I guess I’ll see you at lunch. Wanna meet in the lobby?”

 “Yeah, that sounds good.” AJ gave her a tight hug before he left and she closed her eyes, realizing how different his was from Dave’s. More gentle, more caring.

 *           *           *

 Debelah crept into an empty dance studio. Scott had let her out twenty minutes early because she’d finished the last song up quickly. She looked around the bare room. Three out of the four walls were covered with a large mirror, the fourth wall housing the stereo equipment and CD’s and the door. Up high on one of the walls was a smaller glass panel.  Turning the CD player on, she grinned as K-Ci and JoJo’s “Crazy” came flowing through the speakers. She took off her gray jacket and tossed it to the side.  Her back to the door, she began to stretch her muscles, hoping to relax before going to lunch.

 *           *           *

 The guys walked down a hallway in the direction of the lobby. Fatima had let them out early and they had quickly taken showers and then hurried in the direction of the lobby. Nick glanced into a room that had it’s door open and stopped in his tracks, causing Brian to run into him, which tripped Howie, who knocked down Kevin and tripped AJ. Nick looked back at them on the floor, confused.

 “What are you guys doing on the floor?” he asked innocently. The guys just glared at him.

 “Nickolas Gene-" Kevin started out but then Nick exclaimed, "I found Debelah!”

 The guys all looked down both sides of the hallway and saw no one. Nick tried to explain, "In there!” he pointed into the room and the guys all untangled themselves and stood, walking into the room. Debelah wasn’t actually IN that room but they could see her through the one way mirror in front of them into the room used for auditions. Debelah, unaware of them watching her, flowed easily back into a back bend and then kicked her legs up and back to do an easy back handspring.

 “Whoa, Aje, your girl is …um, flexible,” Nick snickered, the joke not being lost on the rest.

 “Hey, she’s not my girl!” AJ protested but he couldn’t tear his eyes away as Debelah did another black flip, this time doing it quickly and precise. Kevin took one look at AJ’s face and laughed.

 “I give them a day before they get together.”

 The other guys laughed, excluding AJ, who was cut off from protesting when Brian exclaimed, "Guys, we’ve got a problem.”

 Following Brian’s gaze, they looked down into the room where Debelah was and saw the door slowly open.  They all started when they saw who it was and AJ immediately ran for the door which one of them had shut behind them. He tried to turn the knob but it stuck, locked. He turned to the rest of the guys,” Um, we’ve got another problem. We’re locked in.”

 *           *           *

 Debelah went into a fluid back bend and closed her yes, holding it for a s couple seconds. She then came right back up to her standing position and opened her eyes, facing the mirror. She gasped loudly when she saw Dave standing right behind her, staring at her face in the mirror and sneering.