Chapter Nineteen

The next morning, the three of us were up early and outside waiting when Justin pulled up in his Mercedes and JC in his jeep. Alex and I jumped in with Justin and Lance while Briley was once again riding with JC, Chris, and Joey. After awhile (two hours to be exact), we arrived at Daytona Beach. We got out of the cars, dumped all the stuff on the sand and hit the water.

Hours later, we decided to take a break. We all sat down on the sand and ate some chips and other things (fruit in my case) that we had brought along. When the others decided to go swimming again, Lance leaned over and whispered, “Wanna take a walk with me?”

“Yeah,” I answered, standing and pulling a pair of jean shorts on over my yellow and black Nike bikini. Lance put on a Calvin Klein shirt with his Tommy Hilfiger shorts. “You know what? No.”

“Huh?” Lance asked.

“Calvin and Tommy. What are you thinking? Mixing the two like that?”

Lance thought for a second before answering. “Would you rather me walk around without a shirt on and have all these girls stare at me because I’m so buff?”

“Good point. Mix them.”

Lance laughed as he picked up a small radio and we headed down the beach. We hadn’t walked long, just long enough to be alone, before we stopped and sat down. Lance turned the radio on and tuned it to a station that he promised, ‘rocked’, and placed an arm around my shoulders. As we sat looking at the ocean, a song came on the radio that fit the moment.

“Yeah?”

“You know I love you right?”

“I like to think so, yeah.”

“Good. Just making sure.”

“Why?”

“Well, you know... there’s always rumors and stuff about us dating other artists and people like that. I wanted to make sure you know that no stuff you hear about me is true,” Lance explained.

“Okay.” I smiled.

The next song began to play and it surprised me to hear it was Shania Twain.

I slyly smiled. “You only want that song because of your crush on Shania Twain.”

“Not even!” Lance insisted. “That song just makes me think about you.”

“Okay,” I agreed. I looked back at the water. A few minutes later, Lance leaned over and softly pressed his lips against my neck. I turned to look at him as our lips came together.

All of a sudden Chris came running by. He saw us and stopped. “Hi!! I’m going swimming! Do you wanna come? Do you? I don’t wanna go alone!” Seeing as the moment was ruined, I decided I might as well go swimming. I got up and gave Lance ‘the look.’ The one that only females are able to give. He was still sitting on the sand.

“What?” He proclaimed.

“Well, aren’t you coming?” He shrugged. “Do you really trust Chris alone with me?”

“Well, there was that time.... okay, I’ll go.” He hopped up and joined me as we followed Chris to the shoreline.

After another hour and a half of swimming and playing volleyball, we decided to leave. Alex and I just ran into our hotel room long enough to retrieve clothes and other things to take showers. We then left Briley to get ready for her date. Alex was going home with Justin while I was going with Lance.

I was going to have dinner with his family, mainly because his dad finally returned from Mississippi. Then, we were getting together with Justin and Alex to watch some movies. We had figured that us going home with them would be best... not to mention save gas.

Upon arriving at Lance’s house, he showed me to the bathroom that connected with his room.

“Lance, I can use another bathroom.”

“No, this is like, the best one in the house.”

“I don’t need the best in the house.”

“You deserve the best.” With that, he lifted one hand to gently brush a bit of sand and salt from my cheek. Without another word, he turned and left the bathroom and his room. I sighed and touched my own cheek where Lance’s hand had been only moments before.

Fifteen minutes later, I was sitting on the edge of Lance’s bed, tying my shoes when there was a knock at the door. “Come in,” I said, looking for my left shoe. I began to look on the floor and realized it was a hopeless case. His room was a disaster area.

“Looking for something?” Lance asked, walking into the room.

“My shoe. I think your floor ate it.”

“Would definitely explain some of the odd occurrences that has happened to me since I’ve had the room.”

“Do you ever clean this thing?”

“Very rarely, but yeah, on occasion, I do.”

“When was the last time? The sixth grade?”

“Ha ha, very funny,” Lance sarcastically commented as he sat down on his bed next to me.

“I know it was,” I replied.

“Dang woman! Do you complain about everything?”

“Yes! Do you have a problem with it?”

He thought for a second. “No.”

“I didn’t think so.”

Lance reached over and messed up my hair. “Hey! Thanks a lot! Now my hair is going to be frizzy!!”

“Whine, whine, whine...”

“Hey, you like the curls more than me!”

“True.... sorry dear...”

“No problem...”

“Hey, are you two ready yet?” A voice behind us said. The two of us turned and saw Stacy behind us.

“Yeah, of course,” Lance said, laughing.

“What’s going on in here anyway?” Stacy asked with a slight smile.

“Nothing,” I answered.

“Sure,” Stacy replied.

“Really, we were just discussing about how his floor ate my shoe and then, he messed up my hair!”

“How dare you! Mess up a females hair! What were you thinking?” Stacy exclaimed, trying not to laugh.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.... I don’t know what I was thinking... I was weak!” Lance apologized to the two of us.

“Hello? Anyone up there?” Diane yelled from the bottom of the stairs. “Dinner!”

“Come on.... I’m hungry!” Stacy commanded the two of us. Lance and I stood and I looked down.

“There’s my shoe!” I had been sitting on it.

“You were sitting on it, and you blamed my floor,” Lance said. “I can’t believe you.”

“Do you blame me?”

“You shouldn’t,” Stacy mumbled. “That room is like a bottomless pit.”

“My room is? Have you looked at yours lately?” Lance asked as we walked down the hall.

“Well, what do you think?” Stacy asked, stopping in a doorway. The two of us looked around her at the spotless room.

“For once it’s actually clean,” Lance said.

“Hey!” Stacy yelled as Lance ran down the hall to escape her. She chased him down the stairs as I stared at the two and laughed. I then walked slowly down the stairs to find them chasing each other around the dining room table.

“Children,” I sternly said.

“Yes mommy!” They chorused together, continuing their “game.”

Just then, their parents came into the room. “Hey! How old are you two? 4?”

“No!” Stacy exclaimed just as Lance said, “Yeah!”

“Sit down or your going to be sent to your room without super!” His mom joked.

“Kids...” Lance’s dad said, trying to be serious as he came into the room. He didn’t succeed though, seeing as he burst into laughter.

“Can we eat now?” Diane asked.

Lance and Stacy stopped their pursuit of each other to sit down. Lance plopped into the chair next to me while Stacy sat across the table, his parents at the heads of the table.

Lance’s dad, Jim, led the family in a prayer over the meal and we began to eat the spaghetti, garlic bread, and salad. “So... your the infamous Kelly we’ve all heard so much about.” I smiled and looked at Lance. “Lance is always bringing you into our conversations somehow. I think I know everything about you except your shoe size!”

“Seven,” Diane and Stacy said together. I looked at the two in amazement.

“He told us that too. I think you were gone,” Stacy explained.

“Do you all know my measurements too?” I asked, meaning to be joking. Unfortunately, I got an answer.

“I recall a 41...” Jim muttered. “But I don’t remember which one it is...”

“Lance!” I exclaimed. Then, I realized he looked as embarrassed and shocked as I did. “Why did you tell your dad my measurements?”

“I didn’t!” He hissed back.

“Oh... oops....” Now the other three knew that one of the numbers in my measurements was indeed a 41. It struck me as strange at how he was just kidding when picking a number but that he got it right. Lance already knew, because we had once had a very odd conversation and for some reason, I told him. I heard Stacy begin to snicker, and I began hoping that someone would quickly change the subject.

“So, Kelly.... Lance mentioned that you are going to be going to college to be an ob/gyn. May I ask why?” Jim asked.

“I’ve always wanted to deliver babies. Besides, I want to help people.”

“That’s a good reason to want to be a doctor.”

“I know. But the selfish side of me keeps wanting to say, ‘I want the white coat! I want people to call me doctor!’ But, I don’t think that too often.”

There was a moment of silence. “What are you two doing this evening?” Diane asked.

“We’re just going to Justin’s to watch some movies and hang out,” Lance answered.

“Not until you and Stacy do the dishes,” Diane interjected.

“Mom!” Lance and Stacy whined together.

“Lance! Stacy!” She whined back.

“But mom!” Lance continued.

“James Lance Bass,” Diane said. One use of his full name by ‘mommy’ shut him up.

After dinner I was helping everyone carry the dishes to the kitchen. When the table was clear, Diane grabbed my arm. “You really need to see something.”

“Um... okay,” I replied as I was drug out of the kitchen. Moments later, I found myself sitting on the couch while Diane rummaged through the books on a shelf. She soon found what she was looking for, so she crossed the living room, sat down next to me and handed me a large, leather bound book. I slowly opened it and couldn’t help the giggle that escaped. I was looking at picture after picture of baby Lance.

“Here’s Lance right after he was born,” She pointed to a picture.

I thoughtfully tipped my head to one side and murmured, “Kinda resembled Elmer Fudd.”

“And here we are when we came home...” I continued to flip through the photo album. The next page I saw deserved full fledged laughter. “This is Lance’s first real bath.” Diane pointed to a picture of Lance in a bathtub proudly holding up a rubber ducky.

“What’s going on?” Lance asked coming into the room and sitting next to me. I showed him what we were looking at and began to sing.

“Rubber ducky, your the one... you make bathtime lots of fun...”

“Mom! Did you have to show her the bath pictures now? Couldn’t you have waited a little longer before that?” Lance exclaimed.

“Aww, Lance...” I said. “It’s been almost a year. I think I deserve to see the baby bath pictures. Most girls get this treatment way before now.”

“At least she hasn’t gotten the home movies out yet,” Lance said, grinning.

“Home movies?” I repeated, looking from Lance to Diane.

“We got alot. Would you like to see them?” Diane asked.

“No mom, she doesn’t want to see them.”

“But Lance, I...”

“You really don’t want to see our home movies.”

“Oh. In other words, you don’t want me to see them,” I said, emphasizing you.

“Exactly,” he informed us.

Stacy choose that moment to walk into the room and say, “Lance, I finished your laundry. Where would you like your Batman underwear?”

He didn’t answer right away, but when he did, it was out of surprise. “My what?”

“Your Batman- oh, I see you haven’t told Kelly about that yet. I figured that since you know her measurements she knows about your underwear.”

“Stacy, I don’t have any Batman underwear.”

“What? Don’t play stupid Lance. Of course you do!”

“I don’t have any Batman underwear!” He turned to me. “I don’t have any Batman underwear.”

“Lance, I think your in denial,” Stacy persisted, keeping a straight face.

Lance picked up the photo album, gave it to his mom, and pulled me up. “I think we need to go. Justin’s expecting us.” Lance led me out the door and to his black 4-runner. He got in the drivers side and started it up.

“What was that?”

“They were doing everything in their power to embarrass the heck out of me.”

“Did it work?” I asked as I reached up and gently touched his still pink cheek.

“Yeah,” he mumbled.

“If it makes you feel any better, as long as Batgirl isn’t on your underwear, I don’t care.” Lance just sort of laughed and shook his head.

Minutes later, he turned the engine off. I looked up from a case of cds I was inspecting. “Um... Lance dear, this isn’t Justin’s house.”

“I know,” He replied. “I was just hoping for a little time alone with you.”

“But.... I wanna go play!” I said sadly as I pointed at the playground in the middle of the park that we were sitting right outside of.

“Come on then,” Lance said, getting out of the car.

“What are you talking about?”

“Let’s go play.”

I began to laugh. “You’ve got to be...” I noticed the serious look on his face. “All right.” I jumped from the vehicle where we spent the next fifteen minutes running around the playground like a couple of little kids... definitely not 18 and 20 years old.

I ran over and jumped on the stairs for the slide. I climbed the stairs and slid down. Finally, I decided to sit and catch my breath, so I jogged over to the swings. Across the playground, a mother was trying to pull her little boy from the jungle gym.

“Billy, come on. It’s time to go home,” The mother said calmly to her son.

I sat down on the swings and waited for Lance to cross the playground from the slide where he had been watching my movements. When he reached my side, he sat in the swing next to me.

Over at the jungle gym, Billy still had not gotten down. “Billy! I’m warning you!” Mom yelled.

“But mommy! The aren’t leaving!” Billy pointed an accusing finger at Lance and I.

“Billy, I’m not their mother. I want you to get down so we can leave right now!”

“No.”

“Billy, I brought you into this world and I can take you out!”

“I will never say that to my kids,” I mumbled to Lance.

That must have scared Billy, because he slowly climbed down and walked with his head down to their car. As soon as Lance and I were alone, he slowly began to push me in the swing.

“Thanks Lance.”

“For what?”

“I kinda forgot what it was like to act like a kid. Now I remember.”

Lance stopped the swing. “When we get entirely too stressed out, JC makes us do this.”

“JC?!”

“Yeah. Amazing, isn’t it?”

I turned my head and looked at him. After a pause, I softly said, “I love you so much.” Lance smiled and leaned in for a kiss. This was a Jack and Rose on ‘Titanic’ when they were standing on the end of the ship kiss.

After we parted, Lance looked at my watch. “Dang! We’re late!”

Twenty