Insatiable* - Part One

Pairing: Lance/Het

Author: Meg

Rating: NC-17

Disclaimer: I’d be in Russia now if I knew Lance.

Dedication: For Mich and Joshie.  Thanks for lifting me up, I’ve had a tough time lately and you’ve given me a lot of fun and made me insanely attached to the toothbrush thief of mine over here.  You guys help me, a lot.  For that, I can never repay you.  It’s all about the connection.  Reach for your dreams, I love you guys.  And the toothbrush klepto too. *winks*

I pulled the nylons carefully up my long legs.  The beige color brought life into my white skin and webbed my toes together like a duck.

I sighed loudly, it wasn’t that I didn’t want to go, because I owed it to Michele to be there, because I told her I would be at every performance, no matter what.  And I owed it to Joey as well, this was an important day to him.  It was just…

I was brought from my thoughts by a knock on the door.

“Hold on,” I called, pushing my short honey hair behind my ear and pulling up my nylons.  My white dress cascaded down my body.

I pulled open the door to see Michele staring back at me.

“Are you almost ready?”  she nervously replied.

“Mich, are you nervous?” I smiled.

She bit down on her lip, “a little.”

“Why girl?!  You’ve done a ton of these things,” I replied.

“Yeah, but this is Joey’s wedding and I really can’t fuck this one up,” she chuckled.

I looked at her carefully, “it’s going to be fine, don’t worry,” I pulled her in for a hug.

There was a moment of silence and then she pulled my chin up to look at her.

“Have you seen Lance?” she asked.

I just shook my head.

“No, not today…” my voice trailed off.

“You guys should really talk abou—“

“Mich, it’s okay, I’ll see you in like ten minutes at the car,” I smiled.

“Okay…” she sung, her eyebrows furrowing, saying with a look of sarcasm that she didn’t believe me.

“Go…” I laughed and pushed her away.

Michele had pushed her hardest to find the best in the industry to support her career.  She took it very seriously and only wanted someone who did just that, take her career seriously.  After much persuasion, JC had listen to her demo, and was hooked.  He passed it along to Lance, who, almost a year ago, took her under his wing.  It’d taken seven months in the studio to produce the album and it would release in a few weeks.  The single had just hit airwaves and was starting to take off.  Joey had asked her to sing at the wedding and since we’d all become pretty good friends, I was invited.  Joey had thrown a fit two days ago when I said I wasn’t going to come.  He and Chris made it their life’s goal to make my life hell and torture me with ice cubes and tickling until I decided to go.  So I gave in, not like it was that hard to say no, especially when Justin gave me the pouty face.

Ten minutes later Mich and I piled in the limo and met with everyone at the church.

“You came!”  Chris ran after me and nearly attached himself to my leg.

“Careful Elfman, you’re going to rip your tux,” I dryly replied with a smile as I looked down at him.

“Hey, thanks for coming,” JC leaned in and kissed my cheek.

“I love you guys, you know that, and Mich, I had to be here for her, y’know,” I looked up at him.

He smiled, knowing full well why this was difficult for me.

“Isabella,” Lance’s voice was solemn as he greeted me.

“Hey,” I pretended to be distracted and excused myself.

The ceremony was beautiful.  A huge Catholic church, surrounded by flowers and hand chiseled crosses.  I sat in my seat next to Michele watching the ceremony.  Lance was standing up with Joey and Steve and he kept looking down at me.  I looked away…those eyes…

When Michele had first started working with them, she had invited me to fly out for a weekend.  I took the time off of school and did so.  We had a great time.  The only person I really didn’t get along with at first was Justin.  But I’d come to learn that it takes tearing down a lot of walls with Justin before he lets you ‘in.’  It was something that took a long time, but now we got along great.  And we are the closest in age, so we have a lot of things in common.

Lance and I had made an initial connection in that one weekend.  We were inseparable, and we remained like that for almost a year now.  It’s like sometimes you just meet someone you ‘click’ with right off the bat, and he and I did that.  I’d had my good share of talks with JC and Justin, but it was Lance and I who spent the most time together.  We were, in a way, best friends.

He was the one I called at four in the morning when a guy broke my heart and I was the one he called when life on the road got lonely.  I’d go meet up with the tour and spend the night on the bus with him, just cuddling and playing video games with Joey. 

There was a line we never crossed, and that insatiable boundary, no matter the temptation, we never broke through.

Michele had confronted me three months ago when I’d come home from a weekend in Florida with Lance.

“You’re in love with him Belle, admit it!” she yelled at me as I buried myself in my bed.

“Mich…”

“I’ve known you for how long, I knew how much he made your heart skip in the beginning, and now…you’re so in love with him it’s ridiculous.”

I ignored her, I had to finish up this semester at school, not worry about who I love or don’t love.  Yeah I love Lance, but…

I snapped out of my daze as everyone applauded and cheered, Joey and Kelly kissing gently.

I clapped along and pushed a smile on my face.

Everyone was shuffled out and pushed in cars to head to the reception.  I hopped in JC’s car, Michele getting rushed ahead of everyone to do a quick mike check before everyone got there.

“Mich already left?” JC looked at me as I closed the door.

“Yeah, she said to come find her when you get there,” I replied as I pulled the seatbelt over my shoulder.  (Always wear a seatbelt when driving with JC.)  JC and Michele acted like they were married, it was absolutely adorable – most of the time.

“What’s wrong Belle, you seem so…is it because of Thursday night?” he looked at me carefully as his SUV sped down the highway.

I just stared out the window.

“You know, Joey told me that you might not come…Belle he didn’t mean what he said,” he softly spoke.

“JC, I made a fool out of myself, end of story,” I stubbornly replied.

“That can’t be the end of the story, you guys have been good friends for almost a year now, don’t ruin that, give him a chance to tell his side of the story, okay?”  JC almost disgusted me with how cute he is.

“Josh…”

“Please, for me?” he batted his eyelashes at me as we pulled into the parking lot and he put the car in park.

I looked at him with a pout and then smile, “we’ll see, but I’ll consider it,” I replied, my brown eyes watching him carefully.

He smiled brightly – that cute smile that you couldn’t help but laugh at because he looked too adorable for words.

“Don’t give me that smile Joshua,” I lectured.

Then his lip started sticking out.

“Okay, fine, I’ll talk to him, happy?” I laughed.

“Yes!  Good!” he comment and quickly kissed my cheek.

“You’re evil,” I laughed as I hopped out of the car and he came around and shut my door.

“Now, let’s party,” he stuck out his arm and I took it.

A few hours later I was standing around, listening to Michele’s second set, when a pair of arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me out on the dance floor.

“Jupe, you nearly broke my heel,” I whined as I looked down at my shoes.  He just laughed evilly.

“Well, you look lonely and bored and sad, so I wanted to cheer you up,” he replied.

I smiled back at him, “alright, thank you,” I replied, looking up at Michele who smiled back at me.

“How are you Justin Randall?” I asked.

He nodded, “good, kinda lonely, Jessie couldn’t make it,” he shrugged.

“It’s okay, cause you’re dancing with me and we can be lonely together,” I chuckled.

“Sounds good, I think Chris wanted to dance with me next,” he laughed.

“Man, Chris is always stealing my dance partners,” I replied.

“Chris is a thief, JC’s a klepto, I tell you, we’re a bunch of nuts in this group.”

I cracked up for the first time the entire night.

When the music ended he bowed and thanked “the lovely princess” for a dance.

I stood there talking to him for a moment when I heard a small voice say behind me “can I cut in?”

I knew the voice, so I didn’t budge, just let Justin smile at me and nod and then leave.

He was before me within seconds, his lime eyes focusing on mine intently.

His arm wrapped around my waist and for minutes we danced to the slow music without a word passing the air between us.  Then again, the air between us was so thick, I was almost positive I could cut it with a knife.

Our touching was cold and mechanical, it wasn’t the same warm feeling I always got when I was near him.  But I sensed that he was holding back because of me.

Being in his arms made my body shake, the tears building in the pit of my chest and glassing my eyes.  I felt like an ocean of emotion was rushing through my veins and I could barely hold in my cries.  He’d hurt me so bad, but I loved him…I really did love him.

He pulled back and looked at me, his hand pressing to my face, his thumb tracing under my eye, wiping away the small droplets.

“I’m sorry Bella,” he leaned in and whispered in my ear.

I didn’t answer, just let him speak.

“The fact that I hurt you so deeply, hurts me.  I can feel how much pain you’re in and to see that I’ve caused that – to FEEL that I’ve caused that, I can’t bare it.  I’m sorry I’ve hurt you so bad, there’s no words to describe how horrible I feel,” he concluded.

I sniffled a bit on his shoulder.

“Why did you Lance, how could you?”  My body shook more now, his hands trying to calm me.

Michele stared down at Lance from the stage, both of them sharing a look.

“I acted like an ass hole, there’s no excuse for that, but it’s because I was scared…because I AM scared.”

“Lance, I told you I loved you and you took another girl home right in front of my face.  Kissed her, touched her, in front of me and all of our friends.  You made me look stupid, you humiliated me.  You ripped my heart open with a knife.  I didn’t care if you felt the same or not, but how could you do that to me?”

He pulled my face so our eyes locked.

“Do you want the God’s honest truth?” his eyebrow furrowed and made that perfect little half circle above his left eye.

“That would be nice for once, Lance,” I replied.

“Okay, come on…” he pulled me off the dance floor.

Part Two