Blind Man's Bluff

Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

How had she gained entrance? Hell, he had spoken of her enough with the guys, especially when shot glasses were involved. Just the mere mention of her name, and any one of them would have let her in to surprise him.

“Hey, you want something to drink? There is a cooler around here somewhere...” Of all the things he longed to ask her, whether or not she was thirsty, was not one of them. Yet the polite words slipped from his lips.

“Sure.” She agreed. “I'll get it.”

Turning away, he hesitated before his player, then instead of lowering the volume, he disconnected it from the dock. The top popped from a canned drink, and he pivoted that way with a hesitant smile.

“So...this is a surprise.” His throat was suddenly parched, but his own drink had been long lost in just another unfamiliar room. He considered crossing the few steps to where she was, but instead leaned a hip against the long vanity.

“You invited me for the summer.”

“That would be last summer.” The correction was dry, but the smile still twitched at his lips.

“Summer, summah.” The enunciation was a clear imitation of the phrase 'tomato, tomatah.'

A laugh worked its way into his throat, and the sound felt as good to feel as it did to hear. Rarely, did he find humor in anything anymore. During the summer in question, he had been angry and hurt, but she was here now, and damn if he could feel anything but elated. “Yeah. I guess you're right.”

The scent of her filled his senses. Sweet like vanilla and something all her, that he had never again picked up on no matter how many girls hugged against him. She was a breath away, and instinctively, he put out his hand. Initially, his the callouses on the pads of his fingers brushed her arm, than upward, coming in contact with the tips of her hair. Longer, but still so silky, and he sifted it's weight through his fingers in that way he had missed so much.

“You guys rocked the roof off.”

“You saw the show?”

“Of course.”

“From which side?” Somewhere in the wings, unnoticed by him?

“I opted for the front row experience.” The laughing lilt, he remembered so well, infused her reply.

The next few seconds were so silent that he could hear the fizz of the carbonation in the can she held.

“I didn't see you.”

“I know.” Softly, her words fell between them.

What he wouldn't give to have hung over the stage, staring into their audience--to have been stunned by her face. “It's good to see you Lanie.”

“Is it?” She returned with what sounded like a huff of a scoff.

“Yes..?”

“Sorry. That was a really bad joke.” Now her answer was contrite, and her hand curved around his arm in a physical apology.

“I don't get it...” However, even as he spoke, his degree of confusion was dissipating, and he dropped his unfocused eyes.

“Chris, I know you can't.”

“Can't?”

“See me. You know that I know, right?”

Chris let go, stepped back. This was a freaking nightmare. Yet what had he thought? That even if she didn't know, he could fake his way through more than five minutes of this reality?! This was Alaine, not some random fan wanting to say hi and get an autograph.