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SECOND GLANCE


The booth we were sitting in was nice, plush seats and a thick velvet curtain that we had the option of drawing for additional privacy. The curtain was a little unnerving, though, because all I could think about was what kind of really dirty things people had done in this very booth while the curtain was closed. I could tell, the way AJ and Rochelle kept glancing at it and then at each other, with smirks on their faces, that they were thinking the same thing -- just in a different way. I'm pretty sure they were wondering how to get rid of all the rest of us.

Brian and Leighanne were in a PDA kind of mood, too, and Brian kept whispering things in her ear that made her giggle and then kiss the side of her neck right under her ear. It was unnerving because usually Brian's not like that, he's more reserved because of his Christian upbringing, but I guess the Tokyo nightclub was intoxicating to more than just one of us. Howie and Leigh were still engrossed in their conversation, Leigh checking her cell phone every few minutes - a nervous tic she'd developed ever since they'd hired the nannies to take care of James on tour so they could have some free time together.

Finally tired of being the third wheel, I nudged AJ. "I'm gonna go get a drink," I said. He nodded, and I slipped out of the booth.

I didn't really want any alcohol, though, I felt messed up enough already, a hangover would probably just do me in. I wandered down to the bar anyways, and leaned against it, ordering a coke and sat down on one of the bar stools in a corner, intending to watch the dancers on the floor.

"Where'd you go before?"

The voice startled me. I turned around and saw Victoria, perched on the barstool next to me. My heart raced. She looked exactly as she had before - the skin-tight black dress, the silver chain with rubies around her neck, her auburn hair, the brilliant unearthly blue of her eyes... "Victoria," I said, stunned, "I thought --" I glanced at the floor, then toward the balcony where the VIP lounge booth was. "What the hell?" I asked.

Victoria laughed and leaned over, her hand touching my upper thigh, "You left me just when it was starting to get... hot..." she murmured.

"I know," I said, "I didn't mean to, I thought --" What the fuck happened? I wondered, completely confused. "I- I dunno what happened," I admitted.

She laughed, "Oh Nicky..." Her scarlet lips were so close to mine, I could taste them. She smelled heavily of roses. I leaned over to kiss her, my eyes closing, our lips almost touching....

"Hey, there you are," AJ's voice was suddenly behind me.

I opened my eyes and found myself leaning into empty air. My heart stopped in my chest and I blinked, dumbfounded, feeling my mouth puckered, but nothing on the receiving end.

"What the hell are you doing, man?" AJ laughed. Rochelle smiled from behind him and slid onto a bar stool two down from me, leaving a spot for AJ, who took it. "Imaginary girlfriends again?"

"No," I answered, "No, I... my lips are chapped. Do you have any chap stick?"

"Oh, I do." Rochelle started digging through a microscopic purse that was hanging off her wrist. It was shaped like Andy Warhol's banana, and was something that only Rochelle would ever actually use.

AJ ordered two beers and dropped his money onto the bar, then glanced at me again. "You've been acting funny all night. What's up, seriously?" he asked as Rochelle unearthed a pink tube of chap stick and held it out to me.

I took the chap stick and inspected it before putting it on. "Nothing," I answered, capping and returning the stick to Rochelle, who dropped it into the banana. "Seriously."

"Well, okay. But you know what they say, Carter?" he asked, getting up as the beers came. Rochelle followed suit, picking up hers and taking a swig off the green bottle. He grabbed his off the bar counter and held it up to me, like a cheers. He winked, "Crack kills." With that, he turned and followed Rochelle back toward the dance floor, where I saw them start grinding to the music, their beers held aloft.

"Christ," I muttered. I wasn't doing crack, but it was an awful lot like a trip. I turned back to my coke glass and realized it wasn't in front of me.

"Bar tender, we'll take another one of these, but this time put some gin in it."

I looked to see Victoria beside me once again, pointing at my drained glass as she put it back on the counter. The bar tender took the glass and turned to make the drink. She smiled, "Your friends are charming."

"Where'd you go?" I asked, "He thinks I'm nuts."

"I didn't go anywhere," she said, rolling her eyes.

The bar tender dropped the coke and gin down in front of me and Victoria lifted it up and took a sip. "Very nice," she said, smiling, "Here, have some. Loosen up. You're high strung."

"You would be, too," I muttered. But I took the drink and downed it in one mouthful, dropping it back to the counter and pushing the empty glass toward the bar tender's side for an unspoken refill.

Victoria smiled, "There's the spirit." She leaned in and started kissing my neck. "Maybe we can get back to where we were before," she whispered in my ear.

"I don't know," I whispered, "I don't feel that good, I'm really confused, and my neck is killing me..."

"I'm sorry about that," she muttered, "But how else was I supposed to get in?"

"Come again?"

Victoria smiled, "Nothing, nevermind." She licked my neck, her tongue dragging across my skin, and I felt a shiver go down the length of my spine. "You like that huh?" she whispered, and she did it again. "Come on, Nick... let's go put that curtain in the VIP booth to use, huh?"

"The guys are all up there, though..."

"No, they're dancing with their women, Nick," she replied, "Come on. We'll have some fun."

I led Victoria through the dancing crowd, passing AJ and Rochelle and Howie and Leigh as I went. Howie smiled and gave me the thumbs up and I assumed it was because he guessed what I was up to. I gave him the thumbs-up back. We climbed out of the dance pit, and back up to the VIP lounge. Victoria had been right - even Brian and Leighanne had disappeared from the booth.

The moment we'd dropped into the plush seats, Victoria reached up and pulled the curtain shut, her hands suddenly on me, unbuttoning my shirt hungrily. She was straddling me, her knees on either side of my lap, hiking her dress up around her ass, and I grabbed hold of her thighs, massaging them. She started kissing down my chest as she unbuttoned, her ass bumping against the table behind her.

She was doing this in an animalistic way, and I gasped, my head hitting the wall the behind me. "Oh shit," I groaned.

The curtain opened a little, and a sprite waitress, with brilliant pink hair, peeked in. Undaunted at all by Victoria's attacks on me, she asked, "Can I get you anything?"

"No," I gasped, "Thanks." She seemed surprised by my response, but closed the curtain with a shrug and disappeared. Victoria had never even responded to the girls' presence, never slowed, never stopped. She was running her fingernails down the length of my chest. "Victoria," I murmured, "Maybe we should get a room again."

"You don't stay in the room, Nick," she muttered, "Here you're staying much better."

"I don't know what happened before," I said.

She laughed, "Of course you don't."

I blinked at the attitude in her voice and sat up, pushing her off me, "Why are you getting so upset about that? It wasn't my fault. I don't know what happened, I don't even have a theory about what happened."

Victoria stared at me, and she frowned, "I'm sorry, Nick. I just thought we were having some fun."

"We were," I said, "But things are getting a little weird. I don't get it."

Victoria's eyes softened and her mouth spread into a lovely smile, "Oh Nick, it's okay. Don't be scared. I'm not going to hurt you."

"I didn't think you'd hurt me," I responded with a sigh.

"I'm not going to let anyone else hurt you, either, Nick," she added, leaning closer to me, on her hands and knees. I had a clear line of vision straight down her chest. I swallowed. "Nobody is ever, ever going to hurt you, ever again," she said. She knelt beside me, hugging my head to her chest, "I'm going to protect you, baby."

I looked up at her, and I felt... strange. "Why?" I asked.

"Because I love you," she answered, "Deeply, with my soul."

If the whole it-never-happened-but-yet-it-did-she's-there-then-not-there thing hadn't creeped me the fuck out already, this line sure as crap did. I pulled away. "Victoria, you don't even know me, we just met out there on the floor tonight."

She grinned, her red lips curling in an amused, yet almost sinister way. "Oh Nick, you don't seriously think that's the first time we've met?" she asked.

"I- I-" I stammered, unsure what the hell to say.

"Nicky, Nicky," she whispered, "I can't believe you don't remember..." she frowned, and inched slowly closer to me. I inched further away. We did this until I was up against the back wall of the booth, unable to go any further. She crawled right up to me, her hair a curtain, blocking out the table from my path of vision, her eyes right in mine, and her mouth intoxicatingly close. "How could you forget me?"

Suddenly, the curtain drew back and Brian and Leighanne were standing there. Leighanne was holding a plate of food, and Brian two beers. Brian raised an eyebrow, and laughed, "What's going on?" he asked.

I realized Victoria was gone. I was still pressed against the back of the booth, in a position that only can be made when someone is leaning over you the way she had been. My palms were clammy and my neck throbbing worse than before. I sat up into a normal position quickly. "I - I'm not feeling great," I said.

Leighanne frowned, "What's wrong?" I could tell my admission had made her mommy instincts kick in as her eyes softened into that expression she frequently gave to Baylee.

"I dunno," I answered, "My neck hurts, and I've got a headache."

Brian sat down and dropped the beers on the table. "Well, how much have you had to drink?" he asked.

Leighanne scooted down beside me and put the plate down before laying a hand across my forehead to check if I had a temperature. "Nick," she gasped, "You're burning up, holy shit. Brian, feel him."

Brian half stood awkwardly to gain the height, then put his hand on my forehead, too. "Good Lord, buddy. We better get you back to the hotel. Maybe we should have you get checked out, actually. That's a really bad temp."

"Really?" I asked. I didn't feel hot. I felt cold, actually.

Brian nodded, "Yeah. I'm gonna get Howie and AJ." He slid out of the booth.

Leighanne frowned at me. "You poor thing," she whispered, "Why didn't you tell us you weren't feeling good before? You didn't have to come with us." She was dipping a napkin into somebody's abandoned ice water glass and wringing it out over an empty plate.

"I dunno," I answered.

Leighanne folded the wet napkin carefully, then gently started dabbing my forehead with it. "It's gonna be okay," she whispered in a soothing voice. Somewhere, Victoria's laugh echoed in my mind and I closed my eyes, trying to feel only Leighanne's touch and nothing else.