This is part six of 'Love's Faint Echo', a story about lots of stuff that NEVER happened. Okay? NEVER HAPPENED. It's not meant to imply anything about anyone, particularly any members of any boy-bands mentioned. All for fun, folks. And don't be reading it if you're not supposed to, okay? Okay.
PLEASE, let me know what you think of the story, and whether you're enjoying it so far or not. There were a few of you who wrote last time, and it was appreciated. Input is very welcome at:
faint_echo@hotmail.com
Thank you.
SIX
Shelby looked up from the block in front of him when he heard the door open.
"Morning."
"Morning," Lance smiled, coming further into the room. "I'm not disturbing you, am I?"
"Not at all. I was just doing the quick-work on this, and it doesn't take a whole lot of concentration. Basically, I'm just clearing the large chunks that I don't need out of the way so that I can get down to the actual detailed work." He indicated the block of soap in front of him. So far, he had cut away the excess around the body of the bird, and was working at shaving away the extra from the curve of the neck.
"It looks good."
Shel smiled and handed Lance the tool in his hand. "Give it a try."
Shaking his head, Lance didn't take the chisel. "I don't know what I'm doing with it. I would likely just mess it up for you."
Taking Lance's hand, Shelby put the chisel in his palm and curled the fingers around it, then let him go. "Don't worry about messing it up, or you probably will. And if you mess it up, you mess it up. It's not like I'm near finishing it. If I were, I wouldn't have asked you to try. This is only about an hour's work. I can redo it if I have to."
"Are you sure?"
Shelby sat there, looking at Lance. "I offered, didn't I?"
Blushing, Lance nodded. "Okay. I forgot. So what do I do?"
"Do you see the bird?"
"Sort of, yeah."
"Then take off what you don't see as part of the bird. Actually, take off all but about a quarter of an inch around the bird, just to be sure. Then you shave the rest away more carefully until you're left with the shape that you want."
"Right here?" Lance tentatively put the chisel to the side of the block, just above the top of what was to become the head. He was surprised by the ease with which he marked the soap. The chisel was razor sharp.
"Looks good to me."
Bracing the block with his left hand, Lance pushed on the chisel, directing it as it cut easily through the soap. When he made it through, a chunk dropped to the table, and he looked up at Shelby for his comments.
"That was pretty much exactly what you wanted to do," he told Lance. "And you keep doing that all the way around the bird until it's a rough outline.
Then you just need to smooth out the outline before you get into the really detailed stuff. You might want to be a little more careful, though. The neck is the weakest part of it now that I've got it cleared out, and it wouldn't take much to snap it off right here." He reached out and indicated a spot along the neck of the bird. "You want to keep going?"
"No, I think I better not push my luck. Right now, I'm a success. Let's not tempt fate."
"Fair enough," Shelby said with a smile, taking the chisel from Lance. "I'll finish up around the head, and then put it away for later." Moving much faster than Lance had, Shelby set in on the block of soap, and in very short time had a bird-shape sitting in front of him. It was far from finished, but it was clear what it was going to be in the end. He pushed the bird to the centre of the table and cleared away the bits of soap, putting them in a bucket.
"What do you do with the extra chunks?" Lance asked as they stood.
"What I can't use, I take back to the guy who sells me the blocks. I keep them separated by colour for him as much as possible. I'm not sure what he does with them, but he gives me a discount according to how much I bring him." Shelby put the bucket back under the counter he had taken it from, then looked back up. "You hungry? I've got coffee, tea, juice, fruit, and bread for toast. Breakfast is normally just some toast and juice for me."
"I could eat, but we might as well wait for the others."
"Okay, then. Was there something that you wanted to do until then? Play pool or something?"
"Did you say you had run of the roof?"
"Sure."
"What's up there?"
Shelby picked up his shirt from the back of a chair and pulled it over his head, slipping his arms into the sleeves. "A couple of benches."
"Can I see?"
"If you want to, sure." Shelby waved Lance out the door, then turned out the lights and followed him down the hall to the elevator. It opened immediately, so they knew that none of the others were up and moving around yet. Lance was surprised to see Shelby press the button for the sixth floor. Seeing this, he explained. "To get to the roof, you have to take the stairs from the sixth floor. The elevator doesn't go all the way up there."
"Isn't your boss going to be upset about us being on that floor?"
"No. As long as you're with me, he won't say anything. If you were to go alone, or just with the others, he'd be upset about it. But that'd be useless anyway, since the door outside has the same lock as the one downstairs. You wouldn't be able to get out without me or Jackson, and I guarantee that he wouldn't be coming up to let you out. He likely won't even know that we're there. His apartment is the fifth floor. The sixth is left alone for the most part. It's only used when he's hosting the annual party, or on the extremely rare occasion that one of his people has to stay over."
"How rare is extremely rare?"
"The floor's been used eleven times since I got here. Eight of those times were for the party."
The doors opened, and they stepped out into the foyer. It looked exactly like the one found on every floor, except for the fact that there was a doorway set into the side wall, as well as the familiar double sliding ones beside the elevator. Shelby led Lance to the side door and opened it with a key from the keyring in his pocket. It wasn't self-locking, so there was no way to get locked on the other side if he was to leave a guest up there for a moment. Ushering Lance through, he let it close behind him as he turned on the light in the stairwell.
It didn't take them long to climb the few stairs to the roof level, and Lance moved to the side as Shelby stepped to the keypad and entered in the code.
"Is it the same code as the one downstairs?"
Shelby shook his head. "It's separate. Just another example of how thorough Jackson is. There are several people who know the code for the roof. For the the door to the street, there's just Jackson and I, and a handful of security people."
"Why do more people know this one?"
"Because it's easier when he's having the party," Shel explained, opening the door and stepping outside. "Jackson and I don't have to run up here every time someone wants to get a breath of fresh air. He either posts someone at the door all night, or he tells a few people so that they can get out if they want."
"Isn't that a security risk?"
"Not really. From outside, there's no keypad. You need the key to get in, and then there's a separate code that you have to punch in to keep the alarm from going off. There's someone on this side during parties so that they can let people back into the building again, and the alarm is turned off."
They walked to the edge of the building, where the benches were sitting, and looked out over the ledge at the city. While there were plenty of buildings around them that were higher than seven stories, they were still afforded a nice view of things.
"This is pretty cool."
"Yeah, it's nice. I come up here a few times a week or so. Just to sit and read, or look out at everything."
Lance gave him a confused look. "This doesn't bother you?" He sat down and waited for Shelby to join him. "I mean, the way you are with crowds and busy places, I would have thought that being up here, with the entire city surrounding you, it would be kind of bad for you."
"This is different, up here," Shelby explained. "I can't stand to be in the middle of crowds of people, but this is okay. I'm above them all, and on my own turf, I guess. I'm still alone up here, really. I spent a lot of time like that. I'm used to being alone in the middle of the city. It's just when I'm actually faced with a lot of people running around that I get bothered. This is good, though."
"I'm glad. You had me a little scared last night, at the concert. The way you took off from the conference room, and the look on your face when I found you was kind of scary."
Shelby nodded. "I thought you looked a little off. I was a lot more than a little scared, Lance. I've never been faced with that many people in one place before. To me, it seemed like the entire city was there. Add that to all of the people moving around backstage and everything, and it was too much. I didn't mean to scare you, though."
"It's okay, Shel. I'm just sorry that it affected you like that. We all wanted you to have fun."
"I did have fun, for the most part. I was fine until you had to meet with the fans. Until then, there were definite boundaries between me and them. Once they were jammed in that room, though, I had to get out. But I had fun. Thanks for inviting me."
Lance smiled and sat back on the bench. "No need to thank me. I was glad that you agreed to go." He fell silent for a few minutes, obviously thinking about something. Shelby watched him for a moment, and then turned his attention out to the city again so that Lance wouldn't think that he was staring at him. When Lance finally did speak, his voice was accompanied by a hand landing on Shelby's arm. "Shel?"
He turned his attention back to Lance and smiled. "What?"
"There's something that I wanted to talk to you about."
Turning on the bench, Shelby gave Lance his full attention. "Sure. You can tell me anything you want."
"I hope so," Lance smiled. "Okay. Straight-forward and to the point, right?"
"I've always found that's better, yeah."
"Okay. Shel, I like you."
"I like you, too."
"No, I mean I really like you. I invited you to the concert last night because you're a friend, and I wanted you to get out of the building for a while. But I also wanted to get to know you better, and for you to see what it is that I do. I was looking for a way to spend some time with you." He inched a little closer to Shelby on the bench. "We're friends, but I wanted to know if you thought that we could be more than that."
Shelby sat, watching Lance's face for a moment. It was totally open. He'd seen enough in the brief time that he'd known Lance and the rest that none of them generally spoke completely openly. There was always a bit of guardedness there. Probably to keep from getting screwed over in the music business. But that was gone now.
He reached out and took Lance's hand from his arm, smiling. "I think I'd like that." He felt the connection that he'd felt being established ever since they had met two days before solidify even more.
Lance let out the breath that he'd been holding and started to smile. "That wasn't so hard."
"Good."
"So what happens now?"
"I don't know. You're only in town until tomorrow."
Lance nodded. "We fly out first thing in the morning. Maybe it's better if we take this slow. I mean, we'll email and stuff, and get together when we can. But it would suck to get really into this fast and then just have to leave again."
"Okay, if that's best. I've been wanting to say something, but I wasn't going to."
"That's hardly open and honest, is it?"
Shelby smiled ruefully. "No, it's not. But I couldn't say something until I knew what you were thinking. My life isn't exactly the kind that you just pull someone else into. There's a lot of responsibilities and weird things that come up that I can't talk about and have to be here for. It's not for everyone."
Lance started to laugh. "And mine is?"
"No, I suppose it isn't."
"So we're agreed? We get to know each other better, and take this slow so that we can each get used to what the other's life is like?"
"As long as I'm out of the crowds, I'll go along with that."
Lance smiled and nodded his agreement. "I'll see what I can do to keep the audience out of your living room."
"It's appreciated."
"Can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"Can I kiss you?"
The question had been half-whispered, but Shelby didn't have any problem hearing him. Nodding his head, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to Lance's.
==============
"Where did you two get to?"
JC was sitting in front of the TV on the third floor. Lance and Shelby had stopped there to see if the others were up. "We were checking out the roof," Lance told him, sitting down. Shelby took a chair as well. "Is everyone else up?"
"Am I ever the first one awake?" JC asked sarcastically with a smile. "They came in and pulled me out of bed a little while ago. They're showering now."
"What are we doing for breakfast?" Shelby asked. "I have the very basics, but nothing substantial."
"Can we order in breakfast?"
Shelby smiled and nodded his head. "We can."
"Then, we should."
"And we should let the guests pay for it," Lance added with a smile.
"That's really not necessary," Shelby put in. "It's much easier to just charge it to my account there."
"Yeah, and then you have to pay for it when the bill comes," Lance argued.
"You might as well let him win, Shelby," JC laughed. "He's not going to give up on it. Once he puts his mind to something, it's better to give in."
"First of all, I'm more stubborn than the five of you put together. Second of all, I don't have to pay for it when the bill comes. They're put directly into Jackson's bills, and all paid off by his people. You're my guests, and you're not paying for breakfast."
"Is there anything that he doesn't provide for you?"
"Not much. I pay for my books, my workshop supplies, and pretty much anything that I buy when I'm outside of the building. Unless I use one of the credit cards, of course."
"You've got credit cards?"
Shelby nodded, noting that JC was paying attention, but was letting Lance ask the questions. He wondered when Lance would let the rest of them in on their conversation on the roof, deciding to let him do it in his own time. "I've got three credit cards, all belonging to Jackson. They're corporate cards, since I'm technically an employee."
"Ever get the urge to go on a spending spree?"
"For what? Everything I want is here already. The only thing I ever use the credit cards for is to buy clothes. Since I'm always on duty, Jackson considers it a uniform."
"Is that why you wear so much black?"
"No, that's just because I like black."
Justin walked by in a towel, on his way back to his room from the shower. "You can use it now, Josh. Hey, Scoop, Shelby. What's up?"
"I'm buying you all breakfast, if you're ever ready," Shelby told him with a smile.
"Always ready for a free meal," Justin returned, then took off down the hall to get dressed. Chris came in from the foyer, said his good mornings, and then followed after Justin. Lance and Shelby relaxed in front of the TV and waited for everyone to get together so that they could finally get something to eat.
============
They had no sooner gotten back from answering the door for the breakfast delivery than the buzzer went off again. Shelby looked around at their questioning glances with one of his own, then got up and headed back downstairs. Once he was there, he punched in the code and opened the door to find Frank, one of the computer techs that dealt with Jackson's home system.
"Hi, Shelby. I've got your system."
"Already?" He had called Jackson before heading down to his workshop that morning, but he hadn't expected a reaction this fast.
"Mr. Davis called a few hours ago and told me to get it done as quickly as possible."
"He made you work on a Saturday? I didn't need that."
"It's what he wanted, though. And you know better than anyone that when Mr. Davis tells you to get something done, you do it."
"Okay, I guess. Do you need help with anything?"
"No, I don't think so. I've got a couple of people with me in the van. I didn't know exactly what you needed, though."
"Basically, I need access to the internet. That's all I'll be using the computer for."
"Okay, that's no problem. I'll go and bring the stuff in, and then you can go back to whatever you were doing. You won't even know that I'm here."
"Sure thing, Frank." Shelby put the block in front of the door so that it would stay open, and then stood back out of the way as Frank and his two assistants started bringing boxes in.
When everything was sitting in the foyer, Frank sent the other two to get something to eat while he set things up. Pointing to a box, he looked up at Shelby. "That's a temporary desk. Mr. Davis said that you likely didn't have one, so I brought it. I'm to tell you to go out and get yourself one that you like to replace it, and I'll come back and set you up again. By then, you'll know what you do and don't like with the system, so we can make any changes as well."
"Sounds good. You need any help getting this stuff upstairs?"
"Could you give me a hand putting it in the elevator? I'll block the doors once we get there, and I can take it from there."
Shelby nodded and lifted a couple of the boxes, walking them to the elevator. "I've got company upstairs, Frank. Can you try and be as quiet as possible?"
"No problem. Where are you wanting this set up?"
"Doesn't really matter, I guess. Maybe my bedroom? With all of the bookshelves in the living room, there might not be enough blank wall space to put it in there."
"Alright. I don't think there's going to be any problems. That entire floor was run when Mr. Davis put in the new network upstairs a few years ago, as I'm sure you remember. There's hookups all over the place, just in case. Mr. Davis has been waiting for you to get connected, apparently."
"He has. I've been hearing about it regularly for years. Now he'll have to find something else to bitch at me about."
Shelby noticed the way Frank's eyes widened upon hearing his comment and had to keep the smile off of his face. Shelby was the only person who would dare to talk that way about Jackson. Especially inside the building. It was like they were afraid that he had microphones and cameras installed throughout the place and would know if they got out of line. Or, like they were afraid that part of Shelby's job was to report any unbecoming conduct to Jackson. In a way, he supposed it was.
When they finally had the boxes loaded, Shelby took them back to the second floor, where Frank nudged a box with his foot until it was in the doors, keeping them open. Leaving him there, Shelby walked into the apartment and sat down with the others again. "Computer guy. He's here to hook me up."
"Already?"
"I've got friends in high places," Shelby told him, pointing at the ceiling.
"When Jackson says jump, you jump. Twice, just to be certain you did it enough."
He leaned forward in his seat and took a plate, filling it from the different take out containers as Frank made his first trip into the apartment, walking down toward the bedroom. "Anyone thirsty?" he asked, standing back up. "Water, milk, juice, coffee, tea?"
They all chose juice, and he headed to the kitchen to fill the orders. Filling three glasses, he took them out to the living room and then went back for the other three. When he returned to the living room this time, he found Frank shaking hands with the guys.
"My daughter is such a fan of yours," Frank was saying. "She and her mother are going to be there tonight at your show."
"That's great to hear," Justin smiled, shaking his hand.
Shelby set the glasses down on the table and then stood up. "Frank?"
Frank stopped smiling and turned to face him.
"You're here to install a computer, not to waste Jackson's money and chat with my friends."
The others looked away from Frank, turning their shocked expressions to Shelby instead. The tone of his voice wasn't close to anything that they'd heard yet. Nor was the expression on his face. "Shel..." Lance started, but was stopped by Frank's voice.
"You're right, Shelby. I don't know what came over me."
"Neither do I, Frank. Do you need some help, or are you okay?"
"No no, I'm okay. I'll be done before you know it."
"That's fine. You can get to it now."
"Sure. Sure, Shelby." Frank didn't even look at the others in the room before retreating to the bedroom to do his job. Shelby watched him go, then sat back down and picked his plate up again.
"Um, Shel?" Lance ventured. "Don't take this the wrong way, but what the hell was that?"
"What was what?" Shel looked up from his breakfast, completely baffled.
"That," Chris said, pointing down the hall. "He was just saying hello."
Shelby finally understood. "Oh. I know, but that's not his job. He's not here to say hello." He honestly didn't understand what had gotten to them about what had just happened. "So I reminded him."
"You scared him," Lance said.
"No, I reminded him." Shelby took a drink, then sat back up. "He's been scared since he came through the door."
"Well, was it really necessary? I mean, he wasn't bothering us any."
"I didn't think he was, but it was necessary. Frank's getting paid to be here on business. Jackson felt it important enough to get him here on a Saturday. Now, realistically, it doesn't make much of a difference if he stops to say hello or not. The job gets done either way, and it's his weekend that he's cutting into. But, he knows how it works."
"How's that?" Joey asked, starting to eat again.
"When people step foot in this building, unless they're invited as guests like you were, they're here on business. Nothing else takes precedence. Everyone who comes in here knows that, and understands it. If they're new and don't understand it yet, they learn it fast. Jackson would fire Frank for what he just did if he found out about it. That's how strict the rule is. They speak when spoken to, unless they have a question about their job.
"I'm not going to go and tell on him for saying hi to you, but I'm supposed to. Jackson takes the rules seriously, and demands that the rest of us do, too. If he thinks that something is important enough to let them into his building, risking security, then you treat it that way. Frank forgot that, and I reminded him. Trust me, he's not offended."
"But you're not going to tell Jackson?"
"No, of course not. I'm not an ogre. But I do have a job to do, and I have to do it. What would happen if one of your bodyguards took a break just because their friends were around? Jackson trusts me to be on duty 24 hours a day, and I have to be."
They studied him for a moment, and then started to eat again. "Okay," Lance conceded, "we see your point. It was just weird to see. You were really intense there for a minute."
"When people are here semi-regularly, they can start to think we're friends.
And maybe we are, after a fashion. But above that, we're employees, and I'm a higher-ranking one, paid to keep an eye on them. I take it seriously.
Haven't you ever had to drop the friendly act and give an order to get something done?"
"Sure we have," Justin assured him. "Sorry for questioning you."
Shelby waved it off. "Don't worry about it. I guess I can see where it would have looked strange. You're not used to how things work around here, and they're definitely different from the way they work outside of this building. If you run into someone who's here on business, just let them do it. They should know better than to speak to you unless you speak first."
"So we should ignore them?" Lance asked.
"Honestly? Yes, you should. You won't likely see many people here, but if you do, ignore them. Most likely they'll be happy you do, because they tend to get nervous if you make them stop working. Even though Jackson's in his apartment five floors up, they seem to think that he sees all and knows all."
"Okay, if that's the way it works," Lance agreed for everyone. "Are you going to go and tell him that you're not going to go to Jackson and get him in trouble?"
"In a few minutes," Shelby told them, starting to eat again. "I'll let him worry for a few minutes, so he won't forget next time." He caught the uneasy glances from them, but wasn't sure what he should do to explain it further. He'd never needed to do so.
Shelby was starting to wonder if maybe this was going to be too strange for Lance to deal with, on top of his already strange life, but they all seemed to put it behind them after a few minutes, and the conversation gradually began again. "What time do you have to go to get ready for tonight?" he asked, looking around the table.
Lance checked his watch. "Pretty soon. We've got an appearance this afternoon, and then we've got to start getting ready."
"You're coming back for tonight?"
"I don't think so."
"You're more than welcome to stay here."
Lance smiled shyly. "We know, but we fly out first thing in the morning. There's a bunch of stuff that we've got to go through with management before we go. It's just easier if we stay at the hotel tonight."
"Okay, if you're sure. But next time you're here, the invitation stands."
The five of them shared a look, then turned their smiles on Shelby. "Thanks," JC said, speaking for the group. "We'll let management know. I'd much rather stay here than in a hotel. It's nice waking up without screaming people outside."
Setting his empty plate on the coffee table, Shelby stood up. "I'll go talk to Frank, I think."
"Okay, we'll go and get our things together while you're doing that," Lance said, standing. He started to gather the plates up, but Shelby grabbed his arm to stop him.
"Leave those. It's no problem, really."
"You're sure?"
Shelby gave him an exasperated look as he nodded. "I'm sure."
Lance started to laugh, shaking his head at his own foolishness. "Okay, okay. I'll leave them. We'll be back down in a few minutes." Still chuckling, he led the others out of the room and into the foyer.
Shelby turned and started for his bedroom, trying not to be disappointed at the news that they wouldn't be spending another night at the apartment. But, he knew that he'd see them all again the next time they were in the city.
Frank was leaning over the back of the desk he'd set up in Shelby's bedroom, connecting some cables, when Shelby entered the room. He stood immediately when he heard the door click shut. "Shelby..."
"Relax, Frank. I'm not going to tell Jackson about what happened. But if it ever happens again..."
"It won't."
"Good."
"I was just really surprised to see them here. To tell you the truth, I was really surprised to see anyone here. I don't think I've ever seen you with anyone."
"It doesn't happen often, Frank. Listen, there's something else that we need to talk about."
Frank put the cable down and gave Shelby his full attention.
"You know what I do here?"
Frank nodded.
"Then you'll understand when I tell you that, as long as they're under this roof, they're also under my care. If anyone finds out that they were here, or are here in the future, I'll know who to talk to."
"You know I'd never tell anyone what happens here, Shelby."
"I didn't think I'd ever find you talking while you're supposed to be working, either. I'm just telling you how it is, Frank. They're my friends, and if word gets out about them being here - even your daughter finding out that you met her favourite group, regardless of whether you tell her exactly where - I promise you that Jackson will take a personal interest in you."
This time, he enjoyed the way Frank's eyes widened even more than he had when they had been at the street entrance. It meant that he took Shelby's warning seriously, and understood what it meant. "I won't say a word, Shelby. I promise."
"Good. Now, how are things coming here?"
There was a moment while Frank computed that Shelby had switched topics, and then he looked at the computer in front of him. "Everything's going just great. The hookup in here is in a slightly inconvenient place, but I worked it out. Is this spot okay for you? I can move it if you want."
"It's fine."
"Okay. Um... I've just got a few more connections to make, and then I'll turn it on and set it up for you. I'll let you know when I'm done, and I'll give you a quick lesson on what you need to know. It's pretty simple."
"That's fine. I'm going to see my friends out, and then I'll come back and look it over. I shouldn't be long."
"Take whatever time you need," Frank responded quickly, then blushed a little bit, realising that Shelby had been in no way clearing his plans with him, just informing him of what was going to happen.
"I will," Shelby said simply, then turned and opened the door again, starting out for the living room. He bypassed the table, leaving the dishes and takeout containers to clean up later, and went straight for the elevator for the short trip to the third floor.
"Did you set his mind at ease?" JC asked with a grin when Shelby passed the bedroom door.
"I told him I wouldn't be talking to Jackson about what happened," Shelby returned, stopping in the doorway. "I don't know if his mind is at ease or not. Probably best if it's not, so he remembers next time."
"Pretty strict set of rules you have around here," JC smiled, zipping up his bag. "Must drive you insane."
"They've got to be strict. It keeps Jackson sane knowing that things are being taken care of by people he can trust. There aren't many of us that he trusts, and he takes care of us well, so we take it seriously. As for it driving me insane, not really. I've got very little to complain about. It took a while to get used to things, but now it's second nature. I barely even think about the rules unless one gets broken."
"And it's part of your job to enforce them, right?"
Justin and Lance came walking into the room, having heard them talking. Both had their bags over their shoulders, dropping down to sit on the bed. Shelby waited for them to be seated before answering. "Sort of. Within the building it is, yeah. Jackson's the only one that outranks me here. Outside of the building, I give up a lot of that power to whoever's in charge wherever I happen to be. But, I don't have much call to interact with the rest of Jackson's world."
"So, did Frank finish?" Lance asked, smiling at the thought of being able to keep in touch with Shelby while he was on tour.
"Not yet, but he said it would only be a few more minutes. He's getting ready to show me exactly what I need to do to get onto the information superhighway. I told him I'd be back after I saw you off."
"And you've still got our addresses, right?"
"They're already in my organiser. As soon as I figure this thing out, I'll let you know."
"Good," Chris smiled, coming to stand behind Shelby in the doorway. Joey appeared behind him almost immediately. "I called management and told them we were on our way."
Justin, JC and Lance all sighed as they stood up, reluctant to head back out into the world that was waiting to swallow them once more. Shelby stood to the side to let them all go ahead of him from the room toward the elevators.
Lance hung back as well, making sure that everyone else was out of the room and giving Shelby and himself a brief moment alone. Smiling, he passed through the doorway, letting his hand lightly brush against Shelby's chest. Shelby smiled back and followed him to the elevators, where the others were already inside and holding the doors open.
"So we'll hear from you later today?" Justin asked as the doors closed and they started down to the main level.
"As soon as Frank shows me how to do so, yeah," Shelby promised. "There should be something from me the next time you check your messages."
Joey started to laugh. "Then you better get moving. Chris checks his every twenty minutes or so. He'll be in front of his computer as soon as we're back at the hotel."
"Maybe not that quickly," Shelby smiled. "But as soon as I can do it."
The doors opened, and they stepped out into the main foyer, their steps echoing on the tiled floor in the unadorned room. Shelby entered the code on the keypad, then started to pull the door open to let them out onto the street, but Lance put his hand out, stopping him with the door open only an inch or so.
"Wait."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Um, guys? Can you look over there for a minute?" Lance pointed toward the door leading to Shelby's workshop as he blushed, the red rising clearly in his pale cheeks.
They all looked at him, then at each other, gradually starting to smile. "Sure, Scoop," JC answered for all of them, then turned away as the others did.
Lance licked his lips as he turned back to face Shelby, then reached out, putting one hand around Shelby's waist to draw him in for a kiss and the other on the back of Shelby's neck. Tilting his head to the side, he pressed his lips to Shelby's, parting them slightly in invitation. Shelby put his hands on Lance's waist while he kissed him back, then pulled away again with a smile. Lance darted his head forward quickly for another kiss, then let go and stepped back. "Okay, guys."
"That didn't take long. You sure you're done?" Joey laughed, getting everyone going.
"I'm sure," Lance answered, hitching his bag up on his shoulder again. He smiled at Shelby, then grabbed the still-open door and pulled it the rest of the way open. "Let's go."
The four of them turned back around, identical expressions of happiness on their faces, and started for the door. Each shook hands with Shelby, thanking him for his hospitality and promising to be in touch, then stepped outside. Lance was, predictably, the last person to leave, pausing to run his hand across Shelby's arm, then stepping outside, where Chris was in the process of flagging down a cab. "I'll talk to you later?" Lance asked, looking back over his shoulder to where Shelby was standing in the doorway.
"You know where to find me," he agreed, smiling as Lance laughed. "I'll go see if Frank's finished yet." He said goodbye to the guys again, then stepped back into the cool, darkened interior of the building with a last smile at Lance. He was just pushing the door closed when he heard JC's voice.
"You care to explain that, Scoop?"
TBC...
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