______________________________________________________
Jay glanced at his watch as he paced back and forth in front of the back entrance of the hotel.
He was waiting for Amy. He'd spoken with the redhead after the house show and then on the phone later on when they'd made their plans to meet.
The blond man sighed as he recalled the incident earlier in the evening. He supposed that, logically speaking, he had no right to be miffed with Adam. After all, he'd never really told his best friend how he truly felt about Amy. On the other hand, the taller man knew him better than anyone else in the world, and he suspected this was no exception.
The short-haired man was beginning to worry. What if Amy didn't show up? What if Adam had stopped her in the hotel and whisked her away? What if the redhead had decided to ditch him because she didn't want to spend her time with any other man but Adam? What if...
All of these thoughts disappeared from his mind as he finally spotted his lovely friend emerging from the inner double doors. She smiled and waved as she went through the outer ones and approached him.
"Hey," she said cheerfully.
"Hey," he replied with a warm smile. She really was a sight for sore eyes.
"Sorry I'm late," she apologized, knowing she must have kept him waiting a good twenty minutes. "I was talking with Trish, and we sort of got caught up in our conversation."
The Canadian man felt his guard slip a bit. At least Amy hadn't been with Adam.
"It's okay," he assured her. "What do you want to do?"
"I don't know," the redhead said honestly. She shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Why don't we just go for a walk around the neighborhood?"
"Sounds good to me," Jay said. He resisted the urge to face her and run his fingers through her lush auburn hair, or to link her arm into his. For some reason, despite their friendship, he felt somewhat uncertain around her now. He guessed it had everything to do with Adam, and what they might have done the previous night. And damn it, he wished he weren't so consumed by those thoughts. It had just about eaten away at him all last night and all today, yet he still didn't know that the redhead had done a thing with his best buddy. Well, that was, besides kiss him. That single kiss he and Trish had witness, in itself, was bad enough.
They walked for awhile, the diva chatting about nothing special, until Jay could stand it no longer. He *had* to know...
"Ames... I'm really sorry to do this, but I have to know..."
The redhead looked at him questioningly, an eyebrow arched.
"Is this all right with Adam?"
"Excuse me?"
"I mean, you two..." Jay's voice trailed off as he searched her lovely face and thought of how to proceed. "... you guys have been getting close. Is it really okay with Adam that we're spending time together tonight?"
"Of course," she replied, giving him an odd look. "We're friends, and Adam knows that." She wondered why he would ask such a thing, as they were best friends themselves.
The blond man nodded, his gaze traveling elsewhere as he was again consumed by an almost morbid-like curiosity.
"So..." He prayed she would not take offense to his next question. "Did anything... happen between you two last night?" He shifted his gaze back to her.
Amy blushed and bit her lip, finding herself thrown off guard by the question.
"That's a pretty bold inquiry there, Jay."
"I know, and... damn it, I'm sorry."
She offered him a small smile.
"It's okay. And no... nothing happened - at least not *yet*," she told him.
The blond man swallowed hard. Somehow, he wanted to ensure that 'not yet' would in fact
be *never*.