More to Love (a Les Twins fanfic)

Chapter 14: Sabotage

As soon as Krystal accepted her award Larry made a beeline for the exit door.

"Where's he going?"  Stacey asked.  Laurent shrugged.

Out in the hallway Larry bypassed the public entrance and doubled back around to the dancers' entrance to the backstage area where Ben, the school security guard, let him through unchecked.  Then he headed straight for the men's dressing room.  He'd stashed a dozen red roses there away from Laurent's prying eyes before the show to give to Krystal.

Unfortunately, Terilyn was working as a student volunteer that night.  Jenn had reported back to her right after she had words with Stacey in the auditorium earlier and Terilyn had instantly started plotting and planning.  When she saw Larry speeding by she knew it was time to make her move.

She pushed a wardrobe dolly in front of his path forcing him to stop.

"Hi, Larry."

"Hey, um...,"  Larry really couldn't remember her name.  "Excuse me, but I'm kinda in a hurry."

"You can't go that way.  It's locked," She lied and directed him through one of the storage areas.

He followed, bumping his head along the way on some low hanging stage props.  "Ow!"

"Be careful.  It's a little tight back here."  Terilyn came to a sudden stop intentionally causing Larry's mid-section to brush against her backside in the cramped, dimly lit space.

But he ignored their body contact, looking over her head instead to where some dancers were walking past an open door on the other side of the room that led out into the dancers' changing area.  Krystal should be in there with them, he figured.

"Seriously?   Terilyn turned to face him.  "Are you really gonna act like you don't want to try me.  Because that would probably make you one of the only men breathing who doesn't."

Larry blinked down at her irritated and disgusted. "Please believe me when I say I don't wanna try you.  I don't even know you."

He took a step forward towards the door.  Terilyn sensed her opportunity and pounced on him like a tiger.  She leaped, wrapping her legs around Larry's waist and her arms around his neck and stunning him with an unsolicited, highly unwanted kiss on the lips.  At that exact moment Krystal passed by the doorway and saw them.

"Stop it!"  Larry demanded in a loud, harsh whisper.  He was so busy attempting to pry himself out of Terilyn's grasp that he didn't notice Krystal watching.

Terilyn only laughed and held on tighter.  "What's wrong, Larry?  Don't you like me?"

"You're crazy, girl!  Stay away from me."  By the time he managed to push her off, Krystal was gone and Larry never even saw her.

He spent the next forty-five minutes searching for her in vain, but no one seemed to know where she went.  He called her cell phone several times.  No answer.  Disappointed and confused, Larry finally retrieved the flowers from his locker and left.

Terilyn crossed her arms watching Larry leave the building.  She was extremely pleased with herself.  If she couldn't have him, she was going to do her best to make sure Krystal couldn't either.

Krystal's phone buzzed and lit up like it had been doing for the past hour.  It was probably Larry again.

Lying on the couch torn between feeling sad and furious, she watched it vibrate on the coffee table beside her trophy for a few more rings before she reached for it, hesitated, then snatched it up blindly and answered.

"Hello."

"Kris, where are you?"

Instead of Larry it was Stacey on the other end.   Krystal sat up and shifted the phone to her other ear.  "Um, I'm at home."

"What!  Why?  You know we're all here waiting for you so we can go to celebrate."  She paused for breath, exasperated.  "Plus, Larry is totally worried looking all over for you.  Why did you leave?"

"I wasn't feeling well."

But Stacey wasn't trying to hear it.  "Bonk!  Wrong answer.  Try again."

Silence.

"That's it.  I'm coming over, but I gotta dodge Larry and Lau first.  I'll see you in a few."

Krystal sighed knowing there was no way to avoid her friend.  "Okay."

Two hours, a carton of Häagen-Dazs ice cream, and a pack of Oreos later Stacey was all filled in on what had gone down.

"You know what you shoulda done?"  She swallowed a mouthful of ice cream and waved her spoon at Krystal not waiting for a response.  "You shoulda dragged that little witch off him and beat her right in front of errbody.  Then you shoulda called me so I could take a picture for the school paper."

Krystal tried to muster a laugh, but she came up empty.  She pushed the ice cream around in her bowl looking deflated.

Stacey slid the phone across the table at her.  "You need to call him."

"No."  Krystal shook her head.

"You know you want to."

It was true.  She wanted to call Larry more than anything.  All she could think about after she came off stage that night was running into his arms.  But if she had really seen what she thought she saw then she'd rather forget she ever met him than get hurt all over again.

Stacey never could talk Krystal into making the call.  So after she left she drove straight to the guys' hotel and rushed up to the penthouse suite.

Laurent answered the door excited to see her.  "Heyyyy baby, what took you so long to get here?  I hate it when you keep me waiting."

But his excitement got dashed when she cut him off with a short,  "Not now, Lau," and marched straight over to Larry's room where he was sitting in a chair playing PlayStation and looking just about as pitiful as Krystal.

Larry glanced up shocked as a pissed Stacey burst in on him like a tiny tornado. She snatched the controller and clicked off his game.

"We need to talk."