Fame, Love, and other Lessons

by Frances, Jo

  Chase waited until they were in the taxi before teasing Jamie. "Can I have the check, please?" he said in a falsetto voice, imitating Jamie. "What the hell, Jamie, you thought we were going to dine and dash?"

  Jamie punched him in the shoulder, although it ended up hurting her hand. "I don't know how this stuff works! You are so mean!"

  "Leave her alone, son. She was just trying to do the right thing." Evelyn proclaimed. Chase looked surprised. "I'm just kidding, mama," he said sulkily, but put his arm around Jamie anyway and whispered "sorry" in her ear.

  During the cab ride back to the hotel, they rode in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. As they pulled up to the hotel, Jamie felt nervous and a little shy. This was too scripted, she thought.

  Jamie excused herself so Chase could spend some time with his mother. Evelyn gave her a hug goodnight. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said. "When they fix us up."

  Chapter 5

  In their hotel room, Jamie struggled with what to do next. Should she keep what she was wearing or change out of her clothes like a 50s bride on her wedding night? Should she even wear what she had brought--a cream colored, silk camisole with a matching panty---or just wear what she wore every night a tee shirt and boxer-style shorts. In the end, she decided that she would do what she would have done if she were alone: brush her teeth and go to bed. With the camisole set.

  As she got under the covers, Chase still hadn't returned, so Jamie decided to leave the lights on, but close her eyes and rest.

  She awoke minutes later as Chase got into bed beside her. He had stripped down to his shorts and turned all the lights off except for the reading lamp on the desk, giving the room a dusky, muted glow. Jamie reached for him, her heart pounding.

  "Jamie." It was almost a sigh. "I don't want you to feel that anything has to happen tonight." He lay on his back with his arm around her, and Jamie curled up against him, her head on his shoulder. Like a long established couple, they already had their favorite positions with each other. "I'm just happy you're here, happy you're going to share tomorrow with me."

  Jamie tilted her head up and kissed his cheek, already stubbly with the day's growth. "Thank you for inviting me." He turned to her, their lips not quite touching, sharing a breath.

  They kissed slowly; languorously, until Chase felt Jamie relax into him. The coolness of her silk nightgown cooled off his feverish skin, the thin fabric doing nothing more than highlighting the firm flesh of its wearer. He felt her hand move shyly across his chest, then lower still. He was already aroused, his erection straining against his shorts. He pulled the boxers off impatiently, wanting to be free from their restraint.

  Chase took her hand in his and slowly held it over her head. With his other hand, he caressed her face, outlining her mouth with his thumb. Jamie opened her mouth and swallowed his thumb into her mouth. His manhood stirred in anticipation. He took her other hand and held that over her head as well. When she was pinned by her wrists, her breasts uncovered, Chase rolled on top of her, the whole length of his body engulfing hers. She tilted her head back, and he nibbled at her neck, feeling the blood pulsing through her veins. He moved down, alternately licking and biting her breasts, taking one of them into his mouth.

  Jamie strained to be out of his grip; she wanted to reciprocate and give him pleasure, but Chase held her down roughly. He continued to suck at both breasts until her nipples swelled and hardened in his mouth. When he finally let go of her wrists, Jamie was not resisting him any more. He slid down her body, pausing to kiss her stomach, her hips her waist, through the fabric. He pushed the camisole up until it was pooled around her waist, and his hands moved until they found her panties. He slowly slid the lace garment down her legs until they came off and he could look at her crevice as she lay exposed to him, pink and glistening. He lowered his head until it was buried between her legs, eliciting a small gasp of pleasure from her.

  Chase ran his hands through her thighs, and pushed them apart. With his fingers he opened her up until he found her secret pearl and set his mouth upon it. Jamie arched her back as he worked her with his tongue, feeling her dripping into the sheets. He sucked her clit as he had sucked her breasts, coaxing her to the edge instead of taking her over as he had done so many times before. He stopped, then brought her to the same point again. Jamie let out a whimper of protest, writhing with her unfulfilled desire. "Shh," he told her. "I have something better for you."

  Chase raised himself until he was on top of her again, taking his cock and moistening it with her own juices. He pushed a little inside her, his tip finding resistance already. Jamie held very still, her eyes wide, watching him. He kissed her, feeling her heart pounding wildly.

  "Are you sure?" he asked.

  "Yes," Jamie whispered, her voice mixed with longing and fear. It was what he had been waiting months for. With a self control he didn't know he had, Chase guided himself further into her, his need exquisite as he held himself from claiming her too quickly. He pushed himself slowly inside, feeling her struggling to accept his width as he worked his way deeper. As he felt her wet tightness like a clamp around him, Chase lost himself in the delicious heat of her body and with a groan, drove into her. She cried out as he felt himself tearing her, taking the last of her innocence. Jamie muffled a sob in his chest and Chase held himself still inside her, knowing his fullness and length were straining her.

  After a few heartbeats, he began to move inside her and soon after that, they began to move together. As their pace quickened, Jamie gripped him harder, bracing herself against him as he began to ram fully into her, her slickness easing the way. Chase grew frantic in his own desire, his hips pounding into hers as he had wanted to do for so long. Her body brought out an overwhelming need within him to drive into her, and he did so, impaling her over and over again until she began to writhe beneath him, moaning in ecstasy. Turned on by her reaction, Chase felt his own orgasm coming, felt himself swelling even larger as Jamie cried out in both pleasure and pain. When he heard her calling out his name, felt her body drawing him in as she came, he gathered himself and with a powerful thrust, exploded with a fury inside her.

  Chase collapsed on top of her, cradling her until her heartbeat calmed. Pushing himself up, he withdrew himself out of her, eliciting a brief cry of pain from Jamie as he did so. Wrapping his arms around her, he drew her into him, holding her tight. "Are you...OK?" he asked hesitantly.

  "I think...I'm..." she squirmed uncomfortably.

  Chase realized that she didn't know what to do next. Chase lifted the sheets and they both saw a pink splotch where she had been lying. Jamie made a small sound of embarrassment and jumped away from the spot as if to distance herself from it.

  "Stay right here," he told her.

  He drew a bath in the large whirlpool tub, adding the entire contents of a small bottle of bubble bath he saw on the counter. He drew a towel around himself then grabbed another and joined Jamie on the side of the bed where she lay quietly. "Let's take this off," he said to her. Jamie sat up as he tugged the nightgown over her head. He held the towel out for her and after she wrapped it around her chest, he picked her up and carried her to the bathroom. He lowered himself into the tub first, then helped Jamie to sit on top of him, her back against his chest. She leaned her head back, sighing deeply, with a contented "mmm".

  The whirlpool churning around them was the only sound between them, water the only thing between their bodies. As the silence dragged on, and Chase began to wonder if she were having regrets, Jamie turned her face towards him. "I'm scared." she said.

  This was not what he had expected her to say. "Why?!" he answered. "You think I'm just going to leave you now..."

  "No, what just happened was wonderful, and great, and everything I wanted it to be, because it happened with you. I'm scared because tomorrow your life is going to change and I'm not sure where I'm going to fit in."

  "What aren't you sure about? We're going to be together tomorrow," he took one of her fingers and kissed it
, "and the week after that" kissing another finger, "and the month after that."

  She turned to face him. "Stop." Her face looked pained. "Don't make me any promises. You think I want that because I gave myself to you, but you're wrong."

  Chase hated to fight with Jamie. He struggled to find something to say. "Do you regret what we did?" he asked tentatively.

  "Yeah, a little bit. I wish we hadn't--"

  "Jamie don't say that." It would hurt him more than she knew.

  She tilted her face up and kissed him on the chin. "I'm sorry. What I mean is that I wish we could have kept these two things separate. Our relationship changed tonight because," she intertwined her fingers with his, "we made love. But I'm not worried about that. God, I'm nineteen, it's about time I did it, right?"

  Jamie spoke with a sense of bravado that fooled no one, not even herself. Chase squeezed her hand and she continued. "What I am worried about is how our relationship is going to change tomorrow. She frowned, struggling to put her doubts into words. "To be honest, I'd be just as worried if you were going in to get a job offer with some corporation. You're not going to be coming back to school with me...and I guess I'm just realizing that now. So in a way I wish our first time had been a month ago, or a month from now. Just so you wouldn't feel---" her words trailed off. Pride kept her from admitting that Chase would feel any sort of obligation to her.

  Chase lifted her up and turned her to face him. "We're going to be OK," he told her confidently and meaning every word of it. Jamie was the best thing that ever happened to him and he wasn't going to lose her. "Why does having all my dreams come true mean that I have to give you up? I love you, Jamie. You give me everything I need." He threw his head back and laughed. "And I mean everything! Damn, you are awesome in bed, you know that?"

  With a small smile, Jamie placed her cheek against his; her favorite thing to do when she needed comforting. After the first few times she did this, Chase was curious why. Jamie told him about how when she was a child, she had a favorite stuffed animal, Bucky; a chipmunk. When she felt scared at night, she would rub her cheek against Bucky's and feel soothed. He had pretended to be insulted when she first told him this story. "You're saying I have chipmunk cheeks?"

  She laughed. "No!"

  "Well I do have buck teeth--"

  Jamie laughed harder. "You do not!"

  "Then what?! You have a cheek fetish? Are you a furry?" He pretended to tickle her. "Is that what you did back in North Carolina with your boyfriends?"

  She shrieked in protest. "Oh my god, Chase, there is something very wrong with you!" Then she replicated the motion of rubbing her cheeks against his, thinking. "I don't know. Something about how your cheeks feel against mine just reminds me of Bucky."

  In the tub, Chase breathed deeply at the sensation of her soft cheek against his, spreading contentment that reached deep into his heart. A new thought occurred to him. "You know what?"

  "Hmm. What, Bucky?" Jamie purred.

  "I like when you do that now. It makes me feel good."

  The water splashed around them as Jamie pulled away and looked directly at him, her eyes shining. "I love you, too." She took his face in her hands and began kissing him hungrily. Chase stirred, his manhood needing nothing more than to feel her underneath the water, wrapping her legs around him tighter, her sex on top of his now erect member. With a swift move, he lifted her hips up and pushed himself inside her, feeling her tight walls suffocating his cock. A sound of anticipation escaped her lips and she bit his shoulder to keep from crying out. He reached down between her legs and began rubbing her spot, watching her as she threw her head back, lost in the sensation. Seeing her so aroused and so sexual turned him on, and Chase grabbed her hips, teaching her how to ride him, holding her over him and showing her how to quickly bring them both to a shuddering climax.

  Chase held her tight against him. The water had cooled and when Jamie started shivering, he got her out of the water and gently dried her. He wrapped her up in one of the plush hotel robes, and carried her back to bed, where he continued holding her for the rest of the night.

  Chapter 6

  Jamie woke up before dawn the next morning to Chase pacing restlessly in the room. She wrapped the robe from the night before around her and padded next to him at the window.

  "Sorry, I tried not to wake you up," he said distantly. She stood behind him and wrapped her arms around his chest.

  "It's OK." They stood and watched the first orange streaks of day rising through the buildings. "You aren't going through this alone, Chase," she told him because she sensed it was what he needed to hear. "You have people who are genuinely rooting for you because they love you for who you are, not for what you can do for them."

  Chase exhaled, his shoulders slumping from the effort. "What if I don't get picked tonight?"

  "Do you really think someone like Steve Green would waste a minute of their time with you if there was any doubt?"

  He let out a bitter laugh. "I don't think Steve is one of the people who loves me for who I am."

  "No, but you can always count on people like him to tell you exactly where you stand. Good or bad."

  "I must be doing good, then." He looked around the large room, as if taking it all in for the first time.

  Jamie held out her hand. "Come back to bed." She led him back and they slipped under the covers. This time it was her turn to hold him, and she did until he reached for her and covered her body with his own. In the stillness of the dawn, he made love to her---his pace gentle and slow, until they drifted contentedly back to sleep.

  When the alarm went off hours later, a refreshed Chase ordered a carafe of orange juice and two orders of the eggs, ham and pancakes for himself from room service. Jamie, not normally a big breakfast eater, ordered a bowl of oatmeal and fruit for herself. They ate in their robes, and Chase took a quick shower while Jamie read the paper and finished her tea. He walked out to find her holding the sports section in front of her.

  "Chase, look!" She said excitedly! "You're name is on this list! They think you're going to be picked in the Top Ten!"

  "Really?" Although his voice was distracted, Chase looked pleased as he dropped his towel and began getting dressed.

  After taking an appreciative glance at his powerfully built body, then blushing at the thought of what it had done to hers last night, Jamie began reading, "...Chase Reston, the standout sophomore from Tallahassee Florida, made the biggest impression out of all the prospects on owners and GM's in last week's combine. Showing strong interest in the 6"9 power forward are teams from L.A., Toronto and Memphis..."

  Chase took a swig of orange juice from the table. "Don't read anymore," he told her tersely. "I don't want to have anything in mind; I just want things to happen."

  "OK." In the beginning of their relationship, Jamie had been unnerved by the almost dual personality her boyfriend displayed. There was the sweet, gentle and funny Chase who hung out with her and his teammates. Before and during games, that Chase was replaced by a focused and warlike being who stuffed baskets into the open faces of opponents below, and who was distant and abrupt with her. She understood that this was the Chase that was in front of her now, that it had nothing to do with how he felt about her.

  On the table next to her, his phone kept buzzing with text messages from well-wishers. With a brief glance at the list of messages, Chase shook his head and simply said, "Crazy."

  "Maybe you should tweet something," Jamie suggested, trying to put him at ease.

  Chase wandered into the bathroom to put his tie on. "OK, good idea." he said from in front of the mirror. "You do it."

  Jamie grabbed his phone. "How about; Today is THE day. Blessed and thankful for everything."

  Before he could answer, the phone in their room rang. "That's either my mom or Steve," he said, hesitating before picking up. From the masculine voice that she could hear through the phone, Jamie knew it was the later.

  "Yeah. OK, I'll be down in five." He hung up and
put his jacket on, then turned to Jamie anxiously. "How do I look?"

  "You look great." she told him firmly, her throat catching at how nervous he looked. "I love you."

  Chase placed his hands on the armchair where Jamie sat and leaned forward until his face was inches from hers. She touched his face tenderly. They looked in each other's eyes for a few seconds, and Chase seemed to draw some strength from the exchange. "I love you too. See you...tonight."

  Carla Matarasso was exactly the sort of hyper-organized, hyper-energized woman you would expect from an agent like Steve Green. She called for Evelyn and Jamie at exactly 9:57 a.m., walking in 4 1/2 inch stiletto heels as easily as if she were wearing sneakers, and was surprised to find both of them already waiting in the lobby for her.

  "This is great, just great," she said shepherding them into the awaiting limo. "I can't tell you how many women I have to deal with who are always late." She sat in the front seat next to the driver. "I'm going to sit up front. Why? Because it's easier for me to see where I'm going, and you don't have to listen to me talking." Jamie noticed that Carla and her boss shared the same machine gun-style of talking, and of answering their own questions. "Now. First things first. You ladies need to give me your cell phone numbers in case, god forbid, we get separated."

  When she was confident that they were now tethered to her, Carla began scrolling through her phone, texting and reading, while at the same time providing helpful hints to the driver about how slowly he was going. Every now and then she would make a call to bark orders to the person on the other end of the line, or answer a call, which she kept as brief as possible.

  Evelyn also began using her phone, her tone and methodology so different from Carla's it was hard to belief that the two of them were using the same object. Evelyn drawled and lingered, her conversations filled with so many detours and nonsensical phrases that it would have been hard to follow, even if Jamie weren't listening with half an ear. She thought about calling her mother, but knew her mother would not have been able to hear over the voices of Evelyn and Carla. So she texted her instead, telling her about going to a salon to get her hair and makeup done.