Under Her Skin (25 page)

At the after party, he planned to put phase three into effect. It wasn't that any of his first three phases were anything major, but they were important. He needed them to show her that he was on her side, that he cared for her, and that even though she didn't think she could, deep down she knew she could trust him.

Since they had such a large crowd for the concert, they had a larger than normal after-party backstage. Luckily, the concert venue had a room big enough to accommodate all of the people, but it was still a little crowded. Tobias made sure to keep Marlo in his sight, and tried to stay relatively close to her all night. He noticed that she had been watching him every so often, and on more than one occasion, he knew that she had seen him turn girls down that were hitting on him.

If Tobias was honest with himself, he'd have to admit that turning those girls down was a lot easier than he thought it would be. Sure, they looked good, and might give him a few minutes of satisfaction, but ever since he had a taste of something solid, something that would last, that was all he wanted. And their looks…he knew that deep down, those girls weren't nearly as pretty as Marlo. Yes, their makeup hid their flaws and made them gorgeous, but Marlo had such raw beauty, and there was no amount of makeup that could compete with that.

Maybe this whole thing was what they both needed. He knew that she needed something to open her eyes to realize that she could trust him, and maybe he needed something to show him that having only her in the rest of his life wouldn't be too bad after all. He knew that if anything had ever held him back from being completely with Marlo, it was the fear of having only one girl for the rest of his life. But he knew for sure, after everything that had happened between them, that he wanted only her for the rest of his life, without a doubt.

It was almost as if a thousand lights came on as he realized this. He finally knew how he would end his plan, the ultimate sacrifice to get her back. He should have done it before, but he knew that the time wouldn't have been right, and there would have still been doubts. But there were no more doubts in him, and he knew that very soon, there'd be no more doubts for Marlo.

He looked over at her again, and noticed that she was alone, with a far off look on her face. Smiling, he went over to her. "Would you like some company?" He asked her.

Startled, she looked up at him. "Sure." She told him, moving over on the couch to make room for him. "I never got to thank you for earlier."

"No big deal. Just glad I could help." He told her with a shrug of his shoulders. Inside his head, he had to keep reminding himself to just act like her friend, even though her lips looked so delicious, all he wanted to do was devour them. Silence engulfed them, neither one really knew what to say since they had never really been friends. They went from basically being enemies to being in love, all at once. They never really had the middle ground to help them communicate when love wasn't involved. "I miss you." Tobias blurted out.

Marlo nodded. "I miss you too." She lowered her eyes to the floor, she didn't know what was going on between them anymore.

Before either of them could say anything, Tobias felt a pair of hands cover his eyes from behind. "Guess who." The sultry voice said.

Tobias was taken aback. The voice sounded familiar, but he couldn't place it for sure. If it was the person he thought it was, he knew there would be trouble. He pulled the hands away from his face and turned to look at the woman. There stood the bitch radio deejay from New York that had tried to cause problems between him and Marlo.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" He spat at her. "Get out, you're not welcome." He looked over at Marlo and saw the shock and hurt on her face.

"Is that any way to treat a fan? Word in the tabloids has it that you and the girl broke up, so I thought I'd come and comfort you. Show you what a real woman was." She purred at him, trying to put her arms around his neck in a hug, not even paying attention to the looks of disgust he was shooting at her.

"I don't care what happens between Marlo and me, I would never touch you, ever again. I told you to get out, so go, before I throw you out myself." He yelled at her, attracting the attention of everyone around them. Security came over to see what was happening, and after getting the orders from Tobias, they escorted her out.

Once she was gone, Tobias looked over to Marlo. "I'm so sorry about that. I wish she'd just leave us alone."

Marlo shook her head. "It's not your fault. I know you don't like her." She looked around the room for a minute. "I'm going to head back to the bus now."

"Can I walk you back?" Tobias asked her, not wanting her to be alone for someone to jump her.

"No, you stay here. I don't want to ruin your night. I'll just get a security guard to walk me." She told him.

"It's no problem, really. I'm ready for some peace and quiet anyway." He looked at her hopefully.

"Fine, but I really don't want you to stop partying just because of me." She told him, hesitantly.

"I'm stopping because I want to. Don't worry, you aren't ruining me." He smiled at her.

Just as they were walking out, AJ grabbed Tobias and pulled him aside. Tobias motioned to Marlo to wait for a minute, then turned to AJ. "What's the problem?"

"Was having that bitch come here your idea?" He asked, not at all happy about the scene that had played out a few minutes before.

"What? No! That was not part of my plan. All I wanted to do was show Marlo that I wasn't interested in any of the other girls that come here, even though I was single. That bitch showed up on her own, and if anything, she did more harm to my plan than good." He glared at AJ and shook his arm out of his grasp. He walked back to where Marlo was waiting for him.

"What was that all about?" She asked him.

"Nothing. AJ just has his panties in a bunch lately." He told her, walking to the bus with her. "You in the mood for a game of cards or something?" He asked.

"Sounds good." She told him with a smile. And for the next couple of hours, things between them were easy and light, giving them both hope for the future.

Chapter 27

By the time the rest of the guys got back later that night, Marlo and Tobias were sitting at the front table, in a heated game of Crazy Eights. They were laughing and joking, which was so refreshing to the other band mates, though their choice of card games had the others confused.

"Why are you guys playing a kids game?" AJ asked.

"Because she was kicking my ass at poker, rummy, and 31, so I figured we'd try to play a game more my speed. Go Fish is next." Tobias laughed, the love shining in his eyes as he looked up at Marlo while he explained their game selection. His eyes never left hers, and she knew it, causing her to blush furiously.

"I think he was just letting me win." Marlo laughed.

"No way!" Said Sammy. "Tobias is ruthless. He never throws a card game to let anyone win, under any circumstances."

Marlo laughed again, knowing the truth behind Sammy's words. "Well, how about we call this one a draw because I am exhausted." She looked up at Tobias, stifling a yawn.

"Finally, I at least get a draw!" Tobias shouted, jumping up from the table and doing a victory dance.

Everyone laughed at him, and as Marlo went to move past him to go back to her bunk, Tobias grabbed her and spun her around in a dance a few times before letting her go. "Good night sweetums." He smirked at her. All she could do was smile, roll her eyes, and shake her head.

Marlo grabbed her pajamas and went to the bathroom to change. As she stood in there, she took a moment to fan herself. She looked in the mirror and saw her flushed face. She was in no way over Tobias, and there was no way they could be just friends for much longer. She loved him, he loved her, and nothing would be able to come between them again. She just needed to figure out how to get him back, and let him know that she did trust him, but she just needed a reminder of it every now and then.

Later, in her bunk as the bus began to roll towards their next destination, she tried to think of a way to get Tobias back. She knew that she had to do it soon, friendship just wasn't cutting it for her anymore. She knew they would be staying at a hotel at some point in the next few days, so it would be the perfect time to make her move, and get the man she loved back into her life, the way he should be.

*****

Once Tobias was sure that Marlo had fallen asleep, he asked Dusty if he could talk to him in private. Sammy and AJ seemed to get the hint, and went to the back to play a video game.

"What's up man? You look like you're about to shit your pants." Dusty joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"I need to ask you something serious, and know that you're on my side." Tobias told him, looking him straight in the eyes with a look of determination on his face.

Dusty sobered immediately. "Go ahead man, talk to me."

*****

The next morning when everyone woke up, the bus was stopped outside of a hotel. "Sweet!" Sammy yelled and ran off the bus, excited because he had forgotten that they would be in a hotel for the next few nights. The rest took their time getting ready, knowing that there was no rush.

A few minutes later, Sammy came running back to the bus. "Guys, they have a kick ass breakfast buffet in there! Hurry up and get ready so we can eat. I'm starved!"

"Maybe you should change out of your pajamas then Sammy. I'd hate to be seen with you in public wearing your cartoon pajama pants." AJ laughed.

Sammy looked down and smacked his forehead. "No wonder the waitresses were laughing at me." He hurried to the drawers near his bunk and pulled out some jeans and a retro t-shirt. Not caring who was around, he dropped his pants in the middle of the aisle, and changed his clothes right there.

"Nice underwear Sammy. But I would have figured you’re a boxer brief kind of guy, not the tighty whitey variety." Marlo teased as she came out of the bathroom to see Sammy mid-change.

His face reddened as he turned around. "It’s laundry week. This is my version of 'granny panties', ok?"

"Whatever you say man." Dusty chided, walking past and lightly shoving Sammy into the wall.

"Just pull your pants up so that we don't see any skid marks, ok?"

Marlo looked to the front of the bus where Tobias was sitting quietly. She was a bit surprised that he wasn't back there picking on Sammy, he was usually the first to bust on any of them. Instead, he sat on one of the couches, biting one of his finger nails and zoning out, staring into space.

She nudged Dusty and nodded her head to the front where Tobias sat. "Is he ok?" She whispered. "He seemed fine last night."

Dusty looked at Tobias. "Yeah, he's ok, I think he was up late last night or something." He offered, avoiding her eyes, and going to sit next to Tobias, the two sat with their heads together, in a hushed conversation.

Marlo shook her head. She just hoped that things between them weren't going to take a step backwards. She had a great time the night before, and the way that Tobias was looking, it almost appeared as though he regretted it. She walked forward slowly, and the minute they saw her, they stopped talking. "Sorry to interrupt," She said a bit annoyed. "Are you guys ready to go eat?"

Both of them jumped to their feet. "Yeah, let’s go. We've got a busy day today." Dusty told her, putting his hand on her back and practically pushed her out the door. The rest of the guys followed her, ambushing the buffet as soon as they got into the restaurant.

Marlo watched Tobias pick at his food, not really eating much. When the rest of the guys went up for a refill, Marlo stayed behind with Tobias. "Alright, out with it!" She snapped, causing him to look up at her quickly. "What did I do now?"

He looked at her, confused for a moment. "What are you talking about?"

"We had so much fun last night, and now you're walking around like you don't want to be anywhere near me. You're not eating, you're not joking, you're barely talking. Just tell me what the deal is and where I screwed up this time." She pleaded with him.

Tobias shook his head. "Trust me, you didn't do anything wrong." He told her with his smirk. "I'm just having trouble with this song I'm writing, and it's really getting to me. I keep going over the melody and verses in my head, trying to make it work, and it's really distracting me." He tried to reassure her.

"Well, I wish I could help, but you know I'm shit at writing songs." She smiled, for the first time that day feeling that things were still good between them, and that she would be able to get him back, one way or another.

*****

After breakfast, everyone parted ways. Dusty and Marlo decided to go to a movie, and have some sibling time together. Sammy and AJ were going to lounge by the hotel pool, and Tobias was going to try working on the song in his head a little more.

Dusty and Marlo had a great time at the movie. They filled up on popcorn and other movie theater treats, laughing throughout the whole comedy they had chosen to see. It was nice for them to be able to spend some time together without the rest of the guys around, even if Dusty did seem a little distracted on the way to and from the theater.

When they got back from the movie, Marlo went to her room and took a nap, resting up for the show that night.

*****

All too soon, the group was at the concert venue, warming up, and getting into wardrobe and makeup. Each of them went about their own pre-concert ritual; AJ rubbed his hands, massaging them and stretching them out, Sammy laid on the couch, listening to music through a set of headphones, Dusty sat in a chair, going over the songs in his head, Tobias was in the bathroom warming up his voice and mouth, and Marlo was standing on the side of the stage, looking out at the crowd as the opening act played. It always made her nervous to see the people, but at the same time, she needed to prepare herself for the size of the stadium and how many fans were there for the show. If she had seen the audience for the first time when she went out on stage, it would have freaked her out.