FicWad

The World Was Wide

They finished out the song and then walked off the dance floor holding hands. When they made it back to the table they saw Sara basically lying in Joe’s lap.

“I think she’s done,” Patrick said smugly from across the table, his arm around Stacy.

“So it would seem,” Chris said, “I’ll go call the driver.”

She wandered outside where she could hear. Joe followed her out supporting a stumbling Sara. He sat her down on the steps in front of Chris and then sat down next to her. When Chris finished on the phone, she also sat down next to Sara to wait for the car. The others soon wandered out of the Hall too.

“We should really drink with pretty girls more often,” Patrick said.

“It is way cheaper,” Pete said, sitting down next to Chris. “Plus the company is spectacular.”

“Cheesy,” Chris said, but leaned against him anyway.

Becca, Stacy and Andy walked out of the bar as the car pulled up. They all stumbled into it in various states of inebriation. Chris decided she wanted to hang out the moon roof. Sara and Becca joined her.

“Hey babes,” Chris said as their heads popped out on either side of her. “How was your nights?”

“Awesome.”

“Spectacular.” The girls wrapped their arms around each other.

“This is awesome,” Sara said, her head dropping to Chris’ shoulder. “This whole weekend. Us. Them. This is great.”

“I agree.” Chris said, her head resting on top of Sara.

“As do I,” Becca said, “Also I remember a question I’ve been meaning to ask you, Tina.”

“Sure. Fire away.”

“Well there’s two questions,” she said giggling, “I just thought of another.”

“Ok.” Chris was giggling now too.

“Have you slept with Pete?”

“What?!”

“He does spend the night in your bed. Every night,” Sara pointed out.

“No! We just got together for real, like yesterday,” Chris explained quickly. “Besides, I’m barely comfortable kissing him with everything that’s happened. Let alone sleep with him…” She trailed off and a few tears ran down her face.

“Hey, hey, shh,” Becca said. “It was just a question. Maybe we should have this conversation
when we’re sober.”

“Probably a good idea,” Chris said after a sniff. “What’s the other question?”

“Oh. This is the actual question. They all call you Chris. We call you Tina. Do you want us to call you Chris now?”

“I don’t know,” Chris said after a beat. “I feel like Chris again. And I like her. But I love you guys and I know that you know me as Tina…”

“I think we’ve gotten to know Chris over the last couple of days,” Sara said. “And I like her too. She’s all the best parts of Tina, but with less crankiness because she sleeps more. And you’re happier. I didn’t notice that you were sad before, because you always acted so upbeat, but the way you’ve been with them here, it’s night and day. You’re so happy.”

“And that’s what we like most,” added Becca. “So if it’s ok with you, we’d like to call you Chris, too.”

“Absolutely, loves,” Chris said, kissing each of them on the top of the head. “You can call me
whatever you want.”

They stood there and let the wind whip through their hair, screaming obscenities at the top of their lungs for no one to hear. Then they got cold. Back inside, Chris settled into the seat next to Pete and held his hand. Soon they were back at the house and they went inside. After goodnights, everyone went to bed. Chris grabbed bottles of water for her and Pete and then they climbed the stairs.

“Ugh. I need a night off from this alcoholism,” Chris said collapsing on her bed.

“We could all use a night off, I think.” Pete said as he walked into the bathroom to change and brush his teeth.

Chris found the remote and turned on the television. She kicked off her boots and curled up on the bed. She flipped through the channels for a few moments before whining, “There’s nothing good on.”

Pete bounced onto the bed and kissed her cheek. “I’ll find something. Go put on pajamas, you’ll be pissed when you wake up in the morning still in your clothes. And you hate it when you go to bed without brushing your teeth.” He paused and then laughed as he said, “I remember when you were in the ninth grade-“

“Mom and Papa were out of town. Matty and I were staying at your house. And I forgot-“

“Your toothbrush. You were so upset. You wanted us to go back to your house to get it, but it was storming out and we couldn’t go. So to distract you we had-“

“A Mortal Combat tournament.” Chris had rolled over and was smiling up at him. “I won.”

“We let you win so you’d forget about that damned toothbrush.”

“Sure you did.” She leaned up and kissed him. “I could kick your ass at Combat any day of the week.”

“Keep thinking that, sweetheart.”

Chris stuck her tongue out at him and got up. A few minutes later she reappeared in the bedroom in shorts and a tank top. “Bedtime?”

“Definitely. Come here.”

“Don’t have to ask me twice.”

When Chris was settled and his arm closed around her, Pete said, “Tonight was fun.”

Chirs nodded, her head on his chest. “What are we watching?”

“Your choices are Food Network and CSI,” Pete told her.

“Really? CSI? It’s still on?”

“Must be a marathon or something.”

“You’d think they’d run out of episodes by now,” Chris said. “Not that I’m complaining. I love
me some CSI.”

“You’re weird. Do you know that?”

“Yup. You like it. It makes you seem less crazy.”

“This is true.” Pete kissed the top of her head. They lay there, watching television, until their breathing slowed and evened out and they were asleep.

Pete woke first the next morning. He looked down at the girl sleeping next to him and smiled. He realized he was happy. Happier than he’d been in a long time. It was better than getting offered a record deal, better than going on TRL, better than standing on stage with a thousand people saying his name.

It was the best.

Chris turned her head in her sleep so she was now facing Pete. Her hair was all over the place. Pete reached out and brushed it off of her face. She smiled in her sleep.

A little while later, Chris woke up to an empty bed. Frowning slightly, she sat up and lifted her arms above her head. As she was stretching, Pete walked back into the room holding a notebook and pen.

“Good morning, starshine,” he said, getting back into bed.

“Good morning,” she said, smiling again. “Whatchya got there?”

He sat back against the headboard. “My lyric book. I felt inspired to write this morning.”

“Is that right?” she asked. She crawled over the bed to get to him. He nodded and she kissed him.

“But inspiration can wait.” He tossed the notebook and pen on the bedside table. Pete took Chris’ face in his hands and kissed her again.

They spent the next hour or so in bed before they decided they were hungry. Downstairs, everyone was awake except Sara. It was only eleven so they decided to make a big breakfast. Bacon, sausage, blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs, and a big fruit salad were made. Somebody was sent to see if Sara wanted breakfast.

When they were all sitting and eating, Stacy said, “I have the cutest picture of you girls from last night in the limo.”

She went and got her camera and brought it back to the table. After fiddling with it for a second, she passed it to Chris. It was of Sara, Chris, and Becca, but you could only see from the mid-back don because their heads and shoulders were sticking out of the moon roof. Their arms were around each others’ waists. The girls cooed over it as they passed the camera around.

“I think we should spend the day sober,” Chris said as they were cleaning up. “My liver needs a break.”

Everyone agreed. They also decided to call Carl and ask for the boat. Chris was changed into her swimsuit and putting sunscreen on her face and front when Pete walked into her bathroom.

“How’s your sunburn?” he asked.

“It hurts a lot less, but I’m taking zero chances today.”

“Good plan. Need some help?”

“Yes, please.” She handed him the bottle, wiped her hands on a towel, then started to braid her hair as Pete applied lotion to her back.

She winced as he touched a particularly tender spot. “Sorry,” he said. “I’ll try to be more careful.”

“It’s fine.” When he finished, she tuned around and kissed him. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I’d do anything for you if I get rewarded with a kiss,” he said kissing her back.

“And now I have you in my power!” She laughed maniacally.

“You’re so evil.”

“Only a little bit.”

“Chris! Pete!” Sara called from downstairs. “Carl’s here!”

“Coming!” Chris shouted and slipped on some shorts. Then she led Pete out of the bathroom by the hand.

“Did she just call you Chris?” Pete asked.

“Yup. That’s what we were talking about when we were hanging out the window last night. Now
hurry up, or we’ll miss the boat.” She let go of his hand and started running down the stairs and onto the deck. He chased her. They ran until they caught up with the others at the beach. “Did someone get the wakeboard?”

“I’ve got it,” Becca said, tossing it into the water.

They swam out to the boat and drove out to open water. Chris and Becca hooked up the appropriate ropes and had Carl stop so they could get the board in the water. Becca went out first. Chris and Sara sat in the backseats heckling her and telling Carl to go faster and make sharp turns.

“So, let me guess,” Pete said, sliding into the seat next to Chris and putting an arm around her shoulders, “you’re awesome at this too?”

“I’m not that great. I mean I enjoy it, but-“

“Don’t listen to her Mr. Pete,” Carl said from the driver seat. “Ms. Tina is best wakeboard
rider I’ve ever seen.”

“Stop it, Carl,” Chris said blushing furiously.

“She’s really great,” Sara said. “Weren’t you in the university’s wakeboard club?”

“Umm…ya…”

“What?” Pete said in disbelief.

“Didn’t you win contests or something?” Sara continued, trying to remember.

“Maybe,” Chris hedged. “It isn’t important. Oh, Carl, Becca’s cutting.”

As he slowed the boat, Carl asked, “How do you want to ride, today Ms. Tina?”

“Whatever’s fine, Carl.”

Pete stared at her while she pulled Becca in. Her muscles flexed as she tugged on the rope. When Becca was close enough to unbuckle and swim in, Chris dove off the boat. She resurfaced and treaded water and shouted for Sara to throw her a life jacket. After buckling into the jacket she swam to the back of the boat and pulled herself onto the platform where Becca left the board.

“Chris’ turn to show off then,” Becca quipped as Chris strapped the board to her feet.

“She did try to deny her talent,” Sara said laughing.

“You shut your whore mouths!” Chris called as she pushed herself back into the water. “Toss me
the rope.”

They complied giggling. Then Becca said, “Show me what you’ve got. Bet you can’t do it.”

“Don’t tempt me Rebecca,” Chris said and caught the handle of the rope.

“Oh, I’m not tempting. I’m challenging.”

“Fine,” Chris said, then she shouted up to Carl, “We’re going hard, Carl! After a while take me over the jump, please?”

“Yes, Ms. Tina,” he shouted back.

“You can suck it, Becca,” Chris said playfully, sticking her tongue out at her and giving the thumbs up.

As the boat began to pull away, Chris could hear Pete ask, “What just happened?”

Sara and Becca seemed to be explaining as everyone gathered in the back of the boat and they drifted away. Becca held up her hand and Chris gave another thumbs up then re-gripped the handle. Carl then accelerated. Chris turned her feet and slowly rose up out of the water. She rode straight for a while then she started to carve back and forth inside the wake. Then Carl turned the boat and sent her outside the wake. She swung far outside and bounced on the choppy water. Carl turned hard the other way. Chris worked to go over the first edge of the wake smoothly, then launched herself off the other edge. She let go of the rope with one hand and grabbed her board with the other. She landed again outside of the wake. She could here her friends clapping on the boat. Now that her feet were under her and she was used to being on the water again, she went bigger and bigger. Higher in the air, more difficult tricks. Then she caught sight of the jump and allowed herself to go outside of the wake. Up and over the jump she went and she did a layout among cheers from the boat. Instead of cutting like they normally did after the jump Chris continued. She had one more trick that she hadn’t ever actually tried on the water, but she was gonna go for it. She hurled herself over the wake again and launched herself into the air. She flipped heelside and twisted three hundred and sixty degrees switching her grip on the handle.

A/N: I got you something. Another chapter. You're welcome =) Haha I just keep writing this story and I love the stuff I'm writing right now, but it's about sixty pages ahead of this, hence the rapid updating. Ok. Great. Hope you liked it.