Title: Angels in a Cage: Chapter Thirty-three, Sitting
Rating: R  [language, alcohol, drugs, mild sexual situations]
Summary: Chris takes Alyssa to Soundgarden's album release party.  While he leaves on tour shortly after, Alyssa takes care of his dogs and house...



While she had been beyond excited when Chris invited her to the album release party, that feeling was currently superseded by nerves.  She was not nervous to be around Chris; that feeling had long since disappeared.  And she was not entirely all that nervous to be around his band, since she had met them already.  She was however, nervous to meet whoever else would be at that party.  Chris had not dropped names at all, but she had a feeling she was about to be surrounded by all the important people from the music industry.  It was a bit unnerving.
And precisely the reason she had already changed four times.  Telling herself she could not change a fifth time, Alyssa stepped away from the mirror.  Sure, it was a school night, but the school year was almost over.  Her parents could not complain; she was pulling in A's and B's, even with all the missed classes earlier.  She was going to Chris’s party.
Luckily, her father was not home to question her.  Instead, she told Marilyn to not wait up as she was staying the night with a friend and headed out before her stepmother could ask any follow-up questions.  Once in her car, she smiled as her sneak copy of Chris’s new album started to play as she backed out of the driveway.  It was going to be a good night.
She pulled into his garage a few minutes later.  After closing the door, she headed inside and was instantly greeted by his dogs.  A moment later, Chris stepped into the living room, grinning.  He crossed over to her and quickly embraced her, touching his lips to hers.
“You look amazing,” he finally spoke.
She flushed slightly, “Thank you.  I wasn’t sure what to wear…”
His eyes once more glanced over her attire. While he wore a simple black, button-up shirt and black jeans, she wore a pink gingham minidress.  He groaned slightly, noticing how it highlighted her curves perfectly.
“Maybe we shouldn’t go to the party,” he muttered.
“What?  Why?  Should I have worn something else?” she quickly asked.
Chris smiled, cupped her face with both hands, and leaned down for another kiss, “No, you look amazing.  And that’s precisely why we shouldn’t go to the party.”
“I’m confused…”
He kissed her again, “Because I want you all to myself.”
She flushed again, “But we’re supposed to go and celebrate the album’s release.”
“I know… but who really cares about another fucking party?  And they certainly don’t need—”
“You’re expected to be there.”
“By who?  The band?  The manager?  The label?  They can all go fuck themselves.  I would rather just be with you,” Chris declared.
“Chris,” she warned.
“Okay… okay.  We’ll go,” he nodded, forcing himself to pull away from her.
After letting the dogs out and making sure they were situated in their room downstairs, Chris led Alyssa out to the car.  He opened her door with a flourish, grinning as she shook her head and slid into the Porsche.  Stealing a kiss before closing the door, he hurried over to the driver’s side.  He leaned over for another but Alyssa rolled her eyes and pushed him away.  Chuckling he started the sports car, adjusted the volume of the stereo, and backed out of the garage.
“Um, Chris?” Alyssa spoke up as they neared the club.
“Yeah, Lyssie?”
“Is… is Susan going to be here?” she asked while he searched for a parking space.
He looked over his sunglasses at her, “Yes, likely.”
“Won’t that be a problem…?”
He turned off the car after parking, loving the fact he had been able to avoid the valet service, “Why would it be?”
“You… me… her…”
Chris scoffed, “Don’t worry about her.  She will probably be avoiding me anyways.”
“Why?”
“She’s still fucking Jerry as far as I know,” he stated. “Let’s just go to the party and have a good time.  Don’t worry about Susan.”
“But, Chris…”
“Don’t worry about Susan,” he flashed her a smile. “Let’s go have fun.”
Though she avoided his hand as they headed into the club, once the darkness shrouded them, her hand slipped into his left hand.  He squeezed it gently before leading her through the crowd to the band.  Relieved to not see Susan and Jerry with the band, Chris plopped down in a booth after Alyssa did.  His attention was quickly pulled in a million directions, as partygoers stopped by to congratulate the band on the new album.  She remained quiet, watching everyone with wide eyes, as she sipped on a beer set before her.
Caught up in conversation with the drummer, she did not notice Eddie approach the table.  He harassed Chris some about the new album, apparently giving backhanded compliments to the other frontman.  When he laughed heartily at something Chris said, Alyssa glanced his direction.  Her eyes widened and she quickly averted her gaze.  Of course Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam would be at the party.  He and Chris were good friends, maybe even best friends.  She should not have been surprised.
“Don’t worry,” Matt leaned a bit closer, “Eddie won’t bite either.  We leave that to Kim and Kim alone.”
She chuckled nervously, still not looking back in Eddie’s direction.  Before anyone could interject and introduce Alyssa to Eddie, Susan approached the table with Jerry.  Any smiles on faces instantly disappeared.  Alyssa wanted nothing more than to slid under the table and disappear.  Instead, Chris’s hand touched hers discreetly under the table before Matt protectively looped his arm around her shoulders.
Though she did not dare look up, Alyssa could feel eyes on her.  Feeling an intense negative wave, she knew Susan had to be appraising her, trying to ascertain her threat level.  Others looked at her too; Eddie perhaps, but she still did not look up.
“Have you met my cousin, Alyssa?” Matt spoke up, making the girl’s hazel eyes instantly snap to him. “I’ve been telling her about the album for so long, it only seemed right to bring her to the party.”
Chris carefully pulled his hand free and reached for his beer, no emotion showing on his face.  Slowly Alyssa looked to the adults standing near the table and tried to remain passive as well.  Her gaze flicked from Jerry and Susan, whom she felt as if she was getting a death stare from, to Eddie and his wife.  Her heart pounded for a moment until he smiled at her, seemingly putting her at ease instantly.
“Nice to meet you, Alyssa,” Eddie spoke. “Always nice to know family is supportive.”
“Uh… of course I am,” she responded softly.
“Remember, Chris, you have band practice starting on Thursday,” Susan spoke up, her eyes leaving Alyssa. “You are contractually—”
He rolled his eyes, “Yes, I know.  I’ll be there.  You don’t even have to go through my lawyer to make sure of it.”
Though her lips parted to retort something acidic, Susan did not say anything.  Instead, she left the band’s table, Jerry holding onto her elbow.  Chris smirked and quickly finished his beer as Eddie pulled up a pair of chairs and joined Soundgarden.  
With the addition of Chris’s best friend and others breezing by the band’s table, Alyssa felt like she slowly disappeared into the fabric of the booth.  Matt still engaged her in conversation, though even that came sparingly as the night dragged on, people got drunker, and other substances passed hands.  Though she was not adverse to pot smoking in the least, she refused everything offered her direction.  She knew better than to smoke with strangers, even if Chris and his band really were not strangers.  She just did not trust the party itself.  And it mattered little, because soon the party forgot all about her.
As the party began to wind down around two in the morning, Chris glanced over at Alyssa as she attempted to suppress yet another yawn.  Nodding slightly, he leaned towards her, waiting for her eyes to meet his.
“Let’s go,” he muttered softly, a slight drunken slur in his voice.
Her eyes held his though she leaned slightly back to keep him from kissing her, “Okay, but I’m driving.”
“I’m fine,” he quickly declared.
She held her hand out for his keys.  Chris continued to stare at her for a moment, before sighing and handing over his keyring.  He quickly said good-bye to his bandmates and friends as he slid out of the booth.  Alyssa quickly slipped her arm around his waist as he swayed and led him out of the club.
“Lysssssssie,” he slurred as they stepped out of the noisy venue.
She merely smirked, aiding him towards the parking garage.
“Staaaaay with me,” he requested as she tucked him into the passenger seat and snapped his seatbelt.
Alyssa kissed his forehead, “Of course.  Now be sure to put down your window in case you need to puke.”
Though Chris leaned his head out the window twice, he managed to keep his cool.  Alyssa pulled the Porsche into the garage.  Chris stumbled out of the car and towards the door, nearly knocking over his Harley in the process.  Sighing, Alyssa hurried to his side and helped him into the house.
Slipping Chris into his bed, she kissed his forehead and headed down to the basement to let the dogs out once more.  She filled a glass with water before returning to the master suite.  Leaving the water on the nightstand on his side of the bed, she stripped her party dress and bra off.  Alyssa riffled through his drawers before selecting a tee shirt to wear to bed.  With little hesitation, she climbed into bed behind Chris, wrapping her arms around him.
Her lips kissed his ear, “Good night, Chris.”


Sitting on the edge of the bed, Alyssa watched as Chris packed his tee shirts into a suitcase.  She completely understood that touring was a part of his job.  Had he asked, she would have jumped at the opportunity to go along with the band.  But he had not asked anything of her that summer.  Well, except one thing: to take care of his dogs while he was gone.  It disappointed her some, but he had taken her to the secret Soundgarden concert the week before.
She was even done with school for the summer, so that was not an impediment on spending time with Chris.  Four days a week she already spent with him, so it was clear he knew her days were free.  But he had not asked her to go along.  And it was bothering her.
“Chris?” she spoke up as he shoved socks into his suitcase.
His green eyes went to hers, “Lyssie?”
“Why didn’t you ask me to go with you?”
Seeing the emotion in her eyes, he stepped away from the suitcase and sat down next to her, “Touring sucks.  I didn’t think you would want to come.”
“I would have liked to have been asked…”
He reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear, “Do you want to go with me?”
She looked away, saying nothing.
His fingers went to her chin, turning her face back to him, “Do you want to go on tour with me?”
Alyssa bit her bottom lip, “…kinda…”
He quickly kissed her, “Then you should.”
“I… I haven’t prepared anything though.  And… I’m supposed to be a counselor at my sister’s camp this summer,” she quickly responded.
His lips brushed hers again, “When is camp?”
“We leave on Monday…”
“Until?”
“July twelfth,” she replied.
“Hmmm,” Chris’s hand dropped down to hold hers. “Maybe after camp, I can arrange for you to join us on the last leg of the tour.”
Her eyes brightened, “Really?”
He nodded, “I think that’s quite possible.  Though…”
“What?”
“If you’re going to camp, who is going to take care of my dogs?”
She smiled crookedly, “It’s a day thing, not an overnight camp.  We still go home at night.  So I can still come and check on the dogs before and after camp.”
“Oh, good… good,” he nodded. “Then I’ll work on getting you on tour.  The dogs can stay with the boarder then.”
Alyssa beamed and quickly embraced him, “This is so exciting!”
He smirked, “This is the Lyssie I prefer.”
“Me too,” she giggled.
Without pause, he pulled her into his lap and kissed her deeply.  She giggled again but did not pull out of his embrace.  Smiling, he pivoted and pressed her back against the bed.  They kissed and caressed for awhile, before he forced himself to pull away before it got too heated.  Kissing her nose quickly, he got up and returned to his packing.  Even if there had been a moment of angst creep into the afternoon, they had quickly resolved it.  He had high hopes for the summer.  High hopes, indeed.


Wearing a green halter bikini and a pair of large brown sunglasses, Alyssa lounged in Chris’s backyard, soaking up the warm June sun.  The dogs slept in the grass, their legs twitching with their doggie dreams.  Hearing the patio door close behind her, she pivoted slightly to glance over her shoulder.  David grinned and offered her a bottle of water before sitting in the chair next to her.
“Okay, you win,” he declared, twisting the cap off of his bottle.
“Win what?” she asked after taking a drink.
“Your boyfriend, even though I haven’t met him, is awesome,” David stated, kicking his sandals off before putting his feet up. “You basically have a sugar daddy.”
She flushed slightly, but hoped he didn’t see it, “Not really, but okay.”
“Oh!  I nearly forgot,” he reached into the pocket of his shorts and pulled out a couple of joints. 
Alyssa accepted one of the joints and waited for him to light it, “You know, if this weather keeps up, we could probably get wet.”
He smirked, “Is there a hidden pool somewhere?”
She shook her head and motioned to the waterfront before them, “There’s a small beach not far from here, dumb ass.”
“Oh right, of course,” he lit his own joint. “So we get to hang out here all summer then?”
“Yep.  He’s… away on business for the next few months.  So someone has to check on the dogs and house.”
“And your parents think…”
“Well… Marilyn figured out that I don’t work at the coffee shop anymore, so I couldn’t use that anymore.  So I told them I was dog and house-sitting this summer, along with the counselor stuff.”
David smirked, “Telling them the truth, huh?”
“Yup.”
“And they didn’t ask whose house and dogs you’re taking care of?”
“Oh, Dad did.  You know he did.”
He inhaled the joint deeply, “And he’s okay with you staying at your boyfriend’s house all summer?”
“Of course he is.  Besides, it’s not like I don’t come home at night.  And during the week, I’m at camp with Judith all day,” she explained.
“Right, of course,” he nodded. “We’re staying overnight tonight, right?”
“We can if you want,” Alyssa agreed.
David grinned, “Then we should.”
After sharing a pizza later that evening, the two teenagers sat on the sofa in the living room.  David clicked through channels, trying to find something to watch, while Alyssa idly scratched one of the dog’s bellies.  The dogs really were not supposed to be on the couch, but she did not care at the moment.  It’s not like they would be there for long.
David finally settled on a movie on Cinemax and set the remote down.  He propped his feet up on the coffee table and took a drink from the beer he found in the fridge.  Leaving the dogs alone, Alyssa leaned over and stole a drink from his bottle.  She settled next to him to watch the rest of the movie while the dog hopped off the couch and stretched out on the cool tile near the patio door.
Once the credits began to roll, Alyssa jumped up and left the room.  Slipping into the master suite, she changed into one of Chris’s shirts and a pair of his boxers.  After a quick visit to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face, she headed back downstairs.  She popped some popcorn before heading back into the living room.  Handing the bowl to David, she sat back down beside him.
“What are we watching now?” she asked.
“Uh… Club VR… I think it’s about a virtual reality club,” he responded softly.
“Oh cool.  So a sci-fi movie?” she crunched on a handful of popcorn.
“Yeah, I think so,” David remarked, a touch of awkwardness in his voice.
Not picking up on it, Alyssa handed him the bowl of popcorn while she got comfortable on the couch.  She reached for the bowl again, but her fingers stopped short of reaching it.  Her eyes went wide as the characters on the screen began to undress.  As she realized they were watching softcore porn, Alyssa could not pull her eyes away from the screen.  Nor could she move.  Her hand remained hovering above the bowl of popcorn, her eyes glued to the screen.  A soft flush crept into her cheeks, yet she still did not say anything.
David glanced over at his best friend, looking for her reaction to the scandalous image on the large television screen.  As she had yet to mutter anything, he was not about to turn it off.  His only hope was that it was arousing her as much as it was him.  Yes, they were best friends first and foremost, but he would never deny wanting her.  In fact, more often than not, she was his fantasy girl when he jacked off.  Now that they were completely alone, without the prying eyes of their friends or family, perhaps, just perhaps, Alyssa would relax into him.
Ever so carefully he set the bowl of popcorn on the side table.  His hand went to her thigh, gently squeezing it.  Her eyes remained on the television screen, but she did hold his hand.  Her fingers seemed to grip his rhythmically with the thrusting on the screen.  Oh how he wanted to guide her hand into his lap, but he did not.  Instead, David leaned towards Alyssa.  She turned towards him as his lips neared her.  Their eyes briefly met before he kissed her.
With the sounds of moans from the television, Alyssa laid back on the sofa.  David followed, his lips never leaving hers.  His tongue rolled around hers, sucking teasingly on it.  His hands did not yet roam her body, though he wanted nothing more than to squeeze her breasts.
Suddenly her hands went to his chest and she pushed him away slightly, “David, we can’t do this.”
“What?” he groaned. “Why not?”
She pushed him more, “Because I have a boyfriend.”
“But he’s not—”
“Doesn’t matter,” she wiggled out from underneath him. “I’m not doing this with you.”
He groaned, pressing his forehead against the sofa, “Not even a ha—”
“Not at all,” Alyssa interrupted as she turned off the television. “And you’re sleeping down here in the guest room.”
Before he could object, she called for the dogs and headed upstairs once more.  The two animals quickly trotted after her, likely surprised they were being invited to join her upstairs instead of going downstairs to their beds.  Without pause, Alyssa locked the bedroom door as the dogs jumped up onto the large king bed.
She could not deny that the movie made her aroused, but she was not going to cross that line with David.  Not that night, not that summer, not ever.  They were just friends…